The Tee Shot

This hole certainly plays to its stroke index 1 status. You stand on the tee and there is trouble everywhere. On the right hand side there are the groups of trees that were in play as you came down the 8th. They are made even more of a hazard this time around by the fact that the hole is longer and there will be a ditch to hit over with your second shot. There is a ditch on the right and left of the hole at the sides of the fairway roughly 120 yards off the tee. Over this ditch on the left there is another large copse of trees, which can also come into play. Behind this copse is the 13th green, so if you hit the ball down the left long enough to carry this copse you should be ok. Short of the ditches on the right and left there are more copses of trees on each side. There is more trouble on the left at roughly 230 yards from the tee. There are some small bushes that can come into play for the longer hitter. Going in or under one of these bushes will normally lead to a drop or at best a chip out sideways.

The Approach

If you thought the tee shot was tough, the approcah to the green is just at tough. As mentioned there is a ditch which is about 100 yards away from the green, so a number of people will be looking to lay up to that. If you are hitting over the ditch there is another ditch which you need to avoid that is positioned on the right of the hole, up near the 8th tee. On the left of the hole there are two bushes which can seriously catch people out who hit their second shot with a slight hook. If you avoid these bushes and the ditch there are two bunkers which need to be avoided. One is on the right and the other is on the left. Both of these bunkers are once again tricky to escape from, although the left bunker does not have as steep a lip as the right bunker. There is no trouble through the back of the green, so if you are to miss the green, the best place to miss is back left.

The Green

This green contains some very tough putts, with the whole green sloping mainly from the back to the front. In addition to this there are other ridges on the green that make holing putts very tricky. A putt from the back of the green will be fast. The green does tend you move in the direction you read it to, although sometimes it is hard to read just how much. Even if you hit the green in two you are not guaranteed a par 4, due to the sloping nature of the green. Anything outside 15 feet is very 3 puttable if the first putt is just a fraction miss-hit.