Looking back up hole 4's fairway from the main landing area. That's Mike Dammes throwing what's probably a driver, given that he's still playing AM. I bet if he started playing pro he'd throw a roc or a putter instead...
The Crucible - Hole #4
Par 4, 605 feet
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Looking back up hole 4's fairway from the main landing area. That's Mike Dammes throwing what's probably a driver, given that he's still playing AM. I bet if he started playing pro he'd throw a roc or a putter instead... |
Hole #4 is a downhill anhyzer par 4 that can be reached by somebody with a big arm and a willingness to take a chance. If you can throw a forehand and hit a gap that's not very forehand friendly, you can get your drive far enough down the fairway to have an easy upshot for a drop-in birdie.
If you play the "smart" shot, which is a roc down the middle to set up a 350 foot straight shot down then back up to the pin. I think this shot is the most deceiving on the course. I've watched several good pros throw perfect first shots only to leave their second short and have it hyzer out into trouble.
There is a large tree to the left of the basket, if you end up behind that it can be tough to get up and down sometimes. There is a fence just past the basket... but it's not OB. I hate OB.
| Overall |
Open Men
|
Pro Masters Men
|
Advanced Men
|
Open Women
|
|
| Average |
4.4 (11)
|
3.7 (15)
|
4.1 (12)
|
4.7 (9)
|
4.5 (12)
|
| Birdies |
32
|
20
|
5
|
7
|
0
|
| Pars |
72
|
22
|
9
|
39
|
2
|
| Bogeys |
67
|
2
|
5
|
59
|
2
|
| Doubles |
12
|
2
|
1
|
9
|
0
|
| Other |
5
|
0
|
0
|
5
|
0
|
 That's Craig Hughes throwing from most of the way down the hill. Most good drives land, well, right about where the photographer is standing. Of course, for all you know he could have a mega-zoom and be three quarters of a mile away... but take my word for it, he doesn't and he's not. |
I'm very surprised nobody eagled this hole during the tournament. I'm told that Sonny Ashby parked it (but I don't know what that means as far as how long his putt was) and then missed the eagle putt. The pros played this hole a little bit better than I thought they would. Almost as many birdies as pars and very few worse than par. Brad Hammock birdied it all 4 rounds and 4 other pros birdied it 3 times. There weren't any ams who birdied it more than once.
I wouldn't mind having this hole play a little tougher, but I don't want to make it any longer (and there's no really space, anyway). I could add a pin placement over to the right, and maybe I will sometime, but I really like coming around the first corner and seeing the basket framed like it is (as in, look at the picture to your right...). Anyway, as the trees fluff out a bit it will make the gaps smaller (they're pretty big right now).
I really like this hole. This might've been my favorite last year, which worried me a bit. It is a good hole but if it's the best hole on the course then the course isn't as good as I'd like it to be. Anyway, this hole had a very striking difference between the pros and the ams as far as difficulty. Note that for the pros it's the 4th easiest hole on the course, while for the ams it's 10th. This hole has the biggest pro-am difference in rank on the course and there are only a couple of others with a significant difference (the second biggest difference is 4 rank-spots).
I don't know why the big difference and I'm very surprised to see only 7 birdies for the ams. My best guess is that what's a reasonably easy roc shot (distance-wise) for the pros is a driver for the ams. Also, while the gap on the second shot is pretty wide, perhaps the ams who are gunning up with their drivers had a little more trouble hitting it. Who knows?
 Dagon Owen putts for his birdie during the 4th round. I guess being in the tree isn't so bad. At least if you can putt like Dagon. |