[Matthew Sander]

Members and Beverly aficionados would have more accurate historical information, but Hole 10 seems to me to represent an important routing decision.

The property at Beverly is not large, and every available square foot needed to be used efficiently to make the course so interesting.  The mid-length (longish middle length at that) 10th runs very near the clubhouse in a rather nondescript section of the property. While a fine hole, it would seem its primary function is to get you to 11 tee. Is there a better way to use this pocket of land? Someone actually schooled in the art of routing would have to comment on that. But what it does is make room for the fantastic stretch of holes that are the last 8 at Beverly.

I guess the 15th or 16th could be extended into this area with the result being an even tougher REALLY long par 4 (or even par 5). If that were the case though, then another hole would need to be found on this side of 87th which would compromise the excellent holes that exist today. So while the 10th may not make a significant impression on a Beverly visitor, it makes that great finishing stretch possible.

One related question for members and those in the know: Has Beverly always been in possession of the land that makes up the driving range and practice area, or was that acquired over time?

[Phil McDade]

Matthew:

#10 and its routing is part of the original, pre-Ross design (as are the next six holes to follow -- broadly speaking; #13 represents an interesting twist that Ross brought to the course). The land the course now uses for much of #17, much of #18, and some of the current driving range/short game practice area/putting green areas came later, acquired by the club and then utilized by Ross in his re-do of the course. The back nine at Beverly includes three par 3s (10, 12, and 17) -- not surprising, given that there is generally less land available in the southern half of the course (south of W. 87th) then the northern half. The current clubhouse, parking lots and practice areas take up a fair amount of land (although much of it abuts W. 87th and Western Avenue, where maybe it's a good thing there aren't holes hugging those boundaries).

To me, the routing of the front nine by Ross shows a bit more ingenuity than the routing of the back nine. Holes 11 and 15 run over the most rambunctious land on the back nine, so it made sense to route two lengthy holes over that terrain. The par 3 12th is something of a connector hole that gets you to the far end of the property and the back-and-forth par 4s of #13 and #14, which then bring the golfer back to the very good terrain of the 15th. From there, it was simply a matter of another U-shaped run of three holes to get back to the clubhouse.

Given that the back nine follows the original George O'Neil corridors for the first seven holes, I can quite easily envision him routing the last two holes in roughly the same manner of Ross had he worked with the expanded footprint given to Ross. I suppose there is an argument for using the land near/around the practice range for a hole, but I don't know that the land is that distinguished, and the first seven holes of the back nine flow so well (at least for my tastes) that I'm not sure sacrificing the 10th for something else on the other side of the clubhouse would be worth it. The final stretch of holes at Beverly (most consider it starting at 15; I think 14 is a terrific hole) really is exceptional.

[Terry Lavin]

We are now four days in between holes, so I am going to take Andrew's place and profile the 11th hole.

#11 Par 5 611/554

Named "Old Profanity", the 11th hole is a straight, long and demonic three-shot test.  Bordered on the right by out-of-bounds in the form of a fence and a railway line, the tee shot is from an elevated surface from which one can basically see the entire hole, as the green is pretty much straight away, with some curves in the fairway along the way.  This is a departure from the original hole, as Langford came in sometime around 1960 and removed some rolling hills that lay in front of the old tee, which was dead-flat, then resulting in a blind tee shot on a 600 yard hole.  The dirt removed was used to build the elevated tee, which is to the player's visual benefit, but which defeated the lay of the land look of the original hole.  

Protecting against pushing the ball on the tracks, the player is leaning to the left, which isn't much of a bargain, because there is a Willie Mays ("catches everything") bunker in the landing area on the left side of the fairway.  That's a half-shot penalty on a good day.  Continuing forward, there's a mistake bunker on the left that only catches missed/pulled second shots and there are two bunkers on the right side of the fairway that are about 175 and 150 yards from the green.  The green itself is a very large hogback green with a kyphotic curve of a spine separating the left and right sides.  It is steeply pitched from back to front and is bordered by three large bunkers (two on the right and one on the left).  There's a steep dropoff past the green, which presents a formidable challenge to the overly ambitious player, because the tilt of the green invites a quickly rolling ball to reenter the fairway.

This is probably viewed by most as the toughest hole for a regular player, since it has great length, some layup precision and a very demanding green at the close of business.  The next three holes, by comparison, allow a player without length to try to compete, with a shortish par-3 and back to back short par 4's.  I've dubbed this the Beverly Triangle, a place where many an overconfident player ruined his round with a wayward short or two when he could have made three pars and steeled himself for the brutal finishing four.

