Holein1
France |
Posted: Thursday, November 28, 2024 @ 12:14:15 PM at |
IP Logged |
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A delightful course, pretty to look at with its nice colorful trees, and quite challenging with slight elevation changes, some blind shots and water hazards, and a few tricky greens, hard to reach sometimes, with well-placed bunkers and/or trees. After a relatively “nice-and-easy” start, with the short dogleg left par-4 1st hole, and its tree-lined fairway, and the straight par-4 2nd, with a narrower fairway, and a tiny stream flowing behind the green, you will walk over to the par-3 3rd, with a small lake (on the left), offering a beautiful panoramic view as your reach the green (with two more lakes further behind, on the left). The par-5 4th hole (aptly named "Lochside") is quite tricky, with a tee shot over a lake, hopefully landing, midway, between trees (on its edge) and a big bunker (with more trees, on the right), leaving you with an almost-impossible second shot over tall trees if you want to gamble and try to reach its little sloped green. As your reach the very short dogleg par-4 5th hole, take a look at the hole sign (Vervaet point), a nice reference to... Gunpower61’s last name), before hitting your tee shot and then your approach over part of a half-moon-shaped lake (on the left), ending behind the green. Two of the next three holes are straight (par-3 6th and 8th) with, in between, the tough dogleg right par-5 7th, with trees hiding its elevated green, hard to reach on your second shot if you want to have a chance for an eagle. You will then be “rewarded” with the nice “Cuppa Tea” dogleg left par-4 9th hole, where you should hit your tee shot over trees to shorten the distance to the green, before having a sip at the The ½ Way Hut, right behind... After that little break, you will start the back 9 with the tough dogleg left par-5 10th (Quietly’s hole), with trees and a big bunker midway (in the inner corner), and two more bunkers in front of the elevated green, before facing the beautiful risk/reward dogleg right par-4 11th (Ray’s burn) with a serpentine creek running diagonally across the fairway, midway, making your tee shot quite difficult if you want to hit it past the water, and leaving you with a tricky approach to reach its small undulated green, next to the creek (on the right) if you got past the water (or above the creek If you played it safe). Another "funny" hole name awaits you on the pretty par-3 12th (even though “Trou d’un” should have been written “Trou en un” – shame on Google translation, ha, ha !), with a narrow tree-lined fairway and just tall grass between the tee box and the green, before facing more water on the dogleg right par-4 13th, with an approach over a serpentine creek to reach the green, and its steep slope in front. On the long dogleg right par-5 14th hole, you can forget about getting an eagle, as it is very tricky with a serpentine creek splitting the fairway diagonally, leaving you with no choice but to hit your tee shot short of the water, midway, then aim your second shot safely over it to land on the other side before firing your approach over the water to reach the green. Fortunately, the next few holes are easier, starting with the dogleg left par-4 15th, with an elongated bunker, midway (on the left), and a small green, set between trees (in front) and the creek (on the left), and continuing with two straight ones, the par-3 16th and the par-4 17th, but with trees (on the right), partially hiding the green. However, the par-5 18th hole, uphill all the way, will test you, one last time, with its fairway winding its way left, then right (with a strategically-placed wide bunker and a tree, in the middle), then left again, making your approach toward the green, quite tough, before enjoying the view of that nice Dundee war memorial, set on a tiny island, right behind it (and the pretty blue clubhouse, on the left). With this Camus Golf Course, Neil Munro made his designing comeback with a very scenic course (check out the gorgeous fields on the 11th hole, hidden behind the trees, on the right) that will make you think twice before hitting some of your shots. As for the few of “us”, lucky enough to have a hole, named after our nickname (or last name), what can we say except, thank you, Neil, for this nice “touch” !
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