But I did not think he would come up with a list where I wouldn't have picked ANY of the same 18 holes myself. I'm not certain if that's a good thing, or not.
Tom,
Out of interest, which hole of yours would you have picked for this list if not 13 at PD?
Actually, Ran called me a while back to ask if I thought it would be okay to use the 13th at High Pointe for this feature. I said sure, that was a great hole, but people would think he was nuts if he passed over 13 at Pacific Dunes for a hole that's now back to native weeds. Plus we didn't have a great photo of it.
I don't mean to play down how difficult this exercise can be: I've tried to make an eclectic 18 using holes from 18 of my own courses, and it's maddening. You are always tripping over some other hole you want to use or NEED to use because there are only two good candidates on another course you need to use . . . that is a huge problem with making such lists politically correct [Pat Ward-Thomas did not throw out the 12th at Augusta or the 16th at Cypress Point because both were MacKenzie's.]
For example, I do not think anyone would pick the 15th at Bandon Trails as the best hole Bill & Ben ever built: if I was going to use a hole from Bandon Trails it would probably be the 4th, and most people would look to Sand Hills, first. But, I am pretty fond of the 4th at Barnbougle Dunes, and you can't pick both of those, so you go with the third-best par-5 at Tobacco Road, instead!
If I was just trying to pick a hole I've built that would be worthy of a true world eclectic -- not just modern courses -- the choice would probably come down to one of these:
Barnbougle 4th or 7th
Ballyneal 7th or 12th
Cape Kidnappers 15th
St Andrews Beach 2nd
Pacific Dunes 6th or 16th