It's tough to not rate this course higher, in fact it has garnered praise from everywhere, was designed by a renowned golf architect and sits on a stunning site with beautiful mountain vistas. Very little is ordinary about this place, but alas, there is a lot wrong as well and it all starts with the completely disconnected routing that earns the predicate unwalkable (although it technically is, just not a lot of fun to do). Consequently there is very little flow and the difficulties of playing the actual holes add to the mental stress.

Intimidation instead of encouragement seems to be the idea and it must be admitted that this plan is executed subtly and in style. There is no murderous rough or blatant blindness, but rather an accumulation of small, unpleasant surprises intermixed with the odd favorable bounce to keep the player engaged. Which is generally a good thing, but overdone here at the expense of the lay of the land. This must be one of the most contrived mountain layouts anywhere - perhaps more a result of permitting than actual planning, but artificial it remains.

And then there are a number of odd design decisions that add up. Never mind the unusual par configuration starting with 5-3-5-3-4-3, but most golfers will hit only two different clubs from the tee of all five one shotters (and some will actually get by with just one club). This is too much similarity, a criticism that must be levied at the 16th and 17th as well. Two successive par 5s that play virtually identical and, to top it off, side by side: one down the hill and the other back up, separated only by the cart path. Another slightly annoying situation is the strenous uphill struggle to the 6th tee, evoking fantasies of a great panorama tee as a reward, but instead providing a hole that plays even more uphill. Finally, on such a severe site one would expect better drainage to be employed.

Apart from that the presentation is first class, but eye candy alone can never pull it off. First time golfers will probably come away impressed, but replay interest is questionable. It's not enough fun for that.