The 6th hole - Short |
In Australia it was New South Wales where I loved every eccentricity
and the rawness of the course. Many in the group were disappointed by the blind
shots and nasty vegetation on a few holes and preferred Royal Sydney (which was
my least favourite on that trip). Lookout
Mountain was loved by some of the ASGCA Members, disappointing to others and
even loathed by a few.
The 4th from the landing - note the cross fall! |
The golf course sits high up on Lookout Mountain benched
into the side of the mountain. The course itself sits on a falling plateau
heading towards a precipitous drop. Even the “flattest” of areas are far from
flat. The rest is a rollicking piece of land where Seth Raynor constantly battles
to set holes with the fall of the land so shots can be managed on such severe
terrain.
The 7th hole from the back tee |
The criticisms mainly come on the severity of many cross
falls and how you barely have any control over the result unless you are
willing to play a hard draw or big cut into the slope to hold the shot. I get
those criticisms and in many cases they were fair since some of the fairways
can’t be hit when dry. I think some grassing changes could mitigate a few of the
tougher shots.
The other side of the spectrum is the number of
opportunities to use existing landforms to feed a ball into a great position on
the fairway or intro the green. The ground is really in play at Lookout
Mountain and that’s what I found so compelling. From the Redan, through to the
drivable four the ground was there to help. But in just as many cases it
created fall offs, false fronts and slopes to potential oblivion if you weren’t
careful. I liked the use of the terrain.
#14 The Redan |
My only criticism was the greens. The interior contours
were often bold, but the edges very rarely touched the banks on the outside of
the plateau. The loss of key pin areas and the round shapes set on square
plateaus was a little bit disconcerting to look at. I expect Gil Hanse to
eventually rectify this and bring it back to original form.
It may have not been the favourite of others in the
group, but it was certainly my favourite to play.
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