Another gorgeous course from rlslay where, once again, you spend more time looking at the breathtaking scenery than playing the course itself !
With beautiful plantings, luxurious tropical vegetation and a sky-blue ocean, this par 72 is a beauty but, unlike some of his other courses, this par 72 is quite tough, especially on the front 9, with plenty of difficult tee and/or long approach shots to the greens, often partially hidden by trees and/or bushes.
The right dogleg par-4 1st hole is a good example as you are faced with plenty of deep rough on the right (next to the ocean), palm trees in a hollow wasteland with bushes around in the middle, and a fairway, split by deep rough, twisting right, then left, making it hard to see the downhill green, surrounded by tall trees.
The right dogleg par-4 2nd hole is beautiful too, with an uphill tee shot landing onto a narrow fairway with a big lake at the bottom (on the right) and an approach shot over part of it to reach the small green, framed by two bunkers and water surrounding it halfway around.
Then, after the nice uphill par-3 3rd hole, straight but with the flag, hidden behind big bushes, you will reach the very pretty par-4 4th, with an elongated lake below on the right of the twisted fairway, plenty of vegetation on the left and a slightly-downhill green with a beautiful gazebo behind on the left.
The sharp dogleg to the left par-5 5th hole is quite short (about 475 yards) but, with plenty of tall trees and bushes in the corner (not to mention a big sand trap behind), cutting the corner is pretty tough and, if you succeed with your downhill tee shot, it will leave you with a very long approach shot to the green (around 270 yards) with two enormous sand traps further to the right and across in front of the elevated green.
The straight par-4 6th hole is quite scenic with the ocean on the left side, a slightly-uphill tee shot over a big lake and an approach shot over a meandering creek, and is followed by the pretty, but straight, par-3 7th, with big sand traps on the left side and on the right.
Another superb hole is the right dogleg par-4 8th where, despite plenty of bushes and trees on the right, you can cut the corner with your downhill tee shot and have a clear view of the green, with water way down below.
The left dogleg par-5 9th hole, on another hand, is more wide open with three big bunkers halfway through and a very long approach shot to the green, with a meandering creek running across and ending to the left of the small green.
The back 9 starts with the tough left dogleg par-4 10th hole, with an uphill tee host landing on a plateau and a very long second shot over a hollow wasteland, partially filled with small trees and bushes, and a green on top on a steep mound with a small lake way below on the right.
The sharp dogleg to the right par-4 11th hole is quite pretty too, with a steep uphill (and blind) tee shot and a downhill approach shot to the green, with sand all around it and a gorgeous panoramic view.
Another one of my favorite holes is the very picturesque and quite long (more than 670 yards !) par-5 12th, with zigzagging sand traps on both sides of the fairway (with 2 nice gazebos in the middle !) and a green, slightly to the left !
The right dogleg par-4 13th hole is beautiful too, with a tough decision to make from the tee to avoid landing your uphill tee shot in the deep rough and land onto a tiered fairway instead, before trying to reach the green, with more deep rough in between and a big lake below on the right side.
As if you did not have enough excitement, the signature and awesome (and scary !) short (less than 120 yards) par-3 14th hole should make you sweat all the way, as you will need a steep downhill tee shot to (hopefully) land on the heart-shaped small island green !
To fully recover from your emotions, two short par-4 holes follow : the left dogleg par-4 15th (about 270 yards) uphill, but with a green reachable from the tee despite plenty of bushes and a tall tee in the left corner in front, and the straight and slightly-uphill par-4 16th hole, quite short (about 360 yards) with an approach shot to the green over part of a little creek.
Finally, you will need to hit a blind tee shot over a marshland-like terrain on the gorgeous par-3 17th hole to reach the green while avoiding the big bunker on the right, before finishing with the short and sharp right dogleg par-5 18th (less than 470 yards) with a blind uphill tee shot followed by another blind one, with plenty of deep rough after to reach the green.
Needless to say, Intrigue Island Resort 09 is another masterpiece from rlslay but the main intrigue to me is how this course can run so smoothly on my PC with so much vegetation and details (benches, gazebos, etc...) spread all over this amazing course ! One more time, thank you so much, rlslay, for all your talent and imagination !

My original comment for this course was on my birthday 3 years ago. It was certainly my birthday treat then & as with Rickie, it has been a treat for me many times since on my "World Tours". It's not the only Links course Rob has re-imagined but each is brilliant, although Mauna Kea is still my fave. Devil's Intrigue indeed...

After all those years I played this course a second time: "it's wonderful, marvelous".
Sorry I didn't give it a rating before: 5 stars!!

For the life of me I cannot understand why this course was only rating 3.5 - musta been too much of an effort for some, having to think about virtually every shot to try & stay on the narrow fairways. Ditto earlier comments, with the thread being beautiful, yet challenging. Anyway Rob, you'll be pleased to know I just gave it 5*, which filled in that 4th square...

I want to thank you guys for leaving a comment good or bad and thanks for your kind comment on this course

S U P E R B... indeed, tough on any setting, a well crafted custom that is pleasing to the eye and challenging to the skills needed to score well. Again...well done!

To play this course well you need to have your club distance down.