NOW: Back to the action (Big E, parody my posts as much as want).
Sandwich's 2nd is a solid par four. It really is. However, Deal's 2nd hole is tremendous. The fairway contours are subtle and create timeless options--meaning a player cannot lock down one specific way to play hole after 2 or 3 tries. The green complex is great, and I'm definitely a sucker for front-to-back slopes in greens Therefore, Deal wins the hole to square the match.
ALL SQUARE
HOLE NUMBER THREE
Sandwich: we come to the first of Sandwich's par threes. This is a 210-yard, bunkerless affair. The green is cut into a dune, and it is the player's introduction into the massive dunescape that defines Sandwich's outward nine. The par three is a decent enough hole, with a slippery two-tiered green that forces players to keep the ball below the hole. Yet the hole remains a one-dimensional difficult par four, and it is even more painful considering the hole it replaced: Sandwich's legendary Sahara hole. A difficult, bland, and highly visible long par three replaces a quirky, blind, strategic, beloved short par four? Ouch.
Deal: while the first two holes are a solid start, the 3rd is one of Deal's very first golf holes. Whether you play it as a five or a four, Deal's 3rd is a classic, traveling over rippling terrain that yields all sorts of wild stances, before culminating in a brilliant punchbowl green. The green complex is the thriller here, encouraging the golfer to hit every type of shot imaginable to combat the often dramatic, but sometimes subtle, contours. 3 is a very reasonable proposition here, but so is a 7, which is, of course, ideal. And there is no better feeling than firing a shot into a punchbowl and scrambling over the brow of a hill to find it nestled near the flag.