[Mark_Rowlinson]

My wife and I took our car on the ferry from Dover a couple of weeks ago. We had time in hand so we went for a walk on the footpath beside Royal Cinque Ports. We stood behind this green as a couple of very good American players essayed it (they had looked good playing the previous two holes). The hole is only just over 150 yards in length. A strong wind was blowing diagonally from left to right. Both players managed to land the ball on the tiny expanse of green in front of where the pin was cut. Had they hit the flag the ball might have dropped in for an ace. But both players looked on in dismay as the ball raced away, aided by the wind, the whole length of the green and off the far right-hand end. The shaved slope only served to ensure that the ball finished in low ground. Neither player could chip the ball close into that wind and with the contours on the putting surface both ended up three-putting for fives. It was a timely reminder that you don't need huge numbers of bunkers, vast lakes or extensive landscaping to create a challenging hole. I wonder exactly how you are meant to play this hole in such conditions?

[Bill_McBride]

Mark, your friend and mine, Nick Leefe, likes this hole a lot.  He made an ace in the 2009 Buda Cup.

If I recall correctly, the pin was back and the wind wasn't strong.  Even then the hole is difficult with the firm green and fall offs everywhere.

[Craig Disher]

Mark,
This is such a good hole. The hole location in your picture is perhaps the most difficult. I'll defer to Chappers on this but I think the only play is to land the ball on the slope left and short of the green and hope that the ground is softer than the putting surface. The shot would be a club or two less than playing to the green. The favorable wind is NE (allowing the shot to be played into the wind) but in the summer it's almost always out of the SW.

[Mark Chaplin]

Mark - IMHO the pin should have been moved from the position shown if there was a brisk SW wind. The secret is to aim at the right hand path to the fifth tee, provided you are straight the ball will not go long left from where getting up and down is tough. Missing pin high or long right is good and reasonably easy to save par. Your good Americans should putt every time, chipping is doomed to fail especially in wind. Tee it down and high a crisp wedge or nine iron and the ball will stop unless it has any pull spin. Craig is right about the short shot but strangely it often stays short!

For a redesigned hole the 4th at Deal is a very very good par 3 and a fine distant cousin of the 16th at Paraparaumu Beach, which is possibly the best bunkerless par 3 I've ever had the pleasure of playing.

[Mike_Clayton]

Mark,

The best two bunkerless par threes may be 5 and 16 at Paraparaumu.

[Sean_A]

That hole location is exactly where it was a few weeks back for both our games.  The first day I hit wedge short (I think between the downslope and the green) online with the flag and had a birdie putt inside 10 feet.  The next day (still with a wedge) I must have hit the downslope because my ball kicked wildly miles right and well off the green.  From the tee two shots looked identical, but I felt it in me bones that second wedge was not quite right.  Its a nasty approach with a tailwind.

Ciao

[Scott Warren]

As Sean's experience demonstrates, going at that flag with a tailwind is a crapshoot, because you need to land it short and with a good amount of spin, where there are good and bad bounces to be had within the same 3m by 3m square.

Really, unless you want to roll the dice, the play with a tailwind, regardless of the pin position is to play for the right side of the green - at the RHS path to the 5th tee as Chappers advised.

Here's why:

The line from the front of the green to the back on that line from the centre of the summer tee is 27m (30y). On line with the flag the distance from the front of the green to the back is just 22m (24y) and the effective depth is even less because ther back metre or so on that LHS slopes away from the tee and a ball isn't likely to settle there at the best of times, least of all with a tailwind.

Then when you consider that line with the flag brings into play all the worst places to miss the green, there's even less reason to hit it there, when the line that offers you greater green depth is where you'll find all the "green light" and "amber light" misses.

It really is a wonderful hole, and to make matters even better, it's a completely different proposition from the winter tee to the right of the 3rd green (the main tee used for most of the year is the one I have circled).

[Noel Freeman]

Tuco will be playing this hole 2x this weekend. Chappers, going off with Mr. Dobby in the early PM on Saturday if you are around just post lunch.

I agree with Mark and Scott on the play.  I've had lob wedge at this flag with a strong over the left shoulder tail wind and still not held the green.  You have to hold it to the right and 2 putt and move on, treat it like the Postage Stamp.  It is a fascinating little wee demon of a hole.

