The Tragedy of Yale – Hole #4We skip hole #3 for the time being but we will return to this hole with a surprise image at a later date. There are no bunkers on #3 for Mr. Rulewich to dumb down but the superintendent (Harry Meusel) did move the green long ago. The new green shown in this image of Ran’s taken during our May 2001 Yale GCA outing shows the lifeless small IHOP pancake away from the water and out of character with the originals in contour and size. This hole was mistakenly thought to be Raynor’s alps hole by some including me until George filled me in on the original green and on the butchering of hole #12 (alps) by Harry as well.
Hole #’s 2, 3, 4, 5 and 15 can be seen on this blow up of the Yale old aerial used by Rulewich for this “restoration”.
The fourth hole at Yale is our Road hole. The hole plays 430 yards; however, there is room directly behind the tee to extend it a lot if needed. I believe Ben Crenshaw called the 4th at Yale one of the finest uses of water as a hazard off the tee that he could recollect. The water begins about 230 off the tee where the fairway narrows and placement of the drive becomes strategic. Unfortunately, the longest of hitters can take it over the water which is why I mentioned the additional land behind the current tee.
The road bunker dominates the second shot to the green which is at a mirror image angle to the Road Hole at St.Andrews. Below is an old construction image of the 4th at Yale.
Note the steep angles and how tight to the slopes and green the bunkering is placed. Imagine the old pot bunker placed tight into the hollow against the green. This is a fierce greensite which not too long ago required hitting sideways or backwards out of in some circumstances.
Now let us see the results of Roger Rulewich’s “restoration” work. Recall Mr. Rulewich’s quote from his reply to the article in Golfweek (“A landmark gone askew”) where he says in his own words “The bunker renovation started in 1998 after reviewing hundreds of construction pictures and several aerial photos of the entire course taken since 1934”. Well now- above you can see the aerial and a construction photo.
This is Roger Rulwich’s version of the restored Road bunker on #4! This is a revised version because on his first attempt he “wanted to see sand” so he freekin flashed the sand up the face. He was told to change it and this is his corrected shallow lifeless revision
Do these greenside slopes look like the original shown above?
For comparison let us look at some other Road Bunkers
#17 at St Andrews- the original
National Golf Links of America #7
Piping Rock
The other bunkers are no better. The left side bunkers at Yale #4 are/were supposed to mimic the road behind the 17th at St. Andrews. From the aerial image seen above, they were intact although the angle is not ideal.
Here is what the “road” looks like at NGLA (thanks Mike Sweeney)
At Yale, Mr. Rulewich “restored” them as seen below
So what do you think? By the way, these needed repair because drainage pipes popped up through the sand.
There is also a right rear bunker on #4 at Yale (see old photos above). Here is the “restored” right rear bunker.
Well- this is our road hole today after work by Mr. Rulewich. Hole #4 was voted one of the best 500 holes in America. Did it get the respect and care it deserved?