Holein1
France |
Posted: Friday, September 17, 2021 @ 6:25:02 AM at |
IP Logged |
|
With a beautiful, but very imposing green mountain panorama, including some houses on top and a couple of waterfalls, this par 74 has great panoramic views everywhere, but is pretty tough, with a lot of bunkers, often in the middle of the fairways, and plenty of water hazards and narrow landing areas. After the pretty and straight par-4 opening hole, I like the gorgeous par-3 2nd, with its wide open view of the island green, and the nice right dogleg par-5 3rd, with a tee shot over a wide lake, a few bunkers in the middle of the fairway (with trees on the left), and its slightly-elevated green. The straight par-4 4th hole is quite challenging, with a wide bunker in the middle of the fairway, a big rock further back and another bunker behind, making your tee shot tricky as the fairway is surrounded by two elongated lakes almost joining behind the green. The left dogleg par-5 5th hole is not a piece of cake either, with an elongated lake on the right, and a downhill tee shot over deep rough and bushes (with trees on the left of the fairway), landing near a few elongated pot bunkers in the corner halfway with, if you are lucky, a very long second shot to try to reach the wide island green. On the nice left dogleg par-4 6th hole, with its panoramic view of the mountains and a waterfall on the right, you will need to hit your tee shot over a lake before aiming for the slightly-elevated green, unlike on the par-4 7th, where your tee shot will fly over a creek, flowing from the right to the left, then back to the right in front of the green ! You will finish the front 9 with the straight par-4 8th hole, with a great view of the waterfall facing the tee box, a downhill tee shot (with a few bunkers in the middle), and an approach shot to the slightly-elevated green, and the par-3 9th, with a blind tee shot deep downward toward the green, at the bottom of a small hill... The back 9 has more wide open holes but with plenty of undulating fairways, such as on the straight par-4 10th hole, or the par-4 11th, with another great view of the waterfall in front and where you will have a tough time avoiding the bunker on the left side halfway, as the fairway is heavily-slanted on the right. The par-4 12th hole looks nice, but is quite tricky, with an elongated lake on the right, making the fairway quite narrow at the end halfway (with plenty of rough around), and a small pond further in front, not far from the green. Then, after the par-5 13th hole, you will head for the straight par-4 14th, with two small trees right in the middle of the fairway, with a big rock between two small bunkers further back, before continuing with the dogleg par-5 15th, bending sharply to the right and where, with trees in the corner and an elongated bunker on the left, you won’t be able to reach the green on your second shot. Finally, after the picturesque left dogleg par-4 17th hole, with a small lake in the right corner midway and a slightly-elevated green (with a big bunker across in front), you will end your round with the left dogleg par-5 18th, with a fairway bending to the right, then to the left, with a wide bunker in front of the green. However, despite a great panorama and some challenging water holes, Molloway Hills is really a fantasy course, with so many bunkers (and a few other obstacles) in the middle of the fairways. But my main "problem" with it, is the ocean : if it looks nice and flat, most of the time, it looks like a... mountain (or a tsunami !) on the last few holes, and "spoils" the whole designing work done by John Rainey !
|