There is a hole on my course that I'm not sure whether it is inspired or just plain folly. I'd call it a strategic penal target design.
The vast majority of people who play it, hate it. They call it stupid, ridiculous, contrived, unfair, or bizarre. A local newspaper pundit once rated it the worst/stupidest hole in our metropolitan area. So, I'd like some armchair amateur (or professional) opinions from afar in the treehouse on the architectural merits of this hole.
A brief description and some pictures follow. It is a par 5 that ends the front nine. It goes about 520 yards from the mens tee. On the scorecard it is called Twisted after the small river that meanders its way through the hole.
The hole is a 90* left dogleg on a flat piece of land. The tee shot is framed on the left by a line of large trees along the river. The right appears more open but the landing area is bordered by a pond. The end of the fairway is defined by two bunkers and some mounding. The bunkers are 265 yards from the tee, so aren't in play for most players. The fairway is about 30 yards wide until it turns left.
There are three options off the tee. Option 1, hit it 220 to 250 down the middle of the fairway; Option 2, hit a high draw (apologies to the lefties in the crowd) over the corner trees on the inside of the dogleg; Option 3, hit an iron 175 yrds in the middle of the fairway.
The issues on the drive are: anywhere right in the landing area is dead in the pond; too long and you're in thick rough or fairway bunkers; low left is dead in the river and trees; and, too short risks being blocked out by the trees.
The second shot presents a split fairway with a river wandering down the middle. The river ends anywhere from 150 to 250 yards depending on how far left or right of centre the tee shot is placed. This view looks down the fairway towards the green after the dogleg.
Beyond the river the fairway is wide but shallow as it leads into a large waste area with grass islands fronting the green.
Players laying up short off the tee (Option 3) are left with a blind middle iron over bush and between trees to the narrow left fairway. Players who opted for the middle of the fairway off the tee are left with fitting a shot that carries the river, comes up short of the waste area, and leaves a wedge into the green. Players who opted to cut the corner can have a go at the green from say 240 yds in, depending on how much of the corner they bit off.
The impediment to those cutting the corner is the large (100 foot high) specimin oak that ends the right fairway. Those that can cut the corner usually have the ball roll out to where the oak blocks a direct shot to the green. Going for the green requires either a hard cut or a high draw around the oak.
The approach to the green does not allow for running a shot in. It's pretty much all carry. The green has three distinct tiers and is protected left by a long coffin bunker and right by two pot bunkers.
The challenge for most players is devising a strategy to play the hole and then executing three shots to pull it off. What should be a relatively simple long iron to 3 wood off the tee, followed by a middle iron to the left fairway, and a short iron to the green, most often comes to ruin off the tee or in trying to carry the river on the second shot. Since the hole is flat it is hard for most players to get comfortable with target landing areas and distances. Most seem to go for the heroic rather than the strategic in playing the hole.
So there you have it. What say you? Inspired or folly, or somewhere in between.