Golf Club Atlas
GolfClubAtlas.com => Golf Course Architecture => Topic started by: wsmorrison on January 15, 2005, 04:36:43 PM
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Talking to Adam Messix today who has walked Philadelphia Country Club but has never played it, we got to talking about the 16th hole. 16 is a downhill blind tee shot to a green benched on the hillside and heavily bunkered. In firm and fast conditions, the best chance of holding the very small kidney shaped green is to hit a high demand shot that lands over the bunker short of the green on the left where it will feed onto the green. In soft conditions, it is so much easier to fly the ball on the green with a lofted shot. To me this great hole is severely compromised in terms of strategy and difficulty under soft conditions.
I'll see if I can find a picture of the green end to post.
Now for most classic courses, maintenance practice (firm and fast) and weather conditions (dry) are key. But what holes play significantly different in terms of strategy and difficulty under soft rather than ideal conditions?
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the redan?
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Here is a photograph of the green end of Philly Country's 16th hole. The green in the foreground is the 16th. The one behind it is the 11th. Notice the bunker on the left short of the green that must be just carried in firm and fast conditions. There is a steep slope off this bunker down to the green.
My photo was not as good as this taken by Ian Andrew:
(http://home.comcast.net/~wmorrison11/PCC16.JPG)
Ed,
I think you are surely correct about Redan holes being compromised by soft conditions!
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It probably goes without saying, but the strategy is greatly altered on a back pin Biarittz, instead of a low running hook shot, or any low shot that runs through the swale, you have to add two clubs and land it on the back part of the green.
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Speaking of Buarritzs, Shigecki just aced the 4th at The Sony.
Wayne- One type of hole that is significantly altered are punchbowls. We have half of one here, and in the winter, the hole is so much more fun because you can play over the hillside and know it will feed down to the green. Where in the summer, it's lush well fed and sucks.
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I'll bite.....I think the 6th hole on the Old Course at Stonewall would change most in soft conditions versus firm conditions. The way that green rolls, the preferred shot under typical firm conditions is to carry the cross bunker well short of the green and chase it on, but when it's soft (and that may be fairly often because of it's location in a valley) you've got to carry it all the way to the green or the ball won't hop. That entire course is really cool when firm.