YOUR FAVORITE HOLE AT OLD MAC

[Bill Brightly]

Pretty cool that almomst everybody picked a different hole!  

There is so much to choose from! Hole 17 is a fabulous risk reward par 5. There are so many ways to play it.

 Hole 18 is great punchbowl. I yanked my drive left and did not even think about going at the pin. I played it 30 yards left and 20 yards short, and used the slope to kick it to the pin (to 25 feet    ) Then Gib did the same from the middle of the fairway to 10 feet!

[Bill Brightly]

Holy smokes that's the best picture I've seen yet of Old Macdonald.  That is awesome!!  Thanks for taking that shot Bill!  
[/quote]

Eric, I hit that putt just to right of the caddy in white, way up that slope past the pin...and prayed for it to turn before it went over . It did, then trickled back for a kick away par. Gib wents nuts!

[Richard Choi]

My favorite is the #16 Alps.

I could not believe how large the mound is on the left. I expected the hole to be more like the 9th at Ballyneal, but this hole is much bigger in scale and length and so much more fun. I was also very surprised about how the fairway runs down from the mound to the green, allowing you to hit the shot short and let it run up to the green (better get past the large bunker on the left though). The amazing and gnarly railroad tie bunker guarding the right side is bonus. Also love the bell!

Just awesome.

[Richard Choi]

A couple of more things...

I have not visited courses around the world, but I feel pretty confident in saying that OldMac has THE BEST turnhouse in the world! My goodness, what a view. I got a hot chocolate there and sat there for about 10 min just looking out at the ocean and Sheeps Ranch in the distance.

And speaking of the Short Hole, Rob Miller, Rob Riggs, my friend Vic, and I were the last group on the opening day and we were trying all kinds of shots on the course (the Eden hole bunker is AWESOME, better than the road bunker! Talk about claustrophobic!). While waiting for the group in front of us to clear, we would have putting contests where we all hit the ball at the same time from the various points around the green. At the short hole, we put the ball directly above at the highest point on the green and all of us putted together towards the hole located front left... and NONE of us stayed on the hole. You could not believe how big the smiles were on all of our faces. That green is EPIC!

[Tom_Doak]

I really like #12, Redan.  When its blowing from the north, I think it is the hardest hole on the course to make a par on.  I look forward to watching players hit well struck shots that are either too much club, left of the ideal target or both and struggle to get up and down from the left hand side of the green complex.

Joe B: 

I spent a lot of time play-testing the Redan two days before opening.  My bottom line was that it is the most important hole on the course to hit a straight tee shot.  You can play it okay from behind the green or in front, but if you get off to the sides too far, bogey is a very good score and there will hardly be any threes.

The holes I enjoyed watching the most on opening day were #13 and #16.  There is a lot going on at 13 for a little hole, and the hole location for the first day was inspired.  [Credit to Ken or C.J.]  Sixteen may or may not be worthy of comparison with the third at National and the Alps at Prestwick, but one thing it does BETTER is that it gives you a great place to sit and watch the action unfold, from the road above the green to the right.

[John Mayhugh]

And speaking of the Short Hole, Rob Miller, Rob Riggs, my friend Vic, and I were the last group on the opening day

You mean the last group with a tee time on opening day, don't you? 


Favorite hole for me is a really tough call.  My initial favorite was the Ocean (7th) hole.  But I think I like the Double Plateau 1st the best.  The opening tee shot looks simple enough (unless you have the owner and designers watching your pathetic effort), but placement is important unless you want to start your round off with a bogey or worse.  The double plateau green is a superb introduction and gives a real sense of what to come. 

[Bill_McBride]

And speaking of the Short Hole, Rob Miller, Rob Riggs, my friend Vic, and I were the last group on the opening day

You mean the last group with a tee time on opening day, don't you? 


Favorite hole for me is a really tough call.  My initial favorite was the Ocean (7th) hole.  But I think I like the Double Plateau 1st the best.  The opening tee shot looks simple enough (unless you have the owner and designers watching your pathetic effort), but placement is important unless you want to start your round off with a bogey or worse.  The double plateau green is a superb introduction and gives a real sense of what to come. 

Does that first green look like either #1 or #17 at Yale?

[Kevin Pallier]

The 17th - as it's the best P5 I have seen from Doak.

[Steve Lang]

  17.. 247 to clear the gunk on right.. i played left, then right, then left.. each shot a challenge, great fun just getting to green!

[Richard Choi]

Loved that hole as well. Played dead into the wind on the opening day. Hit a drive to the left and had about 260 to the pin. Hit a 3 wood as good as I can and landed just short of the green. That was fun.

