[David Mulle]

I have been meaning to start a thread on this hole.

When I played PB for the first time earlier this year, this was one of the holes that surprised me in a good way.  I don't dispute Matt's assertion that this hole is a pushover for the pros.  But for this 13 handicap who hits his drives about 230, I thought it was a really good hole.

Off the tee, going over the tree on the left was not an option for me (even from the white tees).  But I did have to decide whether to take an aggressive line that brought the tree on the left into play (but would give a shorter approach from the preferred angle on the left side of the fairway) or play safe and leave a longer approach.   I decided to take an aggressive line, chickened out and pushed the tee shot right and into the new bunkers.  Things did not go well from there.

To my untrained eye, I did not find the look of the bunkers objectionable but I certainly agree that for the pros it made the hole easier.   For me . . .  not so much.

One final note, the hole reminded me of the second hole at the Pete Dye Golf Club in W.Va.  Anybody else see that?

[Adam Clayman]

David,
"To my untrained eye, I did not find the look of the bunkers objectionable"

Let's look closely at the lone bunker in the fore ground. As I stated earlier, ten years ago this was a perfectly placed pot bunker cut into the slight rise that leads into the fairway, at the far right edge of what becomes the ravine, that extends towards stillwater cove and has all the trees.



It would appear this lone bunker was built by dumping dirt into a mound and then sculpting the sea lion (boomerange) swoop out of it. (Anyone who builds, correct me, please?)

I really didn't notice how that mound sticks out before, when I called it a wart. But, it sure does fit that description.

The top lines of the bunker on the outside of the dog leg appear to be built up. Is that correct? If it is? I'd hate to see that leeward side of that complex of bunkers in the rainy season.

[David Mulle]

The top lines of the bunker on the outside of the dog leg appear to be built up. Is that correct? If it is? I'd hate to see that leeward side of that complex of bunkers in the rainy season.

If I recall correctly, the bunkers on the outside of the dog leg are set into the hill so I don't think the top lines were built up.  But I defer to people who have a better knowledge of the course.

[Sean Leary]

Any idea how many balls went in these bunkers yesterday? Just curious how it played.

[Adam Clayman]

Sean, I don't know and I don't know enough about shotlink to figure it out.

On another thread I predicted few would go right of the trees on 18. The one drive I saw...The guy went right of the trees into the first cut.

Can anyone get the answer to Sean's excellent question?

Todays hole location on 3 is gonna be a tough one.

[Mike Benham]

Mike Keiser is taking their target market, and I for one am very happy for that.

Mike Keiser is going to need to build a bigger airport, add more hotel (not bungalows) rooms, more restaurants, shopping boutiques, a day spa and allow carts to compete with Pebble's target market ...

[Bill Brightly]

Adam,

Did you notice Phil made birdie from those fairway bunkers today?

[Adam Clayman]

Bill, I didn't know that. But, it does validate the analysis that the hole is much easier for the pros from those bunkers. If he had been in the rough, birdie would've had to be likely a chip in.

I watched a lot of the coverage today, and I did notice that had not seen the 3rd hole.

BTW, Just in case anyone reading this thread didn't know it, the 3rd was one of Dr. Mackenzie's favorite holes at PB.

[Bill Brightly]

Bill, I didn't know that. But, it does validate the analysis that the hole is much easier for the pros from those bunkers. If he had been in the rough, birdie would've had to be likely a chip in.

I watched a lot of the coverage today, and I did notice that had not seen the 3rd hole.

BTW, Just in case anyone reading this thread didn't know it, the 3rd was one of Dr. Mackenzie's favorite holes at PB.

Yup, Phil hit a bunker shot to the middle of the green and spun it back to a front pin position...

[Tom Birkert]

McDowell has just hit his tee shot into one of the bunkers. Be interesting to see how he does. I maintain this is an easier shot than if he'd been in the rough as he can spin the ball.

Edit: He was able to spin the ball and hold the green. A shot that would have been almost impossible had he been in the rough.

Those bunkers need removing ASAP in my opinion.

[John Moore II]

I like the bunkers on the outside edge of #3. Its a short hole and you aught to expect precision. This way really anything other than a proper shot is penalized. What is the problem with that? I like them on the outside corner of the hole.

[Tom Birkert]

I like the bunkers on the outside edge of #3. Its a short hole and you aught to expect precision. This way really anything other than a proper shot is penalized. What is the problem with that? I like them on the outside corner of the hole.

