[Brett_Morrissy]

...here is my entry, which I am expecting a lot of heat (flame throwers) on, so fire away – I am sure I will get defensive, but I am sure I will deserve whatever is coming.

my first stab on iPad:


...then:


I have never used any computers to do this kind of thing before, and so taught myself how to use it - and clearly I am not very good at it - and it was a very slippery slope of restraint, that I slide down at an alarming rate the later the nights were staring at a screen. I don’t regret it, but the presentation is so strong, that I am sure it turned many off my design. The use of sand and wasteland was very intentional, even though I got carried away - I have included a pic below that is before I added the last few, it "feels" better. I enjoyed the process very much, and the competition and thanks to all the participants and all the voters and especially to the judges and Alex and Jim for their time and efforts. The flyovers were a lot of fun.

Always in mind, was that I was having to make a ONE PAGE presentation to founders/owners/members of a new club in the Sand Hills – I assumed they would be lay people in the design sense, needing to understand features, and I wanted to sell it to them as I assumed I only had one shot – well I think I just scrapped in with the voting stage, so that was lucky. I would dispute a bit of the tone used in the other entrants comments made by the judges, as imposing their personal beliefs/philosophies – I would have liked them to put the hat as the one we were briefed for – I haven’t seen what the judges said about mine – but that would be a general comment from me on the other entrants.

I note that Tommy has criticized some of the entries that “over” used sand (ranked my entry last – Mike 3rd/Whitten 4th)– as the course was to be based in the Sand Hills, where there is already an ABUNDANCE of sand, sand scraps and blowouts, I assume created by the grazing animals, that I did not want to hide these, or let the native come back to them, or turf over them – why would you?

I redrew all the contours onto Jim’s map using satellite images below. I had to ADJUST the scale marginally (maybe 5-10% I think) You will see from a couple of images below, satellite images layed over the mapped area with significant sandy areas – I literally sat there and drew them onto the map as situated. I joined a couple together, and expanded a couple – but not a lot. For me, I’d rather see a golfer find his ball in a sandy lie where he may be punished with a half to full shot for taking on an important strategic carry, or for trying to get as close as possible to a preferred line, than be wasting time searching for a ball in the “native” - as the American’s like to call it. I am also not sure that the sand is as ‘in your face’ on the ground as it looks on the plan. I wanted to make sure the access road was a long and winding one, with a carpark not too far from cabins and club – I get sore feet and hate having to walk a long way from cabin to clubhouse – so I wanted to cluster these all together with views and access to the rising sun. There is also some scrub and bushes on the satellite, so again I didn’t think it was too much to ask to include some of these around hard structure areas – car park and maintenance – surely rain will shed off these areas and will generate ‘irrigated’ wild native, which I am sure will generate plants as well as grasses. The Windmills – they are also already located on the property off the maps, so I chose to not remove them, but rather help explain a little more about the history of the property – they are obviously overly strong graphically on the routing presentation.

Note: I am not much of an editor, so too many words and too much detail – forgive me for that please? 

I am a fan of squeezing in as many extra holes in later part of the day, so took the sunset clause seriously. I am happy for the club to start busy guest days on the 1st – but would encourage members only to start on the 7th as their first. It was important to me to have Par 3’s around the compass as a starting point, and then compromise later if needed. Short par 4’s were also high on my agenda, they are a lot of fun, and that is the kind of place I thought this should be. I wanted to “stretch my legs” so to speak on the routing – and see a larger portion than lesser, but always felt the SW/SE corners and two largest hills too good to pass up. I was looking for uphill and downhill, cross slopes and valleys and ridges. I was looking for a shot like the 4th at Riviera (see 4th hole – a little long, but fun on the right day with a driver), I was looking for the Devil’s A hole (see 12 – maybe a little too uphill)

I literally laid the greens over the contours over the contours, and tried to the design/route the golf holes from there back to the tee. I tried hopelessly to use shades of green to indicate the different plateaus and contour on the greens. I also removed some of the fairway contour where I wanted it shaped – not a lot of that – but some of the blindness I had removed that didn’t show up in the flyovers-  you can see some contours abruptly finish in places. (I think 1, 3, 5, 11, 13, 14, 15, 17, 18)

So, after that long winded introduction – here is the actual presentation I made to the judges – it is long. Didn’t want to risk missing out on a great job like this for my firm !!

