10. 382 yards par 4
Can you clear the bunkers or can you find the narrow strip of fairway to the right of them without crashing into a tree?
Those bunkers stretch for 50 yards, demanding a carry of 270 yards or more to clear them from the back tee.
The slightly uphill approach is extensively bunkered.
11. 222 yards par 3
The trees are ridiculous here obscuring much of the wide green – there is even a third bunker completely invisible further right! Perhaps the trees were planted to try to protect the 17th tee which is located within them.
12. 512 yards par 5
The tee shot is played across the previous green to a narrow fairway lined by trees all the way to the green.
For more than 200 yards this trench bunker gradually encroaches into the fairway from the right. It was formerly reputed to be the longest bunker in the country, but it is now split into shorter sections, presumably to enable trolleys to cross it.
This photo shows how the Merionesque stuff is maintained all around bunkers and greens. In fact on several instances it prevented my ball from running into bunkers. Surely bunkers should be all-gathering?
13. 181 yards par 3
Again trees obscure the right hand portion of the green.
That pin position was very difficult to access, with the ditch running hard across the front of the putting surface. The green is wide but only 19 yards deep.
14. 405 yards par 4
You have to keep right of those bunkers (which like so many at Blackwell are set into the rough, not the mown fairway, but if you keep too well to the right your second shot may be blocked out by an intruding tree.
Not only must the tree be avoided but also another ditch crossing at that point.
The green is raised, well protected by surrounding bunkers and mounds and features a multi-contoured putting surface.
15. 392 yards par 4
From the tee there is no view of the bunkers lurking in wait on the right of the fairway as it curves that way.
The fairway begins to climb past those bunkers making the second shot seem longer than its yardage might suggest.
The putting surface is well contoured and chipping from off the green demands great control.
16. 462 yards par 4
From the tee of this very long two-shotter not everything is revealed. It would seem that the principal threat is trees on either hand.
These bunkers also lie in wait at 228 and 250 yards from the tee.
These bunkers await those who cannot get home in two shots. Additionally, there is a slight false front to the green.
17. 322 yards par 4
The tee shot is downhill towards two well-placed bunkers.
Then it is quite sharply uphill over a ridged fairway to reach the green. Trees encroaching on the left may well cut out the second shots of those who tried to cut the corner of the dog-leg.
It is an attractively located green.
18. 365 yards par 4
From the tee you cannot see much of what lies in store.
Farther along the fairway it becomes clear that the better line is not along the left of the fairway where the trees may completely obscure the green from view.
The green is beautifully located right beside the clubhouse with that big, grabbing bunker prominently in view. The putting surface is cleverly contoured and at 26 yards long and very narrow from side to side it is no easy target. All in all a lovely course with some great holes, but often compromised by trees and that strange mowing practice.