Back before Ballyhack and Kinloch, our own Lester George designed a daily fee course in Falmouth, KY for the Kentucky State Parks system. The course at Kincaid Lake State Park was designed to be an 18 holer, but only 9 holes were built. I was driving through the area yesterday and decided to swing by. It's in the middle of nowhere and one of the most severe properties I've ever seen for golf. The state doesn't pour a ton of resources into the course, and Kincaid Lake is one of the smaller parks in the state park system, but the course and park both provide affordable recreation to a small rural community. At my visit, it was 90 degrees outside and the pool was rightfully packed while only a few groups were on the golf course. I paid $7.50 to walk, though I would later wish I had a cart. The course was in rough shape and the property isn't conducive to great golf, but it does feature a stretch of really good holes from 4-7. In particular, the fourth is one of the most interesting holes I've seen.
The fourth at Kincaid Lake is a 510 yard dogleg-right par 5. On the scorecard, it looks like a pushover. Then you arrive at the tee and see this:
The fairway is on the left side of the photo and wraps around the trees in the middle. If you look on the right side of the photo, you can see a greenside bunker through the gap in the trees. Remember, the camera flattens things. I checked it on a topographic map and the green is a full 120 feet above the driving zone. Here's a look from a little farther down the cart path.
I hit my tee shot well, but pushed it a little right. and ended up in the right rough, maybe 20 yards beyond the trees. Since there's a second fairway at the top of the hill to the right of the green, my second shot was hit from the bottom of the hill straight ahead with a view similar to the photo below. In this shot, you can just see the flag at the top of the hill:
I didn't really know how far from the green I was, but I figured the layup to the second fairway looked pretty simple. I pulled out a six iron and it came out just a little hot and left, and I ended up 30 yards right of the green just past pin high, but jammed under a tree. I punched up near the green and ended up with a bogey after missing a 6 footer.
On the tee, the hole looks impossibly uphill, but I was surprised at how playable it was. It's the widest hole on the course, so you can take a big swing off the tee. Once you get to the second shot, the weaker player can follow the fairway up to the hole and tackle the elevation change over the span of two or three shots, while the stronger player can take a risk and try to hit the shallow second fairway or even go at the green if they really want to gamble. I thought the hole worked surprisingly well despite its ridiculous terrain. I'm interested to hear the thoughts of others though.