THE CONCEPT BRIEF:

Present a proposal to the Founding members (Alex Miller & Co.) of a new private destination golf club who have provided a 1,000 acre parcel of rolling hummocks and hollows land, situated 3 miles west of Hooker, Nebraska. The brief is requiring our firm to deliver a golf course routing of equal or better quality to that of its neighbours: Sand Hills GC and Dismal River GC, a worthy if challenging goal.
The routing must comprise of 18 holes only, with a specific focus directed to ‘sunset golf’ available to the golfers; our interpretation of this is based on our own experiences of playing late afternoon extra holes, with or without a few beers and friends, or by yourself contemplating the bigger things in life within the natural and beautiful surrounds of the rolling sand hills and the setting sun.

Suck up to the boss with a business card:


In light of this key part of the brief, we have specifically structured the routing to provide sets for the golfers of 3, 6, 9, 12, 15 & 18 holes leaving lots of flexibility for the creative amongst the membership to make up their “own” sunset routings so as to always have something to excite them and stimulate the members and their guests. Importantly, please note that we have also allowed for two different routings (using the same holes) for members only special events – we believe, for example, that the Members routing with the first hole heading north (#7) from the clubhouse, the preferred routing for Club Championships as there would be reduced need for sunset rounds and add a special uniqueness to the members satisfaction and pride in their club.
Further design brief criteria, were that entry could not be from the west, and the clubhouse could be sited where we believe it is best and most appropriate to the routing and infrastructural considerations. Water is available via the property aquifer and there is no requirement to show irrigations plans at this stage. We have chosen to include a long and winding entrance road to the carpark and clubhouse, as we believe a great enhancement to the enjoyment and experience of a destination golf club, especially a private one, is the slow reveal of not only the arrival, but of the actual golf course and clubhouse, with little ‘sneak peaks’ along the journey adding to the mystery and anticipation of the entire experience.

We have added and redrawn all the contour lines, to allow for a better understanding of the ground movement, and to help enhance the founders understanding of the slopes, uphill and downhill shot requirements, and further grasp how the almost endless humps, bumps, hillocks and hollows will come into play to provide endless test of golf and a lifetime of interest.

Our firms goal was to take your golfers on an adventure, over, under, thru, across, around, up and down the beautiful site, and mindful that it is at altitude and will affect the distance the golf ball will travel, and so we have produced a middle set of tees that measure approx 6,768 yards (6,189 metres) with a par of 72. We have aimed to wind the holes around the compass in a balanced manner, so that no matter the wind direction, not only tee shots but short irons will always require a wide variety of shots required to be played down, across or into the wind of the day.

Other key items included are the simple practice facilities including a driving range, a sheltered putting green in a natural bowl and a bunker and short game chipping area all closely located near the clubhouse. Although not listed in the brief, we have sited the Maintenance facilities with good access to the entry road and the golf course.

The accommodation has been sited close walking distance to the clubhouse and carpark, with our desire to provide view aspects to the east and the morning sun to welcome your members and guests to the day, and two variations of size cabins or pods.
The buildings are all modeled on a square pods, approx 40 feet square, clubhouse – 4 pods, plus 3 decking pods and 1 garden pod. Accomodation is also made using the same pods, each one a 2 bedroom acc: we have specified 6 x 2BR and 2 x 3BR all with private decks and views east and north.

THE GOLF COURSE:

A unique design, focused on a number of key principles to ensure budgets are appropriately managed and impact to the environment is kept to a minimum, pace of construction, a fast and firm maintenance program and making the most of the natural setting. Careful analysis of the site, revealed all the natural features that we have used to provide interest and strategy, we have used the vast number of natural sandy wasteland areas and sand blowouts, and also chose to highlight the 6 main wind-mills on the site, these all have large amounts of sandy areas around them created by the grazing cattle, we believe these have provided unique visual and siting concepts and a memorable experience and orientation.

