The 8th at Blue Mound, a faithfully maintained Raynor in suburban Milwaukee WI, excerpted from the BM photo thread of a year ago:
#8 (par 4, 445/406 – Punchbowl)
Most of Blue Mound sits upon very flat land, and therefore much of its challenge derives from the placement of its deep bunkers and those diabolical Raynor greens. The 8th is an exception, and it’s one of the best holes at Blue Mound. The fairway moves uphill all the way to the green. Trees lurk close to the fairway on both sides, and the rough here is some of the thickest on the course. The golfer declining to take driver off the tee to avoid the trees and rough will do so knowing he’ll be left with a much longer, uphill approach shot. Long iron, hybrid and fairway wood approaches were the order of the day during the Western Junior.
Gashing the fairway some 300 yards off the tee is this bunker complex, which is deep and penal. I didn’t see anyone come close to reaching it off the tee at the Western Junior; one hopes the tees are moved up a bit for next year’s Amateur championship qualifying round, in the hope that the long-hitting amateurs will try to take on what could be set up as a solid risk/reward hole.
A look back at the 8th fairway and the tee in the distance; the 8th is one of the few fairways at Blue Mound where the golfer is likely to encounter an unlevel lie in the fairway.
Another marvelous Raynor greensite, a true punchbowl. Although not depicted well here, the green features several internal contours (click on hole #8 on the club website scorecard above to see some of the countouring).
