The Crucible - Hole #2
Par 4, 416 feet
 Brett Porter tries to get around the tree and save his par. Where he's lying means he missed the short gap which would be to the right of the tree, and is too short for the long left shot, which needs to land near the other guy in this picture (that's Evil Mel from Augusta) |
Hole #2 is a short, uphill par 4 that has several choices to make. There are 2 main landing areas and if you shoot for the gap to the right of the big tree you have a choice of going hyzer or anhyzer to get there. I'm actually pretty curious about the percentages of who tried which route. The basket is in a hollow, surrounded by trees. Those going for the gap on the right off the tee have an uphill anhyzer to the basket while those going long and left around the tree have an uphill hyzer to the green. If you do try for the gap on the right and get too close to the trees and aren't in direct line with the gap it can get dicey. I usually throw a forehand or a turnover roc from the tee and have a habit of being in lousy places for my second spot. Sometimes that inspires desperate attempts at thumbers or tomahawks over the top, but usually sanity reigns and I try to save my par.
The green can also be reached by throwing long and left on the drive followed
by a huge righty forehand over the top of everything to come in from the back.
I don't believe anyone tried that this year but last year Scott Renz birdied
it that way.
| Overall |
Open Men
|
Pro Masters Men
|
Advanced Men
|
Open Women
|
|
| Average |
4.1 (15)
|
3.7 (13)
|
3.9 (15)
|
4.3 (15)
|
4.5 (12)
|
| Birdies |
29
|
17
|
5
|
7
|
0
|
| Pars |
108
|
24
|
12
|
71
|
2
|
| Bogeys |
45
|
5
|
3
|
35
|
2
|
| Doubles |
6
|
0
|
0
|
6
|
0
|
| Other |
0
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
 Craig Hughes drives on #2...  ... which (skipping a shot) leads to this upshot under the basket for a drop-in par. |
I like this hole a lot. It went through at least 4 different designs before I found the current green and what I was afraid was going to be a lousy hole turned into one of my favorites. I'm pretty pleased, overall, with the numbers on this one. I'm a little bit surprised at the low number of Big Scores (double bogey or higher) and it played a bit easy for the pros, but overall not too bad.
The round I watched of the lead group they all tried to go to the left of the big tree (the power route) but a couple of them had problems on their shot. It's worth noting that the birdies did tend to come in bunches, with Brad Hammock, Jonathon Pierce, and Scott Renz each grabbing birdies 3 times several people getting it twice.
In fact, it appears that only 5 of the 29 birdies were by people who only got it once. Weird. Does that mean strategy was important? Or does it just mean tht the second shot requires accuracy and some people have it and others don't? Not to pick on our visiting Am from Maryland, but Paul Lichtinger did bogey it 3 times.
Heh, I just noticed that the only round Brad and Jonathon missed the hole is the one I watched them play.
 Roger Roe tries to get into the gap from a tough lie for a long look at a birdie or an upshot for par. The basket is through the gap that you can see just to the left of the tree Roger is throwing around. |