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Hole 1

Hole Name

From The Tee You don't ease into the round of golf at Bonnie Briar-you start with 473 yards of intimidation. From the championship tee your best drive is down the left side,

From The Fairway avoiding out-of-bounds and a well-placed bunker there while dealing with a sloping fairway that can direct a less than perfect shot into a deep lie in the right rough.

On The Green The long second shot must come in high and soft to remain on a firmly contoured green that runs rapidly front to back and slopes away on all four corners, creating a putting and chipping challenge perhaps unrivaled in any opening hole in the region. A par here - 4 for men, 5 for women -- is more than a small victory. Too often, the mission is to avoid starting your round with a big number.

Hole 2

Hole Name

From The Tee From this elevated tee, it looks like you can reach out and touch the green. But those with driver in hand risk more than they realize.

From The Fairway A 200 yard tee shot is best, keeping you safely short of a penalizing drop-off slope of rough that guards a brief second patch of fairway,

On The Green only ten paces long, leading up to the Sheldrake River. Drives to the left may catch a gaping bunker or, beyond that, a red-staked bog, while pine trees line the right side of the fairway. But even drives safely in the mowed grass may leave an approach shot that must deal with a towering tree that blocks the right half of the green and swats many a ball into the water. While birdie remains a possi

Hole 3

Hole Name

From The Tee A classic example of A.W. Tillinghast design,

From The Fairway

On The Green the narrow green is defended on its left by a looming oak, but there's no safety on the right, either, for there waits the steepest of the bunkers that flank the putting surface. While the hole invites a right to left shot, the elevated green makes club selection difficult, especially

Hole 4

Hole Name

From The Tee This narrow hole doglegs right through trees and bedrock, and is at its narrowest in the landing zone for tee shots.

From The Fairway The ideal drive will settle on the left side of the fairway 200-to-225 yards from the back tees, though big hitters may gamble with the driver to set up a wedge approach.

On The Green With exposed rock formations leading up to a green set at the base of a hillside of azaleas, No. 4 provides one of the great vistas on the course. But the two-tiered putting surface is no walk in the park. It is important to keep your approach on the same level as the pin-and good luck to the player who must chip back from the rough behind the green.

Hole 5

Hole Name

From The Tee The green here actually is quite large, but it sure doesn't look it from the distant elevated tee.

From The Fairway

On The Green From there, all you may notice are the steep bunkers that protect the target. What's more, club selection can be difficult in swirling winds that are hard to detect from the tee. Once you make the green, you face one of the steepest slopes on the course, pitching from the back left to the front right. Give extra oomph to your putt if you are below the flag and a feathery touch if you make the mist

Hole 6

Hole Name

From The Tee You'll hear the croaking of the small creatures that make their home in the lake

From The Fairway that hugs the left side of the fairway then turns right across it. The tendency is to drive it right, away from the water,

On The Green but that only makes the uphill approach longer and could land you in thick rough that can make clearing the hazard an issue. No. 6 features yet another long, narrow green, protected on the left and right by sizable bunkers. There are tricky breaks on even the shortest putts on a hole where handicap strokes often come into play.

Hole 7

Hole Name

From The Tee This short hole presents an excellent scoring opportunity if you play it smart.

From The Fairway The prudent strategy is to favor the left side of the fairway about 180-200 yards from the back tees. Be careful not to stray too far left, however, as a "hidden" bunker waits just off the fairway there. Drives too far right, meanwhile, will produce a second shot blocked by trees. But this hole produces more birdies than any on the front nine,

On The Green for a good tee shot leaves an approach that will stick well on the sharply elevated green that slopes back to front. Of course, the perils are O-Bvious too - the deep bunkers and rough that surround the green and, to the left, a hillside of tangled brush. A final note: while long hitters can drive right to the end of the fairway, to the base of the front bunker, this leaves a steep uphill flip to

Hole 8

Hole Name

From The Tee

From The Fairway No. 8 offers a two-tiered fairway with a signature mound sitting in the middle of the lower section.

On The Green The young and strong may be able to blast their drive to the upper level - everyone else is advised to tee off with a club that will leave them on the lower flats. The second shot to this long narrow green will be blind from there, but you can walk to the top of the hill and pick one of the towering trees behind the green as your target. And while this is another uphill shot, requiring an extra cl

Hole 9

Hole Name

From The Tee Uphill at the start and finish, this par five plays far longer than its yardage.

From The Fairway Those who hope to reach it in two must clear a large bunker at the corner of a slight dogleg right. Those without the power to clear them must deal with a fairway that pitches sharply left - don't be surprised if a drive that hits dead center winds up in the left rough. But the real challenge here comes up ahead. The final approach of the front nine at Bonnie Briar also is the toughest to gauge. C

On The Green approach to trickle agonizingly back at you, right off the green. The catch is, once you are past that false-front, this green bounds away from you, so bold approaches may well wind up over the putting surface. What's more, the quick right-to-left slope of the green makes finishing the nine with a three-putt an all-too-easy.

Hole 10

Hole Name

From The Tee Accuracy is needed to start the back nine. Bunkers right and left guard the narrow entrance to this long par three, which requires a long poke - a wood shot for most players - even from the women's tees.

