Sloping Fairways

[David Graves]

One feature I like in golf courses is a wide open look from the teebox but with sloping fairways that hide the best line of play. Fairways that appear generous but kick balls into bunkers or into rough or into hazards narrow the field of play and are great stategic decision opportunities.

What are the best examples of this---old courses and new?

[TEPaul]

Certainly one of the best anywhere is Merion's #5 but Gulph Mills's #5 is also a good sloping fairway that with some speed through the green would be even better.

Of course Huntingdon Valley has a ton of sloping fairways (being routing around a fairly severe valley) and Huntingdon Valley's #1 is the king of all sloping fairways I know of. Basically to even keep the ball on the fairway you pretty much have to hit the tee shot into the right rough.

Of course the back nine of Moselem Springs has a few good sloping fairways including #14 which is almost too severe.
#16 (going the other way) is a very interesting sloping fairway combining distance factors with slope factors!

I saw a good sloping fairway hole under construction at Stonewall2 today and I hope they put about 60 yards of fairway width on it. It slopes from right to left and the prevailing wind will carry the ball right to left too probably very dramatically on that open ridge.

[John_D._Bernhardt]

I like a few holes per course such as you describe. I must note that you would love Olympic Lake.

[John Lyon]

Hole number six at the Kingsley Club has a wide left to right sloped fairway with a big knob at 200 yards and more than 20 bunkers that will accept the poorly struck, a off line hit or an overly agressive stroke.  Also number 3 has a half punch bowl swail near the landing zone that will throw most shots into the bunker or the rough.

[A_Clay_Man]

J.B. has hit the perverbial nail on the head with the O club. While I havent played it I was there for the Open and the movement in the fairway was palpable.

Other good ones are Spyglass Hill and my new home course Pinon Hills.

[wsmorrison]

Immediately the 9th at Rolling Green came to mind.  This is a 614 yard par 5 nearly the entire length uphill.  The fairway is severely sloped left to right the first 450 yards with gentle natural rolls nearly the entire length of the fairway.  The tee shot needs to be played significantly left of center so that the ball does not end up in a large bunker just right of the fairway that collects its fair share of shots.  The depth of this long bunker prevents a significant advancement of the ball if you lie in the front third of it.  If in the fairway, the second shot requires an opportunity to advance the ball a great distance with a fairway wood with the ball significantly below the feet for right-handed golfers, although some may use an iron due to the sideways slope leaving a longer approach to a severely pitched back to front green well-guarded on either side by bunkers that make an up and down quite a test.

Second in my mind was, as TEP states, the enjoyable 1st at Huntingdon Valley.  It is severely sloped right to left and you can even hit it in the secondary rough and it may still end up in the fairway (it did the last time I played it).  With a lot of pin positions on the hole, ending up on the left side due to the natural slope is often the preferred approach requiring a deft touch to keep the ball on the green as it too moves right to left pretty severely in the front half of the green.

Merion's 5th is one of the great holes in golf with the right to left slope and creek down the entire left side.  The bunkers on the hole are certainly well-designed and placed within the framework of the slope.  It is a unified concept that shows design at its best.

The second hole at Lehigh, with its hogsback in the middle of the landing zone (a really big hit off the back tees can get you past it) is a great feature that is nearly invisible from the tee, although when you get near it, it seems hard to believe that it is not easily noticed because it is rather large.  It certainly comes into play with balls that approach either side of the ridge in the air deflected along either slope, while a running shot will clearly be affected by the this interesting contour and a bit of luck required.

[Scott_Burroughs]

Wayne,

Don't forget the 18th at Rolling Green as well, with the fairway sloping away from the dogleg, a  la #16 or 17 (?) at Olympic.

#18 at Cherry Hills is fmaoous for it's sloping fairway towards the water.

Heck, Tanglewood Park's #14 slopes toward the water also.

[wsmorrison]

Scott,

Right you are to remind me of 18 at RGGC, again with rolling contours but, as you say, a slope away from the dogleg whereas 9 is a long straight march uphill.  

I enjoy AOTD everyday, and today is certainly no exception.  I think you may have listed all the courses to date at one point, do you have a current list?  

[Scott_Burroughs]

As my "bottom signature" states, I'll e-mail it to you.

[TEPaul]

Wayne:

From what I'm hearing about you it might be possible on that extremely long RGGC #9 hole that has about 450 yds from tee to end of sloping fairway as an added option for you to take out your driver and just bomb it about 460yds past that sloping fairway!

Are you familiar with that new TV ad where John Daly and some of his black clothed long drivers show up at your office and threaten you and carry you off to challenge your long driving ability?

When they show up at your office instead of being carried off by them why don't you say: "OK, you self-centered long driving whimps, take your hands off me, follow me out to RGGC's #9 and I'll show you guys a thing or two!"

[Doug Wright]

Scott,

Actually there are a number of sloped fairways at Cherry Hills, with #18 the most well-known. Others are 10, 11, 14 and 16. They certainly make the holes play much narrower than they look, and bring an element of shot shaping strategy into play, eg a fade into the right to left sloping hill is the shot for placement and a draw for extra distance...

All the Best,

[wsmorrison]

Tom,

I'm sure when we play my form won't be up to the billing.  Yes, I can hit the driver a long way, but as with my positions in the stock market these days, I am often long and wrong.  At Lehigh with Mark Fine, Mayday Malone, and the eminent John Chissard, my driver was behaving quite well and I even managed to score pretty well on a great course I had never played before.  My wedges were almost as good as the driver.  My best shot was at the ninth in the rough (after a bad tee shot) about 190 out.  Hit a controlled hook around the trees to the back of the green.  That was fun!

As to the 9th at RGGC.  You've seen Daly at the Exelon, and studied Tiger, do you think they could reach the green in two from the tips?  I know they might not be "inclined" to do so depending upon the slope, just wondering if they could with any consistancy.  I hear there was an assistant pro from RGGC that was able to reach from the whites (I almost did it once, being just short of the green) I don't think anyone has from the back tees.  

What holes on other courses do people think are unreachable in two?  Let's assume weather is not a factor.

By the way, Tom, I would trade my length for your game anyday.  Length is a nice thing to have, but sometimes I'm thinking with the wrong head (talking driver here).  If I hang around you long enough, maybe some smarts will sink in.

[TEPaul]

Tiger or Daly hitting RGGC's #9 with consistency? The hole is about 615 from the tips right and being uphill like it is must be effectively about 635+ yds.

I would doubt even Woods and Daly could do it with consistency but frankly I wouldn't put a thing past those guys and length these days--the shocking has become usual I suppose!

[MK]

TRY THE OLYMPIC CLUB. Every fairway slopes. It's awesome.