Covington, KY’s Devou Park golf course was opened in 1922 with nine holes located on top of one of the towering bluffs that border the Ohio River Valley. The original nine holes played through an area now occupied by the central portion of the course’s current land, as a renovation in 1995 expanded it to 18 holes and brought it beyond the confines of several roads crossing through the property. The park itself is an excellent urban getaway with dense and beautiful old forests, trails for hiking and biking, and some breathtaking views of the Cincinnati skyline only a mile or so away. The golf course, sadly, is mostly an abomination. It does, however, have one hole that makes the transmission-busting drive to the top of the hill worthwhile.
Like all of Devou Park’s par 4s, the 5th is a short one. Listed at 372 yards, I suspect its true length is closer to 300. It plays along a ridge well away from the original nine holes of the course, on the outskirts of the routing. At Devou Park, moving away from the center of the property means moving closer to the most severe terrain on a course that is full of wild slopes. Not to disappoint, the 5th features some impressive rolling hills, but on this hole they are not so severe as to inhibit good golf and instead drive the strategy of the hole. The 5th tee shot is but one of about a dozen unusually claustrophobic tee shots on the course, but this one looks more difficult than it really is. The beauty, standing on the tee, is the hole’s lack of a clear preferred route.
The photo above, taken from the back tees, shows a tight landing area to the right and the green straight ahead. It also shows, however, that the tees ahead are offset just further to the left. This combination of a shorter distance and better angle opens up an easier route to the fairway on the right for weaker players teeing it a box or two forward, while the stronger man playing the tips must hit a more difficult shot. Furthermore, rounding the corner of the vegetation to the right off the tee reveals a bigger-than-expected landing area for a player hitting a safe layup, as this photo from the forward tees shows:
While the short layup to the landing area on the right side off the tee requires no more than a shot of some 190 yards to leave a wedge approach, the angle from that side is predictably more difficult than taking the more aggressive route from the tee. This view from the layup area shows a green that tilts fairly significantly from right-to-left, with a fronting bunker on the right side closing off the approach somewhat for a player taking the safe route from the tee. The bigger dilemma, however, is the green's shape which makes this approach a shallower one than the one for a player who hits it closer to the green and leaves a pitch from the left side of the hole.
This view from nearer to the green reveals the better angle rewarded to a player willing to take the risk of hitting one near the green off the tee. The hole is easily driveable for big hitters, but like any good short par 4, it features plenty of trouble near the green. The fronting bunker is the least of a player’s worries, as the rough to the left of the green gives many uneven lies while possible lost ball penalties await anyone who takes a line straight for the putting surface and lets their ball leak even a yard or two. Finally, on a course with unirrigated rough, a pulled shot risks bounding off the downslope of one of the natural undulations up the left side and running off into the woods as well. Eagle is certainly in play, but it requires some real risk to set one up. Finally, take note of the significant green contours and also the dramatic view of downtown Cincinnati and the Ohio River that are revealed to the player upon reaching the putting surface.
By and large, Devou Park is a course that is unforgettable for all the wrong reasons. The 5th hole, however, is a rare moment when several forces combine to create an elegant, beautiful, and strategic hole with little in the way of earth moving or gimmicks. The hole works for a number of reasons. Its terrain is rambunctious and lends an element of suspense even to well-struck shots, as a ball is always at risk of running away to a worse spot until it finally comes to rest. It’s very hard to imagine a player picking up his tee quickly before watching his ball land on this hole, as the possibilities keep him glued to its flight. It is loaded with options, as the tee shot isn’t clearly spelled out and a player could reasonably aim for locations 100+ yards apart depending on the day’s wind, course conditions, and pin position. What I really love about it, though, is how it uses the line of charm to produce an equitable and interesting hole for both high and low handicappers. The average slicing high handicapper who is seduced by the pin in the distance has a good chance of hitting a left-to-right ball that lands safely in the layup zone, leaving a very playable but engaging shot. Meanwhile, the lower handicapper’s ideal bailout is the rough on the left near the green, but falling victim to the line of charm leads him closer to the tight vegetation on the right side in his landing area that can quickly destroy his medal score. Of course, that line of charm has been jeopardized by the newly planted memorial tree on the left side of the fairway, but that's just part of the reality of being a hole located literally 73 steps from a nature center in a city park. Even though it's an architectural nuissance, I'm letting it slide as long as it could be rectified with 45 seconds of chainsaw work.
Of course, all of this disregards the fact that the green is one of the most beautiful locations in the area, particularly in the fall, with its dramatic views of the city. On a course that can be played for $20 any day of the week, the 5th hole is a gem that goes a long way toward justifying the price of admission in spite of the course’s significant drawbacks elsewhere.