First Satelitte Image: 100% transparency * note the sandy white areas and dark green patches AND walking trails...


next one - about 60% transparency:


this is about 30% transparency:


0% - full map - note WM denotes windmills, all on trails.


The routing presentation includes rendered fairway areas and greens, tees and bunkers and sandy blowouts areas – some of these have been enhanced to provide strategic interest.  The contours shown are as found on the course, our firm’s philosophy is to use all existing contours where possible, so if contours are not continued into rendered areas, then they will be softened during construction.

APOLOGIES FOR THE OVER SATURATED PRESENTATION OF THE HOLES !!

Draft 1 - infrastructure


D2 - outlines - holes


D3 - fairways and greens rendered


D4 - sand render/labels - probably my preferred stage of routing - no wasteland b4 #2 FW & b4 18 FW


FINAL - as presented


Our concept draft includes no secondary rough areas, this will serve to provide great width for the players and also keep maintenance costs down, cutting requirements: greens, tees and fairways – outside of these areas, is entirely natural and untouched, which in the majority will be the marram and prairie grasses. For this reason you will note that we have provided plenty of width into driving zones and approach angles. Green complex designs are based on approach angles throughout each hole’s strategic options, with a wide variety of easy to difficult pin locations and the basis for the design, is a requirement for the golfers to figure out their approaches into pin locations before they play their tee shot.

Most of the green complexes will require little shaping, but rather using existing contours, to this end, we focused on siting greens in interesting locations, and the surrounding contours will give some indication to the feel, otherwise we have shown arrows to indicate existing fall lines – on both fairways and the greens. Green sites have a wide variety, imagine the green contours as a large piece of turf gently draped over the existing ground contours, thus we have mounds and hillocks in, on or around some greens, on precipices and skylines, five green sites are in dells or hollows, are fun and interesting complexes.

We have included five areas where sand areas and bunkering plays a major part in the play of the hole, most of these are all existing on site, and as we also chose to focus some attention on the wind mills, and so we have found the sand and the wind mills as two of the main features that the golfers will remember and so we have proposed the naming of the club, “Sand Mills GC”.

mucking around one Sunday arvo - made this silly little logo:


Some of these sand areas discussed above, require a carry all the way to the green site, or to bail out areas, we imagine the forced carries are not as long as some at famous examples, but will be stimulating and require players to make decisions and commit to those shots, if they do fail, some of these sandy areas we anticipate to be almost hardpan, and definitely not ‘fluffy sand’. Again we are looking for a nice balance between interesting hazards and maintenance costs.

We have a variety of tee shots downhill and uphill , across slope and into valleys and hollows, plus some blind tee shots and approaches and some tempting diagonal carries – with some inspiration provided by many great holes around the world, including Royal Melbourne West course, Pine Valley, Bandon Dunes and Cypress Point to name a few.

Finally, we of course, didn’t want to hinder the wonderful sense of spaciousness on your site, and to try to capture some interesting views, and retain a real sense of privacy, quiet and tranquil countryside and keeping the walking green to tee transfers to a minimum.

THE CARD:

[Brett_Morrissy]

THE HOLES:

I used the google earth image to define the existing sand areas – I have used ALL of them. Some of the large ones are created around the windmills – presumably by the cattle


HOLE 1: Par 5 – 600 yards – west, south west – downhill
Begin the round @ the high point of the property with the main feature the tee shot orientated toward the peak hill, then steeply downhill with the 2nd shot, correctly positioned getting a long run out. Saddle green with 4 points and a central deep small pot bunker and a heroic carry for the strong golfer down the left side.

HOLE 2: Par 4 – 456 yards – south east – downhill

This hole is dominated by the largest sand area on site, left and front carry, encouraging a good downhill tee shot with first of six windmills the aim point for all golfers off all tees. A three tiered green demands an accurate shot or a creative mind to run the ball into the front central section that is at fairway grade.

