Hole #2 -- Par 4
Cardinal: 483 yds
Black: 423 yds
White: 388 yds
In 1930: 430 yds
This is one of my favorite driving holes on the course. One good thing I see coming from the advances in modern equipment is that players like me now get to play the course as it was designed for stronger players. In this case, as a short/medium length hitter, I need to hit a solid shot to draw it 193 yards over the left bunker from the black tees, a mis-hit lands me in the sand. If in the left bunker, there's a very good chance the tree behind will block the green, forcing a pitch out and a full third shot.
There is a Tiger tee (that's the 483 yards on the card) behind the road used for tournaments. It provides less of a dogleg than the regular Cardinal tees (see aerial), but makes for a much longer bunker carry.
The tee shot from the black tees (zoomed in):
A drive over/around the bunker gives the clear reward of a mid-iron to the green rather than a long-iron or fairway wood. However, it appears playing out to the right side of the fairway would give the golfer the preferred angle to a left-hand pin, avoiding the bunker short and left of the green. Like #1, I think more fairway around that bunker would be beneficial to the strategy of the hole. Aerial comparison:
http://stanfordmensgolf.org/aerials/aerial2.htm .
The second shot from just past the left fairway bunker, to a left pin:
The green has a hump on the left side that provides a backstop for short-left pins, but makes back-left hole locations difficult to reach.
One final comment: although the course is over-watered, The fairway around the greens always seems to play firm, accommodating running shots and putts. Of course, I usually play soggy courses, so maybe I just have low standards...
I am forced to ignore the Kal poster on this thread due to our 3rd quarter collapse three weeks ago.