Long(-ish) par 4s with tiny greens

[Jeff_Mingay]

#1 at Chambers Bay. Not really sure it "works" and i know its getting some surgery....but it's definitely long (especially if your tee shot hits the up/side slope) & the green sure plays small.

Greg,

Last time I visited Chambers Bay, I was told that approach shots into the 1st have hit the side slope left of the green and gone out-of-bounds right of 18. Yikes!

It is impossible for a ball to roll 100+ yards on flat ground, through fescue then a bunker then more fescue to reach out-of-bounds right of 18... Sounds like an exaggerated story of a slope that is truly SEVERE, but it is definitely not that severe.

Agreed.

I have had a second shot there though that caught the left part of the green but rolled off left and had 70ish yards for my 3rd.

I didn't say I saw those shots, just heard the story!

[James Boon]

The 15th at Notts GC Hollinwell is often mentioned by people as one of their favourite holes and yet it has probably the smallest green on the course? Its 440 yards long and often needs a long iron or fairway wood to a green that is nestled in an amphitheater of gorse covered hillsides. And yet its this setting of the green that probably makes it a favourite of many when in fact they are more likely to be cursing its brutality, as the green is probably less than 4,000ft2, and with a wicked back to front slope as well.

Many players will lay up short and hope for a chip and put par which is relatively straightforward, however going for it with a 5 iron or often several clubs more is a real test as anything pushed or pulled onto the hillside is inevitably dead in the gorse.

I do like the hole, but I would prefer to see the gorse cleared from the left hillside as this would essentially give a bailout, even though it would still be a tricky chip down from there, rather than a potential lost ball, and the setting of the hole wouldn't be spoilt.

Check out Ran's write up for a couple of pictures...
http://www.golfclubatlas.com/courses-by-country/england/notts1/notts-golf-club-page-ii/

Cheers,

James

[Alex Lagowitz]

1st at Spring Brook CC has a very small green relative to its length

[Duncan Cheslett]

Reddish Vale (A MacKenzie) has a great example with its ferociously difficult 13th.

From above it looks like a fairly standard 450 yard long par 4



Following a decent drive however, the view facing you is this;

Thankfully the trees on the left have been cut back somewhat since this photograph so as to tempt players into being bold.



The miniscule, visiously sloping green is tucked away behind a ridge and right in the trees. It is no more than 20 yards in diameter.



To make things worse, there is a pit to the front right which collects any shot that is even slightly short. 90% of club members lay up and play the hole as a 3-shotter. Of those who do routinely have a go with their second shot I have only seen it accomplished on a handful of occasions. Even a perfectly hit shot can - unseen by the stiker - bounce off the green into the woods! In many competitions the average score here is double bogey or worse.

I dare say that it is a hole that wouldn't be built these days. But we love it - particularly in home matches against other clubs!