WWGA 114th Nat'l Amateur Champ. @ Lancaster CC (holes 16-18 added)

[Joe Bausch]

Joe,

  The handicap thing is simple. The holes are not handicapped on the basis of raw difficulty.  The aim was to give a less talented player a shot on a hole where he was most likely to need it to get a halve.  Since everyone bogies 8 . . .no need for a shot!

I would have guessed the disparity of scores between the scratch golfer and the bogey golfer on the 8th would be immense.  Perhaps the data suggests otherwise...

[Rory Connaughton]

Holes 5 and 13 turned out to have the greatest disparity.  The scratch golfer is making a lot of birdies on those, the bogey golfer making a lot of 6s.

[Mike_Trenham]

It is amazing how difficult Lancaster plays vs. it's length.  Takes driver out of longer players hands and the the uphill approaches to the sloping greens.

The Modern hole handicap system of comparing hackers to sticks is stupid as in those maches there are stokes on every hole.   The first 6-7 stoke holes are the only ones that matter in most matches.  I would not want to have a +2 as a partner in a net event at LCC!

[Joe Bausch]

The back nine at Lancaster begins with two very difficult par 4's.  Each have uphill approaches, with the 10th green being larger and a bit tamer than the 11th!

#10.  A slight dogleg right.



There is a bit of a false front to the green, and the area just short is quite sloped.



Recent spring views:





#11.  A 'down-then-up' par 4 where left in the fw is preferred (these three pics all fairly recent).



There is some right to left tilt in this green so staying below the hole is desirable.





I'm thrilled as heck to make a par on this hole!

#12.  A downhill par 3 where judging the wind and elevation change is important.  A creek punishes shots short and bunkers long are no bargain as the green slopes some toward the creek.

[mike_malone]

There's 11. I find this to be a truly great hole. There is strategy on the tee shot; going left shortens it. There is a beautiful wide fairway contour on the right but it takes you away from the green. The approach is all world with that slinging possibility which is always fun.

[John Burnes]

Joe-

Did you happen to take photos of the bridge off of 12 that you can share?
   

[Jim Sherma]

I find 10 to be a majestic hole. The flow of the hole as seen from the tee and how it rises up to the green is just wonderful. One of my all time favorite views on a course.

11 kind of baffles me. The green cants so much right to left that I am not sure I have a shot that works here. Last time down I had an 8 or 9 iron from the right edge of the fairway and took it up over the hanging tree. Landed just on the front right of the green and released all of the way to the back left edge. This was a very similar result to the previous time I played the hole. I get the feeling that would be a fairly consistent outcome for me if I played the hole more often. I guess the shot is some type of fade to hold it against the slope although that is tough off of the right to left fairway. Is the fairway flatter on the left allowing for an angle that is more into the slope and with less slope aided hook spin as opposed to the right side?

9-10-11 are three great meaty par-4's right in the heart of the round.

[Rory Connaughton]

Jim

 The preferred angle on 11is from the left.  As Mayday points out, the easy play off the tee is right but then the more difficult question is asked of you on the approach.  If you go left, you do get the benefit of hitting into the slop but the only real way to get a shot close to a front or middle hole location is to land the ball on the front right or just short of the front right (false front is only on the left side of the green) and let the ball feed toward the hole. Alternatively, hit a cut into the slope.

  I think this highlights one of my favorite things about Flynn, with his intersecting slopes on greens, you often are called on to shape a shot to have a chance of getting close but if you take safe lines from the tee, you will often find yourself approaching the green from a lie that will promote the opposite of the shot called for. . . 15 at LCC is an example.

[Joe Bausch]

Joe-

Did you happen to take photos of the bridge off of 12 that you can share?
   

I did John.  I'll post it soon. I'm out watching the tourney now.

[Joe Bausch]

Here is a picture showing the 12th green as viewed from the walking bridge on #8:

[John Connolly]

Does the cause flooding problems for the course? We've got a similarly sized river on our Flynn course and we've battled it forever.

[Joe Bausch]

Three more this afternoon.

#13.  Par 5 (517 yards tipped out).  

Ah, the No 1 stroke hole at LCC, this I think b/c the scratch golfer is going to view this as a birdie hole as it can be reached in two easily, while the bogie golfer just doesn't have the ammo to hit the required second shot.

A good tee shot can take you up near the bunker on the right, leaving an uphill shot for your next:



I don't have a good picture of this view, but the hole then doglegs significantly to the left.  Your bogey golfer will just hit something about 150 yards up past the large trees left at the corner of the dogleg leaving a short iron in.  But your very good golfer will have maybe 210-230 in over those tall trees from an uphill lie.  Nice little hybrid over the trees and they are putting for eagle.  Now it isn't an easy shot, but doable for your sticks.

View of the green from just past the corner:



Recent view from just short of the green:



Here's a view from behind the green where you can see the large evergreen trees at the corner of the dogleg that tremendously impact how the hole is played:



Now it is time to make the 2nd loop of four holes on the back nine.

#14.  An uphill, dogleg right par 4.

A little cut will again serve you well here.



Recent view of nice approach shot view where this green has slope back to front slope:



Recent view from over the green:



#15.  Sweeping dogleg right par 4.  

Here the temptation is to try to shorten up the hole, but that bunker gets plenty of play and right really isn't very good.



From near the beginning of the fairway, here's that bunker and why a drive right is no good with rough, a poor angle, and a couple of mature hardwoods in the way!



From short of the green:



View back down the hole:

[Joe Bausch]

These young golfers have some good form.  Here is Aliea Clark (Carlbad, CA; heading for UCLA in the fall) playing her 2nd shot into the 10th:



Aliea lost to that Canadian dynamo above (Delaney Howson; plays for Murray St) 2 up.  The Canadian could flat out putt!

