Yale University Golf Course, CT, USA    

10^th hole, 395 yards: The hardest sub 400 yard hole with which the authors are familiar. The more one plays here, the more one comes to regard this hole as the hardest on the course. The obvious jaw dropping wonder and difficulty of the 4^th or 9^th holes makes this a somewhat surprising statement until you see this violent green. A more challenging uphill approach shot has not been built since Yale opened. Only the uphill approach to the 2nd at Pine Valley compares. 

If the golfer clears this embankment from the 10th tee,...

he is faced with this view up to the 10th green. The dark mark in the middle of the picture is
the steps leading on to the green.

Yale calls for a fascinating mix of aerial and running approach shots.
The 10th green complex calls for the former!

The steps take the golfer onto the ingenious green. An approach putt from the back right corner can be
played into a slot near where the flag is located and come to rest near a front right hole location,
having traveled more than twice the distance as the direct line.

13^th hole, 210 yards: Though the back bunkers have been lost through time, this downhiller remains a striking Redan with postcard qualities. However, its playing characteristics are somewhat diminished because the hole is both downhill and Yale struggles to present firm and fast playing conditions for the golfer. Thus, the needed release of a tee ball from right to left across the green that makes any Redan hole great is often times missing from the 13th.

If the 13th was fully restored and enjoyed firm playing conditions (and the damn cart path
was re-located!), it would be one of the world's great Redan holes.

14th hole, 365 yards; A first rate bunkerless Knoll hole, Raynor carefully left the left hand side of the fairway considerably higher than the right and the golfer can sling a power fade off this created bank and watch as his tee ball is propelled closer to the green. Such a shot can be quite handy as the relatively small green is a tough target and the golfer wishes for as short an approach iron as possible.

The elusive 14th green seems tiny relative to many of Yale's greens.

17th hole, 435 yards; Though the golfer only has two holes to go, he still has well in excess of 1,000 yards to play. This two shotter enjoys a Principal's Nose feature and one of Raynor's favorite green complexes - the double plateau. Getting an approach shot to chase to the far back hole locations is a real art form.

Though the ridge has been lowered some 8-9 feet since Raynor's death,
the tee ball on the 17th remains challenging.

This knob that obscures a clear view of the 17th green was once surrounded by three bunkers.
The Principal's Nose at St. Andrews was a central hazard that much impressed Macdonald.

Though the green pad has significantly shrunk, the golfer can still deduce from the high front left
and the upper back right plateau that this was Raynor's Double Plateau green for Yale.

18^th hole, 620 yards; Though controversial, this sprawling three shotter is the perfectly impossible ending for this innovative design. It is difficult to describe other than to say the hole plays over and around a mountain.

Step One off the tee is to carry the ridge in the distance.

As seen from the crest of the fairway looking back, the ridge that the golfer must clear from
the tee is evident in the left middle of the picture.So too is the next plateau in the
fairway followed by still another one, from which the picture was taken.

George Bahto points out that Yale has suffered three major changes since it opened in the fall of 1926. The first is the relocation of the double punchbowl 3^rd green as discussed. The second change is that the deep cross bunker that fronted the Alps hole (i.e., the 12^th hole, since no one could be blamed for not recognizing it today) was flattened and replaced with small sand pits of no consequence. Thirdly, the 16th green was moved 30 yard back and to the right from its original location and as with the replacement for the 3rd green, the green is lifeless relative to Raynor's work.

Properly restored, the 12th at Yale with its natural rolling links qualities
would once again be a magnificent Alps hole.

Though Raynor would be none too pleased with these developments, the golfer of today is still keenly aware that he is playing a very special course with Yale being a rare example of an architect successfully working with severe terrain. Raynor struck an exciting balance between challenge and fun in part by keeping the course at a manageable length and in part, by ensuring that the landing areas and the green targets were ample.

Indeed, one of the courses principle defenses is similar to that of the Old Course at St. Andrews: the size and the contouring of its greens mean that the better golfer may well hit fifteen greens in regulation but suffer 39 putts to retard a good score. Depth perception becomes difficult when the golfer needs to carry a ball forty yards onto the green just to begin to get near a back hole location. The saying 'it is difficult to get the ball close to the hole on a large green' is never truer than at Yale. In addition, nobody, including professionals, practices one hundred foot putts.

And like St. Andrews, Yale reminds the golfer of no other course. To call Yale the best university course in the country is to do it an injustice. Yale remains to this day a colossus of a design, even if it is not maintained and presented in the manner in which it deserves.

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