#16 at Red Tail is one of my all-time favorite par fours to play, particularly because, at 415 yards from the tips, it can be breached even by players of modest power provided they play smart, quality shots.
The first two photos shows the view from the back tee. The center bunk sits at 255 yards from the tee and is located at the outside edge of the severe dog leg right. The large grouping of trees on the right, which are about 220 yards from the tee, are on a direct line with the right side of the fairway, which is the optimal landing area. The bold player will take his tee shot just left of the tree line with a slight fade. This line will gain him extra yards due to a downslope but, more importantly, will leave him the best angle to the green. I prefer not to challenge the trees. I aim at the right edge of the center bunker and hit a 10 yard fade. The bunker on the right should not be in play, but further obscures the already blind landing area.
The next photo shows the approach for my tee ball, which came to rest about 7 paces inside the rough line on the left, just past the crook of the dog leg. I had 152 yards to the center of the green. That is a gravel waste bunker guarding the landing area. The green in very shallow for the player coming from this angle, and the top shelf is extremely firm even for a short iron, and overshooting the flag from here means death. The ridge you see running through the green is shaped like the number 7, creating a shelf that runs from the back of the green all the way down to the front right. For a ball played more than 10 or 15 feet out to the right, this means a wickedly sloping right to left putt or chip.
This last photo shows just how much more fairway there is on the right, and how much easier it is to get to a left hand pin from that position. But to take advantage of this angle to the green, the tee shot must be carved very closely to the edge of the tree line.
