Good morning John. I'm going to carry on with the 11th hole, as I have time set aside for adding to the thread. Hope everything is OK, and that you are just traveling home and/or recuperating from your visit to Dismal River.
If I remember correctly, the 11th hole at Dismal River is about 172 yards long from the back tee. The tee shot from the back tee is nearly blind, over a sand ridge that's tall enough to obscure the green, but you can still see the flag. The middle and short tee boxes are well to the right, from which you can see about half of the green. It's a beautiful hole, very enticing, especially from the back tee box.
Front view:
Right side view:
Back to my playing experience. The player can get some idea of front, middle or back pin position as he/she walks by the middle tee to the back tee. With this said, I could not tell where the pin was, or how big the green was, by taking this walk the first time. I selected a 6-iron, and more or less knowing that Tom would build a partially blind par 3 with plenty of grass surrounds, aimed right at the flag and tugged it a few yards left. Walking up to the green, I was very surprised to see how severe it is, the day's middle left pin on a narrow shelf, with a big drop to the right side. My wife's tee shot looked very good from the tee, just a yard or two right, but ended up 12-15 yards right. I was left with a tricky up, then down from the short grass left of the green, and failed to convert.
The 11th hole at Ballyneal plays up to 200 yards long. The back tee happens to give the best line of approach, generally in line with the large green, which slopes consistently from back to front. Here is a photo of the hole from near the back tee:
This is the rare case of a deceptive green at Ballyneal. Uphill putts toward the back of the green play slower than they look, and I remind myself to hit them hard. The green plays quite narrow, perched on a dune, with falloffs on the front, middle right and middle left sides. You see a fair number of balls pulled into the native left of the green here. The two pot bunkers on the right side are very difficult hazards, especially the second one, where the player often has to manufacture an unnaturally steep takeaway just to swing. Although the green is fairly large, only about 75% of it can be used to place the hole. Overall, the 11th hole at Ballyneal is a tough golf hole.
Wow, now I have to decide?
In recent polls, the 11th hole at Ballyneal receives less love than I think it deserves. I have always cited it as a favorite hole on the course, but few feel that way. Once again, I probably enjoy the challenge of hitting a long iron shot properly more than most players. Ballyneal's 11th hole does not yield an abundance of interesting chip shots, unless you miss long and right. Without any data to back it up, Dismal River's 11th hole looks better suited to the pleasing chip and run, or long, satisfying putt.
One of the corrolaries to the time theory of watching shots roll out is for blind shots, the anticipation of walking up and finding out where your ball finished. I experienced that on Dismal River's 11th, but was disappointed with the result. Although it is a short iron from the shorter tees, the 11th hole at Dismal River is all carry to the green complex. I imagine some balls are lost here in a strong S-SE breeze.
Ballyneal's 11th hole has a wide variety of teeing areas. The hole plays from 130-175 yards on a line just right of the photo. It also has a hidden tee box way left, about 130-140 yards away, and can also be played from in back of the 10th green, another 135-145 yard shot from way right. That's a lot of flexibility.
This is a very hard call for me. I like Ballyneal's 11th hole better. I am anxious to hear some thoughts from other people, especially anecdotes from Dismal River. I'll be back in a few hours.
Draw. 10-10.