Hole #8 Par 4 446 meters (491 yards)Looking at the scorecard upon approaching this hole it would be easy to be intimidated - it is the number 1 stroke hole and the yardage befits a major championship length. With the strong prevailing wind at your back, it turns out that the length is manageable. I'd imagine that in calm conditions or worse, into a wind, the hole would be a beast, no doubt deserving of its stroke rating.
It presents off the tee as a two tiered fairway, but as evident in the aerial, what appears to be the more direct line up the left fairway is only marginally (10 yards) shorter than the lower right fairway.
Strategically from the tee, the upper left fairway appears to present the direct line. The flag is visible in the dunes in the distance in that direction. The risks appear to be the dunes intruding into your vision on the left with the deadly long grass or the possibility of hitting down the middle and getting hung up in the rough separating the upper and lower fairways.
The right side appears to offer a less risky drive with the downsides being to lose it too far right or to have a longer shot into the green
In playing it twice, I managed to hit good drives both times, once up the left, and the second down the right. Based on those two plays I don't know which is the better approach or if there is a better one. Perhaps either is fine, and it just depends on how comfortable you are with accuracy off the tee and what kind of second shot you want to have. From the aerials and the picture that follows it is evident that the upper fairway feeds down to the lower one at about 280 yards. Although I'm not positive based on my one play to the upper side, I suspect that there is a turbo slot on that side that might aid the long hitters, although I stand to be corrected on that. The risk is that you could end up with a pronounced downhill or sidehill lie.
From the picture below, from the upper left side, it is apparent that the fairway is more level with the elevation of the green, but the dunes and bunker encroach on the visuals of the line. From the lower right side the green is elevated some 15 to 20 feet above the fairway. The green looks like a fortress from there, but at least the line is less cluttered and there looks like an area on the right where you might actually not be in trouble if you come up short. From either side it looks like an intimidating shot. Against a wind, I'd think that most would end up at the bottom of the ridge with a blind third shot.
From closer in with my wee playing partner for perspective, the size of the ridge is evident.
My recollection of it is that it was large (20 yards wide by 40 yards long) and fairly benign, befitting a long hole. It was one of several holes where I recall that there was a kick plate on the left side of the green that might be useful approaching the green with a long second shot. Thanks to Matthew for the pics of the green.
My drive is evident in the second picture and my second is on the right front edge of the green in the third. Two putts for par. I like this hole. An exciting drive and a demanding second. I like this hole.
