14th Green/ Poppy Hills

[Mike Benham]

Scott -

Great to have you on board.  Based on your job title, I suspect you may have run into Huckaby before ...

I also agree that #1 is a damn good hole, and tough to start on.

I think the difficulty for #3 begins with the drive, the dogleg is far up the fairway but you stand on the tee thinkign that you need to cut the corner or hit a draw, and you don't.  

16 is the hole ... again the tee box invites you to play a cut but its a long way to the corner ... straight down the middle is best and avoids a downhill lie if you really bomb one ... I wish that the green did not have all the mounding around it (same complaint for #1, 8, 12, etc.) and had a complex more like #13 (slightly table top ...).  As it is now, there is a big backstop to prevent you from going over the green, not that a recovery shot from on the hill is a picnic ...

My least favorite driving hole is #18 ... I always get drawn to the bunkers on the right ...

Scott - next time we head down your way, I'll give your office a call, see if you want to play ...

[Scott Seward]

Sounds good Mike.

I agree about 18. One of the things that is REALLY irritating about AT&T coverage is how clueless the announcers are regarding Poppy - probably because they have only driven by it once on the way to Pebble (re Peter Kostis).  Statements about how much easier Poppy plays due to 5 par 5's or the conditioning (pound for pound I think Poppy is in better condition most of the year), only feed the negative perception the course receives. Tiger has never scored well here and the course record is only 64 (and that was with lift, clean, cheat in effect).

[Texas_Three_Putt]

I agree on 16, for useless comparison's sake, I find it more difficult than 16 at Spy...

Ah! The Black Dog! I love that hole  
I agree about Poppy's 16 being tougher than Spyglass' 16.

Funny story about 16 at Poppy. We were following Calcavecia and Lanny Wadkins around Poppy. Calc misses 15th green to the right. Front pin placement, no chance of a good recovery. He chips his ball past the hole, almost to the fringe. Steam is coming out of his ears. He walks up to the green, pulls the pin and tosses it like a javelin down the fairway. Walks over, slaps his putt, taps in for bogey and walks over to 16 tee box.

Lanny finishes 15 with a par and walks over to 16 tee where Calc is sitting on the bench, driver in hand. Lanny says "Mark, if you're ready, hit it". Calc jumps up, tees his ball and hits it (no practices swings or anything). He absolutely smokes it but pushed it just a tad to the right. Some guy behind him yells "GO BALL!". Calc turns around and yells "GO WHERE?" as the ball lands in the bunker.

There's nothing more fun than following Calc around after he hits a bad shot  

[Texas_Three_Putt]

My least favorite driving hole is #18 ... I always get drawn to the bunkers on the right ...

That hole suckers me into every bad shot imagineable, from the tee, to the layup, to the approach.

[THuckaby2]

Right now 16 Poppy is indeed a tougher hole than 16 Spyglass.

But that's only because the latter has been emasculated as part of the drainage repair re-do done in recent times... the OLD Black Dog was one of the toughest holes on the planet.

And yes, Mr. Seward and I do know each other...  

TH