Phil
Well, all in all, I would have to say Painswick eats Shiskine for breakfast in terms of funk. Shiskine really isn't all that funky - take away the Eagle's Nest hole (if it isn't called that it should be) and the other blind par 3 "on the back 6" and thats about it. Painswick is relentless with funk and oddities - I feel to its detriment. Where Shiskine has Painswick's number is in beauty (Shiskine really is one of the most beautiful courses on the planet) and the realization the 18 holes isn't some sort of magic number. Still, Painswick has more good holes than Shiskine and its not even close. Doak is a bit hard with a 2 - I would probably go 4 for Shiskine in giving it the benefit of the doubt because of beauty and the creativity of 12 holes. Painswick though is a comfortable 5 (and I think of 4 to 5 as a big leap) just as 6 to 7 is) when in good nick - probably 3 when not.
No question Stonehaven is disjointed and disorienting, but damn it if there aren't quite a few good shots out there.
For the wee courses which are cheap as chips (say less than £20) I still side with Cleeve Cloud as the most interesting - in part because of its massive width. There can't be many courses around which really gives us an idea of what width was like in the old days, but CC is certainly one. Church Stretton comes second because of the way the course deals with the crazily hilly terrain so well. Painswick and Adrian's Stranahan are about equal third, but totally different. Adrian should really be given a ton of kudos for having the balls to build that course. He certainly took a risk and I am not sure if its clear yet if the risk will pay off, but for all the bitching people do about too hard, too expensive and too much time - The Stranahan should be winning awards as a modern example bucking the trends. None of the rest of the wee courses I have seen are in the class of these four keepers.
Ciao
4-5 is probably right on, but that said I would much prefer to play Shiskine to many courses rated 5 or 6.
12 holes works in its' favor to me as it's part of an enjoyable day when crossing Aran via ferry.
2 is definitely unduly harsh reading the Doak definition of "2"
The holes themselves (with 1-2 exceptions)are really good in their own right and as Sean says the scenery is unbeatable.
Jeff
Of course, I too would rather play Shiskine than many other better courses, but it is still not high on my list of courses to re-visit and I like to re-visit courses. A Doak score to me is not indicative of my desire to play the course - just an objective as can be rating on the quality of a course.
Ciao
Garland, The picture looking down is taken from somewhere up on the cliff.
The green they show is #3 and is the highest point you go to when PLAYING the course,(which is pretty high) so whoever took that photo is WAY up above everything ON the course.
Sean,
I honestly can't rate or recommend a course highly if I don't enjoy it.
Quality is always in the eye of the beholder.
I see many courses here in the US by big signature designers that are given 6 by Tom that I have NO desire to return to. I guess he's just giving them an A for effort or I really just don't get it.
My scores of a course would always be based on desire to play it and as Tom did in his book, if I were writing a book, you'd have to see what I valued (along with the course descriptions) in order to understand my rankings.
I would never be objective!
to be fair to Tom though,golf courses are not static and many have changed over the last 30 years!!!