If given the opportunity in stroke play or an important match, which par 3s would you accept a score of 4 on rather than have to play?
3 holes in northern Michigan come to mind:
#9 at Kingsley Club which has basically terrorized me each time I have played it. I may have parred it in my limited plays there but all I can remember is hitting shot after shot AWAY from the hole.
#2 at Kingsley Club. In a crosswind, this is probably the shortest hole in the world on which I would lay up.
IMO, part of the genius of these holes is that I
can take four every time I play them if that's what I'm trying to do. I think both are pretty easy fours, but the big numbers come when you're trying to make three. On #2, dump it into the gully on the right, pitch to the back of the green, and two putt. On #9, miss inside the boomerang, pitch up, and two putt. Admittedly on #9, the middle shelf is challenging even on a pitch. I've seen someone hit a pretty good shot to that pin out the middle bunker, grab a rake, clean up, walk to his bag, grab his putter, and walk to the green, only to realize his ball was back in the bunker. Then again, I've also seen that the hole halved with birdies with that pin. But there's definitely a fairly simple strategy for making four every time on each hole.