The Mucci-Wolfe challenge was held early this evening on the 3rd hole at Baltusrol lower.
Present were three very imPARTIAL judges ! ! !
Rick Wolfe, Bob Trebus, Phil Young and myself.
My contention was that the 3rd hole cannot be played down the left side of the fairway with the ball coming to rest in the DZ next to the left side rough due to the dogleg nature of the hole, the dense trees lining the left side of the fairway and the right to left slope of the fairway.
Rick maintained that the ideal angle of approach is the left side of the fairway, immediately adjacent to the left rough.
A position valid in theory, but, not in practice
In addition, we disputed the golfers ability to hit a low running shot, landing over the fronting creek, but, short of the green, which would run onto the green.
While it may be disputed, the DZ is probably located 220 to 150 from the center of the green.
At that point, the fairway slopes down and right to left, making for an awkward lie, although, the further the drive is hit, the less steep the fairway slope.
We played the tee behind the tee where the black lines start
Phil Young flipped a coin, I called "heads", heads it was, so I gave Rick the honor.
Now Rick had not hit any warm up shots, was in a shirt and tie, so he was at a clear disadvantage.
Rick teed his ball up on the RIGHT side of the tee ( a classic mistake in my book) and proceeded to hit a very high tee shot that now probably resides in the pond short of the 4th green. Rick then hit a second tee shot.... same result. And a third..... same result.
I now teed my ball up and hit a drive into the right rough.
Then, I proceeded to hit 8 drives right down the center of the fairway, 150 to 180 from the green.
Rick was out of ammo, so, I went into my bag and gave him more balls.
Same results, although he did hit one into the far right woods.
Then Phil Young said that he could hit a high fade into the fairway.
I gave him some balls.
Results, deep into the left woods.
Fast forward.
We're sitting in the club grille.
The President, a very cordial fellow is summoned to the table by Rick.
Rick asks him, "where's the ideal spot to hit your tee shot on # 3 ?"
He responds, " The right center of the fairway"
Back to the 3rd fairway.
With the overhangnig trees tight to the left side of the fairway, the dogleg nature of the hole, the downhill right to left slope of the fairway in the DZ, the left rough, fronting creek, and bunkered green, I think all but Phil, think that the proper drive is to the right center of the fairway with a draw, NOT down the left side and not down the center with a draw, as the dangers of those shots, far outweigh the benefits.
As to the approach shot, there's no doubt that the left side is the prefered side to come in from, BUT, as YOGI said, "you can't get there from here"
From one of my drives, about 160 from the flag, Rick hits a 6-iron to about 6 feet.
I go back to 180-190 and hit 5 4-irons, from a downhill sidehill lie.
4 hit the green with a cut and the other is pulled left of the green.
There's no way, from 200, 180 or 160 that a low, running shot, that barely clears the creek, but lands short of the green, is the prefered shot.
It's an aerial shot all the way, EXCEPT if you're foolish enough to pull or hook your drive into the left rough, then depending upon your lie, a running shot may be the shot of choice, but only because of the heavy roug, or low overhaning branches from the big trees.
I think Judge # 1, Bob will side with me.
I think Judge # 2, Rick will side with me.... reluctantly.
But, the EAST GERMAN Judge, Judge # 3, Phil, will refuse to side with me, clinging to the notion that AWT intended that a low draw to the left edge of the fairway is the shot of choice.
And, it may have been, but that was when golfers hit drives like line drives, not howitzers, which is today's game.
In addition, we all agreed that with Persimmon, we could turn the ball more, but that it was harder to draw the ball, especially with the mental image of those trees and double bogey or worse staring you in the face on the left side of that fairway.
When we were finished, I was short 6 golf balls due to the failure of the RICK/PHIL tee shot experiment.
In medal play, that's two strokes.
In match play, probably loss of hole, unless the other bozo hit's it out of play LEFT as well.
You can recover from the deep right rough.
You can't recover from the deep left rough,
And, you definitely CAN'T recover from the pond on # 4
After golf we toured the course and then had a great meal and even better discussions.
Bob, Rick & Phil,
Thanks for a great afternoon and evening.