I’m not the first to post on the short par 4s at Woodlands on the Melbourne sandbelt, and some photos have popped up in the past. But I thought I’d post on the collective of the three of them after having the pleasure of another game there recently. To me they comprise one wonderful hole and two good ones, and few courses anywhere with three of this length could boast a third best equal to whichever is the worst of these.
Firstly, is the previously spoken about #3 (327 yards). From the tee, the aggressive option over the corner to the right (either at the green or to a point near its front) is more prolifically bunkered than in the past, a change I’m not convinced of. My host at the club sums up my view perfectly when he says that the penalty for an out of position miss here is a treacherous shot played to the pushed up green, and so it is unnecessary to force it to be played from sand.
A safe shot can be played off the tee here leaving a perfect angle in with a long pitch, which seems to go against the rules of the less demanding tee shot to a short par 4. But the safer it is played, the longer the approach. And regardless of angle, the green is a test for many to hit from anything further than 100 yards out. Small but not overly so, and yet the bunkers and steep banks off its front, right side and rear make the thought of a miss more forbidden. The player who gets it close to the green and on the short stuff will have a pitch, and the green complex doesn’t make overly harsh demands on the short pitch, since the green will accept a proper and polite advance of good standing coming from one who is close enough that the trouble doesn’t seem to crowd in so closely.
From the tee, with the expansive zone most play to out in front, and the bunkers inside the dogleg bordering the first degree of advantage and tougher access
The inside of the superfluously bunkered dogleg. I personally think these bunkers don’t sit comfortably with the longer term great ones around here
From the centre of the fairway. The entrance looks a little wider and the trouble is set aside from central view. This shot in the height of a firm summer is a knee knocker. In professional tournaments (Woodlands is the most common host of the Victorian Open over the past 15 odd years), this is where most play from
The pitch from out of position short right, whether sanded or not, is not always easy to leave on the green let alone getting it close. Even the pros occasionally miss this green in two if they are out of position. Being in that front right bunker is among the least complicated approaches and makes a more than acceptable tee shot result
From behind the green, and showing the fall away around some of its sides. Again, coming out of winter right now it is less daunting than it will be in the hotter drier months
Later on, the following hole (#4).