[Joel_Stewart]

Below are a few photos of the 3rd hole of the Lake course at Olympic Club.  This work was performed over the last month to accomplish the following.

Increase space for teeing the ball.

Eliminate 1 pad.

Lengthen the hole to 258 yards from the back tee.

Take out a few trees, allowing better sunlight and air circulation.

[Evan_Green]

258 is going to be a heck of a tough shot to that green given the fact the hole has been opened up and is affected by wind more than a couple of years ago.

[David_Tepper]

Anyone on the 4th tee better be on their toes, as a high slice off the 3rd tee (pushed further right by the breeze off the ocean) could easily make it all the way there now that they have taken so many trees out on the right side of the 3rd hole. Before, you could not even see the 4th tee from the 3rd tee.

[Robert Mercer Deruntz]

This is an instance of making a hard hole much harder.  In the '98 Open there was a cluster**** on the tee.  It got so bad that there was a 45 minute delay on the 1st tee to unclog the jam.  This is an aewsome hole.  If there is a little wind, some interesting scores will occurr.  Among the 9 tee shots that I witnessed both days, only 3 or 4 found the green.  This was one of my very bright spots--thank you Jeff Warne--he had me swinging very well that week, and both birdie putts were inside 15 feet.

[Joel_Stewart]

258 is going to be a heck of a tough shot to that green given the fact the hole has been opened up and is affected by wind more than a couple of years ago.

It should be a tough shot, yet the back tee is only going to be open for tournament play, mainly the 2007 Amateur and possibly the US Open.   The USGA gave its blessing.  The club has had a few big hitters play a few shots from back there and they have hit 2 and 3 irons and reached the front of the green.

[Mike Benham]

It really is amazing, in a positive way, the effect of cleaning and clearing out the trees at Olympic.  These photos from the 3rd hole show what has happened throughout the course, primarily on the front side ...

More Olympic post-tree clearing photos

[Lou_Duran]

Joel and Mike,

Lake looks like an entirely different course.  Has the tree removal also improved the drainage?

#3 at 250+ yards looks impossible.  As I recall, it played to a 4-iron or more before from the back.  Does the new length fit the green complex?

[Mike Benham]

Joel and Mike,

Lake looks like an entirely different course.  Has the tree removal also improved the drainage?

#3 at 250+ yards looks impossible.  As I recall, it played to a 4-iron or more before from the back.  Does the new length fit the green complex?

I think the existing green will be fine with the added length, primarily for 2 reasons:

1.  Even though the short will be with a long iron or fairway wood, the trajectory of the ball will give a softer landing then a hole of the same length but level.

2.  The front of the green is wide and generous and if the conditions are firm (as in USGA competition), a shot land slightly short or on the front of the green should bound onto the green surface.  To this point, the back half of the green is slick so a shot to firm or one that lands in the middle of the green will motor through the back.

The most challenging aspect of the hole will be the exposure to the crosswind that will more present than in past configurations.  It is a relatively narrow green and the tree clearing on the left was probably a wise move, to allow the Colin Montgomery's of the golfing world to hit their patented fades with a left to right crosswind.

[Joel_Stewart]

Lake looks like an entirely different course.  Has the tree removal also improved the drainage?

The drainage is great although I don't think you can attribute it all to the trees being removed.   The new superintendent has done many things, most importantly started a top dressing program which added a few inches of sand to the fairways which has made a huge improvement.  The course does sit on a sand dune so it should drain fairly well anyway.
Furthermore he basically has stopped watering the fairways which has made for fast and firm conditions.

We do need to install drainage in the bunkers (there is none now) which will hopefully start in the near future.  

[Lou_Duran]

Joel,

I thought that if the tree removal allowed more circulation and light to reach the soil, the grass would do better and absorb more moisture.  However it is accomplished, a firm Lake course must be great fun to play.

[Kevin_Reilly]

Some pics from today.  Interestingly, the distance from the back is shorter than reported.  The black tee distance is 229 (vs 223 previously) and the blue tee distance is 212 (vs 206 previously).  

View from behind tee


Practice area below and to the right of the tee...awaiting sod.


Right view from tee...facing #4 tee (with un-sodded area below).


View facing the rear of the tee...looking over at #7 and #8.

[Kevin_Reilly]

Last one...from all the way back...the black tee marker where it is 229.

[Mike Benham]

Nope, this is the last one, from the way way back back tees ...

