BluesManDan
Active member
Just wondering how many other courses out there have a tough run of a few choice holes strung together. My local course (Lakewood in Statesville NC) isn't a particularly long or tough course, but it has a lot of raised turtleback greens with big slopes, and it has its own little Amen Corner at 6, 7, and 8.
Hole 6 is (from the back tees) a 185 yard par 3 from a severely elevated tee on the top of a hill down to a fairly large green with woods on the right and a bunker and a lake on the left. Whatever you do don't pull your tee shot. Long is bad but not as bad as left. A little right is okay. The green is fairly hard to hit because of the elevation change, and once you get on you're in for a difficult putt because it has a lot of little variations instead of big obvious breaks. A double breaker is common on this green. A par feels really good on this hole.
Hole 7 is a dogleg left par 4 with your drive going over a lake into an elevating fairway that slopes left. You want to hit a draw because of the dogleg left, but that's a trap. Hit it perfect and you'll have a very short approach, but more than likely it will ride the left leaning fairway down into the craggy clay crap with a bunch of full and towering trees now blocking the green. If you're down there, good luck at even getting up to the fairway for your recovery shot... the fairway is firm and narrow, and the right side is filled with juniper that will swallow up a shot hit through the fairway. So the smart drive is a controlled fade that isn't long enough to go through the fairway or right enough to end up in the very thick rough. If you hit the fairway (yay!) you still won't have any easy shot because the lie will be tilted and into a firm firm green that's hard to hold. If you go left you're dead... rolling down a huge hill into a ravine. At least this green is somewhat flat though, comparatively.
Hole 8 is the worst. It's not really a long par 4 on paper, but there is a big elevation issue that makes it tough. You've got to carry it 250 over a lake and a severe upslope to get to the fairway. I can only carry around 235, so I'm always on the face of the upslope, with 160 or so into a firm, small, elevated green that moves a lot right to left. If you're short you've got a tough pitch because the green is elevated. If you're long you're dead, because the backside slopes hard down through some trees and you're likely to roll through the woods into the fairway of #5. So don't hit a mid iron into a firm elevated green and skip off. Oh yeah, that's exactly what you're gonna do. A bogey here feels like a par.
What's your local Amen Corner?
: )
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Hole 6 is (from the back tees) a 185 yard par 3 from a severely elevated tee on the top of a hill down to a fairly large green with woods on the right and a bunker and a lake on the left. Whatever you do don't pull your tee shot. Long is bad but not as bad as left. A little right is okay. The green is fairly hard to hit because of the elevation change, and once you get on you're in for a difficult putt because it has a lot of little variations instead of big obvious breaks. A double breaker is common on this green. A par feels really good on this hole.
Hole 7 is a dogleg left par 4 with your drive going over a lake into an elevating fairway that slopes left. You want to hit a draw because of the dogleg left, but that's a trap. Hit it perfect and you'll have a very short approach, but more than likely it will ride the left leaning fairway down into the craggy clay crap with a bunch of full and towering trees now blocking the green. If you're down there, good luck at even getting up to the fairway for your recovery shot... the fairway is firm and narrow, and the right side is filled with juniper that will swallow up a shot hit through the fairway. So the smart drive is a controlled fade that isn't long enough to go through the fairway or right enough to end up in the very thick rough. If you hit the fairway (yay!) you still won't have any easy shot because the lie will be tilted and into a firm firm green that's hard to hold. If you go left you're dead... rolling down a huge hill into a ravine. At least this green is somewhat flat though, comparatively.
Hole 8 is the worst. It's not really a long par 4 on paper, but there is a big elevation issue that makes it tough. You've got to carry it 250 over a lake and a severe upslope to get to the fairway. I can only carry around 235, so I'm always on the face of the upslope, with 160 or so into a firm, small, elevated green that moves a lot right to left. If you're short you've got a tough pitch because the green is elevated. If you're long you're dead, because the backside slopes hard down through some trees and you're likely to roll through the woods into the fairway of #5. So don't hit a mid iron into a firm elevated green and skip off. Oh yeah, that's exactly what you're gonna do. A bogey here feels like a par.
What's your local Amen Corner?
: )
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
