The par 4 4th hole at Odessa

[Joe Bausch]

This fairly new public course in Townsend, Delaware has been mentioned a few times now over the past few months.  Mayday has mentioned it as his surprise course for 2010.  And I can understand why he thinks so.  There are some very nifty holes at Odessa, with a couple of short par 4's that are really good, IMO. 

The first being the 4th, with lots of options.  Here is the hole diagram and a slew of pics.

[Dan Herrmann]

Joe - How much of Gil's work is still out there?  Those sure don't look like Hansian bunkers.

[Joe Bausch]

Joe - How much of Gil's work is still out there?  Those sure don't look like Hansian bunkers.

That I'm trying to determine with certainty.  The Odessa web page says the following:

Give us a call to schedule a time to play this great course designed by Gil Hanse and Joel Weiman.

[Joe Bausch]

Joe,

Would you hit it to the right fairway, right of the bunkers, in order to get the open angle into the green, or is that not necessary.

Kelly, that diagram above isn't representing the way the hole is currently being maintained.  Below is a July 4, 2010 Google aerial that shows that area up and to the right is not being maintained as fairway, which IMO is a great place to be to access any pin, but in particular a left pin.



Makes me wonder why that cart path was pinched in there and why that area isn't maintained as fairway.   

[Joe Bausch]

Joe - How much of Gil's work is still out there?  Those sure don't look like Hansian bunkers.

Dan, it probably is not accurate to say that Gil Hanse was a co-designer.  From my understanding, Hanse did the routing for a previous owner, but when that owner sold to someone else, the new owner decided to go in a different direction and employed Macdonald and Sons and their in-house architect Joel Weiman.  Weiman rerouted the course in basically the same envelope, as it has been relayed to me, which resulted in 5-6 holes being different.  They designed everything else, too (greens, location of bunkers and style, etc.)

[Joe Bausch]

The first being the 4th, with lots of options. 

How many options are there?

As Gene Hackman once said in some movie from some state I've never really heard of:  FOUR!

[Mark McKeever]

Agreed Kelly.

The only way I would be over there would be if I unintentionally hit a weak slice off the heel of my 4 wood
Mark

[mike_malone]

 The far right and short allows a full shot. The area between the first set of bunkers and the greenside ones may leave a half shot which is tough for the average guy. I aimed right over the bunkers my first time; short right the second; and down the left the third time. Saturday was a back left pin. I ended up in the front bunker and my friend was directly in front of the green. However, he had to negotiate a ridge which seemed to cause him a problem---bump and run or flop?---. For me , it was an easy bunker shot.


   What fascinates me about this course is that it seems to set up for the 10/20 handicapper. Those who can't carry the ball off the tee may struggle. The scratch player can just blow by everything.


What will keep me coming back here is the thought that each time will be a different experience.

    We should probably go there as a group.

[Joe Bausch]

Why would you take the far right line?

Full wedge in for those that prefer that type of shot.

What is the difference between the two left lines?

Farther left is 'laying up' leaving a half-wedge or flop shot in.  Other line is to drive the green.  Not sure exactly how viable of method this is as the green is so shallow.  But in my only attempt there that is what I tried but came up short in the front bunker leaving a sand shot most people will not be comfortable with (but I am).

Actually instead of fairway to the right how about fairway to the left around those two little bunkers. Some treeclearing would be in order but that would be real interesting.

Sounds interesting as well.  Perhaps I'll fire off a suggestion to Joel.