[Joe Bentham]

All that said, the only very slight negative we could come up with on any hole was the FW bunker placement on 10.  Both days I played drives  up 6 instead which also resulted in two easy pars while my playing partners struggled from either the FW bunkers or the FW.  I didn't see any way for me to thread a well struck drive around the traps but the 6th FW is wide open and provides a great angle. 

Historically most Bottle holes (which #10 is) where/are split fairway holes.  
I think hitting it into #6's fairway is a great option, particularly for short hitters.  If not so much for the angle but for taking the fairway bunkers out of play.  
I'm not saying #10 at Old Mac qualifies as a split fairway hole, I just don't think its a coincidence that there are options there.    

[Brian Stewart]

Historically most Bottle holes (which #10 is) where/are split fairway holes.  
I think hitting it into #6's fairway is a great option, particularly for short hitters.  If not so much for the angle but for taking the fairway bunkers out of play.  
I'm not saying #10 at Old Mac qualifies as a split fairway hole, I just don't think its a coincidence that there are options there.    

Interesting, we decided the exact opposite.  From the green tees the shorter hitters in our group didn't fair nearly as well as I did by hitting into 6 FW.  The first day it was downwind and I had 9 iron into the green (140 club for me but I was sitting more like 160) and the second day I think I hit 6 iron with no wind on my approach.  That day the two shortest hitters in our group also played up 6 and couldn't reach with 3 and 5 woods.  The first day they were all in the FW or FW bunkers.  Our 4th was who is similar in length to me ended up in the FW bunker on the right both days and had no real shot.  It isn't a particularly long hole at 440, especially playing downwind.  It just seemed like the bunkers were right in the middle of the landing area on a well struck drive and with all that FW on the right there was no way I would play short of them. 

It seemed to us that it played like an easy par 5 for short hitters playing up the right though.  We had that exact discussion. 

[Rob Miller]

Maybe the best halfway house anywhere. 

[Tim Bert]

I said I liked #2 and #16 while being filmed, so I better stick to my story. After some additional consideration, #16 probably wins out for me. There are many, many good holes so it isn't shocking that there are so many different responses.

A couple people have said #17, which is probably the biggest surprise to me. After three tries it got better each time, but I liked #6 much better as a par 5. In the downwind we played, Hell was irrelevant from the green tees, but thengreen was wonderful and full of interest. I can imagine that when the summer wind is blowing that a drive down the right side will make Hell an intimidating carry on the second shot.

Having never played in Scotland, #2 and #6 probably gave me the biggest sense of playing a Scottish course which may be completely wrong since I don't have an actual experience to compare. I just felt like on those two holes in particular that I might be getting a glimpse of what The Old Course is all about.   

[Joe Bentham]

Historically most Bottle holes (which #10 is) where/are split fairway holes.  
I think hitting it into #6's fairway is a great option, particularly for short hitters.  If not so much for the angle but for taking the fairway bunkers out of play.  
I'm not saying #10 at Old Mac qualifies as a split fairway hole, I just don't think its a coincidence that there are options there.    

Interesting, we decided the exact opposite.  From the green tees the shorter hitters in our group didn't fair nearly as well as I did by hitting into 6 FW.  The first day it was downwind and I had 9 iron into the green (140 club for me but I was sitting more like 160) and the second day I think I hit 6 iron with no wind on my approach.  That day the two shortest hitters in our group also played up 6 and couldn't reach with 3 and 5 woods.  The first day they were all in the FW or FW bunkers.  Our 4th was who is similar in length to me ended up in the FW bunker on the right both days and had no real shot.  It isn't a particularly long hole at 440, especially playing downwind.  It just seemed like the bunkers were right in the middle of the landing area on a well struck drive and with all that FW on the right there was no way I would play short of them. 

It seemed to us that it played like an easy par 5 for short hitters playing up the right though.  We had that exact discussion. 

Downwind hitting it right is not the play for moderate to big hitters.  I've seen balls through 6's fairway and into the fairway bunkers on the left side of #6.  If the hole is playing down wind the play is right down the middle of the golf hole...by going right you rob yourself of a more direct rout while bringing trouble into play.
Conversely for the short hitter who can't cover the bunkers even down wind, but who's ball will more then likely land in or near them, the obvious play is to hit it right.  Their second shot is going to be long from anywhere and the right provides them the most room to NOT be in a bunker. 
I think #10 is a great golf hole.  Tough par, but and easy bogey if played thoughtfully.  All of us would be better served if we tried to make our par by getting up and down from in front of the green IMO...where is the rule that says you have to "go" for the green on your second shot on par 4's?

