 Holein1
 France |
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Posted: Saturday, February 19, 2022 @ 12:28:05 PM at |
IP Logged |
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A delightful and very challenging links-style course, with a two-tone ocean, a small lighthouse to gaze at, a couple of trees, plenty of high dunes, covered with sand and/or grass, and a few narrow fairways and greens with a lot of deep pot bunkers to watch for.
This par 71 starts with a nice right dogleg par-4 1st hole, downhill all the way, with red and blue flowers on the left of the tee box and quite a few mounds and pot bunkers to deal with, with the ocean as a backdrop, and is followed by the downhill par-3 2nd, with a lighthouse far away beyond the green.
After the downhill par-4 3rd hole, with four pot bunkers in the middle of the fairway, halfway, I like the left dogleg par-5 5th, with scattered pot bunkers on both sides on the fairway, with a slightly-uphill tee shot landing near deep rough in the corner, and a downhill approach to the green, guarded by another pot bunker in front, on the right.
The next four holes are very pretty and picturesque : the par-4 6th is a right dogleg, downhill all the way, with sand dunes covered with patches of grass on the right, a lone tree halfway (slightly to the left), and a blind and slightly-uphill approach to the green, and the 7th hole is a par-3, with a blind tee shot over more sand dunes and grass, downward to the green !
The right par-4 8th hole is beautiful too, with a blind and slightly-downhill tee shot over sand dunes and mounds (covered with deep rough) and another blind second shot to a peninsula green, with more sand in between and two pot bunkers on both sides of the green (with a lone tree on the left), whereas the scenic 9th is a dogleg, sharply to the right around the bay, with a blind tee shot over more sandy dunes, and another blind second shot to get close to the green.
The back 9 starts with the straight and scenic par-4 10th hole, with more colorful flowers on the right of the tee box, and a blind and downhill tee shot landing between deep rough on the left and sand dunes on the right, before you move on to the pretty par-3 11th, with a blind and uphill tee shot over deep rough (and a lone tree on the left).
Then, after the right dogleg par-4 12th hole, with a blind and downhill tee shot landing onto a sloped fairway, you will face the short (around 300 yards) but very tricky par-4 13th, with a blind and uphill tee shot over plenty of deep rough all the way to the green, slightly to the left and guarded by six (!) small pot bunkers !
After two “easier” holes (but with tricky approaches to the flags), the right dogleg par-4 14th, with a downhill tee shot landing onto an undulating fairway and a flag, hidden by a small mound, filled with deep rough in front (on the left), and the straight par-4 15th hole, downhill all the way, with a couple of short trees on the left of the undulating fairway and a green, again hidden by another rough-covered mound, you will finish with three gorgeous and tough holes...
The par-5 16th is straight but with a fairway winding its way around high sand dunes on the left, making your second (and blind) shot over them quite tricky if you want to reach the green, and is followed by the beautiful par-3 17th hole, with a blind and uphill tee landing onto a big island, with a green at the bottom of a small hill, next to a lone tree on the right and with deep rough and pot bunkers all around.
And it’s from that island that you will tee off on the nice right dogleg par-4 18th hole, with a blind tee shot downhill along that small hill on the right (facing the lighthouse) and an approach over the water toward the small green, set on a small plateau, with another lone tree on the right and a couple of pot bunkers to await your errand shot with open arms !
Well designed (as usual) by Bullpupp2, this course also deserves its name, as I was very "lucky" to hit my first tee shot in one of those deep pot bunkers and, again, on the 18th hole, but that did not stop me from really enjoying this... charming round of golf !
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jurgie
 United States of America |
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Posted: Friday, August 1, 2008 @ 11:04:40 PM at |
IP Logged |
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Well Bill, I thought I would put my two cents worth in here epecially after our earlier discussion where you showed concern about the lack of comments regarding this course. I have always tried to make a clear destinction between a course that is fictitious and a course that is deemed to be a fantasy course. A fictitious course for me is one of course that does not exist but on the other hand it is created in a realistic ways as to where it actually could exist. A fantasy creation in my mind is exactly that. A creation comprised of exaggerated landscapes, slopes and undulations, strange structures and greens that you woul never see on a real life golf course. A lot of people shy away from fantasy courses for that very reason. They prefer to be enveloped in a realistic type atmosphere while playing these designer course. Other people and maybe in the minority, go out of their way to play these fantasy courses because they do provide a great challenge and can be a lot of fun. By my definitions, I would definitely categorize this course as a fictitious links style course. I myself think that this is a very nice rendition, the use of textures is very well done. The fairways have lots of interesting moguls, the pot bunkers are well done as are the greens which play well on extra dry and are undulated enough to keep everything quite interesting. One thing that I did feel was somewhat out of place were the flower plantings on tthe first tee. I personally never liked them although they have gotten a lot of use in numerous designs. The blossoms are too large and the colors somewhat somewhat overbearing. I think that these plants are more suited to a lush tropical design. The other issue is no fault of yours. I always cringe when designs appear that use ocean panos. I have yet to see one that renders in a truly realistic manner without suffering from graphic abnormalities. Some designers have worked arround this problem and although not an exceptional soloution, the ocean scenes rendered by this method are very acceptable. On example that comes immediately to mind is Hynos new release, Royal St. Sabastian. Anyway Bill, you did a worthy job and the course is certainly well worth anybodies time especially if you like the links atmosphere. BTW, I usualyy don't play fantasy courses either other than jimi's which are always worthwhile because of the great creativity that flows throughout all his designs.
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