Still hunting for a... Leopard, I decided to play another one of his courses, Chinook Dunes ! With a gorgeous sea and panorama, this par 72 is quite challenging despite its wide-open look and very nice trees. With lots of doglegs, plenty of water to deal with (river and ocean), sandy grass, high rough and bushes, you will be on your toes everywhere on this course.
The front 9 is mostly inland, starting with the right dogleg par-4 1st with plenty of sandy grass, bushes, and a nice view of the ocean beyond the green, and continues with the right dogleg par-4 2nd, with its rollercoaster fairway and elevated green and a lot of high grass on the right.
The left dogleg par-4 4th and the par-5 5th holes offer you a choice of two fairways each : the first one has water running in the middle, whereas the latter has a big patch of high grass and bushes in the middle and a slightly downhill green with water behind.
As the river branches out, you will have some very tough decisions to make club-wise as fairways and greens turn into small islands, such as on the par-3 7th hole where the green is on a long island or on the sharp left dogleg par-5 8th, where sandy grass, high rough and bushes will make you think twice about your next shot.
Similarly, the very scenic right dogleg par-4 9th hole, with its two island fairways and the green at the tip of the second one, will give you fits, if you choose the wrong club...
After the par-4 10th hole, where you can reach the green from the tee (with a little luck), and the left dogleg par-5 11th hole, with patches of sand grass and bushes, the scenery changes drastically as all the remaining holes are along the ocean where you will be able to admire... crashing waves (unfortunately without any sound...) !
It starts with the par-4 12th hole, with waves on the left side, and continues with the right dogleg par-4 13th, with a high mound hiding the fairway and water in front of the green. If the par-3 14th hole, with two big rocks in the middle of the water on the left side and the green on the other bank, is quite nice, the last four holes are superb and tough.
The par-4 15th hole has a narrow fairway with water on the right near the green and both the sharp left dogleg par-4 16th and par-3 17th holes look like postcards, with all those gorgeous waves...
As for the left par-5 18th hole, it does look like the final hole at Pebble Beach, with a tough tee shot over the ocean and a small green, partially hidden by two high trees...
Overall, Chinook Dunes is pretty tough, as water plays a crucial role in your shot making. And with crashing waves and a beautiful panorama, it offers quite a different challenge from the Grugwyn Abbey course and shows another facet of Hunting Leopard's designing talent !

Excellent design.
Enjoyed the walk.

Loved the course.Requires good shotmaking skills with v.dry/breezy conditions. Some parts looked a little basic, but all in all some great & challenging holes.V original design.
4 stars!+