Philladelphia Country Club 14th hole

[archie_struthers]

 Played in a tournament over the weekend at Philly Country Club on the Spring Mill Course.  Great venue  lots of interesting and challenging holes set up by pro- emeritus Tim DeBaufre  every year . Lots of fun.  Invariably I am bothered  to distraction by a bunker on the 14th hole at the left elbow of the slight dogleg, uphill par 4. For the tournament we played the hole at approximately 480 yds, but being downhill distance isn't the real problem. The offending bunker is right in the driving area area for the longer hitters , as is often the case these days the trap is a better spot than the surrounding rough for a good player.  I say take the sucker out, as it really looks incongruous from the tee and serves no purpose from a strategy perspective.  Anyone who could post a picture of same gets kudos from me .

[JESII]

Archie,

Are you proposing fairway or rough in replacement?

Sully

[TEPaul]

Archie:

I'm sorry----ARCHIE! ARCHIE STRUTHERS!!!

This thread is going to get you something like 50-75 demerits and a really big dunce cap to sit in the back of the room with.

Given the cant of that ground, that particular bunker is brilliant and the only thing they need to do on that hole to enhance that bunker is to flip the fairway cut immediatly behind it so the macho players are really tempted to take the drive directly over it and have the ball filter left to right and down into the right side of that fairway for the perfect approach angle to come at the left to right cant of that green!

THE BUNKER IS RIGHT WHERE THE PLAYER WANTS TO HIT THE BALL?

MY GOD MAN, have you not heard about Maxie Behr's uber brilliant "Line of Charm/Line of Instinct" philosophy?? It is in fact the WAY and the LIGHT and the HOPE and the TRUTH of the future "sunlit uplands" of golf course architecture!!!

[JESII]

Given the cant of that ground, that particular bunker is brilliant and the only thing they need to do on that hole to enhance that bunker is to flip the fairway cut immediatly behind it so the macho players are really tempted to take the drive directly over it and have the ball filter left to right and down into the perfect right side angle of that fairway to come at that left to right cant of that green!

And give the bunker some teeth...

[TEPaul]

"And give the bunker some teeth..."


Damn straight! Give it the most ruthless set of dentures money can buy!

If it wasn't there what in the world would any good player see or think about on that tee other than how to take it into the rough on the left and get it to filter out and right and down into the perfect right fairway angle up into that canting left to right green?

[archie_struthers]

 

Sorry for the delay in responding , now we can have some fun......I think it is ugly and breaks up what would otherwise be a fabulous line from tee to green .  This is strictly visual and doesn't take into account that the bunker is far better to hit into than the rough that surrounds same. 

Haven't viewed the original photos of the hole, but will soon.  Every time I play the hole the bunker absolutely dominates your visual, and rather than tempting the player to cut the dogleg, makes them take the obvious line to the right .  It's not good, and is ugly to boot.
'
JES , absolutely would replace it with rough    ....  if the bunker was gone, and someone hit it in the right rough the angle is no good given the cant of the green .....

there, I've said it again !   

[JESII]

I was going to say...'talk about dropping a turd and leaving town...' but you're back!


In general, I love the idea of removing bunkers and this one is not very difficult as presented so it probably is easier than surrounding rough.

Did they have the greens firm enough last weekend for the left rough to present a real challenge on the approach?

[archie_struthers]

 

Yes and no....given the conditions (weather) we've had , I thought Mike McNulty did a fine job in preparing the course.  It was not real firm and you could hold greens from spots that normally would be unplayable.  You certainly could have held the green from the bunker on #14  LOL  ! 

The second day pin was front middle ,  very interesting  spot as you know. I popped up a tee shot  in the fairway and was able to hit a hybrid and get a reasonable birdie putt ....missed it Drat !


TEP   please rethink your position , it is so unlike you to be so off line   !!!!!

[Bruce Katona]

Archie: You told me the other day when we chatted your putting was on !!

[archie_struthers]

 


yes that's still true!

[Willie_Dow]

Tom - Wasn't the present 14th the 1st hole created by Flynn for the 1939 Open, leaving the original 1st (up to the left) available for a practice area ?

I always liked that little bunker on the left which had fairway before it and beyond so one could get a kick right making for an easier approach to the green which was on the side of the hill to the left of the green.

They took out the slope when they changed the routing, and that really bugged me !