"I'm confused. to me, as a scratch golfer, a hole like #3 at PVGC couldn't be more diverse depending on wind direction and hole locations. and i would love to play it for the rest of my life.
For instance, when i played it a couple of weeks ago, the first day the pin was front left, and at first glance it looked like playing it up to the right on the huge slope and letting it come down was the best play. However, the second time around, i realized that actually a fade played slightly past the hole was the best way to hold the ball near the hole and that a miss left actually was the best miss..."
Bryce:
In my opinion too, PVGC's #3 certainly is one of the class par 3s in the world.
When that pin is in front (and it's basically only pinnable on the left 1/3rd of the front and the left 1/2 of the back) the traditional shot to the front pin is to hit the right slope and let the ball filter but one can hit it high and soft and hold that front section right at the pin if the greens aren't too damn fast.
But there's a shot to the rear pin position that is frankly cooler. You can actually hit the ball almost on the right fringe on the back and the ball will release all the way to the middle of the back where the pin sometimes is.
Also, did you know that in Crump's opinion, the shot that was needed on that hole was a fade or even a slice into the cant of the green to hold the shot---the one you apparently tried. Good Show, Crump would be proud of you.
On Harry Colt's iteration of the 3rd at PVGC he had the tee placed right about the middle of the present 2nd green, and the 2nd green placed to the left of its present position. To that Crump reportedly simply said:
"No Good".