I think I'm stuck between both. I've played a few courses right after opening. First posts and early reviews get the attention. As a couple others have pointed out the conditioning is usually not there yet and the course is not playing "normal". It may have been said on Fried Egg at some point, but I wish courses were not rankable for at least a couple years, give them time to mature and be more realized versions of themselves.

Hard to justify visiting a new course until I know it’s well grown in, so I’ll let someone else find out first. As for innovation, the hot new courses seem to be going huge, while we probably need to go small for the sustainability of the game (money, time, energy) so I’m much more interested in shorter walkable course like the Loop in Chaska, of which I’ll be testing out today.

Hard to justify visiting. New course until I know it’s well grown in, so I’ll let someone else find out first. As for innovation, the hot new courses seem to be going huge, while we probably need to go small for the sustainability of the game (money, time) so I’m much more interested in shorter walkable course like the Loop in Chaska (of which I’ll be testing out today.

Fair point. The question may have been better phrased as, “if you could see every new build at the drop of a hat, would you?”

Would definitely agree there. Feels like some courses in recent years have been rushed to open play a little bit and would have benefited from a little time to settle. Very interested to see how Yale plays right out of the gate since it’s had a full year without play

Need to see this place for myself. Going to try when I’m up there in September

I think the multitude of possibilities involved when building a brand new golf course is incredibly exciting and we are fortunate to be living in a time where it is occurring more frequently. As Ben mentions, they may not be accessible to the masses, and so I don’t put too much emphasis on attempting to see them. Not because they aren’t worthy or in protest of that system, but because there is so much golf to see in the US and worldwide that is “new to me” because I haven’t played it. I also think it’s probably a sound strategy to wait for a course to grow in and mature for a couple years. If you are a reviewer of courses, one would imagine a more nuanced and accurate review could be produced if the course is ready for play more than it would be 3 months after opening.

And #1 at NGLA is all world.

I've never played Shoreacres, but it looks awesome. It shows how great a course can be when it fully utilizes the natural features of the property. This is in contrast to many well-know "championship" courses that completely fail this test and result in much less interesting designs.

6 and 16 at Pac Dunes and 6 on Sedge Valley taught me to love strategic par 4s.