Hole #15
The 15th is another hole that caught my fancy. Perhaps it was the hint of The Old Course in the main feature of the hole. From the tee, the hole is as expansive as we've come to expect. The two objects in the way are well out of reach from the tee. As usual, there must be a better place to drive it, but where is it? Turns out to be the right side.
From the far right (well, actually in the waste by a foot or two) of the fairway you can see the right portion of the green, but the left two-thirds is obscured by a mound, reminiscent of the 4th, Ginger Beer, at TOC. The mystery is what's behind the mound; can I use that ground; and what is the contouring of the part of the green that is hidden. The flag on this day turned out to be in the centre of the green.
By this point the battery in my camera was weakening and I took less pictures than I would have liked. Joe Bausch has graciously allowed me to use some of his to supplement mine.
From the left side of the fairway the bunker and the mound obscure most of the green surface. The pin here is on the right side of the green. Man, I love that mound, it makes the hole.
From closer in on the right side, the strong contouring of the right portion of the green is evident. The left side is still obscured.
And, then the green. Wow, what a green. There was a very pronounced valley running down the green from back to front where the pin was located this day. Turns out to be an upper plateau left. Sadly my ball was up there and 3 putt was pretty much guaranteed. But, it was an exciting putting experience. I'll take this any day over flat greens stimped at 13.
A couple more pictures of the green from Joe's collection. One from front left (clearly he played the left path and I played the right) and one from behind the green looking back to the tee (I wish I had that pin for where my second shot ended up).