From The Fairway

On The Green The result often is a challenging lie when those tee shots wind up under the trees to the left or in the gully to the right of the green. And while high approaches may hold the green, lower ones will bounce quickly toward the rear. The good news is that this is one of the flattest greens on the course - you should be thinking of draining 20 footers here.

Hole 11

Hole Name

From The Tee About the only thing in your favor on this man-sized dogleg right is that it is downhill.

From The Fairway From the elevated driving area, you look out on a right-sloping fairway guarded by a single left-side bunker within reach of long hitters.

On The Green The best line to the green is from that left side, however - drives to the right may wind up in near-impossible rough and require an approach over, or around, a tree perched on the right side of a drop-off 90 yards from the green. In any event, the second shot is blind, over that hill. This is a rare Bonnie Briar green without sand protecting it, but the putting surface breaks sharply left-to-righ

Hole 12

Hole Name

From The Tee Squeezed between two monster holes, No. 12 can be seen as a respite. But it's hardly a pushover.

From The Fairway

On The Green Drives yanked left may wind up in a creek not visible from the tee, while those hit too far right will leave a blocked second shot to the green.

Hole 13

Hole Name

From The Tee From the 12th green you head downhill and to the left, over the creek, to a whole new geography -- the scenic closing portion of Bonnie Briar, featuring the winding Sheldrake River and some good birdie opportunities. But before those come, you must confront the toughest hole on the course. Both captivating and intimidating, No. 13 features an elevated tee complex that provides a better view of the

From The Fairway Tee shots into the rocks may miraculously ricochet back into the fairway, but don't count on it. Average hitters, and even many long ones, when they drive into the rough, will find it wise to lay up their second shots short of the river, which crosses the fairway 60 yards short of the green.

On The Green And as if the long-game challenges were not enough here, the green has bunkers on both side and slopes slickly from back to front - it's another one on which it's possible to putt off the short grass if the pin is placed in the front. As on holes 1 and 11, par here is an accomplishment.

Hole 14

Hole Name

From The Tee This is another short par four that requires a choice off the tee.

From The Fairway A driver should take the lake on the left out of play, but puts the right-side fairway bunker into range, and could well leave you with one of those delicate less-than-full wedge shots.

On The Green Whatever choice you make off the tee, the second shot requires calculation too. You'll want extra club to account for the elevation of the green, and to keep from getting stuck in a steep front embankment of rough. But you do NOT want to leave yourself past the pin here. With a slick back-to-front slope, this green presents among the most difficult approach putting on the course.

Hole 15

Hole Name

From The Tee After you climb up the hill from the 14th green and step up to a large tee box, this par three may look like a piece of cake. But it isn't.

From The Fairway

On The Green The green is bunkered on three sides, and its sloping banks can kick errant shots into unpleasant places. It's also another slick front-to-back putting surface with countless small breaks. That said, this is a scoring opportunity--take advantage of it.

Hole 16

Hole Name

From The Tee The blind downhill tee shot here can mean the difference between par and an X. Local wisdom has it that your target should be the chimney of the house barely visible, dead-center,

From The Fairway among the woods in the distance. But it's hard to forget the O-B left, or how the hazard on that side comes closer in toward the fairway than it appears. Meanwhile, the looming tree on the right, amid the rocks at the top of the drop-off, will deflect all but a booming drive in that direction. The result can be a poor lie on the downhill slope, or in the right rough, that makes clearing the Sheldr

On The Green Then the hard work is over, for this stretch of fairway is perhaps the flattest on the course. And the green too is relatively flat - a friendly surface, as on hole 10, where you can roll putts with confidence.

Hole 17

Hole Name

From The Tee For higher handicapper, or older player, simply driving over the Sheldrake may be a challenge. To the college player or pro, on the other hand, it should be a drive-and-iron.

From The Fairway Women meanwhile will appreciate how this is one of the few times at Bonnie Briar where the Green tee really does carve off substantial yardage, making the hole a Par 4 rather. But No. 17 is a pleasing experience for any player, going dead-straight through natural rock formations and trees, with a steadily narrowing fairway that offers a tense, pinched opening to those going for the green in two. T

On The Green to a substantially elevated green featuring an unforgiving false front. The challenge does not end once reaching the well contoured, right to left sloping green where a two putt is not a "given".

Hole 18

Hole Name

From The Tee The round at Bonnie Briar ends in another short par four that forces you to make a decision on the tee and on which you are advised to avoid winding up behind the hole on a perilous green.

From The Fairway The high-percentage drive is a 200-yard tee shot that leaves you short of a variety of fairway bunkers waiting to capture an errant shot. Once in the fairway your work is not over as players must make their way over or around one the most severe bunkers on the course.

On The Green Players will do well to calculate the correct distance to the flag on their approach to green that looks relatively flat from the fairway but, features some hidden pockets and undulations on the right side. Still, if you forget what's on the line on any final hole - and how the lunch crowd may be watching from the clubhouse terrace -- you can take the memory of a birdie to the all-too-welcome 19th