No. 14 Par 4 400 377 294Though this down-and-up, dogleg left hole possesses a unique, wavy, difficult-to-read green and a design shape unlike any other on the course, it could be Siwanoy’s least memorable hole because there are so few ways to play it. The blame for this failing can entirely be laid at the feet of club's tennis courts along the right side and its row of (now grown-up) 60-foot protection pines that were placed along the entirety of the right rough in the heart of the drive zone.
Pines protecting the Tennis Courts right and the 12th green to the left make this otherwise interesting hole a rare exercise in straight-ball hitting.The 1976 club history dates this court (and tree) placement as no earlier than 1974. Prior to that time the area now occupied by these obstacles was a sandy wasteland and then a meadow and a turf nursery. What it was not, was play governed by an immovable obstruction drop crowded by thick-trunked pines or a sideways recovery. That’s what it is now, unfortunately
A look back from the hilltop greenNo. 15 Par 4 458 440 294 Owing largely to the fact that it was originally conceived and carded in its absolute earliest days as a par 5, #15 is not the typical Siwanoy two-shotter. Now the longest par 4 on the course, and a wonderful half-par hole, it is nonetheless a magnificent and challenging piece of golfing terrain. It also shows the design primacy of the diagonal hazard,which always troubles the second shot, that Ross utilized on each of the four (4) long holes.
From the plateau of ground that also encompasses the 14th green complex, the golfer drives out across a valley to a gigantic plot of fairway ground sweeping upward and flattening in the landing about 215 yards from the middle tee. Moving his eye just a fraction to the left, he can see the green tucked behind the fairway mass in the far distance; the effect being the hole appears even longer than the yardage reads.
Because there is no remote hope of reaching the green in two shots unless you carry across the valley, the vista contributes a heroic element to a mostly strategic design. The tee shot is also troubled by thick, wild growth, encroaching trees and OB hard to the left; making the right rough a frequent compromise – further lengthening an already-long hole that gently doglegs to the other side.
Tee shots which have made the carry to the broad flats of the fairway are confronted with a shot of 170 – 210 yards that tumbles softly down and over a lower section of fairway. This approach space to the target is broken up by a craggy, sunken creek that meanders through diagonally (8:00 – 2:00) angling to within 25 yards of the right greenside bunker. The creek itself is not too much of a practical hazard for the average golfer – certainly not the better player – but it can catch the topped fairway wood or mishit long-iron that might be needed to play at the green and that adds a slight psychological terror to it’s an otherwise manageable carry. The pitches and putts around the broad meadow of this green complex aren’t hard on the nerves like most of the others; it’s arriving safely aboard that is the difficulty.
No.16 Par 4 371 353 269In its earliest version - as it was contested during the first PGA Championship - #16 played as a 270-yard, drive and pitch hole from the rocky outcropping (at the current forward tee), down through a meadow-like fairway plain, and back up a gentle slope to the single wickedest green site located by Ross, a green that had to be approached from the right.
Very early on - at least as early as 1925 -a new tee was constructed almost 100 yards back in elevated scrub and rock and the hole has been played from around the current distance (365-380) ever since. Even with the additional yardage it still had been the green - though softened and made more generous when re-built in the early 1990s - that held the primary strategic consideration of the hole.
Now; there is a competing element for that attention, in the form of a massive irrigation pond that Stephen Kay dug from that broken overgrown moor land along the entire right side. This large dramatic hazard must now be directly challenged to get the best angle into the green, either with a controlled power fade or direct carry of 245 yards. From a conservative restoration perspective, this heroic change is a little shocking.
At the same time it cannot be denied that with a generous fairway boulevard on the left to play away from this new pond, it only compels its challenge for the player going for the best angle into the green. This is, and always was, a great reward but it now comes at a very great risk - so it can be said to enhance the strategic problems and the value of executing a worthy answer.
Still, it is the consideration of approach to the green - the basic Ross tenet of this hole (and much of his oeuvre) - that makes this new element worth anything at all. This target is a speedy, rectangular surface benched into a side slope, possessing an extreme high left side which is 3 - 4 feet higher than the right. Missing left of this green is simply not an option.
