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Blind shots - Par 3

TheDoctor

TheDoctor

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Now I get that blind shots are part of some golf courses, and once you have played a course a couple of times you have a good idea about what line you need to hit to get the best result, but playing in our league yesterday I came across something I have never had before - a completely blind par 3 hole

Due to the elevation change, this particular par 3 was completely blind from the tee, you could not see anything other than a tall marker post behind the green to identify the position of the green
You could not see any of the putting surface or the hazards around the green and you couldn't even see the top of the flag to give you any idea about where on the green it was

If you wanted to see the green, you had to walk about 80yds towards it and get to the top of the hill to see what you were faced with

You were literally having to trust the yardage on the scorecard if you didn't have a GPS watch

I have played courses where you sometimes can't see all of the green and the base of the flag, but at least with those you still have an idea of where you need to put the ball, but never a completely blind shot like this

Has anyone else come across holes like this before?
 
TheDoctor said:
Now I get that blind shots are part of some golf courses, and once you have played a course a couple of times you have a good idea about what line you need to hit to get the best result, but playing in our league yesterday I came across something I have never had before - a completely blind par 3 hole

Due to the elevation change, this particular par 3 was completely blind from the tee, you could not see anything other than a tall marker post behind the green to identify the position of the green
You could not see any of the putting surface or the hazards around the green and you couldn't even see the top of the flag to give you any idea about where on the green it was

If you wanted to see the green, you had to walk about 80yds towards it and get to the top of the hill to see what you were faced with

You were literally having to trust the yardage on the scorecard if you didn't have a GPS watch

I have played courses where you sometimes can't see all of the green and the base of the flag, but at least with those you still have an idea of where you need to put the ball, but never a completely blind shot like this

Has anyone else come across holes like this before?
Click to expand...

I've played a couple where you couldn't see the putting surface, but you could see the hazards (short bunkers, ditches etc.), top of the flag etc. so you had half a chance. Totally blind sounds nuts.
 
local 9 hole ends with a hole that seems relatively easy, 155-170 yard Par 3

except it's uphill, to a kidney-shaped green that at its maximum is 10x17, often smaller, for reference that is about half the size of Troon's Postage Stamp

green slopes left to right with a more subtle front to back slope, and a small ball-catching mound in front

from the tee box, only the top of the flagstick can be seen

left miss brings a downhill pitch and cart path into play, right miss brings an uphill pitch and trees into play

I can't remember the last time I saw someone stick a ball on the green without some lucky bounce
 
aljaklaw said:
local 9 hole ends with a hole that seems relatively easy, 155-170 yard Par 3

except it's uphill, to a kidney-shaped green that at its maximum is 10x17, often smaller, for reference that is about half the size of Troon's Postage Stamp

green slopes left to right with a more subtle front to back slope, and a small ball-catching mound in front

from the tee box, only the top of the flagstick can be seen

left miss brings a downhill pitch and cart path into play, right miss brings an uphill pitch and trees into play

I can't remember the last time I saw someone stick a ball on the green without some lucky bounce
Click to expand...

Uphill is fine if you can still see the flag, but for this hole you couldn't see anything

From the tee, the hole went uphill and then back downhill to the green, but you had no idea if the level of the green was above or below the level of the tee

I picked my club based on the yardage that my watch said and just hope it would be the right choice - as it was I was just off the back of the green, but in a horrible lie and I ended up with a bogey

The hole was almost like this, but I think the green was actually lower than the tee

Tee ______/ \_____Green

There was a tall marker post behind the green that you could see but it gave no clue other than the general direction
 
There was a course back home that had an uphill par 3 that I used to like because it was a blind shot straight up to the green. The green was actually pretty narrow too IIRC and stretched diagonally backwards. If they used a regular length flag you wouldn't see it from the tee, but they used a long flag on that hole. They have since changed it to a downhill hole and the only challenge to the hole now is you can hit anything from a W to a 5i depending on the wind.
 
We have one local course you tee from elevation, you can see the left half of the green, but the right half is covered by a hill. If the pin is there you can just barely see the flag but you have to be careful, if you go long you are in the water. Play it two ways, take you chances over the hill (it is possible to do) of play to the left portion of the green and let the slope take it down the hill to the pin. Fun hole.
 
Snickerdog said:
We have one local course you tee from elevation, you can see the left half of the green, but the right half is covered by a hill. If the pin is there you can just barely see the flag but you have to be careful, if you go long you are in the water. Play it two ways, take you chances over the hill (it is possible to do) of play to the left portion of the green and let the slope take it down the hill to the pin. Fun hole.
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At least you can see part of the green and have something you can aim at :D
 
The blind par 3 @ Prestwick on the front blew my mind.

Me "Where do I aim this?"
Caddie "See the wee white post on the top of the hill?"
Me "Yup"
Caddie "Right at the flag, you to fly it the whole way."
Me "Oh, ok. I guess I can do that."

I'm not a big fan of totally blind shots, just give me an idea. That's all I ask.
 
ive only played 1 course with a true blind par 3. plays 220 from the tips to 185 from the whites. a bogey is a good score even to my friends with a 5-7 cap. whoever design this hole must have been drunk.
 

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Tennis19 said:
ive only played 1 course with a true blind par 3. plays 220 from the tips to 185 from the whites. a bogey is a good score even to my friends with a 5-7 cap. whoever design this hole must have been drunk.
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Is that hitting over trees?

Why didn't they just make it a shorter par 3 and have the tees nearer the centre of the picture at the bottom to at least give you a view?
 
TheDoctor said:
Is that hitting over trees?

