[Bryan Izatt]

Well, at least in my limited experience this year.  The 553 yard par 5 seventh at Cobble Beach near Owen Sound, ON.  Designed by Doug Carrick.

The tee shot from a high spot on the course over a ridge is blind to the landing area.  The tee shot suggests a draw.  Long hitters tempted to hit it over the ridge need to make sure they don't push it through the right side of the fairway or try to cut off too much of the corner on the left that is really not there.




The second shot calls for a fade.  The most attractive feature of the hole is the topsy-turvey movement of the fairway.  What a joy to hit a ball down the fairway and watch the extended roll-out over bumps and through swales, the final destination of the ball always in doubt.




The green, like many others on the course, is a real challenge to hit in the right section and a wild ride to putt.  There's a pronounced ridge angling through the gree and the back part of the green runs away a bit.  There are sharp drop-offs all around the green.




And the eye candy in the background, although adding nothing to the form or function of the hole, ain't half bad either.

[John Kirk]

I also like the gentle transition into the existing field.  No containment framing.  

How does everyone feel about the steep rise into the green?  I'm imagining playing the course.  If I hit a really good drive (from the correct tees), I might have a crack at the green in two.  I can see trying to hit a low cut in there with a three wood, and from a downhill lie that's the natural shot.  The steep rise increases the difficulty of that shot.  In particular, my ball will have to be bouncing up there that much harder.

Thanks for sharing.  Really nice.

[Peter Pallotta]

My thanks as well, Bryan. I didn't drive up this summer, but hope to next.

Of the mid-to-high-end publics I've played in the greater Toronto area, Doug Carrick's are usually my favourites. He's simply a very good and thoughtful architect.

And John K - that was a good 'walk through' on how that hole would play, and I think that it might be indicative of most of Carrick's Par 5s, i.e. they tend to be playable for all level of golfers without being "playable for all level of golfers"...if you know what I mean.

Peter

[Bryan Izatt]

John,

The transitioning is generally well done.  The rolling fairways are consistent throughout the course although they were clearly not "naturally" there.  I've only played it once, but my impression was that you'd have to be a really long hitter to get home in two even playing from the proper tees.  I didn't make it and there was a fairly strong quartering wind helping.  The swale in front of the green is surely going to make running a low cut up there harder.  But then it's a par 5, so it shouldn't be too easy to just bomb it there in two.

Peter,

I think Cobble, unlike other Carrick courses around, here will be significantly more resistent to scoring by all levels. For the higher handicaps, the deep dense fescue, water, and uneven lies in the fairways will be difficult.  For low handicappers, as well as high, the green complexes will be killers.  They are fast and have a lot more movement in them than any Carrick greens I've seen before.  Many of them have pronounced ridges and back or side portions that run off.  On the 6th hole I putted off the green.  I spent ten minutes there trying to find the line of charm for that putt.  Finally found it, but it was life and death to keep it on the green.  A real fun ride on those greens if you're not too concerned about score.  I suspect that playing times will be long simply because of the greens.  There is a reason the starter warns you about the greens before you start.

[Mike Nuzzo]

Bryan,
Nice pictures.  Looks like fun.

Did you take the picture from the back tee?

I think the look from the tee is great as the green looks perched on top of the ridge.

The 2nd shot looks a little different, it appears as if the green was lifted to create the illusion of sitting on the ridge.
I'd also much rather aim directly down the fairway at the water in stead of making a hard right at the green -- kind of a delayed gratification.  The bunkering isn't as good as the fairway. Have they ever made a fairway like that before?

It looks like they tried too hard.  The fairway could have bled right into the green if it were kept low -- Oakmont like.

Cheers

[Bryan Izatt]

Mike,

Not sure it was the back tee.  Maybe one forward from the back.

Interestingly, I don't think that I noticed the green appearing to sit on the ridge.  I think the telephoto lens helps to see it in the picture.  It's 550 yards away, so I think it might be easy to miss if you weren't really looking and knew where to look.  I agree it's a neat look.

The green is definitely lifted although there was no need to create an illusion of a ridge.  There is a ridge behind the green where the bushes are.  It lead down to a lower level where there is a Redan-like par 3 at right angles to this hole. If the bushes behind the green were removed the green could be perched on a natural ridge there, but perhaps it might have created erosion problems or been an environmental thing.

On my one round, I played down the fairway on the second.  Delayed gratification sounds like a description I might use in the future to describe my strategy.  In reality the hole is too long for me to realistically get home in two.  But it was really fun to watch the ball bound down the fairway between the bunkers.  My only concern would be that the bottom of the swales in the second LZ are likely to get marked up over time.  The majority are likely to end up in a relatively few swales.

Not sure about your question on the fairways; do you mean the rolling mounds and swales or the bunkering.  If it is the mounds and swales, the concept is fairly faithfully carried out throughout the course.  I have not seen it on other Carrick courses I've played; or on many other courses on this side of the pond.  Reminded me of Machrihanish and Royal Aberdeen.

Here are pics of the second and fifth holes where you can see the continuity of the bounding fairway concept.






 If by trying too hard you mean the lifted green, I assume that was to protect par from long hitters.  Certainly a green site that was low and continued the fairway and ran away like Oakmont would also have been a nice design touch.

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