Stonehouse Golf Club-Toano, VA

Another of the few golf courses that Mike Strantz designed. This one, sadly, lacks that "it" that the other courses have. That said, this is a quality golf course and certainly one to play. This course is simply a normal golf course, if there is such a thing. It does not reach the extremism seen at Tobacco Road and Tot Hill Farm. It does not play extremely difficult like Royal New Kent. This course plays somewhat similar to many other housing based membership clubs. In most cases this would be a fine course, but compared to Mike Strantz's other work, it falls a bit short.

Ranking
Variety of Design: The par 3's have only modest variety, ranging only from 172 to 204 yards. The par 4's virtually all fall in the mid-400 yard range, none being very short nor very long. And the par 5's have only moderate variety as well. Directionally, the holes would seem to balance out well, having 6 holes playing right, 7 holes playing left and 6 playing straight (the 7th doglegs both left and right), yet upon digging a bit deeper one finds that the holes on the front nine are broken down as 6 holes right, 1 left, and 3 straight, while the back nine is 6 left and 3 straight. The overall balance is fair, the by each nine, quite skewed. 5 3/4 out of 10

Flow of the Course: This course has limited flow. None of the holes stand out as exceptional to give high points to the round. But none are so poor as to give extremely low points. 5 out of 10

Course Conditioning: In most places the turf is solid. A few greens had some dead spots due to heat and lack of air flow, but in general, the conditions were what one would expect give the fees. 5 3/4 out of 10

Ease of Walking: Not good. Significant distances between many of the holes, road crossings and hilly terrain makes this a difficult walk. 3 1/4 out of 10

Atmosphere: Mike Strantz being the designer gives a bit of a boost, but other than that, not much atmosphere here. 3 out of 10

Total: 50 out of 100

*All photos property of and used with permission from The Buffalo Golfer www.buffalogolfer.com*

Holes to Note
Hole #1: Par 4, 401 yards
This is likely the easiest opening hole from Strantz that I have played. The play off the tee is fairly simple. The bunker on the right can be easily carried, but the player must be mindful of the fact that the fairway ends at 285 yards from the back tee. Longer players may be able to run the ball through the fairway. But in general, the tee shot should not be overly difficult given that the fairway is over 60 yards wide. From the fairway, the player will have an open approach shot to a green cut into the side of a large hill.

The fairway runs from the center of the bunker on the right to a line pointed towards the lone tree on the left. Anything in the fairway will give the player a solid look at the green.

The green is cut deeply into the side of the hill. Shots missed more than a fraction in any direction will be done no favors.

Hole #5: 431 yards

This hole plays fairly long with a blind tee shot and then an approach shot to a Punchbowl green. The best line off the tee is to favor the right side, even with a line over the shorter tree. The green is fairly open in front and could allow for a run-up shot, though that would not be the preferred option.

From the tee, the player is unable to see the fairway. The stake visible in the middle of the fairway is not the 150 yard stake, indeed that stake is more than 225 yards from the green. Any shot left of that stake will not find the fairway.

The green is surrounded on 3 sides by the bowl. Shots hit a slight distance up on the hills will kick down onto the green. The wide opening in front may allow for a roll-up shot, but there is a depression short of the green which likely prevents that.

Hole #14: Par 4, 402 yards

This is a solid hole even though is has an awkward green site. The bunkers visible off the tee are completely out of play unless the player tops a shot. The tee shot is blind and the best line is directly over the two bunkers seen on the left side of the image; the orange bunkers in the foreground to be specific. That will leave the player with 150 or less yards into the green. To a certain degree, the farther right the players tee shot is played, the better, due to angle and being able to see the pin or the green, but this is certainly not a green that one will want to approach with a long iron.

From the tee, the best line is directly over the grass that separates the two orange sand bunkers in the foreground. That will allow the player a clear view of the green.

From around 150 out, this is the look at the green. This is certainly an aerial only approach and any miss hit shot will be severely penalized.

