75 Ground contour also allows the course to be set up for varying levels of difficulty. There are kind pin locations on most greens, but several more sinister placements too. On my visit, for example, the pin at the par-four ninth was set just above a ridge that snakes through the green, and at the par-three thirteenth it was tucked into a small section in the far right corner of the green, behind a deep bunker. The thirteenth is the longest of the par threes and one of the outstanding holes on the property. It is in full view from the clubhouse (Phillips’ routing returns after twelve holes – unlike Apogee’s other courses, which both return after nine – giving members the option for six and twelve hole-rounds) and quite fearsome at 241 yards from the back tees. As is evident throughout his course portfolio, Phillips is an expert in creating a landscape that looks like it has always been there. Few would realise that the land of the holes around the clubhouse has been created by man, so natural is its appearance. A deep valley cuts through the thirteenth, between tees and green. It is crossed by a distinctive stilted bridge, beyond which the approach area feeds balls towards the large and undulating putting surface. Getting close to the pin will require a good understanding of how the contours will impact the roll of the ball. As with most holes on Phillips’ layout, there is a short, closely mown transition between the thirteenth green and the following tee, which sets up one of the most appealing drives on the course to a fairway below. The fourteenth hole is home to one of the most memorable features of the course – a rolling boomerang of a double green that is shared with the sixteenth. Phillips has spent much of his career working outside the US and his work at Apogee shows an appreciation of the quirks of the courses of the UK and Ireland. “What you see in a lot of links and heathland golf courses are those little subtleties that you might not appreciate at first, and the more you play it, the more you learn and understand it,” says Phillips. “We wanted to create a course that reveals itself over time.” Another example of this comes at the par-three seventeenth. Here, the green appears to sit between a huge dune on the left and a greenside bunker on the right. A marker post on top of the dune provides a clue that there is more than meets the eye. Once you arrive at the surface it becomes apparent that a large portion of the green wraps behind the dune (the marker post indicates the left APOGEE SUMMIT The double green of the fourteenth (left) and sixteenth holes, with the par-three seventeenth in the background Photo: Steve Szurlej/Apogee
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