Visited Dormie in February -- toured the course, didn't play. And while I agree with David that the walks around hazards are less than ideal, they didn't seem like a major blemish. I thought Dormie ranked right up there with Friar's Head and Bandon Trails.
For one thing, it's a beauty. In February the colors were tawny and the course had a spare look to it. I kept thinking about Coore's remark that he wants to design landscapes that just happen to have a golf hole in them. The more I see of CC work, the more I think that there's a kind of artistry there that has its equal in MacKenzie and that's about it. Their holes are elegant compositions. Of course they have to work as golf holes, but when I think of Bandon Trails # 13, for instance, i don't remember how i played it; I remember that deep bunker on the right, and the reedy marsh, and the lush hill rising behind the green. It's a charmed place, and I could go on about several other holes at BT or FH. Dormie is in that same class. To judge it only from the perspective of golf strategyis like judging a Ferrari only by its engine. There's more to the package.
Second, re the feeling of "same old" -- it's true that there are elements of design, like the frequent use of sidehills to tempt a player or to provide an option, that CC have used elsewhere. But there is nothing like the kind or repetition that Macdonald-Raynor employed. When attempting to evaluate their courses, we don't look so much at the similarites as at the ways they have come up with variations, how the Redan at NGL differs from the Redan at Chicago and so on. Here of course we enter into matters of connoiiseurship that can make us feel queasy, but there's no way around it (and it's better to be a connoisseur than a critic, I'd say). In any case, no matter how intently we study a hole, I am completely sure that we give it far less attention than CC did (I couldn't believe the number of hours they put in at BT on some of the greens, esp #5). If anyone is aware of the danger of repeating themselves, they are -- and I have do doubt that they do everything they can to avoid repeating themselves.
Third, re the strategic challenges at Dormie -- I kept itching to play when I toured the course. On just about every tee, the range of options is clear and intriguing. Standing there, you realize that you need a plan of attack and there are several to choose from. On this count, too, I think Dormie ranks not just with the best of CC but the best anywhere.
I won't be at all surprised to see the Dormie Club show up high in the ratings. The greater suspense is what will happen to the property, which has already changed hands and is struggling to find some secure financial foundation.