A closer look at the green shows the jungle surrounding the green on all sides.

Hole #18: Par 4, 453 yards

This is a difficult closing hole. The fairway is over 100 yards wide before part of it comes to an end 265 yards off the tee. The shortest line to the green comes from playing the tee shot close down the treeline on the left. This is where the fairway runs out. Playing over to the left, over the large shrubby tree in the center of the below image will give the player more length for the tee shot, but will also leave a longer approach. To the green the player has multiple options. From the shorter route, the player must fly the ball all the way to the green. From the longer route to the right, the player is able to bring the ball in low with a run-up shot. Very solid finishing hole.

The shortest line to the green comes from playing close to the treeline on the left. Players who hit the ball more than 275 yards off the tee will need to play less than driver when playing down this side. From there, the player will have around 170 yards to the center of the green, but the ball must be carried onto the putting surface, there is no run-up option. Players who choose to play to the right, over the shrub, will be left with about 190 yards to the center of the green even if they are able to hit the tee shot 300 yards. This shot, however, can be played with a run-up shot if desired.

From the center of the fairway, both approach options are visible. Anything left of here will not have the option of playing the shot on the ground. Anything right will need more club to reach the green but is able to be played to the green by rolling the ball up. The bunkers serve as saving features for players who slightly miss their approach shots.

Overall, this course is good but not great. It does provide a great break from the ordinary however, and is worth a look because of that. 5 out of 10

Mike Strantz & the C.B. Macdonald Template Holes

Mike Strantz is viewed by many in the golf community as a revolutionary designer. Some of the things he produced on golf courses were visually stunning and unlike little that had been seen before. But once you start digging a bit, get past the shock value visual features, there seem to be some definite old style golf features and even some of the Macdonald School template holes. Now, to be sure, these holes do not look like the simple, yet elegant, templates that Macdonald, Raynor and Banks crafted, but the visual features and playing features are there and show up far too often to be simple coincidence.

The most well known of the Macdonald School holes are the Biarritz, Redan, Punchbowl, Sahara, Cape, Road, and Alps. All of these holes show up at least once on Strantz courses, some of them more. Certainly Strantz went and put his own unique touch on these holes, but the strategic features are still there.

All images, with exception of Bulls Bay images, taken by and used with permission from The Buffalo Golfer: http://www.buffalogolfer.com

Bulls Bay images taken by and used with permission from S. R. Arble.

Biarritz
This is a hole that Strantz created twice. The basic feature of the biarritz hole has been described here before, but generally the hole is defined by a large depression in the middle of the green running side to side. The player is given the opportunity to bring the ball in low, landing it on the front of the green, and rolling to the back.

Tobacco Road, Hole #3, 152 yards

Here, the green starts just beyond the front bunkers, dips down, and rises sharply to the back level. Perhaps not a true Biarritz given that the back level is above that of the front, but the depression and two tiered green is there.

Royal New Kent, Hole #7, 197 yards

This hole is a biarritz/redan hybrid. The depression with two tiers is there, but so is the right-to-left angle and the front kick slope. Strantz used the creek bed in lieu of a bunker as the fronting hazard and put the two pot bunkers in as the rear hazard. The bunkers short of the kick slope are traditional redan features.

Redan

Strantz also crafted this hole twice. The standard Redan has a green that is angled roughly forty-five degrees right-to-left away from the player. Traditionally, the hole has a deep bunker fronting the green and another bunker behind the green to catch shots going long. The hole is also marked by the front to back slope, allowing the players to roll the ball to the back of the green, and the bunkers that are typically short of the front kick slope, bringing distance control more into focus for the player.

Royal New Kent, Hole #7, 197 yards

--Profiled above

Bulls Bay, Hole #7, 180 yards

This hole features the standard Redan shape and the front slope into the opening, However, it lacks the cross bunkers and rear bunker.