The long scruffy stuff at the bottom of the photo is at the edge of the practice chipping area and is flat and squared off.  It could easily be mowed down to a tee box and is 241 yards to the center.

[Jim Nugent]

Mike, I'm confused.  The scruffy area is 241 to the green.  Where is the 258 tee?  

[TEPaul]

"Mike, I'm confused.  The scruffy area is 241 to the green.  Where is the 258 tee?"

JimN:

Don't be confused. The new tee at 258 is 17 yards back at the tips of the "scruffy stuff".

The USGA has had enough of this "flogging" nonsense with these guys like VJ and Tiger hitting drives as far as they can figuring if they're close enough to a green it doesn't matter what kind of lie they have.  

So the USGA is pulling out one of their last stops and tricks with a 258 yard "Scruffy Stuff" tee at Olympic for a future Open or Amateur.

Their rallying cry is:

"How do you like them apples, VJ, Tiger and Long John Hurley?"

Isn't the idea to test all the shots in one's bag? Well if so, don't you think a 258 yard "scruffy stuff" tee on a par 3 is a pretty cool test? Pretty strategic, I'd say. I'm not sure what the high risk option is but the consevative play is SW, 8 iron dead to the pin and one putt. Neat concept, in my opinion.

[TEPaul]

Actually, JimN, I've just written a letter explaining to the USGA how they can pick up some clever additional "elasticity" on some of these older golf courses. I told them all they have to do is go back to their original "teeing" rule before about 1870 where all golfers had to tee off within one club length of the previous pin (whoops sorrry, hole location).

[Tiger_Bernhardt]

#3 is a great hole. It may have been a 4 iron for Lou, but it was a 4 iron down wind from the front and a 5 wood up from the back. It is now a 3 wood to driver from the back for me. I actually still need to play the hole from 200ish. It is all the par 3 this man can handle. congrats to the Greens Comm at OC for the tree removal as well.

[Philippe Binette]

Do I believe what I see, some sun light at Olympic Club...

From what I'd see on TV, everybody was in the shadows.

[Mike Benham]

Mike, I'm confused.  The scruffy area is 241 to the green.  Where is the 258 tee?  

There is no 258 tee ...

[PThomas]

Olympic was in wonderful shape when I played there last April  (an interesting aside:  the course was closed the first time I tried to play it  when i was on the 4th hole due to safety concerns:  it was raining pretty hard and when i was on the first green I heard a loud BOOM!...I thought " you guys in CA don't have thunder, so what the hell was that"...I looked back down the left side of the fairway, where I had been 10 minutes before...a BIG tree had gone down...just the Big Guy's way of helping with the tree removal program, I guess...)

a terrific course and I hope to get back there again soon

[Anthony Butler]

They must have scraped a few feet off the tee height... in the 'after' shot you can see a lot more of the cart path to the left of the tee.

This shot is made more difficult because, even though the ball is generally moving left to right on the wind, you can't bounce it on from the left hand side due to the bunker. Someone from the school of minimalism would most likely have removed that bunker during the renovation and done something with the contour there to add some interest to the hole... As it stands, playing the hole from 230 yds gives me one option-a fairway wood ripped at the left bunker. If you have the shot, a draw back into the prevailing wind would work, but take even more distance off your ball.

No-one went close to winning the BMW convertible they offered at the Special Olympic tournament... if they make the charity crowd play from the back tees, they will probably be able to reduce the hole-in-one insurance premium considerably.  

[Aaron Katz]

I used to play the hole by hitting a draw 3-iron that would hold against the wind.  A well struck shot would get me to the back of the green.  

My first thought was that the tee probably could have been moved further to the right, allowing for a bounce up cut.  Some of the pictures make it seem like the left hand tree line (not to mention the left hand bunker) eliminates that possibility.  Are the pictures deceiving me?

[Jim Nugent]

There is no 258 tee ...

Mike, in the first post in this thread, Joel said the purpose of the work was to lengthen the hole to 258 from the back.  That didn't happen, meaning 241 is the longest number 3 can play to?  

[Mike Benham]

These two pictures are taken from essentially the same spot, with the latter photo taken while standing on the dirt of the prior photo.

[Joel_Stewart]

My photo was taken without the zoom.  I believe the photos are taken from the same spot.  

Its my understanding that the back tee (only to be used for the USGA events) will be 258.  Although its downhill, with the trees gone and the wind blowing it might be hard to reach the green.

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