I'll leave #12 to Mr. Lewis.  If he ever rejoins the broadcast, that is!

[PThomas]

Such a good golf course and it was fine condition when I played the other day..

favorite front 9 holes: 6, 7 and  esp. 8

[Phil McDade]

We are now four days in between holes, so I am going to take Andrew's place and profile the 11th hole.

#11 Par 5 611/554

Named "Old Profanity", the 11th hole is a straight, long and demonic three-shot test.  Bordered on the right by out-of-bounds in the form of a fence and a railway line, the tee shot is from an elevated surface from which one can basically see the entire hole, as the green is pretty much straight away, with some curves in the fairway along the way.  This is a departure from the original hole, as Langford came in sometime around 1960 and removed some rolling hills that lay in front of the old tee, which was dead-flat, then resulting in a blind tee shot on a 600 yard hole.  

Langford? That sounds decidely un-Langford-like. I heard it was R.B. Harris who took it out after the prolonged club debate.

[Andrew Lewis]

Catching up...

Hole #11 (Par 5, 584 yds, 572 yds)

The drive and layup – From the left of the 10th green, the 11th is a long hole turns back to the south and stretches almost the entire length of the western border of the club’s southern property; and a championship tee box at 604 yards means that it oftentimes will play even longer.

The landing area for the drive is somewhat obscured, thanks to a ridge that cuts across the fairway around 140 yards from the tee and the rolling land that the golfer will notice is typical of the back nine.  Trees, the OB fence and train tracks frame the right side of the hole.  More trees and the 15th fairway line the left.  A bunker is visible the left side of the fairway around 220 yards from the tee.
The tee ball will either start at the caddies standing to the right side of the fairway ridge and draw back into the center (if one isn’t afraid of a block OB), or at the bunker on the left and fade back into the center (if one isn’t afraid of a double-cross onto the 15th hole or an over-cut ball OB).  If well struck, it will carry past the left fairway bunker, land on a downhill slope and give the golfer much appreciated extra distance.
The second shot will play over slightly downhill land to a second fairway bunker some 220 yards from the green and grove of trees on the left, then back uphill beyond a series of three fairway bunkers that stretch from around 180 to 75 yards from the green on the right, then downhill again toward the green, and then uphill again onto the putting surface.

The left-hand fairway bunker should be in play only for recoveries from errant tee shots.  From the fairway, the golfer will hit anything from 3-wood to 6-iron in order to try to position his ball as close to the right-hand fairway bunkers as possible as far down the fairway as possible in order to open up the preferred angle into the green.  It all depends on whether he is more confident with a longer club on the second or third shot.

I suppose that in theory a very long hitter could reach this green in two.  But I have seen far more people play the hole down the adjacent 15th fairway than I have seen try the heroic shot.

The approach – With an open front, the 11th green accepts the running approach shots that are often required due to the distance of shot or the need to hit a low hook around trees from the left rough.  But with the steep drop-offs to traps on both the left and right of the green and the severe back-to-front slope of the green that will penalize a recovery shot from long, trouble abounds.
The most successful layups will result in a mid to short iron approach with a flattish or slightly uphill lie.  Most pin locations are favorably approached with a draw due to the general left-to-right slope of the green.  But distance control should receive priority over shot shape – it is critical to stay below the hole.

The green – As noted already, the green is steeply sloped from back to front with a spine that divides the green vertically from front to back.  Another horizontal ridge near the back third of the green creates interesting mini-greens that are a bit flatter – yet by no means flat – than the front two-thirds.

Putts from the center spine will generally break toward the edges.  However, on the left-hand side of the green putts will also break from the edge back to the center thanks to the hillside that extends from the left side of the green up to the tee complex shared by the 15th and 17th holes.  On the right-hand side of the green, that is not the case. 

As with the forthcoming 13th, 14th, 17th and 18th holes, the golfer on 11 would do well to hope for back pins as they all but assure an uphill putt.  Front pins, by contrast, are particularly menacing when approached from behind the hole.  The ~50 foot snaking putt yours truly holed from back-center to front-left last weekend to push a few very important Scotch points was most obviously the exception and not the rule.

[Andrew Lewis]

And, on to #12...

