What is wrong with this hole? What is the obvious fix?

[MClutterbuck]

Just a couple thoughts from someone not near qualified to give them...


1) Could you move the tees up and make it a driveable par 4 about 300 yards.  Looks like there is plenty of room left and right around the green. 


and I hate to say this but...


2) Extend the pond  out from the left side into the course to penalize those who attempt to go left.  Maybe even wrapping it around the property line of the house that is having the problem.  People would not be able to get to the yard and that would really make them irritated if they couldn't go get their ball. 


Good luck.  And it will be interesting to hear how this is resolved.


Josh

1. I am afraid it would cause more harm to the house on the left.


2. It would probably work, but expensive and we already have water on 14 holes, people want less water.

[Tim Gavrich]

Is there a strong sense that most of the golf balls that are going into the yard/pool are being hit from the second tee box up? If so, wouldn’t simply moving that set of tee markers back onto the tips tee box alleviate a lot of the problem?


It looks like it would make the hole 15-20 yards longer, so maybe as a second step, you could grass in the first fairway bunker and extend the fairway on that side to compensate for the increased raw-distance-based difficulty. But if simply moving the tee markers around cut back on yard balls to an acceptable extent, that would be a no-cost solution (or part of a solution).


Maybe try it out for a week and ask the homeowner to report on whether there has been a substantial reduction in trouble?

[MClutterbuck]

Is there a strong sense that most of the golf balls that are going into the yard/pool are being hit from the second tee box up? If so, wouldn’t simply moving that set of tee markers back onto the tips tee box alleviate a lot of the problem?


It looks like it would make the hole 15-20 yards longer, so maybe as a second step, you could grass in the first fairway bunker and extend the fairway on that side to compensate for the increased raw-distance-based difficulty. But if simply moving the tee markers around cut back on yard balls to an acceptable extent, that would be a no-cost solution (or part of a solution).


Maybe try it out for a week and ask the homeowner to report on whether there has been a substantial reduction in trouble?

Tim,


Good eye for detail and I suspect you are right that overall it would reduce the amount of balls into the home. It makes the hole 25 yards longer on average, even 35 yards compared to the front of the main tee area. The feeling is that adding 2-3 club lengths to the second shot will make it too tough and leave to many folks in the waste area short and/or the large bunker short on their second shot.


M