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| A critique of Keller's take on the tree as principal hazard can be found at Golf.com |
Architect: Paul Coates
Back tee*: 376 yards / 344 metres
Joe Average tee*: 366 yards / 335 metres
Green fee: $30 twilight
*Distances taken from course website
Not everyone will side with me over this selection. For all that Keller hosted the PGA Championship in 1932 and 1954, some people have a real problem with holes whose strategy centres on a tree.
Their logic, in fairness, is sound. All it takes is disease or a wayward bolt of lightning and the tree could be gone, taking with it much of the hole's appeal.
In a blog confined to cheap golf, however, I've restricted my options enough already. While the tree lives, this is a fine hole, so I'm going with it.
From the tee, it seems to dominate the hole to an oppressive degree but once you're familiar with it, you realise it's not so much barking orders at you as asking questions. No-one's blithely swinging away on this tee without a care in the world.
For the conservative, the fairway bulges left in front of the fairway bunker. Put your drive there to take the drama out of the hole and leave an open line to the green for an approach of around 100 yards.
The heroic line for big hitters from one of the forward tees, meanwhile, asks you to thread the needle between sand and tree.
And for those who go more right from the tee than they'd hoped; decisions, decisions. Have you an iron with enough loft to clear the tree or dare you trust yourself with a shot that's an afterthought for those who've grown up with target golf — a low running approach beneath the tree's leafy canopy, courtesy of your 3-iron?
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