[CHrisB]

Can someone please give a description (as detailed as possible) of the 10th at Winged Foot West? I have always heard that it is a world-class par 3 but the pictures and descriptions I have seen so far haven't really given me a sense for why it is such a great hole.

From Ran's course profile:

[Patrick_Mucci]

Chris,

The pictures don't provide you with a sense of the slope of the green, which is from high back to low front.

The green used to have a more severe slope that was softened.

The green plays NARROW.

The bunkers are DEEP, well below the putting surface.

There's out of bounds just long of the green, making a back pin position frightening.

The hole used to be a long hole.
Hi-tech has shortened it and muted the effect of approaching it with a longer iron.

Wind can be a major influence.

It's a wonderful and challenging hole.

[Top100Guru]

For me, it is the fact that I actually birdied it the first time I saw it!!!!!!!

What a great Par 3.........all except that house behind the green.

[Mike_Sweeney]

Chris,

Just to add to Patrick's, long left is really really bad as it is a steep slope back up to a green that falls away from you. That green in Ran's picture has been expanded and is three putt city.

This is something that Kelly Moran once pointed out to me - if you miss on WFW, your recovery shot from either side will typically be with a green sloping away. The 10th certainly is, and Mickelson has already said he will probably lay up on #3 on the day that the pin is way back on #3.

I think the #10 gets much acclaim with its position of the Par 3 tee next to the clubhouse, and the Hogan statement about it. If you look at the aerial, it is the one hole that runs east/west with the other 17 going basically north/south.

One of the biggest crowds of the week will be there when Winged Foot member Andrew Svoboda tees off there in his second round looking to make the cut.

http://www.usopen.com/news/svoboda.html

[Dan Boerger]

Mike and Patrick really said it all, but I'll add my personal insight ... the picture (at least to me) does no justice to how massive the gaping right side bunker looks from the tee. That bunker really gets in my head. So much, in fact, that last time I played there I fell victim to it and a double-bogey ensued. Also, the approach bunker on 11 is well placed. - Dan

[Tom Huckaby]

Chris - don't be alarmed if the pictures don't scream out "world-class" - playing it doesn't change the assessment.  I'd agree with everything Patrick Mucci and others have said about it - it's a very tough golf hole, with a very cool green, but world class?  I just don't see it.  Great hole, yes.  Among the world's best?  No.  Heck I think #3 and maybe #7 are better golf holes...

Expect Matt Ward and others to tear me a new one, as they have in the past on this issue.  

[mike_malone]

 Could it be that after playing to so many manufactured greens on the front you appreciate a hole that uses the natural terrain to a greater extent ?

[Matt MacIver]

Is #10 where Casper famously laid-up four round in a row and still parred?  Where did he lay up -- short and right of the left bunkers, or just over the left side bunkers?  

[Tom Huckaby]

Is #10 where Casper famously laid-up four round in a row and still parred?  Where did he lay up -- short and right of the left bunkers, or just over the left side bunkers?  

Matt - nope, that's #3.  Not sure where exactly he laid up on that hole.

[Matt MacIver]

Tom - oh, thanks.  Looking at that picture of #10, any lay-up there didn't look too easy, either.  

But generally, I guess the play on #10 is straight and short?  Where can you miss it and still reasonably make par?

[Tom Huckaby]

Matt - remember, these guys are good.  They can miss anywhere but OB long and still reasonably make par.  You and me?  We're staring at 4 at best anywhere we miss.  But short and left would give us a fighting chance to make 3... or at least an easy 4.

It is a very difficult golf hole.  What the pic really doesn't show is how raised the green is - the drop off to the right is pretty huge.

TH

[Matt MacIver]

So club down and take my chances....sounds like a normal par- 3 to me!  Can't wait to see these guys tee (and tear?) it up this weekend.  

[Patrick_Mucci]

Tom Huckaby,

# 7 better than # 10 ?
Surely you jest.

Mayday Malone,

Manufactured greens on the front nine ?

How many times have you played Winged Foot West ?

Could you describe how # 9 green is manufactured ?
How about # 4, 5 and 6 ?

We'll get to the others later.

But how is # 10 LESS manufactured than the greens on the front nine ?

[Kenny Lee Puckett]

It is an entertaining hole that actually has a principal that Pete Dye uses so well today:  Hit it here or else!

And "Else" usually involves beach volleyball with mortars.  If the pin is in the front third of the green, and you are in either of the fronting bunkers left or right, you'd best blast towards the back of the green and away from the hole.  You'll probably two putt for bogey at best, but it beats going back and forth.  It is frantic to watch the lesser player struggle with getting the ball on the green from the sand.  I would wager that at least one player in every foursome on average does not hole out or takes a newspaper double or triple.

