I submit that until you've played this hole your par-3 education is incomplete. Anstruther's 5th hole is a 235-yard par 3 named "Rockies."
A Scylla and Charybdis hole, with the Firth of Forth playing the role of Scylla -- wait, that has to be Charybdis! -- and the side of a mountain playing Scylla.
Let's have a discussion of how to play this hole, assuming no forecaddies and in firm and fast conditions. Please note the apron / fairway and green cant severely from mountain to sea.
Here's how Mark Pearce said he'd play it -- from an April 2008 thread:
That's tough (rather than scary in the way the 141 yarder under ciscussion is scary) but not as tough as the 5th at Anstruther which BUDAites may play in June. 235 yards into the wind with the North Sea hard on the left and a hill jutting out into the fairway on the right turning this into a 235 yard dogleg par 3. When I played it last summer with the wind in and from the left the only shot at the green was to try to fade a driver. I put 4 balls in the sea. My 11 year old son played it as a par 4 (he can't hit it 235 yards) and made 4. I suspect most members including the low handicappers would play it as a 4 in most conditions.
Tee shot: green is at the bottom, way off in the distance, and mostly obscured by side of mountain
Maybe someone can chime in with an aerial -- can't get clarity on Google and can't copy from Microsoft.
I might play along the
top of the ridge, then hit a drop shot down. The only problems I can see with this are: a) getting knifed by the players coming up the 4th, and b) having to hit a drop shot to a fallaway green. Other than that, it's brilliant!
Mark