Got a call from a senior tour pro today, on his way to Wakonda in Iowa. He said among other things, he didn't mind the blind shots so much, but the second and third holes there combine blind with a rolling fw that kicks your shot off the fw. In short, there ought to be some way to play the hole. And, ideally, some way to mark the ideal line, naturally preferred.
Jeff, I grew up on Wakonda and the second hole is not blind--it is an uphill par 3 where you see the flagstick if not the hole. The third really isn't blind either, although the drive goes down into a valley and you can't see where it ends up. But you see the whole fairway in front of you until the valley.
It may be the distant memories of my youth, but Wakonda is a great old course which held the US Am in the early 60's, but never gets enough recognition.
I wasn't sure about his numbers, since I haven't been there in a decade, but maybe they renumber the hole sequence for the senior tour?
Mike,
Most golfers prefer 0, some will accept 1, but even then would call it a bad hole. I figure if half this board likes them, or 750 golfers, the total of the other 25 Million golfers in the US might not even double that!
My take is that the GA guys had all written against it (especially on approaches) but were sometimes faced with it. Doak and CC have written against them and don't generally do them. I think I read Pete Dye went back and redid his famous short blind par 4 to make it visible. In short, the best minds in golf are generally against them. It has been an outdated idea for 90 years now. And things like higher legal standards, more public courses, etc. sure don't do anything but argue against bringing them back.
The only reason to bring it back is nostalgia, or for variety, but a steady diet of it would tee off almost all golfers.
There are other reasons for blind or partially blind shots besides nostalgia.
Difficult terrain, a connector in a routing, earth moving expense, strategic interest where an opening is found via placement (Pete Dye's 5th at Long Cove has this-not sure if that's the hole you're referring to, but it was not altered)
Britney Spears was a very popular singer also, as is Justin Bieber.
Doesn't make 'em good, nor should we base our judgement of their music on the majority's poor taste.
Golf is suffering from a nasty spat of fair, overmaintenance, and predictability.
Let's not go the route of bubble gum pop music.
We did that in the Tiger Woods "grow the game" era-and ended up with a noncommitted bunch that wasn't interested once it wasn't cool.
Newer and novice golfers learn from experts.
Every time they turn on the TV they hear "It's great course because it's all out in front of you"
As golfers become more educated, experienced and architecturally refined, I'd say they hear less of less of that jibberish.
Hopefully the number of architecturally brain dead golfers is slowly shrinking, but we all gotta do our part
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