RPJ, how did Old Town go?
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I really liked it. I have seen photos of the pre-Coore/Crenshaw bunker restoration and it is a new golf course. The greens were pretty severe. I had a 4 putt on 6-I putted it completely off the green. And 3-putted 7 too. There are some crazy contours on those greens but Maxwell was known for his crazy greens. As you klnow, their fairways were hit hard by winter kill last year so there were some areas that were pretty rough. But they can't really control that. I can certainly see why Tom Doak and Golf Magazine think it's worthy of a top 100 ranking. They haven't reached the 45 evaluations required by Golf Digest to be considered by they will by the time the new rankings come out next year. It's a special place-no doubt. It is an old school golf course which I love. The first two golf courses I ever played besides my home course were a MacDonald and a Raynor. I'm a huge fan of each and can see some influences by them in Maxwell's work at Old Town. It's unbelievable to me that clubs make wholesale changes in a Classic architects work. Dunlop told me that they spent $1.5 million on the restoration. Anyway, I shot 76-made 3 birdies from their blue tees. I think I could play that course a lot better once I learned the greens. Check out a before and after pic of #2. Amazing the difference good bunkering makes. by the way, I mentioned to Dunlop that you enjoyed his speech. He remembered you.
That is a big difference! Most of us prefer a few blind shots not as many as many as Old Town has. I was one over in my match but match play if different. 76 is pretty good there. We had strong winds and very fast greens. I pulled up all the pictures that the Carolinas put on their website and I remarked, " I wished it had played as well as it looked." Weather was just tough. It was 39 when we teed off Friday and then it got windy.
The blind shots didn't bother me in the least. There was only one real blind approach shot. And that's similar to Flynn's 9 (I think at Cascades) with the bullseye in the tree for a target and several other classic designs. Several Alps-type holes that MacDonald was known for employ blind approaches. Raynor did that a lot too. Adds to the charm imo. Several tee shots were blind. When you think about it, every shot is blind. Nobody looks at the target during the swing. You pick a line and hit it. Of course you have to know what the line is.
Tee shots one1,4,8,10,16, and second shots on 4, 12,13 were somewhat blind. You had to really move it to see the green on those holes. Most could barely see the pin on a couple. I just told you what a lot of the good players from Va had to say. Only the tee shot on 10 at the Cascades is carrying it over a rise. Everything else is visible, but the second tee shot on 9. I usually can get to where I can see the green except all the way back on 9. I've hit wedge into 7 at the cascades from the back tee.:smiley: