[Jeff_Mingay]

Canadian golfer Bob Panasik of Windsor, Ont. (my hometown) is being inducted into the Canadian Golf Hall of Fame later this year. I'm privileged to be writing a profile of his career for the Royal Canadian Golf Association's magazine, GOLF CANADA.

Anyway, Panasik had some misfortune during the 1965 US Open at Bellerive. He made an infamous 9 at what he recalls is the par-three 6th hole. I'm unfamiliar with Bellerive and would like to confirm that the 6th is indeed a par-three before submitting this article to the editor of GOLF CANADA.

Can anyone confirm that the 6th there is a par-three?

Thanks in advance,

[Peter_Herreid]

Yes, indeed, Jeff---#6 at Bellerive is a par-3, with a front left to back right angled green with a pond along the front and right.  The green is 46 yrds from front left to back right--Yikes!

The back tee (as of 2003) was at 195 yds, and the blue tee (next up) was at 171 yds.

Don't know how those compared to 1965, or to last year's Senior Open yardages.

Peter

[wsmorrison]

It is Jeff.  195 yards from the tips.  I looked it up on golfcourse.com; it is usually pretty accurate.

[wsmorrison]

Fast fingers, Peter.  Are you heading east this year?  I think the cold and rain has to stop sometime    Please let me know if you are.

[SPDB]

Jeff - While I'm not intimately familiar with Bellerive, I am enough to know that #6 is most certainly a par 3. I recall precisely because of the question you pose. I don't know if you know this, but the story I heard is that Panasik was on the green in regulation...I'll let you figure out how he made 9. Hint: there is a pond abutting the green.  

[Jeff_Mingay]

Thanks men.

Long story short, Panasik missed the green pin high at left and faced a pitch over a greenside bunker. He bounced his club into the ball, so it came out hot and took the slope of the slick green into the pond!

In the heat of the moment, a USGA official advised him he had to go to the opposite side of the pond to drop (although he could have replayed the shot). He dropped into thick rough, pitched into the water again; hit his next into a greenside bunker; blasted out and two-putted for a nine!

I hear it was one of "the stories" of the tournament; featured in Sports Illustrated too!

[Jeff_Mingay]

SPDB,

Panasik claims he wasn't on the green in regulation. I've suspected that perhaps he's trying to change history!

My dad remembers it being a putt into the drink as well  

[SPDB]

Jeff - I wouldn't rely on Panasik as your source, would you admit to putting into a pond? He's probably worried about joining TC Chen, and others with similar ignominious legacies. Can you blame him? Looks like you got quite a conundrum on your hands, do you honor Panasik or the truth?

[Jeff_Mingay]

Well... I wasn't even born in 1965, so I think I have to take Bob on his word  

[Nick Pozaric]

I played with one of the Pros from Bellerive today and he was telling me Rees Jones was out there giving some ideas and he wanted to change a few holes around and making the 6th a 600 yard par 5 or something like that.  He said the club almost laughed at him for suggesting they change the 6th.

[Ken Fry]

Jeff,

My father-in-law played in the 1965 Open.  Ironically, he had a good tournament going until on Friday at the 6th hole.

The pin was tucked just beyond the water (a "sucker pin placement" as he likes to recall).  He played a shot right at the flag, it hit the green and spun back in the water.  He played the same shot (either from the drop area or re-teed) and the same thing happened.  He said Gary Player was in a group nearby and commented his first shot was the best shot he'd seen there all tournament.

He ended up making a 7 on the hole and missed the cut by 2 shots I believe.

[Jeff_Mingay]

Ken,

Panasik tells me that green was severely sloped from back to front, toward the water.

I wonder if that putting surface has been rebuild since 1965? I suspect it has.

[Andy Acker]

I played with one of the Pros from Bellerive today and he was telling me Rees Jones was out there giving some ideas and he wanted to change a few holes around and making the 6th a 600 yard par 5 or something like that.  He said the club almost laughed at him for suggesting they change the 6th.

Nick, which pro did you play with. I am a member and that sounds exactly like the feedback that the guys received about number 6.

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