What They’re Saying
“Though the scale of the bunker dominates the eye [at the par-3 12th, see image bottom left), the area of real interest should be the tightly mown short grass on the left to right slope along the left of the green. The ‘real’ – certainly the fun – shot is to hit a low ball toward that slope and watch the ball feed onto the green.”
— Ran Morrissett, Golf Club Atlas
“Golf Digest’s Best New Private Course of 2003 was a course called The Club at Black Rock in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho… But in 2003, there was another new club called Black Rock that I thought was just as good, and maybe even better. Its 522-yard fourth [see main image above], where Silva not only hid the green behind a grassed-over hill of rock, but designed it so that second shots funnel down to the hidden punchbowl green, is called the “Green Monster,” but rather than a baseball field, it brings to mind the horseshoe end of a football stadium. Imagine lofting a shot from outside the stadium over the rim, then having it bounce down the steps to a green at the goal line. That’s what the approach on Black Rock’s fourth is like, as fun and exciting as any par 5 you’ve ever played.”
— Ron Whitten, Golf Digest
“No hole is a good one unless it has one or more hazards in a direct line of a hole. Max Behr, who is one of the best American golf architects, states that the direct line to the hole is the line of instinct, and that to make a good golf hole you must break up that line in order to create the line of charm.”
— Alister Mackenzie