Hole #12 (Par 3, 160 yds, 142 yds)

The drive – The golfer exits the 11th green to the right, descends the hillside then backtracks a few yards before climbing up the terraced mounds that form the 12th tee.  The shortest one-shotter on the course, the 12th plays across a drainage pond to a hillside littered with bunkers and one of the more severe greens on the course.

The train tracks remain very much in play along the right-hand side of the hole for either a blocked draw or over-cut fade.  A playing competitor and fellow member actually hit a cold shank into an oncoming locomotive during our member-guest event last year – immediately after recounting his glory days as, ahem, a college golfer.

With a short iron in hand, this is one of two holes (14 is the other) on which the golfer my feel some pressure to attack the pin for a short look at birdie.  But that is not always the wise play, given the aforementioned severity of the green, the plentitude of hazards that abut its surface, including the sharp fall-off behind.

The green – The front two-thirds of the 12th green has a severe back to front slope with a central spine that pushes balls toward the edges, and the back third forms a flatter shelf.  Putts that come to rest in the same section as the pin can be very makeable, provided they are not above or even with the pin in the front third.  Putts that must travel from the back third of the green onto the downhill slope are likely to run through to the fringe or beyond.

It cannot be over-stressed that it is far better to have a 20-foot uphill putt, or to be in the front or side bunkers, than to be any distance above the hole.

Other commentary – The first time I played this hole, my first thought was “hmmm…this looks very similar to third hole at Pine Needles.”  It was only later, after reading Ran’s write-up, that I realized he already had made the same observation…a decade earlier…damn you, Ran!

[John McCarthy]

As a one time guest at the Bev, all three of us in the group ended up short.  The pin was short and none of us spin it much but I thought I had a nine right on the money (white tee) .  Is that unusual? 

[Terry Lavin]

As a one time guest at the Bev, all three of us in the group ended up short.  The pin was short and none of us spin it much but I thought I had a nine right on the money (white tee) .  Is that unusual? 

There's a fair amount of tough to diagnose carry on 12.

[Terry Lavin]

We are now four days in between holes, so I am going to take Andrew's place and profile the 11th hole.

#11 Par 5 611/554

Named "Old Profanity", the 11th hole is a straight, long and demonic three-shot test.  Bordered on the right by out-of-bounds in the form of a fence and a railway line, the tee shot is from an elevated surface from which one can basically see the entire hole, as the green is pretty much straight away, with some curves in the fairway along the way.  This is a departure from the original hole, as Langford came in sometime around 1960 and removed some rolling hills that lay in front of the old tee, which was dead-flat, then resulting in a blind tee shot on a 600 yard hole.  

Langford? That sounds decidely un-Langford-like. I heard it was R.B. Harris who took it out after the prolonged club debate.

I was told as much by an informed source but you may be right.

[Matthew Sander]

To me, the routing of the front nine by Ross shows a bit more ingenuity than the routing of the back nine. Holes 11 and 15 run over the most rambunctious land on the back nine, so it made sense to route two lengthy holes over that terrain. The par 3 12th is something of a connector hole that gets you to the far end of the property and the back-and-forth par 4s of #13 and #14, which then bring the golfer back to the very good terrain of the 15th. From there, it was simply a matter of another U-shaped run of three holes to get back to the clubhouse.

Phil,

You'll get no argument from me on your above points. The way the ridgeline is used on the first nine just brings so much variety. You have an elevated full tee shot (2nd), the all world green site (5th), a downhill par 3 tee shot (6th), and a heroic up and over carry off the tee (7th). All of this from one landform. How many designs on the same property would feature 4 expansive downhill tee shots with that feature? I suppose quite a few.

My only point regarding the 10th is that it allows for what unfolds later on the back nine. Simple math would dictate that if someone tried to do more with that little piece of property and incorporate it into other holes, then the real meat of the back 9 would look different. It is hard to imagine how it could be better.

I will gladly cede that the routing on the front may reflect more ingenuity, as you put it, but my preference is for the collection of holes on the back.

[Terry Lavin]

12 is a nice connector hole that sits in a tight spot behind the 14th green and just in front of the 13th tee. The green was rebuilt decades ago and it is a large, rumpled and sloped devil with some perilous hole locations. Probably the most challenging setup that reveals the original intent of the architect is with the tees and hole set up short. It's a pretty little hole that's a tough birdie, easy par on most days. The irrigation pond in front of the green is the only water on the course. It is only in play for a badly missed tee shot. The hole is the site of a famous "air strike" phone call to the locker room in which a very wet member called in for new clothes after his shot dribbled into the drink. He lost the bet and had to swim across the fetid, chemical-laced pond.

