Semi-skyline approach to 1:
With green recapture, total area of putting surfaces expanded approx 20%. From the fairway you'd never expect such a massive rolling green...
Reachable par-5 2nd. No simple lay-up (another great green here):
The 3rd is a long par-4 with a fun kick-plate and firm conditions that allow it to function:
Ball-buster. 4 plays uphill and into the wind. False-front means all-carry approach required:
6 is a mid-length par-3 with a great view of Boston:
I loved the 7th. Straightaway and straightforward. Tilted fairway is used effectively, when combined with angle of green and placement of greenside bunker, to reward playing to high side of fairway.
Approach from low-side of fairway is scary, even with wedge in hand...
8 is another ball-buster, about 435 and uphill all the way (and my only birdie of the day!).
The prototypical Donald Ross short. On the green beyond the hole is bad. Missing short is bad. Missing pin high left or right is terrible. Missing long is X.
The stretch from 7-11 offers little reprieve, though the 430 yard 10th may be the 'easiest' hole in that set. The hole plays uphill the entire way, and the recent green restoration allowed an entire front tier to be restored, extending the front of the green by 40(!!) feet:
The two-tiered green is once again a three-tiered green:
The 11th is a 233 yard par-3, which thankfully allows for a running approach:
And perhaps my favorite picture of the day, taken from the 14th green, looking back at the 10th and 11th greens:
Finally, a gettable stretch. The 12th-14th offers back-to-back par-5s (both reachable in two) and a short par-3.
A true decision to be made from the tee on the split-fairway 13th:
The 14th is a short par-3 with a devilish green made more confounding by a pimple in its centre:
The golf course finishes 4-4-4-4. The 15th plays along the boundary to the right, and one must play the approach to that side as the fairway slopes hard to the left. Shots landing in the left-centre of the green will find the left rough:
A difficult tee shot at the 16th gives way to a picturesque drop-shot approach to one of the most beguiling greens I have seen. The entire front portion of the green is false-front, and a ridge/spine combine to make a 'T' shape in the green's centre.
One ridgeline down and running in the opposite direction, the 17th tilts hard from the right.
And in the opposite direction we go once again on the 445 yard 18th. With its reverse cambre the hole plays extremely long and another false-front makes a running approach a difficulty:
