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Brian_Ewen

  • Karma: +0/-0
Yas Links 18th Hole
« on: January 23, 2022, 04:13:30 AM »
Early contender for Rant of the Year  :D

https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2022/jan/22/tyrrell-hatton-left-fuming-at-final-hole-after-third-round-in-abu-dhabi

“It must be one of the worst par fives that I’ve ever seen in my life and, over the last two days, I’ve clearly played it about as well as it was designed,” said Hatton, who took seven there on Friday.


Pressed on what precisely is wrong with the 18th, Hatton was not of a mind to back down. “What’s wrong with it? Where do you start?” he asked. “It shouldn’t have a bunker in the middle of the fairway and it shouldn’t be over 600 yards from a forward tee. If you hit a good drive as a pro you should have at least a chance to go for the green in two, otherwise the hole becomes a par three [after the first two shots] and that’s if you play it well. Hardly anyone will get there in two today.

“I can’t remember the last time I got a nine, I certainly haven’t had one that I can recall as a pro. I was probably about 14 the last time it happened.”

Hatton had found the bunker in question from the tee but from a bad lie subsequently had to play on to the 10th fairway. He then hit into water, had to take a drop into cabbage from where he regarded the ball as “basically unplayable”. He ended up in a greenside bunker, took two to get out and the same number of putts.

Thomas Dai

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: Yas Links 18th Hole
« Reply #1 on: January 23, 2022, 05:29:41 AM »

Adam Lawrence

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: Yas Links 18th Hole
« Reply #2 on: January 23, 2022, 07:35:32 AM »
I love Yas Links, but I'm not a fan of the eighteenth. It's just too tough imo, and there's too much likelihood of you dumping two balls in the sea and finishing your round in a foul mood. Very strategic, but in my eyes, just too punishing.
Adam Lawrence

Editor, Golf Course Architecture
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Tom_Doak

  • Karma: +3/-1
Re: Yas Links 18th Hole
« Reply #3 on: January 23, 2022, 07:40:45 AM »
I love Yas Links, but I'm not a fan of the eighteenth. It's just too tough imo, and there's too much likelihood of you dumping two balls in the sea and finishing your round in a foul mood. Very strategic, but in my eyes, just too punishing.


I’m with you on this.  Also the last two holes are not very linksy in character, if you’d been feeling the first 16 were.

Jonathan Cummings

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: Yas Links 18th Hole
« Reply #4 on: January 23, 2022, 07:51:28 AM »
"9" was brutal! 


I wrote a piece for Golfweek a few years back about Yas, which had a humorous aside to it.  They sent me off the back nine first and when I got home, I wrote the article describing and critiquing the course/experience in the order in which I played it.  Luckily GW had the GM at Yas proof the piece before publication.  The guy came back and basically said he didn't recognize anything I wrote!  Yep, I wrote the piece with the nines reversed!  :-)


Never underestimate the value of editing!

Adam_Messix

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: Yas Links 18th Hole
« Reply #5 on: January 23, 2022, 08:33:05 AM »
The "rant" by Hatton epitomizes the mindset of the touring professional today.   They honestly feel that every par 5 should be reachable in two shots.  The truth is if they played par 5s and short par 4s in a more conventional fashion, they would likely make more birdies.


In terms of Yas Links, I liked the 18th hole and found the center line bunker a nice strategic feature.  Admittedly it's not an easy hole and we caught it with the wind blowing in the opposite direction as they played it today. The irony was that we found the 9th hole to be the killer playing directly against the wind.....  a par 4 that we could not reach in two!!!!!

Jeff Schley

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: Yas Links 18th Hole
« Reply #6 on: January 23, 2022, 09:13:20 AM »
In a way if a professional bitches about a course, then we finally are making progress  ;D .
It is a VERY hard hole and yes the center line bunker can put salt on the wound, but if you play it as a three shotter the green is big and receptive to a run up shot. Of course the real issue is the water down the entire left side of the hole.
"To give anything less than your best, is to sacrifice your gifts."
- Steve Prefontaine

Ronald Montesano

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: Yas Links 18th Hole
« Reply #7 on: January 23, 2022, 09:59:07 AM »
As an aside (brave to begin with my aside, I'll admit) it must be interesting to have always been the type of golfer who was going for appropriate-length par five holes in two. I wonder what the strategic interaction between TH and his caddie is, in situations like that one. TH stood minus-six on the 15th tee that day, and closed with bogey-par-par-quint. He is comedic in that tragic, simmering manner. He belittles himself in the manner that you do among friends, until you realize that he might mean it and he needs counseling. I know that the Tour uses him for video fodder (the Fleetwood thing and the recent, one-yard fairway bit) but I also hope that they have someone monitoring him for mental health.