The problem as I see it is that the bunkers help the players. They are not penalised for going in the bunkers as they can get spin on the ball.

If that's thick rough, no way can they get spin on the ball which makes for a much harder shot.

They would much rather be in the bunkers than the rough.

[John Moore II]

I like the bunkers on the outside edge of #3. Its a short hole and you aught to expect precision. This way really anything other than a proper shot is penalized. What is the problem with that? I like them on the outside corner of the hole.

The problem as I see it is that the bunkers help the players. They are not penalised for going in the bunkers as they can get spin on the ball.

If that's thick rough, no way can they get spin on the ball which makes for a much harder shot.

They would much rather be in the bunkers than the rough.

So much for GCA guys wanting options and strategic features on a hole huh? I think they provide equal penalty to rough and make the player think more off the tee since they are in view; rough is not really in the view of the player.

[Bill Brightly]

John, they cant spin it out of rough, while a ball in the middle of the bunker is almost as easy as fairway for the pros. As I said in my post above, Phil was able to play to the middle of the green and spin it back to the front pin on Friday. No way he can do that from rough.

[John Moore II]

John, they cant spin it out of rough, while a ball in the middle of the bunker is almost as easy as fairway for the pros. As I said in my post above, Phil was able to play to the middle of the green and spin it back to the front pin on Friday. No way he can do that from rough.

But that side of the fairway is a much worse angle to the hole than the left side. I think that having the bunkers there puts a bigger mental hazard on the right side of the hole than rough does. Even for tour guys, you can mess with their minds.

[Bill Brightly]

John, of course it is the worse side, and FAR worse with rough. You can mess with a pro's mind, but he knows what he can do: (spin a short iron from a fairway bunker) and cant do: (spin it from heavy rough.)

[John Moore II]

John, of course it is the worse side, and FAR worse with rough. You can mess with a pro's mind, but he knows what he can do: (spin a short iron from a fairway bunker) and cant do: (spin it from heavy rough.)

I don't know, I saw some shots spin pretty good coming from the rough, so long as the ball doesn't bury down, which isn't all that often, maybe 1/4 of the time.

[Tom Birkert]

John, of course it is the worse side, and FAR worse with rough. You can mess with a pro's mind, but he knows what he can do: (spin a short iron from a fairway bunker) and cant do: (spin it from heavy rough.)

As Dustin Johnson has just demonstrated. He has just hit his 4th shot from what would have been an impossible location in the rough. However, he was in a bunker and was able to spin it and stop it pin high.

He got rewarded for hitting a bad shot by being able to recover.

[TEPaul]

I think this particular thread on those massive bunkers on the far side of the 3rd fairway is a very interesting discussion indeed and I also realize my new friend from abroad Tom Birkert hates them and I think he made a pretty good case why he hates them.

However, I would say that all the photos of that hole on this particular thread do not exactly show what those pros were looking at from the tee they were playing (I stood behind that tee and watched a number of groups during the practice rounds).

I suppose the new back tees are far enough back (from the original design---maybe adding 40-50 yards to the hole) and also far enough to the left to give those players a perspective we aren't familiar with or seeing from the photos on this thread.

What they see is a pretty shallow fairway (in line with the tee shot) that appears almost perpindicular to the line of play. They also can't see the open fairway beyond the last bunker on the far side of the fairway because of the trees on the left on the near side.

Given all that that tee shot appears to confuse them in various ways, the net result being that they try to hit something like a utility club or even 3 wood really high right at those bunkers hoping it gets over the bunkers on the near side and doesn't roll into the bunkers on the far side.

For the others, their strategy seems to be to just take driver and try to take it right over those trees on the left or hook it around them and hope for the best and that the ball doesn't hook too far left (which many did). In the second round Dustin Johnson couldn't have had more than 60 yards in from the middle of the fairway!

If they use the latter strategy and do it successfully they can't really tell what happened until they walk out fairly near the fairway.

This is an unusual hole now for sure. I don't really recall a fairway that appears to be almost perpindicular (90 degrees---even though its actually more like 75 degrees from that new back tee) to the tee shot as this one is now or at least appears from the tee to be.

[Adam Clayman]

Tom, The hole's fairway has always had that orientation. Like you say, it's probably 75 degrees but, to the player, appears 90.

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