Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on May 20, 2018 10:12:16 GMT -5
# 9 Gauchos de la Quebrada 190.35 total points
Judge's comments:
You can totally tell who designed this without thinking. Not saying that's a bad thing or a good thing, but it is obvious. Pin sets seemed extremely easy or really hard. Would like to see it balanced out a bit. Not my favorite from this designer, but some great hole layouts make this a solid effort. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- This course makes you think from tee to green, which I enjoyed. Several holes dictate angles and reward aggressive play with better angles. There were a few missed opportunities in this regard. Tee shot on 4 and second shots into 7 & 11 are examples. From a playabilty standpoint, most of the time it's easy to tell which slopes to use and avoid in able to work yourself close, especially in the first pin set. In Pin sets 2 & 4 especially I felt the designer reverted back to some old traits of putting pins in spots where everything worked against you. I'm not against having slopes to avoid, but there needs to be balance. Pin 3 on 18 & Pin 4 on 15 especially. Great shot to 6 feet, only to have a putt that breaks 3 feet and is impossible to stop near the hole. Different example is Pin 3, I believe on 11, tucked back on the crest of a ridge so balls left or right repel away and a tier shot to prevent a run-up. That said, there are holes where its obvious how to play the slopes, which makes for enjoyable play. Two driveable par 4s an interesting choice, but one I felt worked considering where they were positioned in the round. Overall a good bit of risk/reward off the tee. Planting and sculpting, which not over the top, gorgeous, played well with the location chosen, only thing that didn't make much sense to me was the small waterfall on 9. Overall, a solid course and a very fun course when it felt like you and it were playing a chess match. It turned into a street fight, however, at times, which wasn't as enjoyable. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on May 20, 2018 10:18:38 GMT -5
# 8 Princess of China 195.15 total points
Judge's comments:
Points Added: - The planting, rock-work, and town/downtown is very well done - The bush borders were creative - Great bridge, retaining wall, and fence work - Good lighting and fog/smog look - Nice sculpting on the cart paths and nice clubhouse area, though lacking in the parking department Points Lost: - The theme didn’t scream China to me - The bunkers being recessed is creative idea, but I don’t think it’s a good one if you can’t see where the recessed areas are at least half the time. - The greens got too big at times - Some cleanliness issues with fairway and rough edges - Slopes on the 1st green are too severe. You can’t keep the ball on the surface if you hit it on a section above the hole - Green sculpting is wonky on other holes with some flat spots on some greens and would-be puddles - Bunkers near greens are too far away to ever be in play - The fairway bunker complex on 13 is really cool. Too bad it didn’t come into play because I had to hit a 5 wood off the tee to not hit the trees - Lots of missed potential on 15 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- In terms of overall looks and playability, this is easily a top 5 course. The holes are framed really well and the lighting adds added depth. I thought 12 was a stunner and there were several other holes that looked damn good on the eye. I wasn't a fan of all the greenspace in front of 7 however, and the fairway behind 8 green didn't make much sense to me. Overall I thought the strategy was really good, especially off the tee. He got carried away on a couple of greens -- 15 especially. Mistakenly played Pin 4 1st and thought 10 was going to be a great riff on the Redan, but only get that feeling on Pin 4. Rest of the pins it feels like the slope's working against you. Back of 15 green just didn't work for me, especially being forced into a layup using player clubs from the tips. I thought the course was a wonderful challenge where you had to work for a good score without anything overtly over the top or contrived. Unfortunately two things hold this course back - polish and setting. Most of the demerits came on technical/playability issues (ie yellow slopes, missed slivers of fairway) that should have been rectified in quality control. Additionally, while the course was great to look at, nothing about it screamed "China" at me, which was a major objective to this contest. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on May 20, 2018 10:30:08 GMT -5
# 7 The Chastener 195.80 total points
Judge's comments:
Points Added: - The city, planting, waterfall, and rock-work are well done - No green complex is the same. Great variety. - The view into every green looks different Points Lost: - The curves in the fairway shapes are a bit too large and sharp. Gentler curves would have been easier on the eye - The yellow and red slopes are too punishing with the green speed. Either the slopes needed to be softer or the green speeds reduced. - The fairways are too narrow to not have the first cut - The fairway bunkering and strategy off of tees feels too repetitive - Speaking of bunkering, the sculpting of the pans are good, but the shaping around them is not very good. There is a severe lack in depth. This lack of depth negatively affects the views off of tees - Speaking of lack of depth off of tees, the fairway sculpting also provides a lack of depth for tee shots. - There is a lack of variety in the length of par 4s - The bridgework could be better ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I have a feeling I am in the minority with the judging of this. It started off a bit dull for me, but I found it gaining my interest as the round went on. I loved the risk reward opportunities. I wish some of the shots weren't forced, but overall I loved the thinking required here. Could possibly have the best finishing hole in the contest. Also loved the thought that went into the green complexes. Sure, some might think some are overdone, but I can't count how many times I benefited from the green sculpting when I played for it. I would consider this a dark horse for top 5... and in the other contests this is a no doubter. Definitely the designer's best effort. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I have mixed feelings about this course, but mostly positive. Let's start with the good. Overall I loved the green complexes and how they added to the playabilty and strategy of the holes. Also, this course is so far the most technically sound and well-polished course I've played in the comp (through 12 courses). There is hardly a brush out of place and I appreciate how difficult it was to get the fairways and bunkers to interface as well as they did with the intricate shapes of the bunkers and the relatively small amount of space between them. This course grew on me as I played it. That's a hallmark of sound design and finding ways to make the course interesting through the green complexes when you're locked into the same tee/weather settings each round. Loved the closing holes on each side. 9 was a nice short, par 3 that was framed well by the clubhouse and required precision to get close. 18 might be the best closer I've played so far as it brings everything from 2 to 6 into play. There's something to be said in this game, psychologically about a driveable Par 4 with trouble left. Subconsciously, you want to give it the beans to get to the green, which can trigger a fast downswing, which leads to big trouble. Thought it was a brilliant closer in that regard ... The negatives: While good on the whole, I felt some of the greens were a little overcooked in their sloping (I flagged 4, 7, 13 & 15) as examples and would have been just as effective with a little less elevation change overall. Biggest issue I have is if you hit to the wrong tier I want at least a chance to recover. Granted it may take a perfect putt and I may still have 5-10 feet coming back, but I at least have a chance. On 13, when the pin was in the middle back shelf, I would have been royally screwed had I hit top left with about a 2-foot drop to the middle shelf and then another drop to the right side of the green. No way I'm getting that inside 30 feet with a putter, so feels like double punishment. While the narrow fairways caused a player to think twice off the tee, and worked OK with the relatively short distance of the course, I felt like it was one-dimensional. What I mean by that, is the fairways basically made you choose which club you wanted to take, but there was only really one option with each club. I'd look to create strategy in two dimensions, not only make the golfer think about the club off the tee, have them consider the line too. I'll take the tee shot on 13 as an example. There's blank space for more fairway to the left of the bunker where I driver could be hit. Right now I'm forced to take 3W and lay up short, or if I take driver I have to hit the narrow sliver of fairway out to the right. Add some fairway left, guard it with a bunker short to force a carry and opens up the strategy off the tee. Worst example of this was 17 where really there was only one play off the tee w/ a tailwind, that was to take 3W, and hope you hit the patch of fairway short of the cross hazard. Especially penal when you have no light rough to save you. You take out that bunker short of the cross hazard and make that fairway, you have more options off the tee and probably not the greatest angle in if you lay up with 5W/2I. Adds a lot more to the playabilty off the tee ... As for the country, I can't give it high marks because there's nothing that screams "Russia" to me. Set the course in Siberia and make it Winter theme and I think you have something. Alternatively, try to work with the objects to create a faux Russian Revival look to the cityscape. Both are hard to do, and I'm not sure I could pull them off myself, but would have beaten me over the head and said, "Welcome, comrade!" That's the nut of this competition, to create something that is quintessential to the country of origin. This one missed the mark in that regard. A fun course, very clean and enjoyable to play -- but perhaps a bit safe overall and missed the mark on the country aspect. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Creative and tough course. Enjoyed the challenge just needs a bit more polish and pop. |
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on May 20, 2018 10:36:00 GMT -5
# 6 Copavista Resort (Ocean) 198.5 total points
Judge's comments:
Points Added: - Clubhouse on the beach is really cool, especially with the posts marking the boundary - The beach in play on the coast is really well used. - The ambiance in general is quite good - I love the tees built up on the retaining walls Points Lost: - Bathtub Bunkers!!! - The cart path on the beach on 1 is an eyesore - Puddles on the green on 1, 3, 7, 15 - The green on 2 would be put further away from the ocean for wave damage - Over-planting is an issue on a few holes - Blocked out by trees by taking the risk left on 7 - Fairway bunker shapes are questionable and inconsistent - Some technical issues with the first cut of rough thickness and placement - Some of the slopes onto fairways and greens are so sharp that you could never get a mower on it - The use of rocks is questionable on most of the holes and it doesn’t look good the way they are used on the mountain - What is the point of the fairway on the right on 16 and 18? - I feel like there was missed potential on 17. Fell flat with the long green that runs directly with you ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Probably my favorite opening hole in the contest. Some great looks and some weird looks (Pond in the middle of the front nine?). Hard to tell the country without looking it up, but a nice ocean course. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Copavista Resort is a very clean course that winds from the ocean, toward the mountains and back again while maintaining a tropical resort-type feel. Most sightlines were excellent, thought there were a couple of hidden hazards I did not agree with (2-tiered fairway on 9 and hidden bunker behind the rockwork on 18). While fast & firm, the majority of the greens help the golfer if he thinks his way around the course. However, there were a couple of instances (8 & 10 immediately come to mind) where greens running away from player were inappropriate for length of approach shot. A few missed chances on the back. Felt like 11 was a perfect chance for a Biarritz-type green. He started to go that route, but filled in much of the center swale. Short par 4s, while interesting, did not provide enough reward to negate the risk of attacking off the tee. I'm a sucker for a nice Redan and felt 13 fit the bill. Not many chances taken in the creativity department. Ones that were were accomplished, just wish I would have seen more. Course was very good and an enjoyable play, but just felt like it was missing that little something extra to make it special. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Great looking course, liked the bunkering just seemed a bit too plain. |
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on May 20, 2018 10:41:53 GMT -5
# 5 Sekhet Aaru 202.5 total points
Judge's comments:
Points Added: - The planting, when used, was very good - The bridges and retaining walls are well done - I love the mix of the Nile and the desert - The extras are terrific and very creative! The pyramids, the Nile, the range hitting into the Nile, the ruins/temples, etc. - 6 is one of my favorite holes in the competition - Great hole variety Points Lost: - Lost track of scale so the greens are too large. Because the greens are too large, the green side bunkers are not in play on a few holes, there are several flat spots, and there are several puddles - Unless the hole went directly into the sun, the bunkers lack a sense of depth/feel 2-D - The 90 degree dogleg on 3 is a routing flaw - The temple in the middle of the property isn’t as easily seen approaching 11 as you could have - The back and forth of the routing feels unimaginative - The land around the holes near the pyramids is too flat to be real - The retaining wall bunker on 2 needs to extend across the entire front of the green ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Loved the bunkering and ambiance, course just needs a bit more personality and pop ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The string of uber-clean courses in the contest continues with this one. Actually a few of the desert holes felt somewhat coastal with the shapes and sculpting, which I enjoyed. The pyramids are the major wow factor on this course. They're exceptionally done and visible multiple times throughout the round. Many holes present strategic options off the tees and most of the long holes provide a way to work the ball in toward the pin via the ground game. While it didn't affect gameplay, I thought some of the ridges and false fronts on the greens were a touch too severe in both grade and length of drop. Think the same effect could have been accomplished (especially on 175 greens) with more subtle sculpting. While there's not really a hole that jumps out and steals the show for me, I thought the 18 worked well together and nothing really felt out of place. I have mixed feelings on the bunkering. On one hand I like the relatively sharp grass faces and flat sand pans but felt at times the bunkers could have been showcased better either by blending them into the natural terrain or changing the overall slope of the bunker to where more was visible from tee/fairway. All and all a very solid, enjoyable course. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on May 23, 2018 14:43:26 GMT -5
# 4 Hellenic Republic Golf Links 222.4 total points
Judge's comments:
Points added: - The town is INCREDIBLE - Beautiful planting, especially in the gorges/rock quarries - The rock work in the ocean and on the shoreline are terrific - The bunkers are well-sculpted - The stretches of holes 12-14 and 16-18 are extremely well-designed and are my favorite on the course Points lost: - The positioning of the bunkers feel out of place on a few holes. The design of these holes feel lacking because the bunkers are so far away from the plays into the green that they are almost afterthoughts. Especially evident on the front nine - The square bunkers were fine, but the squaring of the rough around them felt off with the rest of the course. Short left of 12 green and the two on the right of 15 are examples where you did curved them correctly - The design of 6 feels completely off - Some holes were a little too straight for my liking - The tree back right of 1 green is out of place ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Excellent course. Greek villa was super creative, just a few too many dings in this course ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- This course