and-down from the unfor- giving fescue or heavy beach sand surrounding the green. “It’s just a par hole for
me,” said a reverent Brandt Snedeker, who was maybe the hottest player in the world when he won the AT&T in February. “It’s definitely not a birdie hole. “It’s a tough little hole.
Jim “Bones” Mackay and Phil Mickelson
actually have a look at 2.” While hitting driver is
certainly daring, there isn’t exactly a safe way to play the hole. Even a well-placed tee shot to 9-iron yardage is daunting, since the seaside breeze can bat a ball five yards right or left, turning what would be a 15-foot birdie putt on any other hole into a hopeless up-
You can make such a big number there. You’re just trying to get it in the fair- way, trying to get it in the back quadrant of the green somewhere, and hopefully get out of there with a 4.” The hole location always
rests on the bottom tier for the AT&T, about 45 paces deep. “There’s really only
one hole location on that green, back-left,” said Patrick Cantlay, playing in his first AT&T. Ah, but NCGA mem-
bers can correct Cantlay. They are well aware of the delicate hole location often
perched on the top tier in NCGA events—from the Zone and Associate Club championships, to the Amateur, Senior, Women’s and Junior.
A familiar locale is
positioned between 24 and 26 paces onto the green, which puts the flag teeter- ing on the top shelf, just a few feet above the ridge. Anything that trickles past the hole picks up speed and is usually whisked away down the slope, repelling some 50 feet away. “Where they put the
pin for us, it’s fair, and it’s a good hole,” said PGA Tour rookie Jordan Spieth. “If the pin were on the front of the green, maybe it would be a little different.” Spieth then added, “But
it’s cool driving by it and looking at it.” While the approach into the fourth green is an all-or-nothing affair, the tee shot is no gimme, either.
The stunning panoramic view that includes Cypress Point, the Pacific Ocean and the gorgeous coastline that winds its way out to Mon- terey Peninsula Country Club is only a comforting setting without a golf club. With one, it’s gut-check
time. Jones designed No. 4 as
a boomeranging par 4 that wraps around a cataclys- mic collection of dunes. While the fairway begins generously to the right, it promptly bottlenecks, like a six-lane freeway merging into one. Outside of carrying a
drive 290 yards to clear the unsavory sand dunes short of the green, the aggres- sive play is to squeeze a tee shot down the left corner of the fairway, out toward the distant first green. The more a player can bite off, the shorter the approach is into the anorexic green. “Probably what makes
Dustin Johnson Line: Draw tee shot off right edge of bunker
Aggressive Line: Aim at first green
Safe Line: Aim at power boxes
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