[Brian Stewart]

Downwind hitting it right is not the play for moderate to big hitters.  I've seen balls through 6's fairway and into the fairway bunkers on the left side of #6.  If the hole is playing down wind the play is right down the middle of the golf hole...by going right you rob yourself of a more direct rout while bringing trouble into play.
Conversely for the short hitter who can't cover the bunkers even down wind, but who's ball will more then likely land in or near them, the obvious play is to hit it right.  Their second shot is going to be long from anywhere and the right provides them the most room to NOT be in a bunker. 
I think #10 is a great golf hole.  Tough par, but and easy bogey if played thoughtfully.  All of us would be better served if we tried to make our par by getting up and down from in front of the green IMO...where is the rule that says you have to "go" for the green on your second shot on par 4's?

Perhaps you are right and I'm not arguing per se as with only two rounds there my experience level is too small to make a final judgement but the facts as I know them are:
1. I had two easy pars there while everyone else in my group struggled
2. We lasered the bunkers (and this is from memory so I'm perfectly willing to be corrected) and it seems to me that the carry was 270 or so to get past all of them.  Downwind I should be able to do that with relative ease (don't swing and miss!) but the 6th FW provided 0 resistance to hitting it as far as I wanted from what I could tell.  I don't remember any sort of bunkers being in play there or even seeing them. 
3.  The main problem with going up 6 for a short hitter as far as I can tell is that the hole plays quite a bit longer and therefore they struggled to reach the green on the second shot

I do however agree wholeheartedly that the play on your second shot is to miss short and putt up the hill when confronted with multiple options.  Going long is a horrible idea as any putt from Short will be virtually impossible.  Certainly I don't think it is a rule that you have to hit the green with your second shot on a par 4 but if I have a 6 iron or a 9 iron in my hand I expect to do so.  A conventional two putt par shouldn't be ruled out any more than it should be demanded. 

General question:  Does anyone have an aerial view of 6/10?  I would actually be very interested in seeing where those bunkers were because I may have just not noticed them and been very lucky.  That would make me rethink my strategy on the hole completely.  I was trying to play to the middle of the 6th FW and don't even remember seeing bunkers in the vicinity. 

[Tom_Doak]

The intent on that hole was to give you the option of diving to the right of all but the last bunker, but you can't see The green well if you take that line.  I will have to figure out a way to discourage drives onto the sixth so no one gets hurt.

[Pete_Pittock]

Yesterday #10 was into the wind and no-one even considered hitting towards #6 and no one sniffed the green in regulation.

Right now my favorite is Road. Slightly with the wind and just barely in reach for my skill level. Longer players went down the right. Since my approach would be a low runner I aimed for the left edge of the fairway to allow better use of the front slope. I won't say how I got to a point just in the left rough 105 out with the 3 pin just behind the bunker, but executed pitch and run up the slot to 18".

Par 3s:  (12,8,2,5) Redan beats out Biarritz, Eden and Short. Accuracy and recoverabliity. Biarritz could inch up if they ever put the flag in front of the swaleand it is als the most exposed.
Par 5s : (6,17,15) Long over Littlestone and #15. Strategy. Tom, you may have to figure out how to protect people on Eden with the 17th approach opening up from the right.
Short 4s: (7,9,3,13,14,1) Ocean, all wind and angles. Maybe Double Plateau will grow on me as we had an easy cup with backstop.
Long 4s: (11,18,16,4,10) I contradict myself here because I shouldn't pick a best hole which is usually not reachable in regulation for me, but could be in ideal conditions, and Road nd Punchbowl fit that critertia. 4 and 10 are just brutal. Alps is a veritable enigma how to play for my length

[Garland Bayley]

Not having been there, I think right now my favorite hole will be Short. I ought to be able to get on that big green in two!

[Bill_McBride]

The intent on that hole was to give you the option of diving to the right of all but the last bunker, but you can't see The green well if you take that line.  I will have to figure out a way to discourage drives onto the sixth so no one gets hurt.

Perhaps a large Hinkle tree?   

[Joe Bentham]

The intent on that hole was to give you the option of diving to the right of all but the last bunker, but you can't see The green well if you take that line.  I will have to figure out a way to discourage drives onto the sixth so no one gets hurt.

So much for my idea of split fairways....the only problem with that line is that short of the last bunker on the right there IS fairway, but there is also a lot of ruff if you don't drive it far enough.
Curious what you would do to discourage drives into the sixth fairway....or why you would?  Is it that dangerous?  With 6 playing the opposite direction won't the wind be a big safety net?