Pimples

[Mike Worth]

Mike thanks for the reply . Here’s where we differ .  Although it may be a tough two putt , even less than 50/50 if you drive it to the wrong side, it’s not very penal.  So for me the risk is mitigated greatly .


Likewise the difficulty in making birdie to a tough pin from more than 100 yards is unlikely for all but the very best of iron players .  So you can blast away with little or no fear in hopes of putting .


I can’t reach it anymore but can clear the bunker so it’s a better hole for me now than before 😎. Pitch really challenging


I’m guessing you play really well but if you want to sit 100 yards out vs me putting from the wrong side pretty sure you lose that match ……unless you are tour quality with your wedges ..:and even then I might wager a little


This is certainly not an indictment of HC which is real fun especially when it hard and fast . I just never thought it should have been favorably compared to some of the great courses in our area just because two of the best guys in the business designed it !

Well I used to be good. I think you know Jim Fraser so feel free to tell him we’ve chatted here.  He’ll tell you how bad I am now LOL.


I’m pretty sure the 5 eagles i’ve scored on #8 occurred before 2005, at which point I went back into the Army, deployed 2x to Afghanistan, and served until 2015. My game really hasn’t recovered since my prime.


I’m at Atlantic City CC now.


The members loved HC.  I use the past tense because, as you know, a great many local members have left the club.


I don’t think many or any of the members ever got hung up on its ranking.  That appears to be the province of the treehouse.   We always felt it was a fun course wjere you could have a good game and a great time. 


Since I’m not there anymore, I tend to mentally lump HC in a group with Galloway, ACCC, and Pine Valley. Three very good courses and 1 great course within 30 miles of each other in S Jersey.  If you’re fortunate enough to have access to all of them, you’re spoiled.

[Jim Hoak]

I never heard it called a "pimple," but on the 18th at Wakonda Club in Des Moines, Iowa, the course I grew up on, there is a significant mound in the center of the green.  A short uphill par 4--probably drivable by current low-handicap players--that mound was an important feature to the hole.  It made putting difficult--and hitting it close often impossible.  But everyone knew about it--and it defined the hole.  The pimple coupled with a "hog-back" fairway made for a significant risk-reward hole.  What a terrific way to finish a round!

[Mark Pearce]

Gil Hanse put one on the green at the short par 4 10th on the Craighead course at Crail.  It's a brilliant feature on a driveable/wedge green.  If you lay up and hit wedge and miss the right part of the green then bogey is very likely.  Drive the green and get the wrong side of it and par is likely.  It can also be used to feed a pitch approach to the right part of the green, or as a backstop for a front left pin.

[Jeff_Brauer]

Looking at the practical aspects, a pimple in the middle of the green essentially divides the green into quadrants, or at least "4 halves" (left, right, front, back) and does it while wasting less space than a deck, ridge, or valley crossing the entire green somehow, which divides it into two parts.  (i.e., a 10 foot circle is 315 SF, a 10 ft wide stairstep across the green is 10 x 60 feet, or 600.  And, the deck, ridge, or valley crossing divides the green more geometrically while the pimple is more random.

[Kalen Braley]

Johnny Miller did this a few times at Thanksgiving Point, and I think it works well.

And given its far more likely to drive a good player nuts, via a lesser one, seems like they should be used more in the middle of the green or perhaps right in front of one...

[Ed Brzezowski]

I spent the last three days at HC. Count me as one who likes the 8th green. I played with two guys that drove the green. One walked off with a birdie, one sank a five footer for par. Drive the green at your own peril for you just might be on the wrong side of the pimple. I normally have a fifty yard sand wedge into the green. With that club you should be able to hit the shot to the correct place on the green. If not, then suffer the consequences of a poor shot.

Place is really great, good food too.  We were rating it , in the pink shirts.

[Thomas Dai]

Wasn’t/isn’t there a Nicklaus course in Florida, Loxa-something-or-other, that was/is famous/infamous for its pimples?

Atb

[archie_struthers]

 


Loxahatchee...Tom


But the pimples were all over not on the greens LOL

[Bryan Icenhower]

Played Hidden Creek/ Dormie network yesterday. They had just regrassed their greens and was pleased to see they retained the " pimple' on the eighth green.

