12th at Erin Hills

[Ben Sims]

I'm watching the US Am at Erin Hills and was really impressed with the 12th hole.  The hole had a rarely used though interesting strategy that I would like to see more on golf courses.  I'll explain.  The fairway sloped forward heavily (what we call a "speed slot") around the 250 yd mark, propelling drives of that distance into the 310+ range.  However, from the area that the drive is propelled to, the small green is partially to fully blind the closer to the green you're propelled.

From atop the plateau, the green is in view, but a much more difficult shot from 200-ish yds to such a small green.  The green is sloped to accept the shot from the closer approach a bit better.

In effect, the benefit for getting it down the hill with a big hit is a short club in your hand and a green sloped to help you, but you're blind.  If you want to see your target, lay up off the tee and have a harder shot into the green.

I like that the big hitter and the short hitter are both rewarded and penalized.  

[Mike Wagner]

Dell,

The plateau isn't really a lay-up.  It's the kind of hole (depending on which tee) you just need to hit it hard.  I can't imagine laying up to the top of the hill.  If I hit a good driver and it happened to stay there...that's great. 

The real strategy I can see on the hole is hitting a low running shot to the pin they have here on the final day.  I've hit a pitch 6-iron from where Cantlay was....just to run it up.  Extremely difficult to hold that particular pin.  If the pin is anywhere on the front side of that ridge, it may be blind, but probably the easiest shot on the course - left and right slope back to the green.

Bottom line is there isn't as much strategy as may appear on tv - you need to pound it to get over that hill.

[Joe Bausch]

Only played it once, but loved the 12th.

From my early summer photo tour:

#12.  Par 4.  One of my faves at EH.  Hole description:

Try to land your drive atop the plateau, letting the far slope roll the ball downhill for extra distance. Shots to the tiny natural saddle green should favor the left, as hillside left will feed balls onto the putting surface.




From the middle tees, a blind tee shot:



The 'S' shaped downhill fw starts to give a glimpse of the green after scaling the hill:



Good drive leaves a view like this:



Looking back to the top of the hill:



From short of the green:



From over the green:

[Ben Sims]

Bottom line is there isn't as much strategy as may appear on tv - you need to pound it to get over that hill.

I suck again.  Proof why being on a course is a million times better than TV. 

Plainfield got beat up due to soft conditions and I spend an hour defending her this morning because I've seen it.  I know how awesome it is.  You can't always go off what's on TV or how the pros play it.  But in the case of this hole, I thought it was valid. 

[RJ_Daley]

I just looked at my two photos of 12 from 3-4 years ago, and 12 really has been remodelled more extensively than I first thought.  Watching it on TV threw me off a bit, because in that 20 man playoff, the guys that hit it off FW on left hillside had a different look at the green area (mostly blind) than the old version.  There was an oak tree in the right rough, and largish bushes both right and left rough.  The rough on left side of the green, and the entire rough down the corridor was actually worse in the first version.  I felt it was the worst hole on the course at that time. 

The new rough presentation, mowing lines and de-tree and un-bushing, makes for a better hole, along with the cleaning up of the left slope onto the green.  I think they completely softened and took out where the old ladies tee was

Twelve played very well on the second round today. 

But, among my favorite holes then and watching this week was 15.  It is a snarly little beauty, but not unfair in my view.  I just can't figure out what the heck Cantley was thinking...with 8 iron off tee?

[Phil McDade]

Ben:

It's a very good observation. I do think the strategy here is to hit the ball as far as you can, because even if the shot is blind, you want as little (meaning, 8-9-wedge vs. 5-6-7 iron) club in there as possible because the green is small and well-trapped on the right side (and at last year's Mid-Am qualifying tournament there, the left side of the green was heavy with hay; less so this year at the Amateur). That green, narrow but somewhat deep, has a ridge in the middle running from left to right, so alot depends on the pin of the day, and how you approach something into the green.

I will say, the contouring of that fairway (and it's as severe as anything out there) funnels a lot stuff down to a semi-bowl on the left side, leaving that blind shot. The fairway speed slot is severe -- as severe as anything I've seen, really (and I stood next to Russell yesterday who had an absolutely brutal approach into 12 yesterday because his ball got hung up in the light rough on the downslope of the speed slot. He could barely stand up with his stance, and had no chance of stopping even a wedge on the green). I'd like to see if there is any way to figure out whether you could leave a ball on the right side of that fairway with a non-blind shot in, with a run-up option there for pins in the front half (the pin yesterday was three paces off the front -- really tough!).

A great hole, one of the best ones out there. It got into the heads of some players.

[Ryan Farrow]

By far one of coolest golf holes I have ever played, reminded me of #1 at NGLA but this one is at a much larger scale.... Sometime a hole is laid out of some incredible ground... No bunkers are needed and no defined strategy necessary.... sometimes it is what it is and you play it however you wish... Not every hole needs a 1 dimensional strategy.

[Tiger_Bernhardt]

Great hole!!

[David Cronheim]

I think this is one of the most fun and different holes anywhere in the US. We throw around the word "unique" a lot, but this is a hole you won't see anywhere else in the US...anywhere. It's exceptional.

[David Royer]

Mike, Weather looked great.  I was wondering if you could offer some your thoughts and insights about the week and how the course held up over the course of play.  It was great watching both in content and having played the course.  Thanks, Dave BTW-Still loving the Trues!

[George Freeman]

It's definitely not a "strategy-less" hole.  As was seen during yesterday's final match, there are varying levels of blindness on the approach depending on how far and where you hit it.

Kraft didn't hit his drive as far as Cantlay, but still benefitted from the speed slot.  Due to the fact that his ball wasn't moving as fast when it hit the slot, it stopped right at the bottom of the severe slope.  It looked like he could see a good portion of the green from his lie and couldn't have had more than 7 or 8 iron.  Cantlay bombed his drive to the end of the fairway, and had a completely blind approach (couldn't see any part of the hole), however benefitted from a 20-yard shorter approach.

Now, if you play the hole at a reasonable distance (mid-length par 4), you can decide how far you want your ball to go down the fairway.  I don't think I would ever intentionally try to stop my ball at the top of the ridge, as I would guess it's upwards of 200 yards to the green from there.  But you can definitely lay off some and be afforded a view of the green.  Additionally, if you really hug the right side of the fairway, the better chance you will have of viewing the green as visibility opens up from that side of the hole.

I think it's a great hole, especially in the 350-430 yard length for most skill sets.

[Phil McDade]

George:

What's that saying about a blind hole -- it's only blind once? Cantlay, who's very long, drove his ball in the same spot Sat. the semis. I think, given where he put it Sunday, he was trading a blind shot for the extra length he got.

I actually don't think being on top of that ridge is all that bad. As you say, it's 200 yards, but what's the effective length? I'd say 175, and with it running as fast as it did, I can see hitting 6 or 7-iron there quite easily with a run-up shot. Russell in the semis, as I mentioned earlier, was not that far from the top of the ridge, and from a hot lie in the rough ran 8-iron through the green.

It's a hole that toys with conventional thinking about how to play the second shot in those F&F conditions.

[George Freeman]

Phil - I've got nothing against blindness (I actually really enjoy it).  My point was that there are ways to avoid or minimize the holes blindness, even if that does mean forfeiting another advantage (i.e. length).

[Phil McDade]

George:

I think we're on the same page; I like blindness a lot, too. I think Cantlay didn't mind it, either.

[Mike McGuire]

Course was in perfect shape. Dry as a bone with the firmest, tightest fairways I have even felt. Now I know why they used fescue. Not as green as it looked on TV.

My nephew works on the grounds staff - said they were going to put down some wetting agents on the greens as soon as the AM was over. Otherwise the irrigation just runs off.

[Mark Chaplin]

Sounds like it would be a better hole if the lay up was 150 to the green and the blind approach 75-100 yards.

[Howard Riefs]

Another image of 12 from atop the plateau. You can see the pin position front left from Saturday's semi finals round.

[Phil McDade]

Sounds like it would be a better hole if the lay up was 150 to the green and the blind approach 75-100 yards.

Mark:

I think forcing those sorts of articial distinctions on a great piece of land would dilute the adventure of the hole. It's really difficult to have a 150-yd "lay-up" area on that hole, because that's about in the middle of the very sharp down-slope past the ridge line/plateu.

[Mark Chaplin]

Phil - I'm not advocating change just that the strategy isn't perfect. A blind 150 yard shot isn't that hard, pick a line and trust your swing. Distance control is much harder when it requires touch but is also blind.