Dormie, what holes do you admire/like?

[Carl Rogers]

A number of threads have discussed the perceived weak holes.  Let's start from the other direction: which hole(s) do you like?
For me:
Hole 3: short par 4 in which the mini tour player might bogey and 15 handicapper might birdie, wild multi segmented green
Hole 7: longish par 3 calling for left to right shot and a bail out left, hard hard hole
Hole 11: uphill par 4 attractive green site
Hole 16: medium length par 3, good hole for the short straight hitter, another attractive green site.

[Matt Wharton]

Have played Dormie a few times through the years and always thought the following about these holes:
No. 3 - Very short and the multilevel green requires great accuracy with a wedge.
No. 6 - This Par 5 is deceptively downhill following the tee shot (look back towards tee from approach).
No. 8 - There was no Par on the original scorecard and I've always felt this hole was an excellent Par 4 1/2!
No. 13 - This long Par 4 is bunkerless and doesn't need any, must keep tee shot on proper side of fairway.
No. 14 - Short Par 4 invites one to pull driver but brings trouble if not properly placed.
No. 15 - Difficult driving hole with long carry over ravine. Blind second too.
No. 17 - Steep climb on this Par 5!


Fun course!

[Sean_A]

I agree with #3. 

#4 is cool because of the hanging green.

The wee 12th is a good example of a short par 3...really like the rear right bunker. 

The simplicity of the 13th is very attractive.

#15's drama is a keeper.

Ciao

[Christian Newton]

After six rounds in the last year and a half, I find myself most looking forward to the 13-14-15 sequence. All two-shotters, each thoughtful and demanding, and in different ways. Each demands, I'd think for many, different clubs and shapes off the tee and certainly into the green-site. To me 13-14-15 are the beating heart of the course and speak to the strength generally of the two-shot holes at Dormie. The approach on 15 has the potential to be the most thrilling, followed by the approach on 18.

[Jay Mickle]

As for number 11 I just don't get it. Hit a great drive to the left of the cross bunker and be rewarded with a blind shot to the green. Flare one out to the right side into the waist area and have a great view of the flag. Strategy?

[Erik J. Barzeski]

As for number 11 I just don't get it. Hit a great drive to the left of the cross bunker and be rewarded with a blind shot to the green. Flare one out to the right side into the waist area and have a great view of the flag. Strategy?

Truth there. Even if you're hugging the sand to the right edge, you can't see the flag.

I also thought #3 was weak. The tee shot is unimaginative - I feel like most will just lay up. Then it requires a wedge. Yeah, you've gotta hit it to the right level… or the shorter level, which leaves an uphill putt. Everyone in my foursome was just short and made par.

I liked #17 most of all.

[Ted Sirbaugh]

As for number 11 I just don't get it. Hit a great drive to the left of the cross bunker and be rewarded with a blind shot to the green. Flare one out to the right side into the waist area and have a great view of the flag. Strategy?

Truth there. Even if you're hugging the sand to the right edge, you can't see the flag.

I have not been to Dormie, so please correct me if I'm wrong or misunderstanding your description. Is #11 at all similar to the style of hole Flynn used, where staying to the outside of the dogleg (and maybe away from the hazard) provides the better angle?

I don't think good strategy always requires you to hug the bunkers. From your description, it sounds like this hole is blind regardless of your position in the fairway. If the left side is a better angle into the green, then are you rewarded for keeping it left of the cross bunker? Otherwise, you could lay up short of the bunker and be stuck with a longer shot and more challenging angle in? On the flip end, you could just blast it into the waste area, and have a clear view but tougher angle to approach it.

[Jay Mickle]

Ted,
No to your question. The hole doesn't fit the parameters you suggest.
The way the green is angled it certainly does reward a shot up the left side. The problem is that if you hit that shot, you have a blind shot to the green and no real sense of where it is and a 30 yard walk up the hill to view the green.

[Ted Sirbaugh]

Ted,
No to your question. The hole doesn't fit the parameters you suggest.
The way the green is angled it certainly does reward a shot up the left side. The problem is that if you hit that shot, you have a blind shot to the green and no real sense of where it is and a 30 yard walk up the hill to view the green.

Jay,

Got it. Thank you for clarifying

[Andy Ryall]

For me, I thought #4 was the best hole on the property given its right- left speed slots flow off the tee that plays slightly uphill back to the right with a pond framing the hole to the right. 

We played 36 on a Saturday in September and played the shorter tees in the AM and the longer tees in the PM, which provided different experiences. Holes like 5 and 15 were dramatically different given the forced carry over a few pond and marsh, which adds to the variety of playing the same course twice in a day.

Other holes to note were the short, gambling 14th, and the Par 5th 6th that played uphill off the tee that went back downhill to a narrow green site. 

The course was in pristine shape and thought the routing was excellent moving through different environments; reminiscent of Bandon Trails.   I have personally been a bit bewildered at some of the negative/less than favorable opinions on DC, but to each his own.

[Jerry Kluger]

I have long been a fan of C & C courses and Dormie is a solid and fun golf course.  The more you play it and understand how to play it the more enjoyable it becomes. The course does need to be firm and fast to play as it was designed to be played where you are rewarded for hitting a particular part of the fairway or learning that the best play often isn't directly at the pin.  What kind of amazes me is how many people prefer Tobacco Road. Hopefully the new owners will spend the money to finish the course and get it up to its potential.

[Kyle Harris]

As for number 11 I just don't get it. Hit a great drive to the left of the cross bunker and be rewarded with a blind shot to the green. Flare one out to the right side into the waist area and have a great view of the flag. Strategy?

Easy, the trade-off between a decent lie and a slightly uncomfortable approach the first time you play it or the shot a bad lie where you have the ability to the see shot you can't execute with your 12-handicap.

Strategy doesn't mean "Pick a duck, everyone's a winner!"

[Jay Mickle]

Strategy doesn't mean "Pick a duck, everyone's a winner!"

Agreed, but in this case it seems to be" Hit you best drive and deal with it"

[Carl Rogers]

My opening comment about hole 11 has been confirmed by the amount of buzz generated, but I was remiss in not mentioning hole 13....... a very good and fair hole.


I observe, from other threads, there have been more non-positive comments  than positive about the course.


Beyond building some bridges across wetlands and maybe expanding the practice range (somehow?), I do wonder what the new owners will do to "improve" the course.  The course is what is at this point.  In the 4 or 5 rounds I have played the conditioning has been very good to excellent (but then there has not been much traffic).

[Philip Hensley]

Played DC last Sunday, probably the best course conditions I have seen there.


2nd hole seems to get overlooked. 2 players missed the green just to the left. It seems like it should be an easy up and down but the chip shot is way harder than it appears. The right to left tilt of the fairway tends to produce a pull left on the approach shot.


4th hole you never know what you are going to get. You can snap hook one off the tee but if you were aiming far enough right it could roll down to the lower left level where you have a flat lie. You can pipe one down the middle and have a weird stance with the ball below your feet. So much variety on this hole


14th hole is another with many options, and usually you overthink it and make your own trouble. It's hard to commit to one shot so you end up trying to do 2 different things at once and end up putting yourself in trouble and scrambling for par on a hole less than 300 yards


15th hole, is there anything like it? Depending on the wind you can get aggressive off the tee but if you push it just a few yards you're in the gunch. Playing too conservatively leads to a long, blind approach shot.

[Tommy Williamsen]

Philip have they finished the bunkers? They put in the Better Billy Bunker System and used their own sand to fill them.

[Philip Hensley]

Philip have they finished the bunkers? They put in the Better Billy Bunker System and used their own sand to fill them.

Yes, they finished the project up just a few days prior. I’m happy to report I did not have the privilege of testing any of them out.

[Jeff Loh]

Phillip
How are the azaleas doing on the right side of #8 green?

[Craig Disher]

Phillip
How are the azaleas doing on the right side of #8 green?

This is a joke, right?

[Cory Lewis]

I always liked #6 because it was a reachable par 5 with a ton of strategy.  Even though you have a very wide fairway, you need to place your tee shot in a place where you can hit a very accurate second shot to lay up or go for it, especially when it's firm. 


One of my favorite stories from caddying there is I once had a low ball hitter who had 240 into the green. I told him to hit his 190 club, he didn't want to do it, we argued for a bit, then he acquiesced and preceded to hit it to 5 feet.  He made the Eagle putt.  His first eagle in ten years, I found out later. 


I loved how big hitters couldn't really overpower it because when it was firm, if you landed on the green, you didn't stay on the green and over was one of the worst places to be on the golf course.  A marvelously designed par five that is always fun to play!

[Philip Hensley]

I always liked #6 because it was a reachable par 5 with a ton of strategy.  Even though you have a very wide fairway, you need to place your tee shot in a place where you can hit a very accurate second shot to lay up or go for it, especially when it's firm. 


One of my favorite stories from caddying there is I once had a low ball hitter who had 240 into the green. I told him to hit his 190 club, he didn't want to do it, we argued for a bit, then he acquiesced and preceded to hit it to 5 feet.  He made the Eagle putt.  His first eagle in ten years, I found out later. 


I loved how big hitters couldn't really overpower it because when it was firm, if you landed on the green, you didn't stay on the green and over was one of the worst places to be on the golf course.  A marvelously designed par five that is always fun to play!

Agreed. It’s so tempting to go for it in 2 because the fairway slopes towards the green. But the hole narrows as you get close to the green and if you don’t pull off the shot, a par is usually out of the question. It’s birdie or double bogey.

[Jeff Loh]

Craig
Saw a picture of them. Not sure they still exist. Don't think it was "well received."

[Jason Topp]

I have always heard mixed things about 10 but I like the hole.  As I recall the 2nd shot is difficult but rewarding a drive to the left side of the fairway and punishing the timid by forcing either a gamble to get in a reasonable position or a layup that makes the hole difficult to hit in 3.  It is more in the vein of a hard par/easy bogey RTJ hole but the course has plenty of 1/2 par holes that swing in the other direction. 


I suspect there is a bias here of disliking holes that are difficult but it has been a long time since I played the course.  Am I onto something or on something?

[Philip Hensley]

I have always heard mixed things about 10 but I like the hole.  As I recall the 2nd shot is difficult but rewarding a drive to the left side of the fairway and punishing the timid by forcing either a gamble to get in a reasonable position or a layup that makes the hole difficult to hit in 3.  It is more in the vein of a hard par/easy bogey RTJ hole but the course has plenty of 1/2 par holes that swing in the other direction. 


I suspect there is a bias here of disliking holes that are difficult but it has been a long time since I played the course.  Am I onto something or on something?

At its current length it is too long for most players to even try any strategy. Most players cannot reach the area to the left that would shorten the 2nd shot carry.


The principal’s nose bunker seems out of place given the toughness of the 2nd shot. If you are able to go to the left side of the fairway it would not come into play because you would be aiming well past it.


So you have a tough 2 shot carry for 90% of players, and now there is a bunker to deal with also. And when the hazard grass is full grown the landing area is mostly blind.


The other loss with the current tees is some cool fairway contouring on the right side of the fairway that could be used to shoot the ball in different directions. But it is so far back it does not come into play on either shot.

[Philip Hensley]

What I do like about the 10th hole is the green, and the way it slopes front to back. It is very difficult to get a ball close to a front hole location unless you land it short of the green. It is also usually very difficult to tell where on the green the hole is, because the green is so long it is hard to discern the depth of the flag. When the ground in front of the green is dry it is a very fun shot to attempt a run up shot.


***I was just informed that there is a new tee being built on the 10th hole that will allow the hole to be played with the strategy that was intended.***