John Shimp,
A great day in golf is 36 at NGLA with a wind reversal on the second 18.
Playing into a wind accentuates your errors, magnifies and expands your shot patterns.
The neat thing about # 18 is that features and hazards, typically deemed far removed from play, come dangerously into play into a good head wind.
The flanking hazard suddenly becomes a real concern, especially with your second and third shot, thereby forcing the golfer left, into those left side features and hazards, which, from the left side, now force the golfer to hit toward the hazard or further down the left side into more devious features and hazards, until the golfer is faced with the ultimate challenge, hitting from the left side of the green, directly toward the hazard to what appears to be a sliver of a green, buffeted by a good left to right cross wind.
There's a hidden genius to the placement of many of the features and hazards on that hole that only becomes apparent to most when the wind shifts into their face.
One of the most delightful afternoons I ever spent was playing the 18th hole by myself, about 30 times.
With each play, a different situation presented itself.
My favorite hole location is all the way back, into the narrowed portion of the green.
When the golfer is back in the fairway, and can only see the pin/flag, with the wind in his face, it's one of the most frightening shots in golf when you know what's left, right and behind that green.
One of the first times I played # 18 there was a good wind in my face and I was about 80-100 yards from the green.
I took and 8-iron, closed the face, played it back in my stance and hit a low, hard punch shot that never got off the deck by much. The shot ended up about 3 feet from the hole.
While that was very rewarding, when I went into the clubhouse a member approached me. He had been watching from an alcove on the first floor. He told me that the shot I had hit was one of the best shots he had ever seen on that hole. He asked me what club I hit and why I played the shot the way I did. His comments and questions made me feel even better about the hole, my evaluation of what lay before me, my decision making process and my execution.
You could stand about 100 yards from that green and hit every club in your bag to that green, just don't go left, right or long
Even 30 yard shots are knee knockers with a good wind in your face when the hole is cut to the back of the green.
It's just enormous fun and challenge, without ridiculous distance being a requirement