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Friar's Head

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Guest:
One of the best i have ever played!!!!!  It has it all . Kenny did a great job in getting Coore & Crenshaw . Everybody that plays will enjoy it !!!!!!!

Gene T.:
As Pat says, the wind is a huge factor at FH.  It makes the course play different everyday. The course requires decisions regarding strategy hole after hole and shot after shot.  There are even a couple of greens with choices of direction and speed for the same putt. It has a great short par 4 which you can use anything from a 7 iron to a driver and a par 3 that looks like it was transported from Lahinch. It is not the longest course in the world, yet you can hit driver on every par 4 and par 5. It is very playable for high handicappers yet the greens inside greens provide quite a challenge for the low handicapper.  Finally, the course is great fun to play and puts a smile on your face. :)

Matt Schulte:
Who do you need to know to get a tee time?  Sounds unbelievable!

ForkaB:
Since Mr. Bakst has opened this topic up for discussion, let me tell you 4 reasons I think this is and will be a special place, and one that anybody inerested in GCA will want to play and study.  I have only "walked" the course, a little over a year ago, but here is what I remember.

1.  It is a golf course and facility built by and for golfers.  That may seem a simplistic statement, but it is not.  Think about it.

2.  The routing maximizes golf, often to the detriment of "eye candy."  While much of the property fronts Long Island Sound, you have to strain to see it, even on the holes relatively near to the shore.  The dunesland holes are more reminiscent of the inland holes at Cypress Point than the "ocean" holes at Bandon and Pacific Dunes.  The inland holes, built over the one time potato fields, are more reminiscent of Scottish linkland than are any of the holes at this course's more ancient and illustrious neighbours.  

3.  Detail.  The devil is in the detail, and because of the skill and passion of the developers and architects, this course will never induce boredom.  So many little rolls and hollows have been preserved/created that even on a bad day, you will still have fun playing this course, and on a good day, you will always have to keep up your guard.

4.  Quirk.  The "Lahinch/Dell" hole was designed (hope it is still that way) so that the "Championship" tee was 40 yards shorter than the day-to-day tee, well off to the right, and played to a nearly hidden "green within green" that would make it harder to play at 140 yards than from the "back" markers and a "normal" pin position.  Can't wait to see the faces of the low handicap players/pros as they walk forward to play the "back" tees.

Michael Dugger:
Awesome, flat awesome.  Thanks to everyone who chimed in here...I haven't been as excited to see a new course since Pacific.  The Dell/Lahinch hole sounds outstanding.  Part Cypress, Part Spyglass, part Sand Hills, waterfront, potato fields...it is a good time to be a fan of golf course architecture!  
can't wait to see the pics!!  

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