Hole 5 – 653 yards
Maxwell was an admirer of the style of design that was practiced by CB Macdonald at the National. Throughout his career he used a series of templates in his design and the fifth at Southern Hills is an example of this. He would typically provide a long three shot hole that was fairly straight forward and have a particular green design at the far end of the hole. The original fifth hole was only around 550 yards in length, but the tee was extended by Robert Trent Jones for the ’58 Open. That has since been taken further back and further up the hill to provide an elevated tee of almost 650 yards.
There is a slight dogleg in the hole as it curves around a solitary bunker on the left side and two bunkers, placed by RTJ on the outside of the bend. At this point the terrain of the hole begins to tilt from left to right and the player who does not take the line over the bunker on the inside could see their ball roll into the outside hazards. The carry over the inside bunker is about 280 yards. Those short of the bunkers will have a narrower fairway to hit. The key to the second shot will be to just keep it in the fairway.
With the extension of the hole, it plays as a three-shotter for all players and becomes somewhat predictable as all players will have a short iron or perhaps a wedge in their hands. If the hole was taken back down to the original tees, then players would be tempted to go for the green in two and we would see a completely different approach to the hole and see some wonderful shots and disastrous results.
The green has three bunkers on the high left side and then it runs down from there to a lower right side that is protected in front by a lone bunker. Most would think the front right would be the most difficult pin position. But with the skill of the players today, the front right might be the easiest as they can spin wedges and short irons very close to the hole due to the slope of the putting surface. The most difficult pins will probably be on the high left side and further back. If the hole was shortened, you might see different results.
Hole layout from the club's website
Photo from one of the forward tees. The back tee is more elevated than this one.
From the fairway, note the tilt of the terrain
The 5th green
The routing for those that would like to use this as a reference.
Hole 4 thread