Hole #1 - par 4 - Double Plateau
Back tee - 341 yards
Middle tee - 304 yards
As you walk to the first tee, you probably notice two things right off the bat. First, the playing field feels extremely wide open (because it is). Second, as you glance to your right and take in the view of the 18th green you get a sense for the challenge that awaits over the course of the next several hours. While you can only see 3 holes from the first tee (possibly four if you really strain for a view of 17) it feels like there's enough room on this side of the ridge to fit an entire nine holes.
The first tee shot provides generous width in the fairway and even more room beyond that as the rough is not imposing. It is very easy to stand on this tee, not be too nervous (even with a group of twenty or so people, including the owner, the design team, and a camera crew), and get your game off to a good start. There's plenty of room to spray the ball, though once you've played the hole once and experienced the green you will quickly realize that wild tee shots won't cost you a lost ball or a triple bogey but they will certainly cost you the opportunity at the ideal approach, which will be critical.
If the bunker guarding the front of the green, and obscuring some of the view of the wild contours, is not a principal's nose bunker, then I suppose I don't really know what one is. The large mound certainly gives the impression that you are staring up a giant nose, with two sandy pit bunkers playing the role of the nostrils.
Double Plateau adequately describes the green. The green is a wonderful introduction to what the golfer will face throughout the day... greens that are large enough to allow average golfers to hit more than their fair share of greens in regulations, yet fierce enough that some situations will leave the golfer satisfied with a three-putt. Hitting greens is not sufficient to scoring here. Position is extremely important.
A view from the tee
Zoomed in a little closer
A look from the fairway. The bunker on the right was in play from the tee for our group on this day. The greenside bunker seen on the left of this photo would be in play for longer hitters on a downwind day.
Another view of the approach, closer to the green
A look from the left of the fairway
Standing on the front of the green. The pin is on the left plateau.
From just behind the right plateau, looking back across the green
Is that a hidden bunker? Well, yes, I think it might be.
I hope you will all enjoy taking this tour at a leisurely pace. I am in a busy period at work and also have some travel in the not to distant future, so I will be taking my time between each hole. Please feel free to post additional pictures of the hole if you have any different vantage points, and, as always, please discuss!