My friend just played this golf course, sent me the photo, and refuses to tell me what it is. Funny guy. Any ideas on the name or architect?

These bunkers look like Kittleman's at Gil Hanse's Hidden Creek.

I'll go out on a limb and say whoever designed this should be hung from it...This is GCA people, that hole is a mess.

Meh... without having played it (Applebrook? French Creek?) looks like the tee shot could have more to it. I'd probably bleed the bunkers on the right side into the fairway more, have them take chunks of the ideal line out. Perhaps push the line of charm toward the other bunker and give the golfer something to really think about lining up.

Can't really see how the bunker on the second shot plays into the hole, and can't see around the green.

Kyle -
How would your suggestions effect the rest of the course?

John,
Too many bunkers?
That lake?
The bunker in front of the lake?

No idea, completely based on the photo. I haven't seen either Applebrook nor French Creek.

I get the idea with the flow and having this mesh with the other tee shots... just not sure there's much to like or hate from this one photo.

Things I hate about the photo...My opinion may be different in person.

The lake looks like a mosquito infested drainage afterthought,

The first bunker on the left looks like it belongs in Palm Springs or anywhere but on this course.

The tee shot strategy looks pure textbook, in Gorilla High that is, fly the pond/bunkers and have a clean shot to the green.

The tree far left needs to go or be cleaned.

The fairway rolls are artificially random.

I would be concerned with ball ending up on the island of the pond and not being able to be played without a boat.  The advantage of hitting off the island as opposed to dropping behind is just too great to ignore.

There is no advantage to challenging the bunkers because of the angle of the green...the fairway bunkers should go.

There is a good chance that this is a par 5 and the guy who took the picture is on an up tee.   I hate photogs that take pictures from up tees.  If it is a par five then my strategic observations could be wrong.

I like bunkers in front of a lake because it is funny as hell when a guy thinks he caught a break by going in the bunker then tops his next one in the lake.

John K,

You are way wrong.  This hole is great -- send your high tech drive all the way to the carts on the upper right of the photo fairway and then use your cm grade GPS to get the exact yardage to the pin, and then send your high tech ball high into the air with your super-grooved pitching wedge and let it suck off the mound at the back left of the green to within inches of, if not in, the cup

I think what you were trying to say (far be it from me to put any words in anyone's mouth via cyber space) is that this is a busy look?

Interesting to read the answers considering the question were, what course is this and who did it?

I was not looking for a critique of the hole or of the photography, unless it was by someone who has been there. My friend is amused as well. He said the hole is a par-5 and the cluster of bunkers on the left cannot be reached. He said a guy in his group was down by the pond and did not encounter a single mosquito.

Tony

I know the answer.

Me and Brad played there a couple weeks ago, I'm 90% sure that is Renaissance Golf Club in Haverhill, Mass. Its the 5th hole, and a par 5 of about 550 in length. I was down near the pond.

The tee shot is like 150 feet up from the fairway.

To be honest the course wasn't all that special. The holes on the hillside where that hole is are very cool, but the rest of the course wasn't very nice. One par 4 for example is completely cut DEEP into the side of a hill, and it doglegs around the hill with a drop-off on the right. It just made no sense to do the amount of dirt-moving they did.

The course had a lot of hype because they built it, then tore it up, re-designed it, then built it again and the project took VERY long. It's a Brian Silva design.

Edited post before, but yeah, I'm 100% sure that is Renaissance, and I agree with John K. The hole will be a LOT better once the grass to the left of the green/approach grows to full-length... right now, one can do what I did (hitting a massive hook) and take the route up the parallel fairway with absolutely no penalty for being short for the wood or long-iron approach.

The rest of the course also has far less bunkers... It's just that one area that is littered with them on the side-hill. There is a par-3 next to the waste bunker near the houses in the distance.

And the vegetation around that lake absolutely EATS balls.... i found about 8 of them walking up playing my own.

This thread is quite amusing; who do you guys think you are? I am really surprised how much hate has been given to this course and especially you guys that are trying to pick apart the strategy when you assumed the hole was a par 4 to begin with.

Going the opposite way.........

Is there any reason why I wouldn't intentionally play my second shot to the adjacent fairway to the right, for my third shot in? The proper fairway looks awful skinny if I'm thinking I have to lay up.

Sorry if discussing strategy is off topic.

Joe