Long aside, it were. Now to the meat of the post. Look at the hole. There is a spit of land between bunker and water. The hole begs you to play out to the right. If, however, you are compelled by fate and hubris to try to reach the green in two, aim at the strand and godspeed. The shortest it can play, according to the card, is 477 yards. That's healthy for a distance-challenged golfer.


Many love the notion of a half-par hole, and this stretch checks all the boxes for one. Play your best and you'll make that par; strike gold and you'll find birdie. Make one mistake along the way, and par goes up that half stroke.


I wonder how the hole's length compares on an ordinary day, to the preceding 17 holes. Does the wind change over the course of a day, or is the morning wind the same throughout the day? If the later is the case, and the zephyrs are quartering against, it is in the hands of the grounds crew to push the tees up a deck or two, for the common amateur.



Coming in 2024
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~Indian Hills
~Maybe some more!!

MCirba

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: Yas Links 18th Hole
« Reply #8 on: January 23, 2022, 10:32:59 AM »
I like the sound of the hole.
« Last Edit: January 23, 2022, 11:38:55 AM by MCirba »
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Brian_Ewen

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: Yas Links 18th Hole
« Reply #9 on: January 23, 2022, 10:56:28 AM »
https://www.golfdigest.com/story/tyrrell-hatton-says-he-would-love-to-blow-up-18th-at-yas-links-literally



On Sunday, even a closing birdie for a round of 67 that took him to seven under par for the week and three shots shy of the winning score did nothing to diminish the famous Hatton temper. He still hates the 18th. And yes, he had more to offer on the subject. Asked how he felt when he arrived on the 72nd tee, he was off and running.


“That I would love for a bomb to drop on it and blow it up to oblivion to be honest,” he said. “It's just such a terrible finishing hole. And the fact that they moved the tee back today is ridiculous. I hit a really good tee shot and still got 290 front. I could peg-up driver up and still not get there. It would be a much better finishing hole if you're actually rewarded for hitting the fairway, which as it stands, you're not.


“I'm obviously not a fan,” he confirmed, just in case anyone was left in any doubt. “If we're coming back here next year, it would be nice if they redesigned it. But I think that's a bit of an ask. Perhaps I may not be back.”


John Chilver-Stainer

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: Yas Links 18th Hole
« Reply #10 on: January 23, 2022, 01:48:22 PM »
Hatton is not the first Pro that believes a Par 5 should be a Par 4, and that the fairway should be unobstructed of hazards to reward his "perfectly nailed" drive


I hope Kyle Phillips gets to redesign the 18th Hole at Yas Links and construct that centreline bunker like a true links revetted bunker 6 feet deep, so Hatton will have to play backwards after hitting his "perfectly nailed" drive into it.  :P ::)

Tommy Williamsen

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: Yas Links 18th Hole
« Reply #11 on: January 23, 2022, 02:56:48 PM »
"If you hit a good drive as a pro you should have at least a chance to go for the green in two, otherwise the hole becomes a par three and that’s if you play it well."
[/size][/color]
[/size]By that logic every par four is a par three.[/color]
Where there is no love, put love; there you will find love.
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John Emerson

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: Yas Links 18th Hole
« Reply #12 on: January 23, 2022, 03:01:03 PM »
If the spoiled narcissistic pros are bitching…it’s probably a decent hole :)
“There’s links golf, then everything else.”

Sean_A

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: Yas Links 18th Hole
« Reply #13 on: January 25, 2022, 02:56:50 AM »
I like the sound of the hole.

I don't. 😎

Ciao
New plays planned for 2024: Nothing

Mark Pearce

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: Yas Links 18th Hole
« Reply #14 on: January 26, 2022, 08:02:17 AM »
If the spoiled narcissistic pros are bitching…it’s probably a decent hole :)
It's my favourite hole on the course, simply because Hatton hates it so much.
In June I will be riding the first three stages of this year's Tour de France route for charity.  630km (394 miles) in three days, with 7800m (25,600 feet) of climbing for the William Wates Memorial Trust (https://rideleloop.org/the-charity/) which supports underprivileged young people.