At under 500 yards, the par 5 is not difficult, but it does provide an intimidating contrast to other tee shots during the day. The 8th hole is one of the few where the fairway is elevated and the tee shot is up, not down. The severe slope down to the pin made bogey a good score. That accomplished, my tee shot landed at the front middle of the green and rolled right past the pin at left rear, and then into the thick rough just short of one of the bunkers. With the wind blowing right to left, the proper play seemed a lofted ball toward the right side of the green. The 7th is a glitzy par 3 over a water hazard to a wide green framed in the back with three round, identically sized bunkers. The 6th is another one of the short par 4s at Granite Links that dare you to drive the ball to a narrow strip of fairway, a short wedge distance from the green. Anything but an approach that stays on the green is a guaranteed bogey, or worse. A conservative fairway wood is the play on the 353-yard hole a slightly pulled tee shot may avoid the rocks but will leave a blind approach over trees that guard the left third of the elevated green. With the greens so hard, figuratively and literally - no shot made a pitch mark all day - the slopes made par a possibility only if you were on in regulation or left yourself a chip across the length of the greens.įountain of sorrow Those quibbles aside, the Granite nine presents some sparkling holes and views, most notably #5, a short dogleg right that features a string of granite rock outcroppings framing the left side of the fairway and a water hazard along the right. The ridges at the front of most greens ran down hard, making pins on the front third of the greens impossible to get near, even if you landed short and rolled the ball up. The greens were very firm, and most were bowl shaped, with slopes toward the centers of the greens defining the front and back edges. The rest of the nine was nowhere as silly, although some repeated designer touches at greenside became annoying after a time. I dropped another ball, took a reading on yardage, and realized I was just 138 yards from the green, meaning my drive had traveled about 350 yards and that, even with a penalty stroke, one still has a good chance of making the green in regulation and a par. After we gave up, my friend Pete Blais and I agreed on the spot my tee shot must have entered the hazard. Long story short the ball was nowhere to be found, probably in one of the hazards on either side of the spit of fairway that was no more than eight yards across. I hit it well, but little did I realize the fairway sloped like one of those 600-yard long par 4 finishing holes at Kapalua Plantation. No more than 220 yards off the tee, roll included, is not my definition of "long hitter," so it was with confidence I pulled out the driver and hit one straight at Mickey Mouse. "You'd have to be a long hitter to reach it," said the starter. "What about the water?" one of our foursome asked, after having a look at the GPS in the cart. Mickey Mouse was the perfect metaphor for the hole. "Aim for the bunker that looks like Mickey Mouse," said the starter, who had walked down from his perch after spotting our confusion. Even with a decent GPS system in our carts, our foursome spent a good 10 minutes on the first tee trying to figure out which of the greens in the distance belonged to our 490-yard par five hole. But straight and long is a liability on the first hole of the Granite course, a bad piece of golf design if ever there was one. The Milton nine at Granite links compels you to hit the ball straight and, in a few cases, long. Today we finish our round on the Granite nine. Links (see article below) and nine of its 27 holes, the MiltonĬourse. Yesterday we explored the history of the unusual Granite The green at the par 3 7th on the Granite Links Granite course was so firm that a well played shot that landed at middle front rolled past the pin and into the rough behind it, from where par was impossible.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |