Arcola Country Club.
For over twenty years I'd been lobbying several friends at Arcola to cut down the trees behind the 4th green in order to creat a skyline green.
Fortunately, Ron Prichard was retained by Arcola and now you have one of the all time great "skylilne" greens in golf.
What's great about the hole is the following.
As you ascend from the 3rd green to the 4th tee and look at the hole ahead of you, the view is dramatic.
The hole, a par 4 uphill, is cut out of a ridge at its midpoint.
It looks like you're shooting a canyon.
From the tee, you look up the fairway, between the two rising ridges that are bisected by the fairway, you look up, all the way up and see a FLAGSTICK against nothing but blue skies. It's an incredible look.
After hitting your drive and preparing for your second, you again see a flagstick at the top of the hill, against nothing but blue skies.
The added benefit of clearing the trees is that the prevailing winds from the west have substantially more influence over the shots, approach and recovery.
The green is pitched, high back to lower front and bunkered at the front flanks.
Once up on the green, the view to the west is quite stunning.
This hole went from a slightly quirky hole to a spectacular hole.
I ran into Bill Brightly when I was playing there.
Perhaps he can post pictures, hopefully, pre and post, so that you can see the incredibly dramatic transition.
The hole strikes fear into the golfer, mostly the first time golfer, because you have no idea as to what lies beyond the green.
While there's ample room long, even knowing that doesn't remove the fear factor.
And, should you go long, recovering to that green which would now slope away from you, is very difficult.
Bill, if you're out there, please post some pictures.
One day I'm going to learn how to do that, but, until I do, you'll have to help me on this.
What a great hole to play, day in and day out.