Chris, the east/west wind factor is an element hightened by the downhill shot.  The ball hanging in flight that is headed for the edge of the green is not big deal for the first time player.  They have never been in trouble on #10 yet, and thus, have no acquired fear.  We all know that when fear enters the swing equation, bad things happen.  

What makes #10 on Winged Foot West my favorite hole on the course goes to the very essence of why I play golf.  I either execute, or I get executed in a suicide blonde manuver (A suicide blonde is a girl the "Dyes her hair by her own hand" - INXS wrote a wonderful little ditty about suicide blondes).  

I assessed the situation.
I discussed/confirmed what I saw and felt with "What Lincoln called the better Angel of my nature" (The trusted caddie).
I pulled the club.
I hit the shot.

Given the raised nature of the "Pulpit" that #10 presents, you'll rarely see a lucky bounce or a mis-hit shot staying on the green.  The reward for hitting the green is all yours with a generous assist from your fellow traveller (He would rather have the generous tip)

Tom Huckaby, I agree that #3 is a more difficult hole.  As with #7, the area short is relatively flat or on a slight upslope which aids a pitch and a shot at getting it up and down.  The elevation change at #10 is much more dramatic and demands a precise lob as opposed to the option of a skipper.

The best par 3 on the property is #17 on WF East, and there is not a bunker to be found on that hole!!!

The central theme to the U.S. Open this year (As in other WF years) will be; Who can screw up the least and the least often when you do?

JWK

[Mike_Sweeney]

Could it be that after playing to so many manufactured greens on the front you appreciate a hole that uses the natural terrain to a greater extent ?

I am really looking forward to our trip to Yale on the 26th. Please keep track of the manufactured holes (fairways and greens) at Yale that day, and Dr Childs will grade you afterwards.  

[mike_malone]

 Pat,
      I wasn't there when they built them but from walking around and viewing them it is obvious that so many are built up significantly . Not that there is anything wrong with that , but I think we like natural looks better. If these greens weren't built up significantly from a rather drab land than indeed Tillinghast did a great job of using the only rises available.

     
Tell me about the natural land formation of #6.  Please help me.

[Tom Huckaby]

Tom Huckaby,

# 7 better than # 10 ?
Surely you jest.

I was pretty much jesting about that.  I do personally prefer 7 to 10 (no reason for it, just like the way 7 looks), but I won't say it's a better golf hole.

I will say 3 is a better golf hole though.

TH

[Tommy_Naccarato]

For me it'is exactly where you place your tee shot on the green in relation to the pin, then having to deal with this wonderfully shaped green which seemingly defies all gravity.

[Patrick_Mucci]

Mayday,

I've got to go to New York, but will try to help you this evening.

Quickly,

The left side of # 6 green transitions seemlessly from the fairway with the land behind the green falling off to the stream at the rear of the green.

It's a perfectly natural use of the land with bunkers inserted to the left and front right of the green.

[Mike_Sweeney]

For me it'is exactly where you place your tee shot on the green in relation to the pin, then having to deal with this wonderfully shaped green which seemingly defies all gravity.

Tommy,

You are so right and didn't Fazio do a wonderful job expanding the green and restoring the bunkers??  

PS. Sorry I could not resist.

[mike_malone]

 Pat,

   I know you're kidding me now. That's pretty funny.

[Kenny Lee Puckett]

Could it be that after playing to so many manufactured greens on the front you appreciate a hole that uses the natural terrain to a greater extent ?

I am really looking forward to our trip to Yale on the 26th. Please keep track of the manufactured holes (fairways and greens) at Yale that day, and Dr Childs will grade you afterwards.  

Mike -

As his tour guide, I will have the usual pre-round discussion as to how the DuPont family profited from the sale of dynamite to clear the site...Oh how much easier it would have been in 1925-26 if Caterpillar had been "Making the Grade".

Mr. Malone, I look forward to our time together in all seriousness, while having fun!

JWK


;-)

[mike_malone]

 Mr. Keever, (My father was Mr. Malone!)

     I have been to four of these high fallutin N.Y. area courses in the last few years. Two met or exceeded my expectations-NGLA and Plainfield. Two fell short--Bethpage Black and WFW. I expect Yale to meet the expectations because from all I know the movement in the land is great.

[Kenny Lee Puckett]

Mr. Malone -

We prefer to think of Yale as Connecticut and medium fallutin...

JWK

[Patrick_Mucci]

Could it be that after playing to so many manufactured greens on the front you appreciate a hole that uses the natural terrain to a greater extent ?

Could you identify them so that we can narrow our discussion ?

[Tags:]

Tags:

[Tags:]

Tags:

Call to undefined function theme_linktree()