Thanks folks. I'm obviously very pleased to have qualified. I haven't posted in a long while but I thought I'd respond to comment on the course:
Tell us about North Shore
I haven't been there since the Doak redo-did a golf school today with a teacher who often works there-says it's really good
I really enjoyed North Shore, and not just because I played well on Thursday. My main thoughts after my practice round were that it was a good course for my game and that I think it would be a fun course to play all the time.
Part of the reason for that is because the course doesn't feel repetitive to me. That's a nice quality because I think much of the routing is such that it could very easily feel repetitive. There are a handful of holes that run next to each other over very similar land -- 1 and 12, 3 and 4, 13 and 14, 18 and 1&2 -- but they don't feel like the same or similar holes at all. When playing the first two holes the first time, I looked left and right and saw several holes running parallel over what looked like the same upslope (on 1) and downslope (on 2). This had me worried it would just feel like the same holes back and forth but it's not like that at all.
I did see on another thread that Tom Doak said they changed 1, 2, 17, and 18 in part to give some variety to the course rather than to have several mid-length par fours. I never saw the original holes (though the Google Maps satellite overhead still shows them) so I can't comment on them, but I will say I like the holes that are there now (particularly 2, 17, and 18) and from looking at the overhead would not be surprised at all to find out most members feel the new holes are a big improvement.
Another aspect of the course that I suspect would make it fun to play all the time is the variety in the shapes and slopes of the greens. There are narrow and long greens on 1, 3, and 9 that are tough to hit. There are greens with a lot of internal contour like 2, 15, and 17. The greens on 6, 12, and 18 have slopes running down the middle that make them play more narrow. Other greens are fairly flat or have a some steep pitch to them. And there's the double plateau that's just great. It's a nice varied set and I was told seven of the greens are new with the redo. Obviously the four new holes, and I think also 7, and my guesses for the other two would be 15 and probably 13.
Lastly, I hit a variety of clubs off the tees there. I decided to hit driver on six holes, three wood on four holes, and my next club down (a 17 degree hybrid) on three holes. But guys I played with did differently and I might have made different choices if I had been more or less comfortable with certain shot shapes or even my swing that day. For the par threes I hit three wood, 5 iron, 8 iron, and 9 iron.
That's all for now.