HOLE 3: Par 4 – 255 yards – uphill – west –

Trouble everywhere for the poorly executed shot for this short par 4 inspired by a number of famous golf holes, we love the features of CPC #13, the back plateau and right to left ground movement of a redan and the #10 at Riviera. It plays uphill which adds some length, the five bunkers behind the green are set into the surrounding banks for the hollow the green sits in, anything left of the hole, is trouble.

HOLE 4: Par 3 – 255yards – Downhill -north

Although the same length as the previous hole, the tees are placed on top of this large hill, a full tee shot will take advantage of the 20 or so feet of fall to the green site. Don’t be right or long, we love the characteristics of the 4th at Riviera and hope to find a few of those here. Tough par.


Hole 5: Par 5 – 558 yards – north, north east – uphill

A challenging second par five of the routing, beginning down thru the valley toward a wide expanse of sand, before turning hard east and uphill, plenty of room short of the green, with all shots feeding left when played RHS of the putting surface. Aim point off the tee is the windmill to the north.

Hole 6: Par 3 – 197 yards – East North East  – downhill
Hole 7: Par 4 – 285 yards – north – downhill

First, the Par 3 6th,  from the edge of the ridge, this hole plays shorter than the yardage due to the downhill, with a 3 tiered long green that has 2/3 of the green in the dell. A short stroll back to the clubhouse for a perfect finish to a  “Sunset Six”!  the approach will be certainly be accepting of a running shot and should reward.
Next, the 7th, a short par 4, playing downhill, but requiring a layup off the tee with an additional route for the stronger player into a narrow landing zone on the RHS of the large rough moundng that splits the fat fairway – if this drive is excuted well, it will reward with a straight away pitch into the meat of the green. Again, the windmill features strongly off the tee, and the first of an ALL sand area carry onto the putting surface.

Hole 8: par 4 – 400 yards – east

With two windmills in the distance, this hole rewards the player who can accurately carry the diagonal bunkering off the tee and also stay left of the “the Bowl of Despair”. Any golfer who is left of the centre FW will end up in this natural hollow, resulting in a blind approach shot and having to carry 2 bunkered mounds covered in prairie grasses. The left half of the green is made up of two natural plateaus, with sharp drop off to the LHS. The RHS portion of the green is also made up of two tiers, but the front one is at FW grade and the second about a 5 foot rise next to a narrow bunker. We love the 6th at RMGC West, and tried to incorporate some of the great features here in reverse.

Hole 9: par 4 – 470 yards – east /south

A natural dogleg right requiring an accurate tee shot to the saddle area for best position and angle to attack a centre or right pin. Two natural hollows and the corner hill will dominate this sandless hole – the deepest and largest hollow on the left will kick the golf ball further left, blind from both above and the corner – “the Bowl of Disappointment” (thanks Choi). An exciting approach shot awaits thru the ntaural and narrow valley to a long dell, with a 3 tiered green set on an angle to this slightly blind uphill approach depending on your decision back on the tee.

HOLE 10: – Par 3 – 128 yards – north east

Tees are located up on the ridge behind the 9th green site, a short hole playing slightly downhill to a tiny green situated in a hollow with the back third section rising onto a narrow saddle before dropping away again into a second depression. The tee shot is blind for the Square tee over the corner of the small dune in front.

Hole 11: par 4 – 425 yards – south east

Tee shot will need to thread its way thru a bit of trouble – BUT – if achieved, great benefits await making the steep drop off, reminiscent of RCD’s magnificent 9th hole. An extra 50 yards plus may be gained with the right bounce, wind mill again dominates the remainder of the hole as well as the vast amount of asndy area to be negotiated. The green setting sited at the base of the very large hill, has a very complex range of contours with 4-5 tiers.


Hole 12: par 3 – 161 yards – south

The hole has probably been playing on the golfers mind since the previous tee shot where it is visible, a real asshole of a par 3, a daunting devil of a hole, plenty of room long for those short on courage and want an area to bail out on their uphill tee shot. Lack of commitment to the shot could result in a lot of trouble short of this little hole on a very big hill.

Hole 13: par 4 – 370 yards – south

Heading due south, the tees and entire length of the hole plays along the ridge lines with a centreline bunker at the end of the a long drive. The approach shot navigates a fairway split by a steep step ridgte, long shelves and plateaus dominate.

Hole 14: par 4 – 345 yards – north east / east

Inspired by the terrific 16th at Bandon Dunes, tee shots will require distance control, temptation abounds for every level of golfer, bite off as much as you can chew. The green complex features two natural features, the obvious drop off over the RHS and off the back edges, and also by a large pimple like mound back left. A carry onto the green is 310 yards.

Hole 15: par 5 – 575 yards – north / west

The long par 5 playing back to the north, winds around the peak of this large hill, fairway split at about 320yards off the tee across its width. There are diagonal bunkers to be carried off the tee, LHS shortens the downhill 2nd shot and the angle to the green. A very small pot lies centre in the 2nd half of the hole to challenge the shorter player. Ground contours feed the running ball to this green sited on natural contours at grade – a deep trench bunker will punish any shots long and left – it is a shared green with 12.

Hole 16: par 5 – 537 yards – north west

Exciting tee plateaus with a short par 5 playing largely downhill, before a highly protected uphill skyline green, butted up against a small mound at the back. 2nd shot decisions requires thought and commitment (like marriage) to one of two paths to the green, easy layup option down the left side requires a difficult approach wedge shot – the longer second shot for those that choose the right hand side of the central and split fairway, although a more difficult shot, rewards the brazen with a simple chip and run onto the green at contour.

Hole 17: par 4 – 303 yards – west

This short par 4, requires shot accuracy off the tee down the narrow left hand side, which will then require a straight forward pitch or wedge shot into the fat of the green. There is a small lower tier on the far right side. We also love the 9th at CPC – who doesn’t, we tried to find a few of the nice features (flipped) of that hole here. Massive sand areas will ensure the golfer is still thinking at this late point of the round, any kind of layout shot will be challenging, and much will depend on where the pin is located.

Hole 18: par 4 – 448 yards – uphill - north / west (sunset shadowed by hill and club)

Some final decisions to be made on this very difficult finishing hole with two greens, alternates, and potential to join them if required. Tee and green are at the same contour, with the greens set in the delightful little bowls separate by a saddle hillock and natural sand blowout. We chose to include both, the RHS green a more difficult option. Standing on the tee the golfer must keep the ball to the LHS to both shorten the next shot, but to also avoid the steep fall away down slope to a long hollow on the left. Much sand to be negotiated – the right hand green measures 481 yards.

Clubhouse, accomodation and short grass surrounding clubhouse, acc& short game area

Short cut grass surrounds and connects the main buildings and gathering areas.

Driving range, car park & 1st tee

Range really just thrown together - position was carefully considered, but as Jim mentioned on one of his posts - I dont see why you would be on the range, when you could be on the course - life is too short.

Front nine



Back nine


Sunset loop – 6 holes – #1-#6 – Par 24 – 2 x 3’s, 4’s & 5’s


A Quick three holes?


Comments?
Congratulations if you’ve got this far!

[Thomas Dai]

Talk about a comprehensive effort, well done. How many hours do you reckon you spent on this? Nice humourous touch with the 'Top Secret' notation in the corner of the maps.

All the best

[Alex Miller]

Tommy Naccarato says:

You’re bunker maniac!

Actually, I’m going to assume a lot of what your doing is waste areas and with that, I love it, Unfortunately, I don’t understand the shrinking of width on some holes, a sort of bottle neck of difficulty: Hit it here to here and if you don’t truth or consequences!

But you’ve got a great routing of holes here on the land, but you also are overpowering that land with strategies that can be to the point of too complex for the average beast! I’m a strategy nut myself, don’t get me wrong, but understand that respecting the environment that you have is a major thing here. Restraint has to be shown when designing

Still a great job none the less.