That said, we cannot talk of this hole without talking of JSF Morrison, its creator.  If one goes left of the green to the old Sandy Parlour, you can make out the bones of that hole, but you will also see some craters (which are not bunkers) which was the fill he used to build the domed current 4th.  Russell Talley and I spent a lot of time around this area and Russell was able to ascertain that by the amount of dirt scooped and filled.

While I would have loved to play the Old Sandy Parlour, after the blind shot on Deal #3 over Lang's Neck (yes that is what the ridge is called), I enjoy the current 4th.

[Mark Chaplin]

Noel - I'm not down until Sunday, guess you will not be around by then.

Mike - Ah the 5th at Paraparaumu another classic bunkerless hole. It is a shame 10 & 11 at PB are a touch pinched as it really is a brilliant course.

[Ben Stephens]

Mark,

The best two bunkerless par threes may be 5 and 16 at Paraparaumu.

Clayts,

What about the 3rd at Sandwich - a beast of a bunkerless par 3!

Cheers
Ben

[Brent Hutto]

Mark,

The best two bunkerless par threes may be 5 and 16 at Paraparaumu.

Clayts,

What about the 3rd at Sandwich - a beast of a bunkerless par 3!

Cheers
Ben

I think Deal's fourth is equally difficult as the third at Sandwich. At least Deal #4 looks as difficult as it plays, or nearly so. Sandwich #3 looks pretty darned benign by comparison.

My one round played at Royal St. George's I managed to bounce one of those Seeing Eye Shots in from the right side of the apron of the green. It finished 2+ feet but above the hole. The gentleman with whom I was playing (an assistant pro at the club) lagged his first putt down to just inside mine on the same line. After marking he offered this advice, "Like most short putts on these greens, it looks like it will break but is in fact completely straight". I could have sworn it need to be played off the hole to the right but I took the advice.

My birdie putt of course broke three inches to the left and glided smoothly past the lip. He looked momentarily perplexed before smiling, aiming his well to the right and making his for par. Basically my only legitimate (i.e. inside 40 feet) birdie chance of the round, wasted. It also meant that I started playing the breaks that I saw on shortish putts for the remainder of the day, almost all of which I overplayed substantially and failed to touch the hole!

[Mark Chaplin]

Ben - the 3rd at Sandwich is roughly 240yds off the back tee, the 5th at Paraparaumu is from memory around 150yds, the 16th 140yds and the 4th at Deal 150yds, their charm and difficulty is in direct proportion to the club being used.

As the 3rd at Sandwich plays into the prevailing wind there is little charm in hitting a driver or three wood to a par 3.

[John Mayhugh]

Like many of the Deal green complexes, ample opportunity to work on the short game.  Great little hole.

[Sean_A]

As Sean's experience demonstrates, going at that flag with a tailwind is a crapshoot, because you need to land it short and with a good amount of spin, where there are good and bad bounces to be had within the same 3m by 3m square.

Really, unless you want to roll the dice, the play with a tailwind, regardless of the pin position is to play for the right side of the green - at the RHS path to the 5th tee as Chappers advised.

Here's why:

The line from the front of the green to the back on that line from the centre of the summer tee is 27m (30y). On line with the flag the distance from the front of the green to the back is just 22m (24y) and the effective depth is even less because ther back metre or so on that LHS slopes away from the tee and a ball isn't likely to settle there at the best of times, least of all with a tailwind.

Then when you consider that line with the flag brings into play all the worst places to miss the green, there's even less reason to hit it there, when the line that offers you greater green depth is where you'll find all the "green light" and "amber light" misses.

It really is a wonderful hole, and to make matters even better, it's a completely different proposition from the winter tee to the right of the 3rd green (the main tee used for most of the year is the one I have circled).

Scott

That right tee looks a lot easier than the left.  I would feel much more comfortable trying to bounce one up from that angle.  Though I would imagine in the winter it must be dicey business because its quite soft not too far short of the green.

Ciao

[Mark Chaplin]

John you are quite right, hit the ball a reasonable distance and hit all the greens then Deal isn't the toughest course. Miss some greens especially on the "wrong side" and the green complexes really show their strength and truly test ones short games skills. That's why my handicap is rising!!

Sean - the green is pretty shallow from the right hand tee, whilst the green holds in the winter it's still a brave man who goes for the pin.

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