oozes class and has playability that keeps you coming back. Makes you think with out being overly tricked up. Only hole that didn't really work was 16, and even then it was only the front pins that were a miss. Even playing into wind and landing well short of green, getting anywhere close seemed impossible. Would have liked to have seen splines cleaned up a bit as well. The sculpting is the star of the show here. The fairways, rough and bunkers hug every hump and bump in the right ways and really show off the landscape. Planting and bunker placement help frame the holes and make them works of art while adding to the strategic value of each hole. That being said, thought bunker shapes were a bit generic and the use of the "Principal's Nose" style bunkers showed up a little too often. Didn't take away from the look, but you can easily discern from the overhead which shapes were used. Overall though, the course is one of the first completed and will likely set a high bar for other course to try to clear. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on May 23, 2018 14:49:12 GMT -5
# 3 Corozal Nacional 223.85 total points
Judge's comments:
Points Added: - Super clean - Perfectly planted - Bunkers pop and are sculpted beautifully - Unique clubhouse - Resort separate from the clubhouse is very creative - Beach, beach huts, lighthouse, turn shack, town, and resort are superb - Good lighting - Solid retaining wall work - 13 is a cool short 4 - Plays extremely well and yet still provides a challenge Points Lost: - Trees on your road to the lighthouse and on the water’s edge - The 3 Par 5s all run the same direction! - The low area on the left of 3 fairway with the bunkers in it looks off/slightly unnatural - 4 would be better with the tees slid back about 60 yards the way the bunkers are configured and the green is tame. Or leave the tee boxes as is and the rest of the hole the same, but move the green further back on the point and make it more treacherous - Left green side bunker on 5 has a wonky pan - Some small patches of tall rough on the mounds left of 7 would make them pop. Also, a couple of those short right of the fairway on 7/right of 6 would tie them and the space together more. - Hope you have some drainage installed for the collection dips in 7 fairway. The land unnaturally falls into these dips away from the tilt of the land here. - Green is too big on 10 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Excellent course, had it been just a tad cleaner it would have won this one. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I'll cut to the chase. This course had me at hello and it's a definite contender. For me, its one of the most visually appealing courses in the game -- not so much that any particular hole is a standout, rather how everything ties together to paint beautiful picture after beautiful picture throughout the round. I'm in love with this tropical angel, yet she has a bit of a dark side. She's deceptively tough, especially around the greens. I couldn't putt worth a damn here, mainly because I always seemed to leave myself downhillers with movement. That doesn't affect the score at all, but made playing here more of a grind than it appears. The par 5s especially kicked my ass. I played them a combined -4 over 4 rounds, and that was with an eagle at the last on Pin 4. All of them are borderline reachable w/ player clubs and the winds I had and I always seemed to leave awkward pitches. Two intriguing short par 4s here. Hole 4 is a pretty easy birdie as there really isn't much trouble. I didn't quite have the right wind to give 13 a go w/ player clubs but like that you could hit anywhere from driver to 5I off the tee here and there might night have been a poor strategic choice among them. My favorite hole was No. 2, which plays about as well as any Redan I've seen in this game. Four distinct pin positions and all four easily accessible with a little thought. As mentioned above, I thought we did get a few too many long par 4s, especially mid round. I'd be interested to see what 11 would be like if you moved the tee back and left, maybe added a greenside bunker and converted it into a Par 5. Thought the landing zone on 5 was a bit too small for the yardage, especially on Pin 2 and the green on 15 should have canted back to front, not the other way around. That green was almost impossible to hold. Being a course from Belize, I think incorporating some sort of ruins would have set this one over the top in terms of the creativity and country categories. Technically, it was very clean. A couple of kinks in the fairways, which is almost inevitable using splines. Overall though, this course is a stunner and one I'll want to play again. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on May 23, 2018 14:54:48 GMT -5
# 2 Einstakt Foss Golfblubbur 229.25 total points
Judge's comments:
