Got to play a couple of good courses recently.
Got an invite to play Hope Valley CC in Durham the other day. I have played it before but it has been many years. This is a high quality Donald Ross where B. Nelson won one of this 11 in a row in 1945. Great layout with some elevation change, holes that turn both ways, and HUGE greens that had bermuda surfaces that were as dense and smooth as any I have seen in a long time - and really fast. The greens had classic Ross false fronts and run-offs and some of the pin placements were super tough. We didn't play the back tees but it was still a great test because of those greens. The club is a classic, old, southern, old-money club. I highly recommend it if you can wrangle an invite.
I also played the Duke course at the Washington Duke Inn. I played this course tons of times back in the '80s and '90s but hadn't been there in probably 15 years. It has always been a great layout - and tough. Speaking of greens, I didn't remember the greens being so difficult. They were firm, super fast and had tons of slope - it seems like every green had at least a couple of different levels with major slopes between. It seems like I ended up above the hole all day - which meant I had no chance. It may have been because I wasn't playing well, but I came away feeling like they were as difficult as any greens I have played. This course seems to have a lot of sharp edges - off the edges of many fairways, around the greens, etc. - I prefer more natural looking mounding, but overall this is a great course.