Ron Whitten says:

   As with Entry 7, this architect aligned the practice range so that it faces west rather than east, but with the south wind, it will accentuate the slices of many a fader, which is never a good thing. I do think he went overboard with the “car park;” it’s nearly twice the length of a football field.  This isn’t the sort of club that will do weddings, so there’s no need for that big of a parking lot.  The entry road seems designed by a drunk, and are those bushes or trees planted around the maintenance area and parking lot? I hope not.

   Onto the golf course. Perusing the scorecard, I think there’s far too much difference between the regular tees (square markers) and forward tees (circular markers). 6,768 yards is way too long for an average golfer who drives it 225-250 yards on average, while 5,760 yards seems too short.  Yes, a middle ground can be achieve by mixing up tee markers, but unless the club officially does so, no golfer can post a score for handicapping purposes when flipping around to different markers on different holes. (The architect’s note that the regular tee yardage of 6,768 equals 6,189 meters reinforces the need for another set of markers. One that measures somewhere around 6,189 YARDS.)

   I’m struck by the fact that this architect used the enhanced topographic map, which purportedly shows 5 foot intervals (although I believe they are 20 foot intervals). He also noted that he used Google Earth to assist in identifying existing sand areas and windmills.  If this is true, I’m not sure this wouldn’t disqualify him, as he clearly had an advantage (knowing the actual site) not provided to other contestants.

Presuming it does not, I will hold him to a higher standard, given his reliance upon an additional resource.  So I expected to see holes that truly hugged the rugged landscape. Unfortunately, I did not. Several holes seemed to work against the landscape.  Take the long par-4 ninth, for example. The architect describes it as a “natural dogleg right . . . to a saddle area. . . to a long dell, with a 3-tiered green set on an angle to this slightly blind uphill approach.”  There’s nothing natural about a 90-degree dogleg.  I found that to be contrived and artificial. (Such sharp doglegs were featured three other holes.)  The architect also presumes his green site to be a kettle hole, which makes his green draped across it to be “three tiered” in that it has high right and left decks and a lower middle section. I read it on the topo to be a long dune, which makes his green seem goofy and unhittable, high in the center, sloping off left and right.  Which is correct? If I give this architect the benefit of the doubt,  I still feel it’s a bad hole. The average golfer can’t get around the dogleg (there’s only one set of tees, actually) and certainly can’t cut across the dogleg. The long “uphill” second shot to a green down into a bowl is certain achievable, but only if the pin is down in the hollow. If it’s on either flank, it’s an uphill putt of – what – eight to ten feet?

This is not to say that this design doesn’t have merits. There are several holes that strike my fancy. The short, drivable par-4 third, with the steep slope to the left of the green, is a delightful hole, especially when followed by a par-3 of virtually the same length, but downhill and far different in play. 

The use of one set of tee boxes serving both the 13th and 16th holes is a smart feature, underappreciated by real golfers but appreciated by those who foot the bills for irrigation, seed and maintenance. The architect also used a double green in the proper way for today’s litigious society, having the green serve both the 12th and 15th from opposite and offset directions, so that there’s very little chance of a group on one hole hitting into players on the other. The natural sand areas are eye-catching, although it might be overdone, especially near greens. It has been the experience of other sandhills courses that winter winds often sweep sand out of blow-outs and sand scrapes and completely cover greens.  The architect should be aware that the owner will have to spend money stabilizing these sand feature for winter months each year.
Back to the design, there seem to be far too many “fake options” provided to make some holes look special. Would anyone really play to the narrow lily pad fairway on the right of the massive seventh fairway? I doubt it, especially when neither fairway allows the use of a driver. And the short par-4 17th, which is practically the same hole absent the lily pad fairway, is practically unplayable for any golfer not long enough to drive the green. A narrow fairway with sand on the right and a prevailing left-to-right crosswind does not look appealing.  The architect compares this to the 9th at Cypress Point, but I don’t see it.

