BrandonWebb

Today’s round here easily ranks among my favorite golf experiences. Rarely does a course exceed lofty expectations coming in, but ACC delivered.

It is unlike any Pete Dye course I’ve played. It is amazing how the holes drip down the hill the club sits on into the canyons and down to the river below, creating a multitude of angles.

I really admired how the course allows one to play to their strengths by offering a variety of strategy off the tee. The shot values are off the charts. You are required throughout to step up and hit proper, if scary, golf shots. The pucker factor is real! If your miss is left, it could be a challenging day.

I now have a greater understanding of why the Dell Match Play is contested here. It truly is a risk/reward proposition throughout.

Above all, the ambiance and vibe surrounding the club - from the range, to the clubhouse, to the Harvey Pencil Locker Room - is exceptional.

Was a little underwhelmed, considering this was the former host of the Houston Open. I’m not knocking it, but there just weren’t any memorable holes. The land was uninteresting and the holes seemed too similar to me.

This area has been battling a drought over the past month. Still, the conditions were good. There were some crispy spots in the fairways, but it did not detract. The firmness with which it played was one of the highlights of the round.

Greens had been aerated a week and a half ago. Still a little bumpy, but almost recovered. A little rain and one good rolling would bring them back to normal.

Shoal has made some massive improvements for, and since, the 2018 U.S. Women’s Open. Additionally, a corner of the property was ravaged by a tornado that has people wondering what is the next move aesthetically.

This very prestigious club has hosted several major championships and is rumored to be courting another. The massaging of some holes for the Women’s Open, such as the removal of the large waste bunker down the right side of the third hole near the green, have been welcomed progress. Yet, the damage incurred by holes 4, 5 and 6 from the storm stripped them of their identity.

The fourth hole is a shell of itself. No longer shrouded on both sides by towering pines, instead it looks like a hole that belongs at Bent Brook. This hole used to play claustrophobically toward a bewildering green. Now, however, it is wide open, thanks to the tornado. Club officials are weighing what to do to return character to the hole. I’ve heard chatter about church-pew bunkers and transporting in mature hardwoods. A yet-to-be-named architect is reported to be in the course’s future to further massage Jack Nicklaus’ layout and solve the riddle left by the storm damage. That will surely include stiffening the par-5 sixth, which has not played the same since losing the tree that rested in the center of the fairway and affected layups and green-seeking second shots alike.

The rest of the course is pristine. From the apt opening hole to the shortish finisher with the looming clubhouse in the distance, Shoal Creek leans on its reputation as a second-shot golf course. Ample fairways await tee shots for the most part. Approaches, however, require the utmost precision. Because of the Augusta-like green complexes, missing the appropriate level of the putting surface can be costly. Additionally, missing greens usually leaves a player with a dicey short-sided chip over a bunker off a tight lie. It can frazzle the nerves.

Shoal’s collection of par 3s are stout. Use of rock walls to front penalty areas are beautifully done. And the tee shot on the 14th, high above the fairway, is one of the single best in Birmingham.

The practice area and short course are not to be hurried through.

The Gold course offers green complexes that are more difficult than its’ fabled sister course, the Blue Monster.

There are some really good, fun holes, like Nos. 8, 10, and 18. However, this is typical Florida resort style golf. One dogleg with water down one side numbs you to the stellar holes.

I don’t think the value is there to warrant the price tag. But, once on the property they’ve got you. You can either pay twice as much for another round on the Blue, or feel like you are saving money by playing the Gold or Red.

It has been roughly 30 years between rounds for me at Doral. Much has changed aesthetically, both with the ownership of Donald Trump and the redesign by Gil Hanse.

Still, there is something very familiar about the Blue Monster. It is an iconic golf course that perhaps has been left behind. Since the PGA Tour eschewed backlash by moving Doral’s date on the schedule, it is stuck in the purgatory between toney 1950s Florida resort golf and the shadow cast by other Florida mega-resorts, namely Streamsong, that have passed it by.

What Doral has going for it is a brand name. Serious golfers know the label. They grew up watching men like Greg Norman, Ray Floyd, Nick Faldo and Steve Elkington win the Doral Ryder Open on CBS to the dulcet tones of Pat Summerall and Ken Venturi.

Most every course claims a signature hole. Doral, however, has a legit signature hole: the brute of a par 4 18th, the famed Blue Monster, and namesake of the course. It is a hole that every serious fan of the game ought to experience for themselves. Playing into the prevailing wind, the carry off the tee to clear the hazard that looms down the left side is weightier than it appears. That only earns you another chance to baptize a ball with an approach that played 180 yards. Remember Rory tossing a club into this penalty area the last year the tournament was played here? You will have empathy for him after you’ve holed out.

You also feel like being a guest at the resort is a big deal. The rooms are terrific. The practice areas are spacious. There is an ambiance about the place.

However, judging from a golf perspective, outside of the rush of playing the finishing hole and its’ sister hole - the adjacent par-3 ninth that is a handful, the rest of the holes are just not that memorable. Hanse did some major surgery on several holes, particularly the 15th and 16th, which don’t resemble the previous iteration in the least. And I think they were good changes. It’s just that the rest of the course is one dogleg with water down one side after another. Yawning, typical Florida resort-style golf. And the Blue is honestly not even the toughest course on the property.

Having said all that, I still enjoyed the round. I think one’s golfing resume ought to include a round on the Monster. And that, in the end, is why a round here comes with such a hefty price tag. They know most will pay for that opportunity.

Palmilla’s three nine-hole courses are punctuated by extreme barrancas and sandy washouts that force some brawny carries, mainly on approach.

The Mountain nine is pretty benign, and should afford numerous opportunities to card good scores, until the treacherous fifth hole, where it ratchets up with a stern par 4 that requires carries over ball-swallowing ravines off the tee and on the second shot. No. 9 is another memorable hole, where an aggressive drive over the cluster of bunkers on the inside right of the fairway’s dogleg can yield a flip wedge in.

The Ocean nine demands a lot from your game, particularly from the second hoke to the clubhouse, which features dramatic elevation change down across the highway to the sea and back. Nos. 2-4 are sensational holes, and extremely tough pars.

My only criticism is that at $250, I’m not quite sure the value matches up to other public options in the area, like Cabo del Sol’s Desert course and Cabo Real, which are much better conditioned and about $65 cheaper.

The Desert course offers manageable par 5s, arduous par 3s, with a sprinkling of short par 4s. A bit of a yawning start gives way to some excellent holes, including a back nine that plays across the highway and back toward the Sea of Cortez, with brilliant holes that rank among the course’s best offerings.

Though none of the holes play out to the sea, you are constantly aware of your proximity to it, because it is the backdrop on most every hole, yielding exemplary views.

The practice range is staffed with an attendant that sees to your every need, including club washing, doling out bottles of water and sunscreen, and even providing an ashtray to accommodate one’s cigar.

The first tee and comfort stations offer a min-mart assortment of gum, mints, band aids and remedies for most every ailment from headaches to nausea.

I found this to be a great value when looking for a public offering. It’s greens fee pales on comparison to.other neighbors and the conditioning was much better than other courses that charge up to $65 more.

I could try to describe how good the back nine of the Seaside course is, but I don’t think I can do it justice. Just like I could attempt to describe the experience at Sea Island, but it’s just a great hang that you kind of have to discover on your own. From the incredible practice area, to the best biscuit and gravy breakfast I’ve ever had, to one of the best locker rooms on the planet (do yourself a favor and have lunch in there; order the fried bologna sandwich and thank me later), and top-notch caddie loops, Sea Island is among the few places that I’ve been fortunate enough to travel to that soared past my expectations going in.

That is not to say that the front nine is not memorable. From the moment you stand on the first tee and see those giant classic clam shell bunkers that are sprawling down the right side of the fairway, you know you are in for a test. The marsh frames most holes. There are a few forced carries. For that reason, the Seaside course is very demanding off the tee.

Placing your ball in the fairway, however, is just the beginning. The wind on this exposed track makes judging yardage on approach shots very challenging and crucial to scoring. Getting a good caddie and trusting his experience is paramount.

Like the sister Plantation course, bunkers abide gratuitously. The classic green structures are pushed up, and are accompanied by deep, scalloped bunkers, creating the illusion that the greens themselves are super small. It is an intimidating visual. I firmly believe that battling the tricks the course plays on your mind that lead to indecision is tougher than the elements experienced or the challenge the course presents in and of itself.

If you successfully reach the putting surface in regulation, the fun begins. There is a ton of movement within them and the grain and wind complicates things further. Should you miss the green, getting up and down takes every bit of mettle and skill you can muster. Besides the sand, the closely-mown runoff areas repel balls well away from the pin, leaving some awkward pitches. My biggest takeaway was that there are no small misses on the Seaside course. If you miss the green, even narrowly, you miss big because balls do not stay put. They meander to collection areas.

No, Pete Dye is not the architect.

Turns out Davis Love III and Mark Love like railroad tie planks as well.

The Plantation course at Sea Island is a shotmaker’s delight. The green complexes and use of half-par holes allow this course to emerge from the shadow of its much-heralded sister course.

Don’t be fooled by the yardage on the scorecard. Though there are some short par 4s and all but one par 5 is reachable for some, peril awaits in the form of strategically-placed bunkers that place a premium on hitting your number, even when laying up.

The Old White at The Greenbrier is thriving after getting out on the forefront of the recent “return to classic architecture and conditioning” revival that has captured the raters, rankers and golfing masses.

Deemed tired, with boring round bunkers, even more uninteresting round greens and less-than-thought-provoking mowing patterns, Lester George was tapped in the early 2000s to restore Macdonald and Raynor’s vision. And though the course has since been reconstructed following the massive flood several years ago that led to the ownership softening some of George’s features, the Old White sits solidly in the top half of most publications’ top 50 lists.

It is a remarkably flat, charming layout that rests in a valley of the Allegheny Mountains. The lush, verdant terrain that surrounds Howard’s Creek is made interesting by strategic fairway bunkering and sunken green side traps. Mounding also captures your eye off the tee.

The greens offered movement that is quite subtle to the eye, but dramatic to the ball. I was fooled by how much break I encountered throughout the course, and was thankful to have a forecaddie that showed me the way, even if I was unbelieving. It should come as no surprise, however, as you are playing through a valley with cumbersome mountains on either side, with a body of water bisecting the property to provide the pull. Trust the caddie.

Much has been written about the course’s opening tee shot. Tom Watson said it was his favorite opening shot he’s ever played. I’m not inclined to argue with him. Walking up the steps beside the clubhouse to the starter’s stand and looking out over the property to the fairway below Is quite sensational.

The course’s backbone - at a par of 70 - is reinforced by a bevy of par 4s. Due to the parkland nature of the course, driving accuracy is a key to scoring well, as you will be punching out frequently, otherwise. And this time of year, balls can be hard to locate with all the fallen leaves.

The par 3s, two of which are prominent template holes, are good on the front. I found the two on the back to play largely the same.

Do yourself a favor and retire to Slammin’ Sammy’s afterward for a post-round drink. Try the burger. The hand-cut fries are among the best I’ve had anywhere.