rlslay took some time off from his tropical designs to come up with this pretty par 72 links course, mostly inland, especially on the front 9, with some nice mountains to gaze at and with quite a few challenging holes, with undulating fairways, some elevation changes and plenty of well-placed bunkers.
But, unlike the Lucky Charm Links course, designed by Bullpupp2, where I previously played, you won’t face sandy dunes or deep pot bunkers : instead, you will see more greenery, with quite a few doglegs, such as the left dogleg par-5 2nd hole, with the ocean on the far left, an undulating fairway, and a long and blind second shot to get close to the green where you might have to settle for a birdie opportunity.
After two more par-4 dogleg holes with bunkers to deal with in the middle of the fairways, you will move on the right dogleg par-5 5th where, after a slightly-downhill tee shot landing near some deep rough and a wide bunker in the middle of the fairway, you will need to hit a long, blind and uphill approach to the green, with three deep and wide bunkers guarding it in front (with two of them on the right).
Then, after the uphill par-3 6th hole, with a wide bunker in front of the green (on the right), you will face the ocean as you tee off on the par-4 7th, but you will have to be careful about choosing your club as two wide bunkers on both sides of the undulating and slanted fairway (along with a smaller one in the middle) await your errant shot before hitting your long approach to the green, with an elongated bunker to watch for on the left side.
On the par-4 8th hole, you will be back inland again, with a small elongated lake on the left of the green, slightly to the left and guarded by three small bunkers in front, before turning around and hitting a tee shot over that lake to reach the green on the par-3 9th hole.
The back 9 is more scenic, starting with the left dogleg par-4 12th hole, with a blind and uphill tee shot landing near six bunkers (on the left) and a fairway hugging the coastline (on the right), and a second shot to the green, with the ocean below, before moving back inland with the downhill par-3 13th, with a big clubhouse, far away on the left, and the right dogleg par-4 15th hole, with a downhill tee shot landing onto a wide fairway and a steep and blind second shot to the green.
But the best holes are the last three... simply superb and pretty tough !
The right dogleg par-4 16th hole is gorgeous, along the ocean on the right, with an uphill tee shot landing onto a big peninsula and a blind and uphill second shot to try to reach the green at the tip, above the ocean, and is followed by the spectacular par-3 17th, with a downhill tee shot in the direction of a tiny peninsula with its green, again at the tip.
You will finish your round with the nice and panoramic par-5 18th hole, with the clubhouse on the left and an undulating fairway hugging the coastline all the way on the right, and a very tough (and long) approach to the green, partially hidden by a couple of trees with wide branches in the way, not far from it in front !
Beautiful, challenging and very enjoyable, this American Links GC 2013 course is another beauty from rlslay, which won't be a surprise for those of you who have been admiring his great work, year in, year out...

Great, Great, Great!!! A keeper for me.

Thank for another great looking course and very challenging to play.

A definite ace from me.

Cheers
Brian

Good 1 , 16th , 17th and 18th is a Classic Finish, played expert dry, dont know if it can handle v dry .

What a kickbutt course Rob!!! Take note fellow designers as Rob is at the top of the game here... This is a major league course in every aspect of designing.. Awesome to look at, smooth as I have ever seen, textures are a superb choice. I Loved everything about this course. The greens are some of the best!!
There's only a few who are in this league of designing. I hope to be there one day..
Thanks Rob, spectacular job:)

Axe

Rob, wonderful work as usual. There is unfortunately no accounting for the occasional clowns. Thank you again for your magnificant efforts in designing these IMHO pieces of art. Its always a fun day when I see youve put one up...although my wife might tend to disagree....lol

Very nice course from one of my favorite designers. Well layed out and keeps your interest. Great planting and attention to detail as usual. Plays great on Very dry/expert.

Lots of haters so I turn ratings off recently.

...Bill

I want to thank you PhilT, Sammy, thekid1435 and tnt123 all for coming back and leaving a comment. Yes I am sorry to say that this course went from a 5 to a 3 rating. I am really sorry that I had to turn off the rating but if someone thinks this course should be rated a 3 or less, step up and tell me why or least leave a comment. If someone want to come back and comment on all the faults you can find on this course, or even comment on what you didn't like about it, I will turn the rating back on. But I think it has nothing to do with the course..... and whoever you are, I am not going away, but will keep building better and better courses for everyone else to play including yourself.......Rob

Hey Its really nice to know that someone has to taken the time to give this course a 1 or 2 rating. Just proves that it isn't about the course all, my guess would be that I made someone jealous....lol

Great looking course Rob,absolute pleasure to play.TY for your time & efffort on this 1

Brilliant course.Enjoyed playing this one.Pano one of the best,fairways and greens well designed.Couldnt fault it.Keep them coming Rob.