Points Added: - The scenery is so realistic it gave me shivers at times. Between the mountain, the waterfall and the river, all the rocks that jut out, the terraforming to makes these big rolling elevations, the farms, the seating area over 18, the hyrdothermic vents, everything is jaw dropping - The bunkers are put in all the correct spots and sculpted - It’s easy for a course this scale to have oversized greens, but they are all the correct size. The greens are also sculpted enough to be thought-provoking without being overdone on the scale of slopes, too. Points Lost: - Tees on 1 and 16 are not level - The back bunker on 3 could have used a little more love - The swale on the middle left of 8 green needs to funnel off the green, not make a bowl. You’d have a nice pond on that green if it rained - 90 degree doglegs are usually seen as a routing mistake in the design world. The 12th hole is a 90 degree dogleg. Routing-wise, you should have slid 12 tees back to near 10 green, or even further back depending on how long you want the approach to be and have the 12th green be in the area of 12 landing area. This becomes your 11th hole. The new 12th hole is a par 3 up to your current 12th green. The fact that 12 tees are almost back at 11 tees tells me there was a slight problem with routing as well. Because both holes play so well by themselves, I won’t be taking off as much as I could - Lots of empty space short right of fairway on 16 Other note: - Might be the best course in TGC2. Would 100% be with some minor tweaks ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Tee shot on 12 looks amazing! Extremely creative! ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- This is the National Treasue contest and, in that aspect I think this course nails that better than any I've played so far. This truly feels like it's the national gem of Iceland and would be a tourist mecca and a spot of civic pride if it existed IRL. Designer dug deep into the bag of tricks to create the scene, which I appreciate greatly and the quality of the golf matches the quality of the environment. I will say that while the course played well for the most part, there were a few times -- especially in the 3rd & 4th pinset -- where protecting par turned into a priority with some suspect, albeit legal pin positions. The one real knock on this course is the technical flaws. I get a spline taper that goes awry here or there, happens to all of us, but tee boxes that aren't flattened (at least the playing area of the tee box) and greens that are not multi-pinned (16) are mistakes I don't expect to see from veteran competition designers. On the other side, I thoroughly enjoyed the par 5. 3 & 13 immediately jumped to the top of my list as some of the most memorable holes in the competition with their jaw-dropping views off the tee, and interesting strategy to match. In the end this course is incredible. The question in the final outcome will be will the creative flare and overall beauty be enough to overcome the technical flaws. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on May 23, 2018 15:00:19 GMT -5
# 1 The Silverback - Congo 232.7 total points
Judge's comments:
Points Added: - Everything, except what I take off below, is perfect Points Lost: - The road has kinks and trees growing out of it. - Ponds would form on the greens on 1, 3, 6, 14, 15, 16, and 18 - Either the lighting or the sand color needed to change. Maybe both. Either the bunkers are almost completely cast in shadow so you can hardly see them or there were no shadows and the bunkers were big bright depthless eyesores - The fairway runoff at the back of the 1st green feels too not natural. The cliff sticks out too much. The cliffs around 16, 17, and 18 greens look way more natural - On 7, for a long uphill par 4, you pinch the fairway more than you should have. You could have had the fairway on the right be closer to the fairway bunker and it would be a better, more appropriate pinch - The forced layup on 12 feels…. well…. forced - The green on 17 doesn’t take advantage of the peninsula or the gaping bunker in front. Ends up being a bit of a letdown ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Bonus points for the course not being Dan proof! Seriously though.. I played this after the other most likely top 4 finishers, and this course feels like it has all of their best features, and puts them in one course. This could easily be in the top 5 courses in all of tgc2, and might even be top 5 if we throw in tgc 1 as well. When you find yourself wanting to go back to play a course again to find new ways to hit shots, or to check out stuff you missed, you know you have a winner. This could easily put Staypuft into the discussion of best TGC designer. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Back in the Summer Showdown, I said the Dusty Lion had the best set of Par 3s I've seen on one course in this game. The Silverback might have matched it and defintiely finished with the money shot on 17. Their only weakness is while I thought both long par 3s were very playable in how they were designed, they kind of felt like the same hole. The only other gripe I have with the playability is the unintended shortcuts on a few holes which, if I found time, I'm sure another member of the judging panel will find too. Could make the case on 6, that playing up 7 fairway is actually part of the strategy, but the shortcuts on 11 and 12 takeaway from the intent of the hole design. My only problem with the ambiance was the weird shadow effect that comes with burying that many trees. Just not a fan of it. Overall though, this course offers stunning views all the way around and ties it together in a package that a joy to play. Without looking, I know this course is the winner as it surpassed the three others that were jockeying for the top spot -- Hellenic, Einstakt and Corozal. Those three are all great, but don't execute all the elements the way Silverback does. Silverback has Hellenic's playability and strategy, Einstakt's rugged terrain and scenery and Corozal's overall cohesiveness in look.What's more, the finishing holes are simply stunning. I've got a couple of courses left to judge, but I don't know how they beat this course because The Silverback is a top 10 all-time TGC course. Maybe top 5. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- My #1 spot, excellent sculpting and bunkering, environment was spot on and hole 17 is the best par 3 and possibly the best hole in the competition period! |
|
