Joe:
I played several courses this past year with interesting par 4s featuring blind or semi-blind second shots. I can't get enough of blind shots; I think they level out the disparity in playing ability between the low- and high-handicapper. They add an element of uncertainty to a game that, in its origins, depended on uncertain and unpredictable outcomes for much of its challenge. (Also, see my post on Jordan Wall's year-end favorite photos thread for the blind shot of all blind shots...)
Flossmoor, a Tweedie on the south side of Chicago (next door to Olympia Fields), has a very good medium-length par 4 with a likely blind second for most players. Here's the tee shot (417 yds from the tips, 400 from the whites); it's a straightaway tee shot over a creek. The tee shot must be 250+ yards to carry the ridge in the distance.
Here's the shot from the base of the ridge line.
This is the view from 150 yards, a typical-length approach shot for a medium-length par 4. Although totally blind, there is an aiming post visible from the fairway somewhere in the forest of trees.
What makes this solid hole all the better is the tiny, bunkerless, fallaway green (maybe 3,000 square feet?) that awaits the player's second shot. The too-bold shot risks bounding toward the course boundary, only a few paces beyond the back edge of the green.
At the Ross-redesigned Beverly CC in Chicago, the 8th hole has elements of blindness with the second shot. The tee shot on this medium-length par 4 (424 yds tips; 403 whites) is toward a series of fairway bunkers, including a center-line bunker that will gobble up the too-bold shot:
The player who takes something less than driver off the tee may be left with a shot like this from the middle of the fairway -- much of the green is visible, but the pin is cleverly tucked behind a bunker that hides a good portion of the green. (Notice the white ball very close to the centerline bunker, middle of photo -- that approach is obviously less blind than one farther back, but the player is appropriately rewarded for coming that close to what is a penal bunker.) From the farther-back position, this is a very awkward shot, because the player can't see how deep the green is behind the pin (as opposed to right of the pin), nor what lies to the left of the pin.
The enormous size of the green -- 65 yards deep -- allows for a great variety of pin positions, and the fairway bunkering hides some of them.
A nine-hole Bendelow I discovered this past summer called Country Club Estates near Lake Geneva WI has several par 4s with the possibility of a blind second shot. It's a short, sporty course with some nice design elements and a very good routing, largely untouched since Bendelow laid it out in the 1920s.
The first hole tee shot rises to a crest with the green unseen, unusual for a hole of only 300 yards.
Here's the view from about 125 yards away; the green is tucked over to the right.
Here's the full view of the green; you have to drive to the very top of the hill to see it:
The green sits in a natural amphitheatre.
The 3rd hole, 350 yards, is a slight dogleg left in which the drive must carry close to 250 yards uphill to avoid a blind second shot. Here's the tee shot.
Here's the second from 150 yards; a marker pole (visible on the rough/fairway line on the left) guides the player to the green.
The green is small, surrounded by bunkering, with trouble lurking all around in the form of steep falloffs left and rear.
The 5th hole -- 336 yards, but also uphill -- features a neat terraced fairway.
From about 130 yards away (200+ yard drive), the green is still hidden; only from about 75 yards away can the green be fully seen. The green is slightly to the left of the two large trees middle of photo:
Here's the green:
The 7th hole is the best one on the course, a dogleg right of 423 yards with a wonderfully rumpled fairway. Heres' the tee shot:
Another view of the fairway:
Here's the second shot from just in front of the 150-yard post, which sits at the bottom of a depressen. The green is to the left of the V-shaped tree; the flag is visible, but hardly any of the green. A terrific hole in which not every second shot will be blind into the green, but there is a strong possibility of one.
Finally, an old James Foulis near the Wisconsin-Illinois border called Nippersink GC has a very solid closing 18th hole (415 yds) with a likely blind second. Here's the tee shot of this hole that doglegs sharply right:
From just in front of the 200-yard marker, the green is unseen.
From the bottom of a depression in the fairway, nearing the 150-yard marker, an aiming pole right helps guide the golfer in the right direction. In addition to the blindness of the second shot, the golfer is unlikely to have an even lie, making this shot all the more demanding.
Here's the green, one of the smallest on the course:
