I had the fortunate opportunity to play Friar's Head for a second time and it has only gotten better with time. The clubhouse is now open and the whole experience has become a dream. Unfortunately, I did not have a camera with me so I will try and describe what makes FH so special.
The new clubhouse is the best modern golf course clubhouse I have seen. It is beautifully done with some incredible touches, yet it is not over the top and pretentious. The views from the outside dining include LI Sound, the 18th hole and the 9th hole. Step around to the side and you can also see the 1st hole. Inside is a wonderful locker room which also has great views, as well as comfortable areas to relax after the best showers I have ever experienced.
The course was in fantastic condition and played firm and fast. The greens go from some subtle contours to really wild internal mounding such as on number 7, where the green is probably 70 paces deep and 30 paces across. I understand Bill Coore has made repeated visits to the course and added putting areas to some greens, including number 9, and trees have come down which have allowed the exposure of the natural dunes between numbers 1 and 9. The course is extremely challenging yet fair by giving you the opportunity to be aggreessive or conservative depending on conditions. We played with about a 15 MPH wind and it made the course even more enjoyable. You wind your way from the dunes to the flatter section of the course but it loses little. The holes require thought and placement or making par becomes a challenge. As you wind your way up into the dunes for the last few holes and look back you are in awe of what you see, and as you look forward you see a golf hole which fits perfectly into its surrounding. You come to the short 17th and the wind is blowing and the target becomes very small as the group in front watches to see if you do any better than they did. You then come over the hill on 18 to see the green and the wonderful clubhouse - life is good.
Surely, FH ranks up there with the best.