1 - Like the rockwork by the tee box, good sightline, love how you can see #4 coming back behind the green. D, 8I, LW, P
2 - Another good sightline, lighting is phenomenal. Course looks very low profile but the greens still have quite a bit of undulation. Terrain is interesting but not overly dramatic, something I struggle with. D, 8I, P, P
3 - First par 3, I would've preferred to see a few select trees removed on the right so that the green is fully lit and not semi-shadowed. Takes away from the emphasis some. Swapped back into the game after typing this and the clouds rolled in and the whole green is shadowed. Much better looking hole now. Pin 3 is ultra devilish for a 215 yard shot lol. 3I, LW, P
4 - Slope of the green really dictated the strategy off the tee on pin 3, I played left side expecting the backstop, but didn't get far enough down the fairway so it will still coming in from the side. Still better than playing right side. D, LW, P, P.
5 - Another good look off the tee. Not sure I like the brushed instead of splined bunkers with the thin rough around them, but it does make them pop a little more. I tried to low flight a 6I into the wind and failed, wasn't punished too badly for overshooting the green though. 6I, LW, P
6 - Love the look of this one with two greens running along the left side of the hole and routed through a kind of meadow area. Terrain sculpting is great again. Sank a nice sidewinder for my first birdie. D, LW, P
7 - One of my favorite hole designs to use on my own courses, the "go as far long and to one side as you can to improve your angle into a tier you absolutely do not want to miss" template. First time it's hit me that the course is actually outshining the planting, which is great in its own right, also something I've worked on improving. D, 9I, P, P
8 - I love the long, square tee boxes. That along with the course's routing is very Donald Ross, which is about the biggest compliment I can give in regards to routing. And I holed out on the approach! D, 7I
9 - This hole made me try and think of a course that goes for the clean, no undergrowth look under the trees and was able to pull it off without it feeling empty, and this is the best example of that I think I've ever seen in the game. I think the lighting helps in that it's still darkened enough to contrast the playable area, but still looks clean and realistic. Also love that you let the texture burn be the pine straw look instead of the surface pine straw. Another devilish green for such a long hole. The irons are DIALED this round though, no idea how. D, 5I, P
10 - Hole was "decent enough" visually, I think the tee box in front kind of blocked the view enough to be distracting. Strategy wise it was a good hole, I didn't think I could get at the pin directly and didn't want to derail a good round. Played an 8I into the middle of the green and almost drained a 30-footer. 8I, P, P
11 - I love the strategy on this one with the fairway that starts to dogleg right to left but a green that moves heavy left to right. First time in the round I've considered taking less than driver off the tee. But I don't, opting for distance instead. Might've paid for it, tried to use the wind to draw a 9I in and caught the runoff slope, then duffed a chip but was able to make a 13-footer to save par. D, 9I, LW, P
12 - Nice little plateau pin on this one. I like the theme of two holes playing side by side back and forth through the clearing that has come up a couple times. And I love when the routing weaves in and out of itself in spots as opposed to taking the most obvious line, almost in a disorienting way, another Ross characteristic and one I've used in all of my recent courses. The green transition was off and stood out to me on this one, I think the fairway should surround the entire green instead of cutting through the front right portion. Should've been a 5-footer for birdie but that pin is microsculpted AF. Do not approve lol. D, PW, P, P
13 - Really short par 5. Another where the sun peeked through and kind of messed up the lighting on the green. Fairway off the tee looks great in the sunshine though. I like the rocks in the fairway as hazards, I used one as a trampoline. Fast/fast approach left me a real FU putt, and I'm expecting to putt it off the green, as is only fair. I didn't, but I did 3 putt for par. D, 3I, P, P, P
14 - Good looking par 3 off the tee, I like how you can see the routing come in off the left and leave back to the right. I like that I'm pulling 2W out of the bag for the first time on a par 3 and not one of the par 5's. I don't like that 2W was the best club I had for it and then tempo struck again. Then I missed the flop shot and am looking at my first bogey of the round. D, LW, LW, P
15 - Barely cleared the principal's nose and took a nice hop off the downslope. Interesting double green complex, are any pins on the other green I wonder? Not sure if I like or am indifferent, but I applaud the risk. Stuck a wedge close to follow up the bogey with a birdie. D, PW, P
16 - I don't have a 4I so I'm going to try to swing a fast 5I into the backstop and play it off the slopes. Framing on this one really stands out and I like seeing the clubhouse in the distance through the trees. I got the fast/fast but didn't get it up the slope enough, putt coming back was pretty dick-ish. 5I, P, P
17 - Another short par 5. I'm playing short of the left bunker for the angle in, but I also have to watch the tree and make sure it doesn't block my approach. Almost got to pull the 5W out of the bag, but don't think it would've cleared the greenside bunker. 2W it is, which I overshot and have a downhill, double breaker coming back now. SUNK for the eagle. D, 2W, P
18 - Another hole with good strategy, making sure you play to the correct side to give yourself the best use of the slope that divides the green in half. I aimed left and went lefter, duck hooking it into the rough. Then I didn't have the club I needed to get it close so I laid it up, which gave me an opportunity to play the sand wedge for the first time of the day, which I flopped over the hole about 20 feet past and capped the round as only I can. D, 5I, SW, P, P
Really fun course, loved the routing, loved the lighting, loved the strategy. Just a couple minor things I noticed while I played that I noted above, but this was as good as I expected it to be when I saw the pics today. I used every club in the bag except for 5W and gap wedge, so not a bad spread at all. Par 69 was nice, no par 5's on the front side was a nice quirk. Really enjoyable round, great course. Here's a routing shot, since I geek out over those the most: