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Par is Good Here

• TarheelsRule 5,564 Posts

  Thu, May 2 2013 12:13 PM

  I still have to go with the 9th at Oakmont to the right front pin placement.

  If you play from the back tees, you generally have about 180 to the pin over the bunker.  If you land short of the pin you hit on the downslope and it takes over 35 feet behind the hole where a 3 putt is a certainty.  If you land above the hole, you end up with a tough putt that can't be stopped.  I make par at least as often from the bunker or short of the bunker where a short wedge shot to 3 feet below the hole is possible.

  I have made 2 birdies on this hole in all my attempts.

• Dougie4042 4,410 Posts

  Thu, May 2 2013 5:33 PM

  courteneyfish:

  Bethpage 7 right hand pin.

  I 100% agree.  The approach shot can easily be 230 to the pin.  From there I usually lay up on the green which leaves me 40 or so feet from the pin.  

  Nice post, Courteneyfish!  :)

• Dougie4042 4,410 Posts

  Thu, May 2 2013 5:47 PM

  TarheelsRule:

   I make par at least as often from the bunker or short of the bunker where a short wedge shot to 3 feet below the hole is possible.

  Absolutely correct.  People should know that sometimes being in the bunker isn't all that bad.  Just make sure that's the only bunker you're in at Oakmont!  Course management, lads.  :)

  Doug

• DarSum 1,440 Posts

  Fri, May 3 2013 8:44 AM

  Merion #5

• TarheelsRule 5,564 Posts

  Fri, May 3 2013 9:41 AM

  That is a tough hole, although I was able to birdie it two out of the four times I have played it.  Besides the length which leaves you with about 180 or so for a second shot, the landing area to get the ball to stop is very small.  I hit one shot about 10 feet long that rolled to the back edge, another 5 feet short came back off the front of the green.

  There is a false front that you have to carry to get close and if you go back the pin 10 feet it won't shot.  I think that as we play Merion more it becomes important to take more notes than usual.  There are a couple of holes that if you miss you end up 30 feet away instead of the 10 feet that you expected.  Next year Pinehurst will be similar, you miss 10 feet left and the ball rolls off the green.

  I'm not a huge note taker for WGT courses but I think this year it will be needed if you plan on going low or in my case making the cut.

• tiffer67 1,764 Posts

  Sun, May 5 2013 8:10 PM

  The 9th at Oakmont front pin has always been a disaster waiting to happen, walking off with a par is never a bad result. When it first was released a huge percentage of players never even tried to it the green in regulation. The smart play was to lay up 40 yards or so short of the pin or go into the bunker. Either way a punch shot in and a putt was far easier than risking going beyond the pin in 2.

  The newer clubs and balls now mean that you can land the ball short of the pin and stay short, making a birdie a distinct possibility. When playing the hole now I never try to lay up, before it was madness to consider anything else.