It’s a seven-foot drop to this day’s hole location from high left of the 16th green. Pitches and putts on this side need uncanny touch to be successful no matter where the cup is placed.Short pins are toughest to access and toughest to putt back to if you go past or left of them. Those putts can break up to eight feet and can become embarrassing. While the new pond draws too much of the eye, 16 is still an interesting hole for archivists, renovators and architects to study - for it has been the one most altered on the course while yet preserving its' original strategic essence, if not its “look.”
No. 17 Par 4 385 339 278
Now with the jungle of trees and overgrowth gone along the left, Ross’ superb diagonal lines of play are once again in full view.
The penultimate hole is the last par 4 the player faces and it is (just like the #7, of which it is visually reminiscent) something of a thesis on the design of a medium-length hole with minimal hazard, conceived from the strategy of the green backward to the tee.
Man is this some green site; a wild potato chip sloping front to back. No matter how many times you play it, you never get tired of trying to figure the landing point, bounce and roll out for that day’s pin.In this case the green is a magnificent circular plaza, tilted front to back and right to left with a precipitous shelf that falls off sharply into the left rough. It is also on a skyline horizon from the sunken fairway which is some 15 feet below. In total, this situation calls for placement of the drive in the left portion of the fairway so as to preserve the best vision of the semi-blind contours in the green and the best angle to play them.
Accessing that left side requires a 250 yd+ draw that winds up in the left center of the fairway. At this distance, there is a small bunker pinching in from the right to grab a ball that doesn't draw or is pushed. On the left, the best spot is troubled by some of the healthiest, deepest rough on the course which awaits a slight pull with broken ground rocky badlands a little further left that will capture a hook.
No. 18 Par 5 532 514 422When you arrive at the 18th you may not remember that you haven’t played a Par 5 in twelve holes after playing two of them back-back a few hours ago. Despite – or maybe because of – that memory, the 18th seems a just and fitting three-shot conclusion to your day. Eliciting that same strength of #5, this hole is all about the play of the second shot which were designed – as all the “long holes” at Siwanoy were - with a diagonal hazard in the second shot zone.
260 yards out from the tee, the 18th hole swings to the right, opening up a handsome view of the home stretch.If you can avoid the restored serpentine bunker that is positioned to the right of the prime driving zone, the question you have on the second stroke is how much club to hit and where to aim it to produce a nice flat, short third in front of the diagonal hazard ditch approximately 90 yards from the green. For the big hitter thinking about making it in two, the drive must be smashed nearly 290 yards into a very small angle of fairway to then confront a 230-250 bomb off a wavy lie – good luck to you.
For most of us playing it as a three-shotter, the best overall spot is accessed by gauging a shot some 160-175 yards down the edge of the left rough where the ball will kick off a slope and cradle into the prime spot – 115 to 130 yards away from the green with a good lie and head-on view.
Ross stated a predilection for diagonal hazards as a strategic element of design. Like all of the 3-shot holes at Siwanoy, a deep angled ditch 90 yards away from the green gets the player’s attention on the second stroke of this fine finisherThis third shot is not ultra-demanding…a short iron in your hand and a fairly benign (though small) green to play to. The putting surface does get a little fast and steep on the left side, but given what you’ve faced throughout a day at Siwanoy, it is by no means a finishing grind like Oakmont, Merion, Winged Foot West, Riviera and other courses of similar age and stature. The sprightly white clubhouse and the soft chatter of balcony diners lend a quaint, traditional feel to the end of your round.
Last Remarks:Filled with visual interest and antique charm Siwanoy is a easily-walked fun course, a “fair” course and a very playable course you desire to tackle over and over. Both the spirit and the flesh are made willing and able. The birdies and double-bogeys it yields are not the purview of dumb luck or sour fortune, they are the kind of scores attained in a manner that make you want to play the hole again. It hardly ever beats you up, yet it can never be called a push-over; it’s perfect in all these ways.
Siwanoy is a stellar match play venue as it can be well-navigated by the modest hitter and usually frustrates the bomber. At medal play, the tiny slick greens and oft-nasty rough more than make-up for any perceived lack of distance and it routinely stands up well to the fine tournament competitors of the Met Area. What more could you ask from a great little course that engages more thought per yard than all its famous brothers in the neighborhood?
(Once again, sorry for the scroll bars)
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