I find this course to be frustrating and unpleasant to play. Most people seem to disagree with me, so I'll do my best to explain why I think so, trying to be as objective as possible. Some of this inevitably delves into personal feelings and philosophies on course design.
- Holes 5-7 run alongside the entrance road, which is pretty much always full of slow-driving cars. There's also typically picnickers, walkers, birthday parties, etc. on the edges of these holes, plus on Hole 4. Not only are there safety issues here, but they are also just distracting and un-peaceful, not what I'd associate with a top-level course.
- Quite a few holes feature highly elevated baskets, and to me in these cases, this is just lazy design. For a few, the elevation is completely unnecessary, and are overly punitive on holes that are already difficult as-is (ex: Hole 17). Then on Hole 9, this stupid-simple hole is overly-compensated for by the exaggerated height of the basket (update - this hole is not part of the newer gold layout, hooray!). A 'perfect' drive under the basket suddenly has no angle for a putt, and then what do you do? At least lower the basket a foot or two, but even then this is not a good hole, and I'd prefer something entirely different.
- A number of the Par 4s feature a relatively straight tee-shot, followed by a near-90-degree dogleg, then a long alley to the basket. Examples include holes 3, 10, 12, 14 (update: replaced by gold 13, which is much more attackable and much better), and 17. This is not a design that I'm in favor of. There is no way to cut the corners on these doglegs, and most people's tee-shots will come up short of the corners, or be slightly off-angle. This then essentially requires a lay-up to perfect position on the corner, and given how long the second alleys are, practically guarantees a bogey at best for many players. This is related to the principle of preferring early gaps to late gaps, but in this case, it's not just a late gap, it's an entire late fairway that must be carefully positioned for. This design is overly demanding and punitive, and to have it repeated so many times is unwelcome, exasperating, and uncreative.
- Tournament hole 2 on the island is certainly better than the permanent hole 2, but it's still not that great. The basket is tucked too far into the trees, and there are too many low-hanging limbs. Plenty of good-looking shots get caught by branches or take a tree kick, and end up in the water.
UPDATE 2019 Oct - Just played the new gold layout, put in for the 2019 DGPT Championship. I'm bumping up my rating by a half-star, but most of the above cons still apply, and I'm still lower on this course than most others. In addition,
- Gold 15 is the new gauntlet hole, with a mando and an unbelievably tight gap off the tee, and it just feels too gimmicky to me. Some players may elect to just jump-putt off the tee to make the gap, and that doesn't seem fun. Curious to see how the pros play it, but it's hard to imagine anyone consistently running it for birdie.