Royal Melbournes 4th hole?!

[TEPaul]

I'd like to know a lot more about the design of RM's 4th hole. From what I saw on that hole it must be really special but it's hard to see just why on TV other than you don't want to miss in the back right bunker for fairly obvious reasons. Talk about a wide scoring spectrum---wow, and apparently for some very interesting reasons. The hole looks to be highly strategic with risks and rewards that are extremely interesting. Just how good is that hole?

[Chris Kane]

Tom,

It plays as 6W.  The television wouldn't show the incredible slope in the green from back to front.  Watching the Heineken live over the past three years, I've seen many approach shots spin off the green and roll 15-20 yards back down the hill, a la 9 at Augusta.  In the hey day of quick greens at RM, the 70's and 80's, putting off the green in tournaments wasn't uncommon.

The drive is as thrilling as any on the sandbelt - you choose what line to take over some wild bunkering and scrub.  If the pin is back left, the best drive is left close to the bunkers, and with the pin on the right, you drive further along to the left side of the fairway.  Attacking a left hole location is very dicey, because should you miss short or long, it is incredibly difficult to save par.  Obviously, this makes positioning of the drive so important.

What a great hole.  But is 15 (17W) even better?

[Brian Walshe]

Tom,

The first time I went to a tournament was at RM and 6W was the first hole I walked to.  I can still remember watching a guy with a 15ft putt lip out on the high side and the ball rolled off the green and down the hill.  Very, very scary.

The further right you go off the tee the longer the carry and the tighter the landing area.  Left there is plenty of room but a much tougher approach.  Any pin cut left is near impossible.  What the TV doesn't show is how much slope is on that green, particularly on the left hand side.  The amount of break from the right side to a lefthand pin is amazing.  It's a terrific par 4 but I'm with Chris, I think 17W is better.

Brian

[NAF]

Chris,

In my match at Royal Mel, my opponent was over the green in 2 (bladed second shot after the best tee shot I ever saw him hit--he had 9 iron into the green) and he hit a delicate chip that went past the hole (back right) and just like you said 30 yds down the fairway!  I agree the drive is one of the most thrilling at the Sandbelt--I also like RM East #1..It always seems like you can drive that green!..

17W is a great hole but I reckon #4 is still better.  #10 would be my second favorite of the par 4s on the West.

[Mark_F]

TEPaul,

Besides the points the others have mentioned, the sixth West is also pretty good at sorting out just how intelligently a golfer is thinking at that particular moment. (Or perhaps how big their ego is?).

On Sunday, Els didn't seem to notice/think that he was on a downhill lie on that side of the fairway, which was clearly going to send the ball in longer and lower than was possible to hold the green.  

[Matthew Delahunty]

Here's a link to a picture of 6W on David Scaletti's website, taken from the fairway.

http://home.vicnet.net.au/~scaletti/Pages/pic3.html

[David_Elvins]

TEPaul,

There is a brief description of the hole in the "World eighteen" section of the "World Atlas of Golf".

The left hand pin position is a corker as it entices the player closer to the fairway bunkers  (The hole dogtlegs about 70 degrees), It was interesting to see a lot of players, (including Scott and Els on Friday) hit safe three wood draws off the tee  to the outer side of the dogleg and then fire at the middle of the green with their second shots whilst other players hit Power fades around the corner trying to set short shots from a better angle.  The front right bunker is deep and alot of players have left shots in there and the back left bunker, (which is really more to the side of the green) is a no go zone because of the wicked front to back slope.  

One other thing I noticed was that the amount of scrub grown around the fairway bunkers almost totally hides them from the tee.  I think the hole would look alot better if it was cut lower, allowing the dramatic bunkering to be seen.

[Lynn_Shackelford]

When I played this hole in 1990, the member was most anxious to tell me how Greg Norman had his approach spin back off the green in the Australian Open.  One of the more famous holes in the Southern Hemisphere.  I remember it as being an elevated tee with everything in front of you.  If you mess up don't blame it on not having seen the trouble in advance.  The member was quite proud of the hole.

[Shane Gurnett]

This is the shot from the fairway (Matt Cohn hitting). The pin on Sunday was right behind the greenside bunker front left. One of the toughest shots on the sandbelt, unless you drive it down the right to improve the angel. Impossible to get close from the left side of the fairway.

Fantastic golf hole...