Ask students of golf architecture to name some of the best short par 4s in the United States, and several come to mind immediately – the 10th at Riviera, and the 17th at Oakmont, for starters. Ben Crenshaw once referred to the 10th at Merion East as one of the great match-play short par 4s in the country.
What do these holes have in common? Among other attributes: Options on how to play them from the tee, exacting second shots even for those who play safely off the tee, and the real possibility of bogey or worse for poorly hit shots or poorly thought-out decisions.
The 2008 U.S. Mid-Amateur tournament at Milwaukee Country Club featured a very good short par 4 – the 9th hole – that produced exciting play, but also bedeviled a number of players.
Some statistics:
The 9th at MCC played at 332 yards for the Mid-Am, although the tee was moved up on some days, notably the championship final, to 295 yards to encourage aggressive thoughts on the tee.
The hole during the two days of qualifying play averaged just around par – 4.03 strokes. It played as the second-easiest hole in what were tough conditions (the par-70 course played to a 76.2 average for the two days of qualifying play).
The hole yielded 1 eagle and 52 birdies – but also 40 bogeys, 5 doubles, and 4 others. No other hole had such a close ratio of scores under vs. over par, suggesting it played as intended – a gambling hole where birdies were a real possibility, but trouble lurked.
The following is an in-depth look at Milwaukee CC’s 9th hole.
The tee shot is straightaway, toward the clubhouse. The hole runs north/northwest – it played straight into the wind for most of the Mid-Am in September (although not the last day).
At about 100 yards from the tee, the fairway dips precipitously into a deep ravine. Most tee shots will carry the ravine with ease, although a poorly struck tee shot risks running into the rise of the fairway coming out of the ravine.
Another look at the rollicking fairway of the 9th. Players during the Mid-Am used everything from 5-irons to drivers off the tee, with the safe play a long iron/hybrid to the left side of the fairway (the lighter patch of fairway, seen here).
A golfer’s thoughts on the tees probably turn first toward a series of three bunkers on the right side of the fairway. Here are the first two bunkers; the first one (middle right of photo) is unlike most other bunkers at MCC, as it’s both flat and lacking the high lips found on most others on the course. The second, middle bunker is deeper, and juts out into the fairway.
Here is the middle bunker; note the high lip, and how the bunker lip hides the third fairway bunker (middle-right of photo; you can see the grass lip of the third bunker). Although not depicted well in this photo, this section of the fairway tends to feed balls into this middle bunker.
Another look at the last two fairway bunkers; here you get a good sense of how well the land disguises the bunkers, even from only 30 yards away. Club selection on the tee can make a crucial difference; a fade with a hybrid or long iron stands a better chance of holding in the fairway. A driver that hits in the darker portion of the fairway risks running into these bunkers. (At the Mid-Am, myself and a bemused, longtime member of MCC watched all golfers in one threesome pull driver on this hole, and deposit all of their tee shots in the left-hand portion of the middle bunker.)
The last fairway bunker; a nasty little thing that’s not really a pot bunker, but not fun to be in, either. Note the false front of the green just beyond.
The false front of the 9th green. The green (which sits well above the fairway) tilts significantly from back to front – perhaps more than any other green at MCC – then dives off into the fairway. Balls that come off the green and down the false front can roll back as much as 40 yards into the fairway. (GCA contributor and Mid-Am caddie Doug Spets said his advice on this hole was to hit a tee shot to a distance for a second shot where the player is unlikely to spin the ball with his approach. Even a modest back-up spin risks an encounter with the false front, and the very real possibility of a third shot taken not far from the second shot.)
The left fronting greenside bunker.
The deepest bunker on the course, affectionately known as Big Bertha, guards the right-front side of the green.
A bunker on the right side of the green; the 9th green is surrounded by stately oak trees, and overhanging branches can come into play for balls errantly hit over here.
A smallish bunker sits at the back of the 9th green; it played a key role in the championship match of the Mid-Am.
In the afternoon play of the Mid-Am championship match, both eventual winner Steve Wilson and runner-up Todd Mitchell (with a helping wind) drove through the green and ended up nearly side-by-side in this bunker (this is the pin set for the afternoon round of the championship match). The challenge with this shot is that the green runs away from the player, and the pin was set just a few feet away from the false front. Any shot hit to the right of the pin that didn’t stop above it caught the false front and rolled down into the fairway. Any shot hit to the left of the pin that didn’t stop, risked running into Big Bertha. Wilson did exactly the latter, dumping his ball into the giant sandtrap. Mitchell, watching this, turned his back nearly completely to the hole, and pitched out to the right and toward the fringe, in the hope his ball would hold up there. It did; ironically, neither played ended up with a GIR after driving through the green on their first shots. Both ended up with pars; Mitchell after a terrific lag putt for a conceded par, while Wilson pitched 20 feet beyond the hole out of Big Bertha, and sank a downhill putt for par. Such is the delicate but devious nature of the 9th.
Two looks back at the 9th hole.
