The different color sand looks horrible. Looks like they ruined the 5th. Dont like the whole thing but will have to see it in person. Surely wouldnt pay more than NCGA rate for it.
Tim:
The sand colors aren't as bad in person as they look in photos. I would have liked something closer to the waste areas for the bunkers, but the waste areas are far to firm to be treated as bunkers, or, for that matter, to use as the sand in bunkers.
I'm with Matt, I thought the 5th was pretty awful, and it has turned into one of the better holes on the property IMO. I kind of felt that the Pinehurst reference on its website fit for this hole, as it reminded me a bit of the approach for the 4th with the way the hillside now sits on the right.
My overall reactions:
-It is my belief that of the public courses on 17 Mile Drive (Pebble Beach, Spyglass, Spanish Bay being the others), the 9th at Poppy Hills is now the best par 5. The central bunkers off the tee are incredibly well placed and provide a myriad of options off the tee, and the approach can be played several ways, whether its off the slope front right of the green or carrying the diagonal dry creek bed. I do wish they got rid of the huge stones which make the creek bed though and went with something friendlier to golf clubs.
-I also agree with Matt on the 10th, but I'm not sure that the runoff area to the left is what I didn't like about the hole. That green shape isn't particularly my favorite and just seems to stick out in comparison to the other greens rather than blend in.
-Of the changes that were made, the 12th is easily my favorite. That hole was terrible before. Now, it reminds me of a hole which George Thomas sketched out in
Golf Architecture in America. The bunkers jut into play in a way which forces you to pick a landing target. Given the rather blandness of the land it sits on, it's a great hole.
-The use of greens which slope away from you on several occasions is promising. I hope that NCGA members who play the course grow to enjoy this feature, but based on the three gentleman I played with, that may take some time.
-Most of the tee shots are pretty open, but several of the Jones tee positions, like the 3rd, are really set back in some narrow chutes which make the course feel narrower at times than it really is. I'm still not exactly sure how I feel about that, because while many of those trees come into play, it makes a few of the holes feel really claustrophobic at the start.
Overall, I think it's easily become the 3rd best public track on the peninsula, it's more interesting than Spanish Bay but not enough to top Spyglass. It is closer than a few people may think. On a Doak scale, I'm giving it a 7, and for comparison, I've got Pasatiempo as an 8.
Nonetheless, it's worth playing if you have time and are in the area.