Name your favourite layup hole on a Major Championship course

[John Chilver-Stainer]

Forced Layup holes don’t get much love on GCA. Golfers hate having to lose distance


Personally I think the Forced Layup offers a great “risk reward” hazard as they are an exacting test of distance control.


The standard “Risk/Reward” is usually about challenging a narrowing fairway where the reward is the distance gained by not laying up and so no loss of distance. Think 18th at Muirfield


My nomination is the 16th at Troon.
http://www.royaltroon.co.uk/courses/old-course/16


I visited the Open this year and was watching the players laying up their Tee shots as near as possible to the narrow ditch crossing the 16th Fairway.
Some of the balls got perilously close to the ditch, offering a clear reward for the second shot, compared to others who avoided the risk and landed cautiously 20 yards further back.

[jeffwarne]

Forced Layup holes don’t get much love on GCA. Golfers hate having to lose distance


Personally I think the Forced Layup offers a great “risk reward” hazard as they are an exacting test of distance control.


The standard “Risk/Reward” is usually about challenging a narrowing fairway where the reward is the distance gained by not laying up and so no loss of distance. Think 18th at Muirfield


My nomination is the 16th at Troon.
http://www.royaltroon.co.uk/courses/old-course/16


I visited the Open this year and was watching the players laying up their Tee shots as near as possible to the narrow ditch crossing the 16th Fairway.
Some of the balls got perilously close to the ditch, offering a clear reward for the second shot, compared to others who avoided the risk and landed cautiously 20 yards further back.

13 at Augusta (more so back in the day-but Zack Johnson was a good example)
A hole that is easily reachable but often the best play is a layup-to a very wide variety of places depending upon pin placement -even more so without a gallery


8 at Augusta-not the usual layup 100 yards short of the green.
The best play depending upon the pin is often to the right and often past the green due to mounds and slope of green.
Years ago this was not a layup as the hole was very rarely reachable (despite Devlin's 2 in 1967 )

[Thomas Dai]

How about the 10th at Riviera?
18th at Carnoustie in times gone by. Maybe still if they used the back tees.

'Forced' lay-up isn't the same as 'chose-to' lay-up though and lay-up can be second/third shot as well as from the tee.

A few 'chose-to' major championships examples -

Hogan is supposed to have said something like "If you see me on the 11th green at ANGC in two then you'll know I pulled my second shot".
Faldo apparently always used to play short-right of the 17th green at TOC.
Nicklaus hardly using a Driver at Muirfield 1966
Tiger's non use of the Driver at Hoylake
Mickelson winning at Muirfield without a Driver in the bag
Didn't Billy Casper win the Masters laying-up on all the par-5's?
Peter Thomson frequently at The Open
Harry Vardon is supposed to have layed-up short of a second bunker on the 72nd hole at one of his Open victories and beat I believe it was JH Taylor in the play-off the next day.

Atb

[Sean_A]

Sandwich's Suez.


Ciao

[Adam Lawrence]

Faldo apparently always used to play short-right of the 17th green at TOC.

I think Faldo was the guy who popularised the idea of going long and left on the Road hole, towards the 18th tee.

[Carl Rogers]

Would No. 3 at ANGC be classified as a lay up hole?  Most of the Masters field do not use driver.

[jeffwarne]

Would No. 3 at ANGC be classified as a lay up hole?  Most of the Masters field do not use driver.

Carl,
3 at Augusta is one of the few holes IMPROVED by technology.
Once they put the left bunkers in (Nicklaus added even more) all the choices were just about eliminated until tech made it possible to hit it up near/on the green.
Before recent tech (john Daly excluded)it was a steady parade of long irons to a fairway made skinny by left bunkers and overhanging pines on the right

[Thomas Dai]

Faldo apparently always used to play short-right of the 17th green at TOC.

I think Faldo was the guy who popularised the idea of going long and left on the Road hole, towards the 18th tee.

Not sure on this Adam but I do recall Notah Begay attempting the long-left route and going into the Swilken Burn!


As to others, there's Billy Casper deliberatey laying-up on a par-3 at Winger Foot when he won the US Open.


Atb

[Niall C]

Another Hogan story, or at least I think it was Hogan  , where he reputedly lay up each day at the 16th at Carnoustie making par each time when he won the Open there.


In the same vein, it's supposed to be the way to play the second ay Dornoch but not sure I've ever been able to restrain myslef from going for it.



Niall

[Alex Miller]

Although sometimes reached, Long at TOC is my fav.

[David_Tepper]

"In the same vein, it's supposed to be the way to play the second at Dornoch but not sure I've ever been able to restrain myself from going for it."

Niall -

In the 25-30 rounds a year I play at Dornoch, I lay up on #2 at least 9 out of 10 times.

DT

[Chris Roselle]

Would the 5th at Pine Valley GC count?

[BCrosby]

Adam says:

"I think Faldo was the guy who popularised the idea of going long and left on the Road hole, towards the 18th tee."

Faldo's playing strategy is interesting. Before the current 1st green was built by OTM (1860?), wouldn't that have been the route to the first green (now the 17th)? 

Bob

[Jim Nugent]

On #8 at Pebble you have to lay up off the tee. 

[Matt Frey, PGA]

I sat in the grandstands on No. 4 at Oakmont for an hour or so this summer during the third round of the U.S. Open and that layup seemed to give a lot of players fits.

[Tim_Weiman]

Would the 5th at Pine Valley GC count?

I think it would.

[Eric LeFante]

On #8 at Pebble you have to lay up off the tee.

This one has my vote Jim!

[Eric LeFante]

#1 at Merion off the tee. I think you could count on one hand the number of players that took driver out at the 2013 U.S. Open.

#15 at Winged Foot West off the tee short of the creek

#16 at Olympic, long double dogleg par 5, second shot. It was a lay-up off the tee in the final round of the 2012 U.S. Open when they moved the tee up 100 yards and it cost Jim Furyk the championship.

#18 at Olympic off the tee

#18 at Inverness off the tee


#14 at Muifield Village off the tee


#17 Baltusrol Lower, second shot

[Wade Whitehead]

14 at Pebble (though I know it has its critics).

WW

[David Wuthrich]

# 10 at Shinnecock.


Lay back and you have at least 160 yards to the green.


Drive it to the bottom of the hill and you have an impossible 60 yard shot uphill to that green.


I like to attack it from up top, but have seen many good short game players play the shorter shot.


Options!!!

[Bill_McBride]

Sandwich's Suez.


Ciao

Could flying Suez really be an option?   It proved insurmountable for me in two!

[JESII]

# 10 at Shinnecock.


Lay back and you have at least 160 yards to the green.


Drive it to the bottom of the hill and you have an impossible 60 yard shot uphill to that green.


I like to attack it from up top, but have seen many good short game players play the shorter shot.


Options!!!

Beat me to it!


Amazing hole...

[Greg Chambers]

Would the 5th at Pine Valley GC count?

I think it would.

How many majors has Pine Valley hosted?

[Pat Burke]

1 riviera
8 Pebble

[Sean_A]

Sandwich's Suez.


Ciao

Could flying Suez really be an option?   It proved insurmountable for me in two!

I can't fly Suez, but in the right conditions I can hit it. 


Ciao