To hopefully return this thread to the rails again...
Hole number five:
Kingsley Club #5 - 222 yards - Par 3A polar opposite and perfect compliment to #2 and #9, this par three plays far easier than its given yardage. From the back tee, the ideal tee ball is probably played closer to 200 yards than 225 with the ideal line pretty much anywhere inside the two dunes. The green is a giant two tiered bowl. The only place dead is long in the bunker, and even then I'd guess it would be a relatively easy bunker shot (also I think needs mentioned, both KC and CD have the IDEAL sand for bunker play. Firm, yet soft). The back left tier is extremely difficult to stay up on and I would venture to guess impossible from the very back tees; fortunately any pin on the right side is likely to see a makeable birdie putt (or an ACE as I witnessed first hand - that was pretty cool).
View from the back tee box - anywhere between the tall dune on the left and the bunkers rightCrystal Downs #5 - 353 yards - Par 4After stepping onto this tee and taking a look at what I was facing I was completely confounded. Do you try to play left of the "3 sisters" bunkers, over the tree, over the far bunker even? Pictures don't do this hole one bit of justice, the scale of it all is absolutely wild...it looks so short and yet where do you go. I would venture to guess modern technology has made this hole even better, bringing the green into firing distance for the big hitters. At least that's what I thought...
I can't even begin to say what the ideal play is because I am sure it varies from day to day, wind to wind, player to player. I tried going directly at the green and would probably try that every time but it's a serious carry over the hill; I'm guessing 260-270 to reach the short grass. But laying up with a 220 club to the upper fairway would leave a flat lie and a good look at the green. But what fun is not bombing driver?
And the green...incredibly, it's another amazing one. The green slopes drastically from left to right and it also has a tier in the middle-back that feeds shots to the right and away from back pin positions. It certainly requires a precise iron shot to get one close. (also for those keeping track at home this was the third 3 putt of the day)
I could write about this hole all day and I don't think it would be enough...options on the tee ball, options on the approach, options on recovery
The view from the tee reveals nothingApproach view, I think this does an O.K. job of showing the left to right cant of the greenIn my opinion, #5 at KC is one of the weaker holes on the course - but at the same time it is still incredibly fun. It does perfectly compliment the two very difficult short par 3s on the front, but if #2 sends all but a perfect shot into trouble, #5 sends all but the most awful into a pretty good spot. #5 at CD on the other hand is undoubtedly one of the coolest par 4s I've had the pleasure of playing. One could pick a shot; tee, approach, recovery or putt and spend countless hours trying to find the best way to execute it. Crystal Downs takes this one handily. CD 1 UP
Running Score#1 (Crystal Downs) - Crystal Downs - 1 UP
#2 (Crystal Downs) - Crystal Downs - 2 UP
#3 (Kingsley Club) - Crystal Downs - 1 UP
#4 (Kingsley Club) - ALL SQUARE
#5 (Crystal Downs) - Crystal Downs - 1 UP