Why didn't they just make it a shorter par 3 and have the tees nearer the centre of the picture at the bottom to at least give you a view?
Click to expand...

Just hook it back in there, that's all you gotta do LOL!
 
alexped2393 said:
I don't like the sound of that at all. Which course were you at?
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Ravensworth up by the Angel of the North, 2nd hole

Not a fan of the course at all to be honest, there is a par 3 that is 252yds from the 'proper' white tees and it is longer than the 18th hole - I guessed the par 3 must be downhill, but it wasn't, it was uphill
The 18th was also uphill but a lot steeper and only 248yds from the white tees
 
TheDoctor said:
Ravensworth up by the Angel of the North, 2nd hole

Not a fan of the course at all to be honest, there is a par 3 that is 252yds from the 'proper' white tees and it is longer than the 18th hole - I guessed the par 3 must be downhill, but it wasn't, it was uphill
The 18th was also uphill but a lot steeper and only 248yds from the white tees
Click to expand...

Heres what it says on their website about the hole "Wreken Dyke - 142 Yards, Par 3 - Whilst short in distance this green is well bunkered with anything long penalised with a chip back to the green from rough. Iron distance is key to getting any reward from this hole."

How can you get your distance right if you can't see the bloody thing??

Here are the par 3's

Wreken Dyke - 142 Yards, Par 3
The Island - 191 Yards, Par 3
Dene - 244 Yards, Par 3
Eighton - 212 Yards, Par 3

but they have 3 par 4's around the 250 mark.... weird
 
I'm not sure I've ever played a blind par 3. Some where you have to walk to the edge of the tee box to see what's down below but never blind.
 
Years ago playing with my Father-In-Law in the Poconos we were faced with the same thing. There was a hill between the tee & green. He hit a good shot and we went to look for our balls. Approaching the green we could not see his. Walked by the flag and the ball was in the hole, he got a hole-in-one and I got free beer.
 
alexped2393 said:
Heres what it says on their website about the hole "Wreken Dyke - 142 Yards, Par 3 - Whilst short in distance this green is well bunkered with anything long penalised with a chip back to the green from rough. Iron distance is key to getting any reward from this hole."

How can you get your distance right if you can't see the bloody thing??

Here are the par 3's

Wreken Dyke - 142 Yards, Par 3
The Island - 191 Yards, Par 3
Dene - 244 Yards, Par 3
Eighton - 212 Yards, Par 3

but they have 3 par 4's around the 250 mark.... weird
Click to expand...

Exactly my thoughts....you haven't got much chance without walking up to actually see the green and then walk back to the tee

Wreken Dyke - 142 Yards, Par 3 - completely blind, bunkers front left and right and if you miss long right you will actually end up rolling down the path about 25yds or so

The Island - 191 Yards, Par 3 - I posted a pic of this hole in another thread, you tee off from an elevated tee down to a green surrounded by bunkers

Dene - 244 Yards, Par 3 - when we played at the weekend the white tees were set around 200yds, but it is uphill, so I wouldn't like to play it from the proper tees another 40yds further back and further downhill as well from where we played

Eighton - 212 Yards, Par 3 - slightly downhill from the tee and probably the easiest of the par 3 holes despite the length to be honest as unless you missed left, a shot coming up short would likely run on (or maybe through) the green


The fact that they have a par 4 shorter than a par 3 is just bad course design in my opinion

This is the blind par 3

From above it looks fine but you can't see the elevation change - the ground rises up to the point where the path crosses over and then drops back down to the green so you have no idea what is around the green, where the flag is or even if it is below the level of the tee

d6859bc34e2962d58ad0b275b4704b2d.jpg
 
TheDoctor said:
Now I get that blind shots are part of some golf courses, and once you have played a course a couple of times you have a good idea about what line you need to hit to get the best result, but playing in our league yesterday I came across something I have never had before - a completely blind par 3 hole

Due to the elevation change, this particular par 3 was completely blind from the tee, you could not see anything other than a tall marker post behind the green to identify the position of the green
You could not see any of the putting surface or the hazards around the green and you couldn't even see the top of the flag to give you any idea about where on the green it was

If you wanted to see the green, you had to walk about 80yds towards it and get to the top of the hill to see what you were faced with

You were literally having to trust the yardage on the scorecard if you didn't have a GPS watch

I have played courses where you sometimes can't see all of the green and the base of the flag, but at least with those you still have an idea of where you need to put the ball, but never a completely blind shot like this

Has anyone else come across holes like this before?
Click to expand...

the course I grew up playing has this. It is a 185 yard par 3, with an elevation chang about 80 yards in front of the tee and then it flattens out leaving 100 yards from the top of the hill to the green. The only way you can see the flag or the green is by looking up in a mirror that sits up in a tree behind the teebox. It's only a 9 hole course with 2 sets of tees, so it plays as a par 4 on the back 9. The green also slopes severely from back to front.
 
Isn't a blind par 3 dangerous ... How do you know the group In front is clear??

Sounds crazy to me


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chriso97 said:
Isn't a blind par 3 dangerous ... How do you know the group In front is clear??

Sounds crazy to me


Sent from my Lenovo P2a42 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

I agree

On this particular hole the next tee is up the path behind the green and through the trees to the right, so if you know there is a group in front you will see them walk off the green up the hill
The only other way to check the green is to walk to the top of the hill so that you can see whether or not anyone is there

Like I said before, not a good course design in my opinion
 
Sounds like very poor design. I've never encountered that situation. I think any blind shots are a bad idea for safety reasons.
 
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