Tot Hill Farm: The 3rd Hole Illustrated

[Kyle Henderson]

One of my favorite par 3’s, not coincidentally designed by one of my favorite architects (Mike Strantz), is the 3rd hole at Tot Hill Farm Golf Club in Asheboro, NC.

What I like about the hole:
-Many different teeing grounds are available to offer a variety of playing yardages and angles (though obviously the number of tees offered must be justified by the additional maintenance costs). The hole is not overly long from the tips, although the extreme depth of the green may require a hybrid or long iron for highly-skilled players.

- A large putting surface (again, this can inflate maintenance budgets). The green is deep enough to require as much as a four-club difference between pin positions in calm conditions.

- The menacing bunker on the right (some won’t like the rocks around its upper edge – that’s one way to discourage soft-covered golf balls) ties in well with the central spine of the green. This central spine allows shots to be spun back to front hole locations.

- Right/rear pins can be approached by carrying just over the bunker to get a kick off the back side, by hitting a very high approach to pin-high (perhaps playing safely a bit to the left away from the bunker), or by playing short left and then across the green diagonally. A creek wraps behind the green to prevent one from bailing out over the backside.

- A small stream also crosses the hole well in front of the green to prevent one from tackling the hole using only their putter (C.B. MacDonald would be proud).

- A nearly infinite variety of recovery shots are required depending on where the pin is placed and where one’s tee shot misses.

Overview


A sample tee box.


Looking at the 3rd green from the left/front (actually taken from the 4th hole landing zone -- the back tees for number 4 can be seen above the right side of the bunker).


Looking back at the tee from behind the bunker.


My brother smacking one from the 4th tee. The 3rd tee is to his left, the 3rd green to his right. The forward tees for number 4 are visible on the far side of the 3rd green.




Thoughts? Likes and Dislikes? Personal favorites that you prefer to this kind of hole?

[Bill_McBride]

Love the green!  Did Mike learn that intensity from Tom Fazio?

[Yannick Pilon]

Thanks Kyle for posting this.

Tot Hill Farm looks like an experience like no other.  Mike Strantz must have been smoking some pretty good stuff to come up with holes like this....  I absolutely love him!!

Now you have to explain something.  Are golfers teeing off on hole no. 4 actually hitting over the third green to that fairway in the distance???  What the f....!!

I need to play this course.  A trip including Tot Hill Farm and Tobacco Road sounds like a fun one to me....

YP

[Jeff Doerr]

Thanks Kyle.

I love the flow of the ridge into the green and the huge diverity of pin and tee positions. It looks like you could play that hole all year long and never have the same experience.

[cary lichtenstein]

A must play course in my play book, not in the same class as Tobacco Rd, but unique in so many aspects, I don't think your education in golf course architecture is complete without playing it.

[Kyle Henderson]

Now you have to explain something.  Are golfers teeing off on hole no. 4 actually hitting over the third green to that fairway in the distance??? 

BUT OF COURSE.


What the f....!!

ONLY THE BACK TEES REQUIRE THIS FEAT. THE FORWARD 3 SETS OF TEES CAN BE SEEN ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THE 3RD GREEN.

[Dan Chapman]

Very enjoyable hole.  I loved the course the first two times I played it, but not so much the last time.  It's been a couple years so I'm curious to get back and see what I think.

[Kyle Henderson]

Very enjoyable hole.  I loved the course the first two times I played it, but not so much the last time.  It's been a couple years so I'm curious to get back and see what I think.

Why not the 3rd time?

[David Schofield]

ONLY THE BACK TEES REQUIRE THIS FEAT. THE FORWARD 3 SETS OF TEES CAN BE SEEN ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THE 3RD GREEN.

I wouldn't consider the equivalent to the white tees (I can't recall right now what they're called there) to be the "back" tees.

[Dan Chapman]

Kyle,

I found the course to be less playable than I remembered.  Specifically, I did not enjoy the big boulders around the greens that interfered with play.  It's not that I hated the course, I just didn't love it as much as I did the first time.  Honestly, it didn't help that I hit the ball like an idiot that day.

[Matt Bosela]

I should be shot for playing an additional round at Tanglewood about six years ago over playing a round here.

Great green complex!

[tlavin]

Was the land once a quarry?  I'll bet the missed shots that hit the limitless rocks wind up in some stupid places.

[Kyle Henderson]

I don't disagree with the rock complaints, though I never hit one in my three rounds there. The rock wall/cart path peninsula that one must play around or over on #10  is certainly absurd, though I am oblidged to overlook its deficiencies as it is also highly unique -- plus the green complex has so many interesting recovery possibilities.

Those who demand fairness beware.

I certainly didn't find the rocks overly intrusive on this particular hole.

[David Schofield]

The other par 3's on the course are far more subject to strange bounces off the rocks than are most of the par 4's and 5's.  I'm thinking particularly of Holes #6, #13 and #15.  On a related note, they appear to have tremendous problems with poor air circulation on all of their par 3's.  Perhaps a bit less blasting would have helped on several fronts...

[Kyle Henderson]

The other par 3's on the course are far more subject to strange bounces off the rocks than are most of the par 4's and 5's.  I'm thinking particularly of Holes #6, #13 and #15.  On a related note, they appear to have tremendous problems with poor air circulation on all of their par 3's.  Perhaps a bit less blasting would have helped on several fronts...

More so for the tees (too much shade as well) than the green on this particular hole.