Punchbowl

This is a hole that Strantz used a number of times. The basic idea of the Punchbowl is that the green is located in a natural bowl or depression. The slopes of the depression can either be part of the green or part of the surrounding area.

Tobacco Road, Hole #13, 573 yards

This green is most certainly located in a bowl. Much of the green is obscured from view when approaching from the fairway. Options could be incredible if the bowl walls were maintained with shorter turf rather than high love grass.

Bulls Bay, Hole #14, 190 yards

Here, you can see the entire rear and both sides of the green sloping down towards the center of the green. In this case, a portion of the surround is maintained as short turf. This gives the player the chance to use the slope to get a shot closer to the hole...or might improve the positioning of a poorly played shot as well.

Stonehouse, Hole #5, 431 yards

The features are fairly obvious here. Slopes coming into the center from all directions. This might be the most traditional of the punchbowls shown.

Cape

This hole has become something different than it originally was. The original Cape played as a dogleg but the green was located on a peninsula surrounded by water. The original hole has since been altered and today the Cape is typically defined as a dogleg hole where the player is given the option of picking a more or less aggressive line off the tee, typically cutting over some type of hazard. This hole concept is possibly the most copied hole in golf and Strantz made good use of the concept himself.

Tobacco Road, Hole #12, 419 yards

This hole bends significantly to the left around the bunker. The green is farther around the corner, not in the image. The player is able to play the tee shot as far out to the left as he dares.

Tot Hill Farm, Hole #5, 535 yards

While difficult to see in the image, the fairway here runs from right to left, away from the player. Inside the dogleg is a deep depression filled with small trees and shrubs. The most agressive line on this hole is towards the peak of the hill/mountain in the distance.

Royal New Kent, Hole #9, 407 yards

Here, the player is given the chance to pick his line over the creek that is just shy if the fairway. In prior years, the creek also served to separate the fairway on the left from a second fairway on the right. The bunkers await through the fairway to catch golfers getting a little too greedy on the conservative line.

Bulls Bay, Hole #5, 406 yards

This is the first of the Cape holes that really play over a water feature. The marshland must be carried here in order to reach the fairway and the player is able to play as far out right as he feels comfortable doing.

Road
As the name suggests, this hole is patterned after the Road hole 17th at The Old Course. The green typically is narrow and angles right to left. There is also normally a bunker short of the green, ideally a pot bunker to mimick the Road Hole Bunker and some type of hazard long of the green to represent the road itself.

This hole bears more than a passing resemblance to the Road Hole, even if it lacks the bunker short. The tall grass short provides the Road Hole Bunker feature and the wall long, there to keep balls from going onto the public road located about 10 yards beyond the hazard, provides the Road feature.

Alps
The idea here is typically to have some type of large hill feature obscuring the view of the green. Sometimes the player is given the chance to play to a disadvantaged side of the fairway in order to avoid it, other times that is not the case.

Tobacco Road, Hole #1, 558 yards

This from about 210 yards from the green, no sight of the green. The green sits about 75 yards beyond the mound in the center of the picture.

Royal New Kent, Hole #14, 344 yards

This hole allows the golfer the chance to see the green when playing to a proper location. Golfers who play tee shots to the flanks of the fairway will likely not be able to see the flag. This green is also located in a punchbowl.

Sahara

This hole plays up and over a dune or some type of sand feature that also prevents the player from seeing the ball come to rest in the fairway.

Tobacco Road, Hole #18, 432 yards

From the tee, this is what the player sees. The fairway begins directly over top of the hill but the vast majority of it is out of the player's view.

There are other examples that could be used for these hole type, certainly the Alps feature is one that Strantz uses with semi-regularity. Same with the Punchbowl. Also, you may note that no holes from True Blue and Caledonia, Strantz originals, or Monterey Peninsula (Shore) and Silver Creek Valley, Strantz redesigns, are mentioned here. I simply lack familiarity with those courses and am unable to determine if any of those holes fit into the template mold.

If you think I've missed any, and I probably have, feel free to let me know.