By Mason Savage
Golf Course architecture can seem like a weighty subject. There are so many different attributes of a course to look at but ultimately, Golf Course Architecture is like any other form of art. At the end of the day, Golf Course Architecture is an opinion based on whether or not you like certain golf courses or holes. However, just like any art, the more you learn about it the more detail you are able to notice and appreciate. These details are subtle but they can take an ordinary golf hole and all of the sudden elevate it to a different level. Starting with this article, I hope to post frequently this off season and try to boil down awesome golf course architecture in an easy and consumable way.
For the first installment in this series, I want to focus on what be one of my favorite holes in the state of Minnesota and it is the 3rd Hole at Highland National. No I am serious, I think this is one of the great golf holes in the State and I hope by pointing out some small intracacies of the hole that you can start to see the beauty in this golf hole.
The 3rd hole at Highland National is a dog leg right and is 378 yards long. After the second hole takes you to the upper portion of the property, the 3rd hole plays horizontally along and then away from the ridge line you just scaled. It is perfect in the routing as it sets the tone for the next stretch of holes as you transitioned from the lower part of the property to the upper portion of the golf course.
Off of the tee, the hole looks very easy. There is a small fairway bunker on the right, the crest of a hill at 220 yards and aside from that, it is completely open. While it is true, you can hit it essentially wherever you want, the shape of the green actually makes you want to aim at the bunker on the right. Let me explain.
If we zoom up to the green, the green sits at a diagonal in relation to the fairway and has a bunker in the front left portion of it. The green also has a back shelf and the green runs away from the bunker in the front of the green. This means that the further left your drive goes, the more difficult the shot into the green is as you need to clear the greenside bunker and hold a relative shallow green. Inversely, if you aim down the right side of the fairway towards the fairway bunker, you have no green-side bunker to navigate and a larger area to land your approach shot.
Does this set up sound familiar? It should as I think that this hole is a functioning Road Hole Template. While there is no road, there is a bunker in place of the hotel off the tee and the penal bunker short of the green impacts the angle you want to come into the green. Some people may think I am taking crazy pills but check it out next time you are playing and you will see the resemblence to the Road Hole Template.
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