Since the last page of this thread is concerned with the bunker lining let me start there and say I had forgotten this thread and the story of the eco bunker lining, so was rather perplexed when I bottomed out on a bit of astro-turf when trying to play out of a bunker. Not sure if that was a construction issue or simply one of not enough sand in the bunker ?
Anyway I totally agree with an awful lot of the comments made on here over 8 pages and a span of 12 years. Cavendish is a delight. I've long considered that MacKenzies work at Duff House Royal showed what could be done with a pretty flat site and now he has shown to me what can be done with a fairly hilly one too. It also demonstrated to me how slowing down the greens allows some "interesting" pin positions to come into play.
Sadly, not all plaudits. I'm not referring to the bunkering whether old or new, which looked and played fine to me, the odd bottoming out on the liner aside. I'm actually referring to the same issue that Sean seems to have found on his initial tour and that is the mowing lines both for the greens but also for the fairways. Quite a few of the greens appeared to have shrunk and many would be significantly improved (IMO) if pushed out by two or three feet.
The big issue however is the fairway lines. For a course where the primary defence/interest is the greens, and getting the line of approach right, it was disappointing to find some of the fairways brought in to form pinch points with others being narrow for no real good reason. The rough itself was long enough to make finding a ball difficult and once found wiry/thick enough to leave nothing other than a chunk out. That got tiresome very quickly.
Cases in point include the wonderful 3rd. Possibly the best par 4 on the course which begs for a drive high on the right to run down on to the green. Sadly the line of the rough on the right makes this very difficult. Also the left of the 16th fairway for the drive. It may well be a resourcing issue in reducing the amount of short grass but given the deliberate pinch points I'm not sure. I'd urge the club to prioritise this over tree removal as I think it would have a much bigger impact.
However so as not to dwell on negatives let me say that I think the greens were superb with the 8th being the pick of the bunch for me followed perhaps by the aforementioned 3rd.
Niall