Lots of questions--
First, there is no restriction on walking, but I doubt that anyone in his right mind would attempt the feat-- I did not realize the elevation changes that take place less than 5 minutes from my home, but they are there--A definite minus--
The par fives are, in my opinion, exceptional--They each have different lines of play and each shot makes you think--For example the drive on 11 is very similar to the drive on two at Cypress-9 is a great par five that creates great strategy on whether or not to cross the creek on the second or third shot and depending on that decision, you will have an entirely different apprach shot-
Something that Fazio has not done often is he creates a squeeze effect with his bunkering on drives and second shots on the par 5s, but strangely does not do that on his par 4s--His bunkering on par fours is often to suggest a line of play, rather than creating hazards in the driving areas--
Where he creates problems in the driving areas it is the use of creeks(which are ESA and played as WHs) and the creek must be crossed several times, in addition to acting as a LWH on some other holes-- Only the creek on #1 appears to be imported, all other water hazards are natural.
The fairways, although often wide, are bordered by extremely heavy meadow grasses, rock formations(natural rocks, Tommy) or creek beds--
This area adjoins the Laguna Green Belt area, a huge natural area, and during play I saw in the bunkers bobcat tracks, deer tracks and mountain lion tracks--
The par threes are varied--3 are downhill, one is level and one is uphill, bowever each plays in a different direction to the prevailing wind, so variety does exist--
The weakest area appears to be the short par fours-- 3 of the short holes are very similar with a short blind shot to a hidden uphill green-- most of the other greens are visable on your approach--
Fazio has done some things with the greens I have not seen him do before--some are "over the top" contured-- and a few have large false fronts-- The grass is A4 and we stemped it at 12--I know they will slow down some when the greens mature, but the severiety of some of the slopes make large percentages of some of the greens unusable for hole locations--Many of the greens have tiers, and it is important to get on the "proper" tier, or else 3 putts are likely-- Many of the hole will change radically depending on where the hole is located, hence it will be important to know hole locations before driving on some holes--
One concern I have had with TF courses is they "lack depth"--First impressions are great, but after a couple of plays the "mystery" is gone and the line of play becomes clear and the hazards are more visual than real (kind of like a first date with an apparently beautiful, intelligent woman--Only on the second date she wears the same outfit and says the same thing--the charm is diminished)-- It doesn't seem that this course has that problem, ie there really seems to be rewards if you take the risks, and there may be various ways to play most holes that are not apparent on the first play--but time will tell--
As to ranking, that is almost impossible with one play--
Its certainly behind LA North, Riveria, The Valley Club, Rancho Santa Fe, probably behind Bel-Air, maybe behind Sherwood, but in the mix of San Diego CC, Wilshire and Torry South(which I am including based on what I believe the revised course will look like)--Its likely ahead of the other Or CO courses(Coto, Dove), the new inland courses and certainly his desert courses(The Quarry and Vintage){I am excluding from ranking my home course, Big Canyon, which I would probably rate higher than most of you}
I don't know when it was completed, but the rumor is that it could have been opened last spring, but was delayed almost a year to coincide with some of the residential completions--
As noted, its intended that play will be extrememly restricted(play with a member as his guest or don't play)