Hole #5
As you walk off the back of the 4th green, there to your left, not more than 60 yards away is another green. I wondered at first what hole it belonged to. Turns out to be the next green, but how can that be - it's so close. Well, because it's a really short hole. Walking up the few yards to the teeing area (where the blocks seem randomly placed around flat patches of fairway cut), nice vista opens up over the green. I found the hole quite disorienting at first because the card said 121 yards from the Black tees that I was playing, but it looked much closer, and the grand vista behind seemed to further confuse my depth perception.
Part of the "problem" is that the green is a good 70 yards deep while maybe less than 15 yards wide in the front half. This stretched pizza-dough look further confuses the depth perception, I think. In reality, with the pin front, the tee shot was probably under 100 yards that day. All this confusion led to a chunk swing to just short of the green - not a bad leave it turns out.
From the tee looking over the vista, and then from a slightly more right tee. The placement of the hotel is unfortunate for this hole, but at least you could wave to Sweeney in the rooftop bar.
One thing is clear. You don't want to miss left. This sure looks like a pretty cruel pin position, cur so near the edge. But, then, as we'll get to, it could be worse, much worse. Missing right of a front pin position right is no bargain either, leaving a delicate flip shot over the bunker to a shallow sliver of green with death behind.
A nice chip after the "layup" short leaves a tap in par.
Looking down the enormous length of the green from the front edge. Note the real right lower plateau. I was tempted to call it a bowl, but it has no back rim, so plateau is probably a better description. Now, imagine that the pin is way back right over the bunker, on the lower plateau and it's now not 121 yards it's more like 151 yards or you're on the back tees and it's 1ro yards. And if the wind was up drom any direction. Yikes!
Oh, and if you're over the back lower plateau, you're going to be way over, being as it is modestly downhill - a nice turbo slot.
I think this might be a hole, where time permitting, you might want to try playing it different ways to see what works. There's alwways the putter off the tee to the front of the green.
This hole may be real short, but it has teeth. Maybe it should be named Piranha.