Guess that depends on the architectural work. In this country which is largely below sea level I believe those ponds are essential for drainage and to manage the water table which is obviously extremely high. I know at this site some are also a source of irrigation water that has a lower PH level than the river running close by. In short a necessary evil to manage the surrounding environment.
And yet Ran somehow found two near the sea to review that don't have ponds.
Discerning sand based course player...that's funny, never heard that one before. Don't think I've ever met one either.
Perhaps Ran is one given what he has reviewed in Netherlands.
I'm sure if you think about it you can come up with some other "fantastic golf courses" with a few ponds here and there. Think Seminole, Streamsong or pretty much anything in Florida.
Yes we have all heard of Florida, as one poster called it the land of the Doak 0.
Either the original routings from Kyle don't make them visible, or there were no ponds in play. Although I'm not familiar with Seminole and Streamsong, there may be a very different use of ponds there than what we are seeing in the above routings.
Garland,
I'm not quite as skeptical as you are yet. What I've seen there looks pretty darn good for this little country and the owner's goal as I might have mentioned is to create a bucket list kind of course, not a championship course. The budget is bordering on carte blanche so the end result is only restricted by the creativity of Mr. Phillips and his team on the ground. The gentleman taking care of construction also did YAS Links among many others and is one of the best in the business. It's not a links course, it's in Den Bosch in the middle of the country, sand based ground is ideal for construction and whether there are ponds or not will certainly not make or break a great design. I've already provided you ample reasoning.
I guess your comment about Kyle's initial sketch not having them there, is indeed because they were either not colored in or he was at that stage still unaware of the severity of the water table and the type of restrictions this would create.
The course is aimed at being a heathland course, firm and fast fairways, ample heather and open vistas. Think courses like those in the Surrey on the London sandbelt. Some of which indeed will have ponds to deal with. My feeling is this course will be possible comparable to something like Queenwood, thinking of the more modern heathland designs. If you are familiar with that one then you will know exactly what I mean and how they work in some ponds for one reason or another.
Yes, Ran indeed made two nice reviews of courses in The Netherlands. Those were classic links courses and we have only a very small number of those. He's not yet reviewed Utrecht De Pan which is heathland as well, also no lakes there and definitely worthy of a review and IMO a top 100 world ranking.
In any case it's clear that you are not a fan of lakes/man made lakes on sand based golf courses. To each their own. I'm excited to see the finished product here and see what Kyle and team can do, also excited to have another excellent course added to this little country with only a small handful of world class courses.