17 – 460/440 Black/Blue
This is another hole where the Black tees are just a little too much. Even for most of the big tournaments, the tee is usually at the 440 Blue box. From there, most of the kids just hit hybrids to the left half of the fairway, and leave a 190-200 shot in. It seems most of them are just trying to make par and get out.
This is such a great hole, the drive has to be on the left half of the fairway, and the further back you are the more left you need to be. I find the left rough not too bad, with all the trees the grass is generally fairly manageable for a low running hybrid or even three wood up to the green. The temptation to try to cut this dogleg generally wears off pretty quickly on this hole. A drive into the trees right becomes a punch to safety and hopefully an up and down for par.
I have many times found myself short of the dogleg, on the right side of the fairway, blocked by the trees from a straight line at the green. If the ball is really tight to the right edge of the fairway, a shot I like to hit is a low hook 2 iron through the trees on the right side. The hillside right of the fairway can kick the ball left and give you a chance to run the ball up onto the front of the green; when you can pull off this daring shot, it is quite impressive. If you screw it up, hello double.
From just a little left of this spot though, I have hit some great low cut fairway drivers under the overhanging branches of the right trees that then curl right missing the grove of oaks left, catch the down slope 30 yards short of the green, and run up onto the surface. A very thrilling shot indeed, and tons of fun when it works.
I love this green, not just for the putting, but for the great variety of chips and pitches you can find all the way around the surface. The pitches from right of the green require such a delicate touch to get close, I’ve hit little bump hybrids from that spot to a front pin. The flops from the rough left are also great fun. Just a delightful green. Early in the season, when the course is empty, I’ll just drop balls around this green and spend half an hour chipping and pitching, a blast for me.
Last year I had gone the entire year without making a birdie on this hole, and was lamenting this fact to an unsympathetic fellow golfer. So in early December, I was out alone one pretty cold afternoon, the ground was frozen in the fairway, and with a somewhat freakish south wind, absolutely crunched a driver which ran out to the 150 sprinkler head, dead center of the fairway. I pulled an 8 iron, hit it perfectly four feet right of a front right pin, it one hopped, kicked left, and then dropped into the cup for an eagle. I called my buddy and told him I had still not birdied #17, but…. My go to line walking off this tee is now, “Did I ever tell you about the eagle I made here…”