   As for the greens, in reading through the architect’s description of each hole, I’m struck by the number of multi-tiered greens. As I said with other entries, I agree that greens on a sandhills golf course ought to resemble the rugged nature of their surroundings, but tiers connotes harsh slopes and harsh slopes connotes lots of three-putting.  Is there any reason why the green on the par-4 11th has to have five tiers in it? That smacks of an early Nicklaus green. Or a recent Nicklaus green at Dismal River. 

CONCLUSIONS TO ENTRY 16: As dramatic-looking as any routing I’ve reviewed, both in terms of graphics and routing.  The course flows well across the land, always turning direction as to present different wind conditions on nearly every shot. Some parts of some fairways seems pointlessly narrow, as do the corners of some greens. The hazard placement may be the best part of this design, some seemingly random (in spots where good golfers would want to land a ball) others strategy (in spots where good golfers should want to land a ball) and accented by huge (perhaps too huge) expanses of native sand. Should this architect be hired, I’d make him straighten out a couple of his sharp doglegs and keep him away from all tree spades.

[Dieter Jones]

Brett, I've already passed on my thoughts to you privately via email but will repeat some of them here in the hope that it encourages a few more people to give you their feed back. Here is an extract of that email.

Nice work Brett. It feels like you put almost as much work into the 26 page summary as the course design!! It is interesting that the Saturation is not an issue in your summary pages. I guess that is why they say “white space” is so important in Advertising. Framing each hole individually with white around it they come up really well.

Overall I thought your executive summary was excellent. There were a few typo’s and mixing up of Right and left. I also liked the fact that it was kind of a mock professional presentation but still took the piss out of itself in places. To your actual layout:

I liked your start. 3 looks like fun (in a ring clenching  kind of way) and I don’t mind that the next hole is the same length but different par. I thought of the 12th at Barny in reverse  when looking at your 3rd. I find 12 barny one of best bits of routing on the course. I could never have imagined that hole myself so all credit to Mr Doak. My only concern with the drive on 4 is it would actually be blind given how far back on the hill top the tee is, and how much lower the green is.

Hole 5 felt a little forced to me. I get the strategic principal of the hole and appreciate the “bite off what you dare” nature of it and think it works for decent players. I think it is the narrowness of the neck and the way the fairway runs out. Some people will have to lay up short for 2 and that doesn’t work well here. Can’t really put my finger on it anymore than that.

7 I definitely don’t get the Right side route. Too narrow and difficult to hit when the reward is an easier 60 yard pitch than the left hand side. If that RHS option could get you onto the fringe or leave a 20 yarder I’d get it. Can’t see the reward making the risk worth it.

8 I like but wonder if the RHS of fairway should start much closer to the tee rather than the tight left side. Ie play away from the trouble off the tee is easier (but much harder second). You end up with LHS being really tight to avoid the traps and keep out of the bowl. RHS is the bail out side but such a long carry to reach the fairway. I Guess I would like to see a “definite easier” tee shot right.

9 green placement across the hill top was really interesting. Not sure how that will work in practice but you obviously have seen / played something similar and enjoyed it.

10 Glad to see somebody else tried to put in a really short 3. 7 at barnbougle has opened my eyes to the joys of being forced to play an accurate wedge (or 7 iron) on a par 3.

11 was a good hole. I would have liked the right side of the fairway to open up a bit more (ie take out that bunker at the top of the big hill. That is probably my favourite example of you using the big blowouts.

13 I wasn;t sure about the need for a central hazard of that scale. Nice routing there though.

14 I liked. Would be good to stand on the tee there and have to commit to 1 of about 4 or 5 ways of playing the hole.

15 I liked.


16,17,18 - There is a strong theme of large central hazards on your course (from 7 onwards). I think finishing with 3 more probably killed it for me. It was ultimately the thing that probably made your course slip from top 5 to top 10 in my voting.

Overall I think the presentation you gave me today (THE DETAILED HOLE BY HOLE) has actually made me appreciate your course more. If I was to vote again today I would place your routing higher so well done. I agree that you are deserving of a place in the final.

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