[Rory Connaughton]

John

  the little creeks sometimes overflow but that isn't the issue.  The Conestoga River floods the 6th, 7th and lower part of the third occasionally.  A few year ago water was approximately 13 feet deep over the 7th.

 It is a problem and the bridges that span the Conestoga are built to deal with that kind of flooding.  Our grounds staff is incredible at cleaning the silt off and having those holes back in play quickly.

[Joe Bausch]

#16.  Dogleg left par 4.  Most will play out to the wider part of the fw as this hole is not long.



Approach view, with nothing more than a 9 iron:



View back down the hole from behind the green:



#17.  Slightly uphill par 3.



I like this hole b/c of the large 'bubble' pretty much in the center of the green.  This bubble is just behind the pin in this view from right of the green:



That green feature really plays havoc!



#18.  The ultimate hole is a long par 4, gently climbing the hill back to the clubhouse.



That bunker left is well short of the green and has many victims!



Nice view at sunset back down the length of the hole from the clubhouse patio:



The recent WWGA National Amateur Championship that completed yesterday was a joy to watch.  I've never seen LCC play better.  It could have been the US Open as the place is ready for the ladies now for the 2015 event!

[Joe Bausch]

A quick mention of the championship match yesterday:  I arrived at the end of the morning 18 holes of the 36 hole final between Mika Liu and Cammie Gray (Roll Tide!).  They both made 4 on this 437 yard hole.  Here they are after finishing the hole where the referee and the players come to an agreement on when to begin the next 18 holes.  Curiously, they are allowed to agree to 'play on' right away, or take up to an hour break.  They took the hour break (good idea, IMO, as they both had played so much golf in the last few days and it was in the 80's yesterday).



At this point Mika was 1 up.

Here is Mika with her tee shot on the 1st (what form for a 15 year old!; she carries a tee shot about 230 in the air, I think):



Cammie did not start playing until she was 14 years old.  And her swing is a beauty too, here she is on the 4th:



Now back to the beginning of the afternoon 18.... On the first hole Mika proceeds to hit an iron in to about 20', then Cammie hits hers to about 7'.  Mika makes the difficult putt and Cammie misses.  

On the uphill dogleg left par 4 2nd, Mike hits her approach beautifully from the fw to about 10' below the hole, and Cammie gets a bit of a flier from the right rough leaving a tough putt from above the hole of probably 30'.  After Cammie lags nicely, Mika drains her putt! Mika 3 up.

On the par 4 4th, both hit good tee shots and had wedges in.  Mika darns stuffs it to about 4', Cammie also below the hole but about maybe 10'.  Cammie misses, Mika does not.  I'm starting to think this Mika is the real deal!  

Mika never lost the lead and won 3&2.

Those how were at the event probably are wondering if the saw some future LGPAers.  History says you did.  And watch this Mika Liu closely.  She is really good and understands how to manage her way around a course.

[Joe Bausch]

I've been tweaking my Lancaster CC photo album based upon the visits over the last week.  I'm quite proud of it:

http://xchem.villanova.edu/~bausch/images/albums/Lancaster/

[Joe Bausch]

Cammie Gray has some tremendous bloodlines!

http://lancasteronline.com/sports/golf/alabama-s-cammie-gray-advances-to-women-s-western-amateur/article_5830e97e-fe62-11e3-89b9-0017a43b2370.html

I was around her a bunch.  She is so polite and not shy! 

And she's funny too:  on the 2nd hole in the afternoon her drive ended up in the rough and a spotter put a little orange flag near her ball  After she played her approach, she notices no one is picking up that flag, so she grabs it and walks it over to the nearby match official, who was taken a back a bit by her thoughtfulness and said "why, thank you very much".  Then Cammie quickly replies:  "It's not the right color anyway".

 

[Rory Connaughton]

The final match was a great example of just how good these young ladies are.
I would not be surprised to see Mika Liu compete for major titles.  she never seemed out of control.

Interestingly, they played to course at approximately 6250 yards par 72.  The two finalists were plenty long but the disparity throughout the filed was notable.

[BCowan]

Joe,

   Does the tree come into play much on the tee shot?  Has there been talk about removing it?  Do you think it is a double hazard?  Great photo tour

[Joe Bausch]

That tree is just fine, Ben, IMO.  There is no reason to challenge it.  Just aim at the bridge in the far distance and swing away!

[Carl Nichols]

First of all, thanks for the pictures, Joe. 

Is Lancaster CC the best course reasonably close to Lancaster and/or are there any good public options nearby?  I am attending a conference in Lancaster in late June and will likely to try to sneak in a round with a couple of other participants. 

[Joe Bausch]

First of all, thanks for the pictures, Joe. 

Is Lancaster CC the best course reasonably close to Lancaster and/or are there any good public options nearby?  I am attending a conference in Lancaster in late June and will likely to try to sneak in a round with a couple of other participants.

Lancaster CC is my fave in that area.  It is really good.

Another private worth seeing is Lebanon CC.

Some publics I like:  Dauphin Highlands, Iron Valley, Hershey West.

[Carl Nichols]

First of all, thanks for the pictures, Joe. 

Is Lancaster CC the best course reasonably close to Lancaster and/or are there any good public options nearby?  I am attending a conference in Lancaster in late June and will likely to try to sneak in a round with a couple of other participants.

Lancaster CC is my fave in that area.  It is really good.

Another private worth seeing is Lebanon CC.

Some publics I like:  Dauphin Highlands, Iron Valley, Hershey West.

Thanks Joe!

[Jim Sherma]

Carl - I believe we met at Ballyhack a while back. I live in Hershey and am a member at Hershey CC. Feel free to pm and we can set something up.