Old Mill Bay

A very solid backround and great objects helped this course look good, but all in all the course played pretty poorly. I don't feel this is one of Mike New's better designs.

The water here is basically white. This makes the holes with water that would be very scenic, look pretty poor. There was, however, a few good looking shots. I really enjoyed #9, but it could have been better. This is a good idea for a course, but I felt the designing uncharacteristically sloppy for a Mike New design. Either that or it was just not in my taste. The uphill approaches are the only diffcult thing about the course.

Overall, the course needs more variety, and should have had a different color water. The background, and objects almost made me forget about the layout, and just focus on the scenery, but if the scenery wasn't there, I was extremely bored with the course. I liked the course, and it was moderately scenic, but it just didn't work for me.

In my mind, this is easily one of the best scenery courses every done. Everything here is great. Even the white sky is spectacular on some holes. I have been to the region where this course is set, and it really helped me appreciate it more. The three consecutive holes 9-10-11 are absolutely gorgeous holes, especially the 9th, a spectacular short par 4. The scenery is absolutely stunning here.

The challenge here is not that great though, and the holes are somewhat boring after the scenery. I have shot rounds in the low 60's here quite a few times. The fairways are fairly generous and there seemed to be too many holes with elevated greens.

But, the scenery makes up so much for these things, which is the main feature of the course and it is why I am giving it a high rating.