[Mark Smolens]

Played Bev with my bosses' brother some years back on beautiful June afternoon. My Mom was our featured guest. Lots of members wondering why Neal would bring a woman out as a guest on a Friday afternoon ("are we going to be stuck behind some old lady?"). When Mom was half a hole ahead of our host and my boss as we played #2, that issue was settled. Tho she had trouble getting her ball up the hill on 7 (at that point the group behind was almost two holes back), she did hit it in there 10' on #12. . Can't play that hole without remembering her smile as she rolled in a birdie -- as her son made double after skull-bleeping a sand shot across the green!

[Andrew Lewis]

It's been a couple days, so I'll try to stay ahead of The Judge's premature thread-jack-ulation...

Hole #13 (Par 4, 385 yds, 374 yds)

The drive – The golfer descends straight off the back of the 12th green and beneath a few trees to find the 13th tee wedged into the far southwest corner of the property. 

Beginning the first of two sets of back-and-forth holes, the 13th plays to the east along 91st St., up and over a large hill with the fairway blind to the player, then over slightly inclining land to the green, which occupies the far southeast corner of the property.

For me, this is one of the most challenging drives on the course.  Trees and OB guard the entire right side of the hole and, because the tee box and shortly mown walking path that traverses the hill align with the far right side of the fairway, it isn’t a comfortable look or angle for a player who favors a draw.  The trees that line the left side of the fairway always seem to encroach more than they do, exacerbated perhaps by the blind nature of the shot.  (Note to self – Time to get more comfortable hitting a fade.)

The caddies will perch on the left side of the hill behind a metal protective fence in order to spot where tee shots land.

The approach – A solid tee ball will leave an approach in the range of 150 and 115 yards that plays a half-club uphill.  From the fairway, the main challenge is judging distance so as to remain below the hole while also avoiding a bunker that fronts the right half of the green and another that borders the left side.  A third bunker sits to the back-right of the green and, with appropriate club selection, really shouldn’t come into play.

Approach shots from the grove of trees on the left of the fairway will vary from a low draw that runs onto the green or into the front-right bunker, to a high wedge over the trees to leave a 50-yard pitch to a simple punch back into the fairway.  (Insider’s Tip – Don’t be a hero from the left side.  A five is fine; a six is not.)

The green – The green would be a large rectangle, but for the front and back bunkers on the right which compress the depth on that side.  The front left sits at grade with the fairway before rising steeply to the back.  The pinched right section similarly slopes from back to front, and also from right to left.

Unlike many of the other holes on the course, the sharp back-to-front slope on the 13th green is not as obvious due to a combination of the general uphill nature of the land and the relative lack of depth in the flanking bunkers.  As a result, first-time visitors oftentimes have serious trouble reading speed when putting vertically along the green, and break when putting horizontally across.

With its combination of interesting hole locations and the terror one feels when trying to recover (or just two-putt) from above the hole, despite its relatively benign appearance, this may be my favorite green on the course.  Except when one’s playing competitor nails a long putt from the left edge of the green to a center-right hole with some 10 feet of break for birdie, as may have happened last weekend.

[J_ Crisham]

Back in the caddying days the best thing about 13 was forecaddying up on the hill. If you get up there real quick it was the perfect spot to launch a few of your members balls over the trees into Evergreen CC before your player reached the 13 teebox. Those were the days.....

[Terry Lavin]

This is one of the holes where the player has a good chance to make birdie...or double.  There's peril aplenty off the tee and the second shot has a fair bit of carry to it that many players seem to forget.  Getting above this hole leads to a very difficult two-putt.  Having said that, a bunt drive or solid fairway wood and a straight eight or nine iron followed by a two putts usually does the trick.  This hole is yet another expression of a good design of a boundary/corner hole.  It's dead straight with OB the entire length of the hole on the right, but when you get over the hill, you'll discover that there's a lot more room to the left than you might have thought.

[J_ Crisham]

The back right bunker may be the scariest bunker shot at Bev- not the place to be!

[Phil McDade]

A really neat hole that changed when Ross took the original routing and tweaked it; I believe the original tee sat on top of the hill, and Ross moved it back to the far corner of the property, creating a wonderful blind tee shot. Truth is, the tee shot seems more intimidating than in reality, save for the wild banana off the tee that ends up on 91st Street beyond the tree-lined boundary of the course. There is more room left than appears on the teeing ground. A very slick green from above the hole, as Andrew notes.

[Matthew Sander]

In my few plays,  I have found 13 deceptively difficult. As previously mentioned, a dependable fade would pay dividends here so you could get to the center or right/center without stressing over 91st St.

Funny though, previous posters have mentioned that there is more room left than you realize, but my mind's eye paints a different picture. I actually find the opposite is true for me. I have found it is easy to be partially blocked (especially for left hand hole locations) if you favor the left much at all. The blind tee shot spices up what might otherwise be, visually speaking, one of the more bland holes at Beverly.

Andrew makes an excellent point above regarding the back to front slope at 13's green. It must be exacerbated by the overall slope of the land, because to the eye it doesn't seem to be nearly as drastic as some of the other greens, but it is quite treacherous. Going over the green to a back hole location is no good...I hope I've learned that lesson.

[Andrew Lewis]

Hole #14 (Par 4, 333 yds, 327 yds)

The drive – The golfer turns left off the 13th green to find the 14th hole playing back to the west.  13 and 14 represent the “short-ish” back-to-back par-four companion holes, with the upcoming 15th and 16th representing the “long-ish” pair.
The main tee box on 14 plays straight away with trees set back in the rough on both sides until one reaches flanking bunkers both left and right around 230 yards from the tee.

An alternate box sits further to the north from the 13th green and, although it does not lengthen the hole, dramatically changes the angle of play into an abrupt dogleg-right with trees defining the corner.  (Note to self – So it’s definitely time to get serious about hitting a fade.)

An additional stretch of fairway extends past the pinching fairway bunkers to the front greenside trap.

Most players will hit a 3-wood or hybrid as the hole is mostly about position to leave a comfortable distance and angle for a full wedge to 8 iron into the green.  When the tee and pin both are back, some of the longer hitters will play driver in hope of shortening the approach.

I have seen a few tee shots hit into the aforementioned front trap, but given its depth and the perched nature of the green, I certainly wouldn’t consider this a drive-able hole.

The approach – As the shortest par 4 on the course, the golfer often will place additional pressure on himself to have a reasonable look at birdie which, in turn, can easily bring higher numbers into play.

From just in front of the fairway bunkers, the main consideration is distance control in order to stay below the hole.  But direction matters too as slightly pulled or pushed shots will find one of the deep greenside traps.

A tee shot that has strayed left will typically have a clear view if far enough down the hole, albeit with a far worse angle from thick rough, which complicates the shot.  The same can be said from misses to the right of the fairway, although on that side one must hope that the ball carries far enough to the right to open up an angle for recovery.

The green – Another longer-than-wide rectangle with significant back-to-front slope, the 14th green yields very makeable putts if one manages to stay below the hole.  Otherwise, defense becomes a priority so as to avoid turning a look at birdie into a three-putt double, or worse.

(Insider’s Tip – Despite the prevailing back-to-front cant of the green, putts from the back-left to the middle-right of the green will actually play flat to even slightly uphill due to the overall slope of the land toward the back of the green, and the hillside that extends upwards from the right side of the green.  The optics of this simply don’t make sense, but it has proven true time and time again.  Hopefully Terry will chime in on this, as he's the one who pointed it out to me on my first play.)

[Terry Lavin]

This thread is like playing 18 holes with 18 rain delays!

As to #14, when we were going through the process of getting member approval of Prichard's Master Plan, we were running into "political" problems with various "constituencies" in the club and it was getting pretty frustrating.  At the time, Beverly was recognized as one of the "harder" courses in Chicago, but much of its difficulty stemmed from the overplanting of trees which left us with bowling alley fairways and very difficult recovery shots from the trees.  Like many restorations, there was significant tree removal involved.  This set off a lot of carping that tree removal would make the course "too easy" and would injure our reputation.

Ultimately, Prichard came up with a great vehicle to get member approval.  He proposed that he would take the course's most vanilla hole, restore it the way he thought it should be done and if the members liked the result, he would do the rest of the job.  This is the hole he selected.  At the time, it had an extra forty or so trees that infringed on the fairway.  There were two bunkers, but they ran parallel, not perpendicular, to the fairway.  The hole was just plain dull.  Prichard cut down the trees, put two perpendicular bunkers that penetrated the fairway at different lengths and on different sides of the fairway and he created a natural grassed area to the left of the greenside bunkers.  All of the members loved the changes, which they were not able to appreciate with the written proposal because they were not equipped with photo-shop eyes.

