Holein1
France |
Posted: Monday, September 11, 2023 @ 4:32:57 AM at |
IP Logged |
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Set next to the ocean, with a nice mountainous panorama to gaze at, this par 72 has plenty of challenging doglegs, with elevation changes and quite a few strategically-placed elongated bunkers, along the fairways (and also around the greens), but if you can avoid using your bucket and spade too often, you should finish with a decent scorecard as the greens are mostly smooth. You will start with the right dogleg par-4 1st hole, uphill all the way, with a tee shot flying over a very narrow fairway, hugging the ocean (on the right), with a few palm trees and a couple of elongated bunkers (on the left), and a green along the cliff, before walking over to the beautiful par-4 2nd, very short but tricky, with a blind and downhill tee shot and a couple of palm trees (on the right) hiding the peninsula green (a little bit further), making it impossible to reach it from the tee. Then, after the pretty par-3 3rd hole, straight but quite challenging with a tee shot over the ocean landing onto a small green (with a v-shaped elongated bunker, right behind), you will move inland with the dogleg par-5 4th, bending sharply to the right, with an uphill tee shot landing near two elongated bunkers, not too far apart (in the right corner), and a blind and steeply-downhill second shot over a couple of palm trees toward the green, with two bunkers (front and back) to watch for. Two other holes stand out : the right dogleg par-5 7th, uphill all the way, is quite nice with a tee shot over a wide sandy area (with a few shrubs in it), and a long and blind approach to the green (with plenty of elongated bunkers lined up on both sides of the fairway and around the green), and the pretty and straight par-4 8th, whose green can be reached from the tee (with a little tailwind and some… luck) but, with sand all along the fairway and surrounding the “island” green (with two small wooden bridges to gaze at), you better play it safe ! You will finish the front 9 with a left dogleg par-4, downhill all the way, with a nice volcanic rock in the middle of a wide sandy area (on the left, not far from the green). The back 9 has plenty of nice holes too, after the par-4 10th, whose fairway is set between trees (on the left) and a road (on the right), with elongated bunkers on both sides of the green, slightly to the left. On the right dogleg par-5 11th hole, with a small lake near the tee (on the left) and two elongated bunkers across the slanted fairway, midway, you will have a choice of landing your shot either left or right, before hitting a long approach toward the flag set on a tiny part of a wide green, with a big bunker, not too far in front, and a very small one to the right. Three straight holes follow, with the slightly-downhill par-4 12th being my favorite, with trees (on the left) and a few palm trees (on the right), and its beautiful signature “pineapple bunker” in front of the green, but don’t overlook the downhill par-4 14th, with its narrow fairway (and elongated bunkers on the sides) and its nice building, right behind the green (seen on the above picture). The finishing four-hole stretch is not only pretty, it is also quite tough : the par-3 15th is quite scenic, with plenty of flowers on the left of the tee and a tee shot over small elongated bunkers, next to each other (to the left), not too far from the green, and is followed by the very long right dogleg par-5 16th, with a slightly-uphill tee shot over a big elongated bunker, midway on the right, landing near another one a little bit further (with a wide sandy area on the opposite side), and a green, way downhill, partially hidden by trees (on the right), with more elongated bunkers on both sides and set next to the ocean. You will sweat a little more on the very pretty, and scary, par-3 17th hole, with its narrow fairway, hugging the coastline and a green, set on the edge of the cliff, before finishing with the right dogleg par-4 18th, with flowers next to the tee (on the right) and a fairway, along the ocean (on the right) and a scenic approach to the green, set next to those serpentine bunkers (seen on the 15th hole). Overall, if the ocean does not look as nice as the rest of the course, this Pineapple Shores is quite enjoyable, even though it is not Bobby Bolin's best, as he has created some nicer courses in the last few years...
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