I had the pleasure of playing Crystal Downs and the Kingsley Club this weekend. I must say I was really keen on playing the 5th at Crystal Downs. There was something about that tee shot that really got the strategies running through my head. When I finally got there I really muffled the hole my first time. I tried to bite off as much of the spine or ridge between the giant old oak on the right and the three sisters
on the left. It didn't work well and I landed on the spine and had a blind 5 iron from a hook lie to the hole. Needless to say I didn't get anywhere close on my second and took a bogey. All this from a 335 yard hole. Now if my ball had cleared the
ridge that Dr. Mac routed the hole over as a directional hazard I would have been left with a slice lie. Then I would have had to try hitting a draw off of a hanging lie to
a green that slopes left to right. That invites hitting a big push into one of the 2 bunkers on the right that guard the green and are easily in play for putts as well. A front right pin position here cannot be gone for at all on this hole. You are likely to putt into the bunker.
The second time I played the hole, I thought again about biting off as much of the ridge as possible to leave nothing but a wedge in. I decided against it because I
didn't want to risk a blind second. Instead, I hit a sweeping draw over the old oak and had 125 yards left from a severe hanging slice lie. I did notice this time around
though that if I hit driver through the fairway, I would have a flatter lie from the rough. I wondered if this was the better way to play the hole. True, the angle in and the lie in the rough would be suspect but at least I could control it a bit with a straighter ball. I wound up parring the hole the second time around. I really wish I had a 3rd try to play it. It is the hole I dream about playing over and over from a strategy perspective.
One other thing. I played the Kingsley Club yesterday. Wow, was that a treat. I really enjoyed it and as we often talk about members courses. This is definitely one I
would like to play every day.