Rustic Canyon (Hanse / Shackelford / Wagner) - A Photo Tour!! - Hole 18 Posted

[Mark Saltzman]

Minor point, but the 12th goes back down the canyon.

Thanks, fixed.

[Mark Saltzman]

One short hole surrounded by long ones, the 15th is a 147 yard par-3 that plays much harder than it looks.

[Joe Perches]

One short hole surrounded by long ones, the 15th is a 147 yard par-3 that plays much harder than it looks.

15's my least favorite hole on that course.

Can the green still be silly fast and severely punish downhill putts?

[Alex Miller]

I am in the minority on 15 and like it a lot!

Even though RC can get windy, I think it's important to remember some things about this hole in context of the severe green.

It's 155 yards.
There is ample width for such a shot, even in wind.
You can run the ball up nearly the whole width of the green.
There is every opportunity to miss below the hole if you want to take 5 out of the equation.
Just because a hole is short does not mean it has to be an easy 3.

The green, even when fast is navigable as long as plenty of thought is put into the putt. Sometimes that means aiming wide of the hole and playing for a makeable second putt. However there are some days where it does get too fast to be enjoyable, but that is rare and in a way cool to me. That doesn't happen anywhere else in LA.

[Mark Saltzman]

The 479 yard par-4 16th is a hole that has been narrowed slightly as the brush on the right creeps toward the line of play.  The fairway that now measures 50 yards in width, once measured more than 60 yards and some of the hole's strategic merit has been lost.




The golfer that is bold enough to play down the canyon side of the hole (the left) will be rewarded with a clear view of the green.  Approaches from the right must carry a bunker that juts into the fairway 40 yards short of the green; if successful, the ball should use the fairway's slope to trundle onto the putting surface.




Though long on the scorecard, the hole plays noticeably downhill.  Perhaps lost in the difficulty of the hole is avoiding running a shot through the green into this steep and contoured run-off...

 

[Joe Perches]

The 479 yard par-4 16th is another hole that has been negatively affected by the flooding -- the fairway that now measures 39 yards in width, once measured more than 60 yards and some of the hole's strategic merit has been lost as the golfer is now satisfied with a tee shot that remains in play.

I believe this isn't true.

 think the landing area for the drive is basically the same now as it was when the course opened.
The fire did change the little bunker 40-50 yards short of the green, but not very much.

[Mark Saltzman]

The 479 yard par-4 16th is another hole that has been negatively affected by the flooding -- the fairway that now measures 39 yards in width, once measured more than 60 yards and some of the hole's strategic merit has been lost as the golfer is now satisfied with a tee shot that remains in play.

I believe this isn't true.

 think the landing area for the drive is basically the same now as it was when the course opened.
The fire did change the little bunker 40-50 yards short of the green, but not very much.

Joe, I was just told the same by someone else. But if you go look at the google earth aerials from 2004 vs current, doesn't it look like 20+ yards of fairway width have been lost?

[Dan Grossman]

Mark - The flooding activity was down to the left of #16 and didn't really impact the fairway at all.  Most of 16 is well above the rest of the golf course and not on the same level as #11, which was severely impacted.  I think the "width" which you are referencing is differences over time in the trash on the right side of the hole.  There is a fence line along the right side of the hill.  Generally speaking, they try to keep the mustard grass and weeds back behind the fenceline.  Sometimes they have failed at this.  Any loss of width would be due to maintenance practices, not the flood.

If you look at the two pictures I have posted above, the top is your picture from the tee, the bottom is Ran's picture from 2002 (pre-flood).  You will see that the cart path ont he left is in the same spot on both.  The differences are on the right side of the hill.

[Mark Saltzman]

The 17th is a downhill par-3 of 189 yards.  I know some will hate that I say it, but with the angle of the green, the ground tilting to the right and the hazard guarding the front-right portion of the green, the hole has some reverse-redan characteristics.




Like the wonderful little knob in the run-off left of The Valley Club's 7th green, a bump in the fairway left of Rustic's 17th will complicate the recovery for those bail out away from trouble.




The home hole is a 456 yard par-4 with one of the least interesting tee shots on the golf course.  Until I stand corrected, I believe width on the right was lost to the flood, taking away the incentive to take on the bold carry over the wash on the right.




Sharing a surface with the putting green, the 18th green measures some 50 yards in depth, but playing downwind and in the late afternoon, it was near impossible to have the ball stay on the green!