As for the thought of hitting the green, it surely is short enough for a bomber to reach, but a couple things militate such strategy.  First, the areas to the left, right and long of the green represent some very difficult recovery shots to execute.  Going long, if one hits the backslope of the green, you can propel your ball into the pond on the 12th hole which is behind and to the left of 14 green.  Going to the right, you can wind up on the 11th green or one of its greenside bunkers.  Going to the left, you'll find a bunch of trees and your good friend, Heather.  I have seen big hitters purposely try to hit their tee shot into the front bunker, and to a front hole location, this could be a pretty good play, because a nice sand shot can help negate some of the extreme slope in the front hole locations.  At the US Senior Am, Vinny Giles hit into this bunker with his tee shot, but his strategy was foiled when he hit his sand shot well above the front pin and three-putted.  (He won on the 18th hole when his eagle putt went in on the par-5 hole, meaning that he scored better on the 550 yard finisher than he did this little bunt par-4.)

As for the green, as has been mentioned on numerous occasions, most of the BCC greens are canted back to front and some quite severely.  By all outward appearances, this green would seem entirely consistent with that theme, but that is not really the case.  The front of this green is pretty pitched.  The back and middle appear to be similarly pitched, but the clever position of the green, built into the side of a prominent swale to the right, reduces the pitch significantly, resulting in a scary looking putt that is actually pretty flat.  Additionally, putting sideslope from left to right can be very slow and putting in the opposite direction can get pretty quick.  The juxtaposition of this green coming after 13 which is wickedly fast back to front makes this green one that players routinely overestimate in terms of quickness.

Having said all that, it's a pretty easy hole if one hits it 225 off the tee, avoids the bunkers and puts the ball on the green reasonably close to the hole.  Getting aggressive can lead to issues.

The real pain and suffering starts on the next hole, which presages one of the better finishes in Chicagoland in terms of variety, beauty and difficulty.

[Andrew Buck]

In my few plays,  I have found 13 deceptively difficult. As previously mentioned, a dependable fade would pay dividends here so you could get to the center or right/center without stressing over 91st St.

Funny though, previous posters have mentioned that there is more room left than you realize, but my mind's eye paints a different picture. I actually find the opposite is true for me. I have found it is easy to be partially blocked (especially for left hand hole locations) if you favor the left much at all. The blind tee shot spices up what might otherwise be, visually speaking, one of the more bland holes at Beverly.

Andrew makes an excellent point above regarding the back to front slope at 13's green. It must be exacerbated by the overall slope of the land, because to the eye it doesn't seem to be nearly as drastic as some of the other greens, but it is quite treacherous. Going over the green to a back hole location is no good...I hope I've learned that lesson.

Matthew,

I agree completely.  I believe I found the overhanging trees on the left both of my rounds as well.

I almost certainly would play a 3-wood or hybrid in competition. 

[Phil McDade]

The 14th is one of my favorite holes at the Bev -- certainly not the most difficult hole out there, as it plays straight away and is one of the shortest par 4s on the course. As Terry and Andrew suggest, the player who goes after it aggressively can get in a heap of trouble. That to me is the sign of a solid short par 4 -- tempting, yet troublesome. The green is quite good; by now the player has seen a lot of back-to-front sloping greens, and this one can be really confounding. I had no clue had to read putts here.

[Matthew Sander]

14 is one of my favorites as well. For one thing, it's just so darn perdy. I mentioned in another Beverly thread that the shaping of 14 really catches my eye, with the bunkering and push up green.

Moving on from the superficial observations (although I'll readily admit that I put a bit too much stock in those very things for my own preferences), the primary tee shot options/choices revolve around what club to use, as opposed to line. Above, Andrew mentions missing the fairway left and the consequences that follow. While the angle from the left rough is quite good, my recollection is that it is some of the thickest, lushest rough on the golf course. I imagine the general right to left tilt of the fairway encourages surface water to drain into this area and contribute to the turf conditions.

Even though the approach will be with a short iron, the green's perched nature and encircling bunkers require a complete carry to find the putting surface. Accomplishing this from that thick rough is no easy task and distance control is very important. The likely result is a bunkered approach, or a shot left well above the hole on a green that can be difficult to read. Put more concisely, it is advisable to find the fairway with your tee shot.

[Andrew Lewis]

This thread is like playing 18 holes with 18 rain delays!

Yeah yeah. Just be aware that I showed some of your writing to a few neurologists at the meeting I'm attending in Stockholm. They are, ahem, concerned. 

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