As a long-time national member of Hidden Creek, was a bit surprised by this comment, as I don't remember hearing anything about work being done to the greens, and Dormie has been very, very good about communication.  So I reached out to the club and can confirm that the greens have not been regrassed.  And while Dormie has done a decent amount of work across both the facilities and the grounds, they haven’t had to re-grass/rebuild any greens.

And I love the 8th.  For me the decision comes on how I have been hitting driver up to that point.  Optimal line for me is driver right of the center line bunker, but my miss is blocking the ball right, so that mean I am in the junk and blocked out by the trees on the top of the hill, and that's jail.  If I'm not driving it well, I hit the ball out to the left with something left of the bunker, then try to wedge to the correct spot on the green.   Driver gives me a chance at eagle, great chance at birdie, and good chance of bogey.  Left gives me no chance at eagle, decent chance at birdie, great chance at par, but takes bogey out of play.

[Mike Worth]

Played Hidden Creek/ Dormie network yesterday. They had just regrassed their greens and was pleased to see they retained the " pimple' on the eighth green.

As a long-time national member of Hidden Creek, was a bit surprised by this comment, as I don't remember hearing anything about work being done to the greens, and Dormie has been very, very good about communication.  So I reached out to the club and can confirm that the greens have not been regrassed.  And while Dormie has done a decent amount of work across both the facilities and the grounds, they haven’t had to re-grass/rebuild any greens.

And I love the 8th.  For me the decision comes on how I have been hitting driver up to that point.  Optimal line for me is driver right of the center line bunker, but my miss is blocking the ball right, so that mean I am in the junk and blocked out by the trees on the top of the hill, and that's jail.  If I'm not driving it well, I hit the ball out to the left with something left of the bunker, then try to wedge to the correct spot on the green.   Driver gives me a chance at eagle, great chance at birdie, and good chance of bogey.  Left gives me no chance at eagle, decent chance at birdie, great chance at par, but takes bogey out of play.

Bryan. All excellent points regarding Driving strategy. FWIW, my approach was exactly the same as yours.


You make an excellent point about driving the ball right or blocking it. If you push it in to those woods, you should probably go ahead and mark 6 on your card — scoring anything less is about a 1/100 chance.


Back to the discussion with Archie, a longer hitter has an advantage once you step to the tee but unless you’re a very good player who is guaranteed to put the ball in the fairway in a specific spot, or on the green, you’re subject to the variations you described so well.

[Joe Bausch]

This might be the king of all pimples (picture clickable to a larger size):

[Ed Brzezowski]

Played Hidden Creek/ Dormie network yesterday. They had just regrassed their greens and was pleased to see they retained the " pimple' on the eighth green.

As a long-time national member of Hidden Creek, was a bit surprised by this comment, as I don't remember hearing anything about work being done to the greens, and Dormie has been very, very good about communication.  So I reached out to the club and can confirm that the greens have not been regrassed.  And while Dormie has done a decent amount of work across both the facilities and the grounds, they haven’t had to re-grass/rebuild any greens.




well i asked about the greens and was told they were recently converted to a different type of grass. We rated the course and always ask about changes from the last rating.

And I love the 8th.  For me the decision comes on how I have been hitting driver up to that point.  Optimal line for me is driver right of the center line bunker, but my miss is blocking the ball right, so that mean I am in the junk and blocked out by the trees on the top of the hill, and that's jail.  If I'm not driving it well, I hit the ball out to the left with something left of the bunker, then try to wedge to the correct spot on the green.   Driver gives me a chance at eagle, great chance at birdie, and good chance of bogey.  Left gives me no chance at eagle, decent chance at birdie, great chance at par, but takes bogey out of play.

[Bryan Icenhower]

That's unfortunate that you were given incorrect info from the staff.  It was the same grass in August of this year the last time I was there as it was when I first joined.  That and I talked with someone who would know, make me 100% confidant that you were given incorrect info.


Glad you enjoyed the course, I am a huge fan of the club.

[MCirba]

Bret Lawrence posted photos of the pimple(s) on the first green at Seaview (site of this week's LPGA tourney).sometime back.


They can be found on the last page of this thread.


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