...The course is a good example of James Braid's practice of routing the four par-3's in four different directions...
Hello David
Thanks for mentioning this as this is one of the nicer James Braid myths that I have, yet, to find how or from where it emanates.
(Some other myths are far less constructive)
There is nothing in "
Advanced Golf" (1908) that defines that practice, and he was quite specific about many other matters.
He does in this "seminal" work (which BTW is much under-read), infer variety in everything, but describes this far more in terms of differing yardage on one-shot holes, rather than direction.
He was IMHO one of the great minimalists, as OTM before him by necessity both, in creatively routing courses by finding (and not building) holes in nature, often on sites and budgets others would eschew.
So, it would be virtually impossible to impose the 4-points of the compass theory for four one-shot holes on every site, and I believe there are very few that do manage it from the routings I have seen or researched. Brora may be one, but I suggest that is by chance/serendipity and not design/intent.
Given he worked on 530+ courses it is reasonable to expect that there may be one or two that match the theory, simply by chance, but they would be exceptions to, rather than the confirmation of the rule...
Of course very happy if someone has found a James Braid quote that fills this void and confirms the myth, I keep looking and have not found it yet...
Cheers