Rolling Green

No time wasted up front, the opening tee shot is one of the most thrilling on the course, the fairway increasingly deflecting your ball sideways the further right you go

Old photos show a vastly different LHS bunker - the larger renovated bunker creates much better scale and draws your eye away from the green

The creek adds interest to your drive at the par five 7th and the approach is well-bunkered to make you question going for the green in two

Who says uphill par threes can't be great holes? The defense presents the 10th at Rolling Green

Playing from ridge to ridge over a steep valley, the 14th is a monster. Next time I'll probably lay up

Course name: Rolling Green
Location: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

My home town of Sydney has a heap of steep terrain, particulalr in its northern suburbs. Sadly none of the courses in that area had William Flynn involved in their creation, or they'd be a hell of a lot better than they are!

That thought returned to the front of my mind time and time again as I toured Rolling Green and saw the innovative ways Flynn got the best out of steep terrain by finding smart greensites and avoiding some genuinely unusable land by siting par threes from ridge to ridge.

Despite the limited ways to use such land, the course is loaded with variety and the putting surfaces work with the natural fall of the land, creating a set of greens where contour is only used where the green is on flatter ground, such as at the par five 7th.

The par threes were the highlight for me, with a recent bunkler renovation adding to the drama of the mid iron 3rd, natural drapery of the uphill 10th and the drama of the cross-canyon 14th.

The par fives also stand out in my memory: a well-placed creek and fun greensite at the 7th, the challenge of the marathon 9th climbing a steady hill for more than 600 yards and the tumbling downhill-then-uphill 18th.

There’s nothing flashy about Rolling Green, just smart use of steep land to create a course that keeps you entertained and engaged the whole way around.