I thought many of you might be enjoying this silently, so I decided to get the Course Tour underway...
Course TourNo. 1 Par 4 373 363 324(please see Part II for other photos)
The very first hole of the course is something of a model for the variety of choices and solvable challenges that confront the player over a round at Siwanoy. It is mid-sized, small of green, and driving too far may reduce some problems, but yield others.
From a perfectly square and level teeing ground mere steps from the Golf Shop, Grill and Putting Green, the player encounters a serene but inspiring view over a rolling emerald dale of fairway to its tiny sun-lit green on a distant hill.
Many players elect to hit one about 210-225 off the tee to this flat, which offers a full view over a 25 foot valley of fairway and a chance to gain judgement and spin into this oft-downwind target:
A basher has a very good chance to get within 90 yards of the green, but the shorter shot is checked by a play off of soft, valley-bottom turf and a mostly blind sklyline shot. Very fiddly, as Sir Nick would say...
This foreground bunker - which looks flush to the green, but is actually 10 yards short of the surface - hectors judgement perfectly from either position. Local knowledge tells a Siwanoy player that the ball is best flown to a few yards before the front edge and this bunker worries that play expertly. This little target is only 25D x 15W and though it may not seem so, missing in the right rough is not a safe option as is it usually blazing to the left side. The pin locales near the barely-visible brow in the back right of this green are among the most delicate on a course filled with such spots.
No. 2 Par 4 402 390 299(please see Part III for green side photos)
The 2nd hole is one of only two Siwanoy par 4s that measure more than 400 yards from the back tees. It is a crescent-shaped hole that banks to the right and continues uphill to the green just out of tee view. The green, like so many at Siwanoy, can be a terror if disrespected. While not quite as undersized as some on the course, it is effectively rendered much smaller by the obvious division into two halves by a sharp step-like tier shelf that bisects the green laterally. It is not until you contemplate the difficulties in attacking this wicked two-tier green that the strategic options off the tee are clear.
One of these difficulties for approach is that the only flat spots in this banked fairway are well back (175 – 200 yards) from the green. Almost everything else is a pronounced “slice” lie, played to an elevated target that shoulders off in the same direction. The closer to the green you drive, the more the approach lie is played below your feet and the more awkward the shorter iron becomes.
Compounding all on #2 is that it is generally played into a swirly quartering wind out of the NW (the left). This and the uphill nature of the approach add a great deal of distance-effect to a shot that has to be judged perfectly to attain the proper tier level on the green. Three putts and double-bogeys are often the penalty for failing this executive act. The pin position shown in the photo below is insanity at tournament speed.
No. 3 Par 3 210 199 136(please see Part III for other greenside photos)
The 3rd hole is your first introduction to Siwanoy's defining medal play strength, its one-shotters. Playing downhill and generally downwind to a small green, the primary problem is how to fit a bigger hit into this target. Shots that come hurtling in past the middle of the green will not hold the surface, and long or left flirts with lost-ball death. The soundest play is one for the area at the front left corner, albeit well defended by a bunker on that side and pinched by the bunker complex the other side.
The sublime green considerations are dominated by a small bank that extends from the left bunker into the green, creating a small tier shelf above in the back left and a tapered slope to the back right. Pins cut there create the toughest shot access but the flattest putting. The larger portion of green underneath that brow is a continuous slope from back to front, getting ever sharper at the immediate front of the green.
Though slightly longer than the famous 10th at Winged Foot West, this hole presents a valid “compare and contrast” between Ross’ and Tillinghast’s longer one-shot styles. The author finds this unmentioned design just as, if not more, rewarding to play as the options available are more varied than the aerial heroics, "hit the green or else," presented by Tillinghast at the legendary "Pulpit."
cheers
vk