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Garland Bayley

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Re: I'll let these pictures speak for themselves...
« Reply #25 on: August 20, 2009, 12:24:04 PM »
I don't think there's that many trees in all of Montana.... :)

Craig,

You've got to get out more!
"I enjoy a course where the challenges are contained WITHIN it, and recovery is part of the game  not a course where the challenge is to stay ON it." Jeff Warne

John Mayhugh

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Re: I'll let these pictures speak for themselves...
« Reply #26 on: August 20, 2009, 12:34:37 PM »
Thanks for the photo tour. It's pretty cool to see the pin in the back on 9.  I've only been there five or six times, but like Tim Bert the hole has always been up front.  I'll try to go on a Wednesday.

The first time I played Yale was in the early 90s.  I knew little about golf architecture then and was just stunned at how different the course was from anything else I had seen - especially those green complexes. Sixteen years later, with all of the tree clearing and improved conditions, it's just amazing.

I most look forward to the sequence of 8-9-10.  And with the tree clearing, a hint of the 8th from the first green.
 

Tim,
Thanks for all the pics.  Can never see too many of Yale.

Carl Nichols,
What are some of your favorite courses?  I cannot imagine being underwhelmed at Yale even with the conditions in 1994.

Mike Sweeney,
Thanks for posting that pic.  Did you discover any holes just waiting to be built at the Devil's Den?  Would be a interesting name for a course. 

CJ Carder

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: I'll let these pictures speak for themselves...
« Reply #27 on: August 20, 2009, 12:44:32 PM »
Tim - awesome pics - thanks!

You all will have to forgive my lack of knowledge here, but how do you go about playing the course?  I assume it's private use for university folks and their guests?

Jay Cox

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Re: I'll let these pictures speak for themselves...
« Reply #28 on: August 20, 2009, 12:55:10 PM »
Dan, I agree completely re the opening stretch of par 4s.  Four brilliant holes, each completely unlike the others.  I think that's the real wonder of the front nine:  every hole flows into the next one, and feels like it belongs exactly where it is in the round, but no hole feels in the least bit repetitive.  I can't think of too many other courses that pull off to the same degree.

On 11, I don't like the look of the bunker in front of the rock on the drive.  It just seems to me like it doesn't belong there, especially because it's so elevated over the bowl in the fairway.  But that's just my idiosyncratic preference.  My real quarrel with the hole is that you really don't gain anything by trying to do more with the tee shot than hit a three iron (or a three wood, depending on how long you hit it) straight at the bunker and let it roll down into the bowl.  Going further right makes the tee shot immesurably harder, but unless you get lucky it makes the angle to the green worse, which to me more than offsets any benefit from being closer.  And the tee shot into the bowl just isn't a very testing shot, because everything slopes down that way so a 20+ yard miss in any direction turns out okay.

I still think it's a good hole -- just not as good as 1, 2, 3, or 6, say, and not at all in the same class for me as 8, 10, and the new 12.

A few weeks ago, there was a discussion about great three-hole stretches.  I think 2 through 4 at Yale has to be a leading contender in the race for the best three hole stretch that isn't even the best three hole stretch on its course -- because 8 through 10 is clearly superior in my mind.


Dan_Callahan

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Re: I'll let these pictures speak for themselves...
« Reply #29 on: August 20, 2009, 02:49:33 PM »
A few years ago, I played there as a thick fog settled over the course. Visibility was so poor that on the first tee you couldn't even see the landing area on the other side of the pond. Psychologically, it was worse than walking through the woods at night after watching The Evil Dead. Knowing the severity of the penalties lurking in front of you that remain hidden but for a temporary break in the fog was absolute torture.

Tim Gavrich

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Re: I'll let these pictures speak for themselves...
« Reply #30 on: August 20, 2009, 04:21:39 PM »
Tim - awesome pics - thanks!

You all will have to forgive my lack of knowledge here, but how do you go about playing the course?  I assume it's private use for university folks and their guests?
I was able to play it yesterday because it was my practice round for the CSGA Four-Ball tournament on Tuesday.  So getting to play it twice in a week's time will be a lot of fun.

It is basically open to Yale people and members, but I think their policies on outside play relax on either end of the golf season, so I doubt it's a huge problem to play, especially if you're making it a destination.
Senior Writer, GolfPass

Tom Dunne

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Re: I'll let these pictures speak for themselves...
« Reply #31 on: August 20, 2009, 05:01:29 PM »
The thing about 11 is that it's literally a breather hole. The run of holes from 8 through 10 is one of the toughest on the course, and unless you're really fit you're going to be a bit winded when you hit your first putt on the 10th green. The 11th tee is where guys light their cigars, if they're so inclined. It's not a hard hole, but after what you've been through you really want to make a par there. You can feel extra-annoyed when that doesn't happen. In the context of Yale's routing, I think 11 works beautifully.

Jay Cox: I've never seen anyone hit it into the rock outcropping bunker to the left, but I don't play with very many bombers and can see that it's definitely possible. By the same token, I've seen plenty of people hitting hybrids or 3-irons not get the roll all the way off the saddle and have a second shot from the slight downhill lie. Finally, I agree that the 8-10 stretch is Yale's finest. Maybe we can revisit the subject when Scott Ramsay is able to bring back the double punchbowl on 3!

Tim: Good luck in the fourball next week!