As you walk off the 3rd green, you're not quite sure what to make of the hole you've just played. It's quite unique, and chances are that the hole got the best of you.
So, you climb up to the back of the green, onto the berm like mound where a bell tower resides, you look back upon the hole you just played and then you ring the bell donated by, and in the memory of Joe McBride.
As you descend to the 4th tee, you gaze out to see what lies ahead.
It's an amazing site.
At first, you see nothing.
Yes, there's a deep valley below the tee that rises up to a ridge, with a broad panorama behind it, but, there's not the normally clear definition of the hole that lies ahead.
Then, as you begin to focus, you realize that there's a green on that ridge.
The flagstick is the defining clue.
Then you see the massive left front bunker wall, sending you a clear signal that you DON'T want to be short.
What the golfer can't see is the hidden signal that says, you don't want to go long, since the back side is almost as steep as it descends into a rear bunker.
As you gaze out, you think, wow, this is a long hole ......
How in the hell am I going to play it ?
At 195 from the back/red and 177 from the regular/green tees it presents a formidable, yet indefinite challenge.
The first consideration is, what club am I going to hit ?
That determination is largely a function of the wind, which is almost always blowing.
The hole plays to the NNE, so the prevailing wind is generally with you.
At 195, should the wind be crossing or in your face, reaching the green becomes far more challenging, especially with a back left hole location.
The green is 40 yards deep, angled about 45 degrees from the angle of the tee.
A fronting bunker sits at the base of the rise, leading to the ridge that is occupied by the green. Other bunkers are to the right, bunkers that catch mishit or sliced tee shots.
The front left bunker with its steep slope leading to the green looms large.
It's hard NOT to focus on it.
The green, save for a portion of the shoulder to the front right is invisible.
In the past, the hole location wasn't discernable, but, thanks to the club's wisdom, the interior trees were removed and golfers who think ahead, can determine the hole location while playing the 3rd hole.
Once you know the hole location you can factor in the + / - yardage.
The question remains, how do I play this hole ?
Downwind it can be played several ways.
It can be played into the fronting bank allowing the ball to run up to the green and toward the hole or up toward the shoulder and then down to the green.
Both tactics are frought with danger.
Balls pulled, hooked, or that kick left meet an ugly fate, down into the deep front left bunker. Balls pushed, sliced, or that kick right meet an almost equal, ugly fate in one of the other deep right side bunkers.
Balls hit long find the deep back bunker.
Irrespective of the bunker you find yourself in, you can't see the green.
You have a blind shot from a very deep bunker, and the wind is still a factor.
The tactic of hitting a high draw is a sound one, especially if the hole is cut to the back of the green, but, this shot also faces similar peril.
It must be a precise shot
Those who prefer to hit a high fade, especially to the back hole location must factor in the longer carry.
In my limited experience, when the hole is cut toward the back of the green, being long and left isn't a bad location to recover from since the slope of the green will aid in your recovery.
Missing the green presents unique problems.
The green has several cants.
It is not a monolithic green with but one sloping direction.
The front right shoulder can catapult recoveries to the back of the green or even off the green.
Blind recoveries from the bunkers can traverse the green and find the opposite side bunker.
The putting surface while generally sloped from high front right to low back L,C,R has some subtle counter slopes.
I would say that a universal truth would be that uphill putts have a far better chance of NOT resulting in 3 and 4 putts.
The hole, over time, is three games in one.
Tee shots
Recovery shots
Putts
As the wind changes direction and velocity, each one of those elements changes ..... drastically.
Into the wind the tee shot becomes exponentially more difficult, but, recovery may become much easier.
Cross winds present a unique challenge.
They tend to be uncommon, but, if you play there enough, you'll encounter them. They can help or hurt your play depending upon their direction and your prefered ball flight.
Making a 3 on this hole is a victory.
The hole can extract large numbers and ruin a round ..... early.
That's never good in a medal play event, especially a qualifier.
At 195 yards the hole plays long, but, with modern equipment, good golfers are hitting short irons, making CBM do about 5,000 RPM's in his grave, yet, lengthening the hole, if that were possible, would be a mistake.
It is a wonderful, unique, challenging hole.
What's surprising is that more duplicates don't exist.
The 3rd at Piping Rock is about the best duplicate I've run across.
The trajectory of the incoming shot has a great deal of influence on the relative difficulty of the hole.
The higher the trajectory, the better able the golfer to hold the green.
The lower the trajectory, the more trouble comes into play.
Perhaps that's an additional facet of the architecture.
Low trajectories are better served by landing well short, while high trajectories are better served by landing on the green.
When you think about it, the hole compensates for distance by trajectory type.
If you hit it low, you won't play the distance, you'll play far short, taking far less club.
Whereas, if you play high, you'll want to land the ball close to the hole, requiring more carry.
Hitting short, and having to chip or putt down to the green is one of the more difficult "touch" shots you can make.
The green, wind, gravity and probably an element of grain make that shot super, super fast. I've seen many a chip degreened.
If I was strong enough, I'd prefer a high fade almost every time I played the hole.
And, going long, left, leaves you with a bogey at most.
If someone posts pictures, I'll add additional comments