The OB in some of those hole designs appears to be too restrictive, especially for the wind. Anyone know if these OB lines have been played before on these holes to test them in a lower tier event? Seems like this kind of scoring on holes should not be expected on holes used in Super tour and higher events if the hole layouts and OB rules had been tested in advance. Penalties in PGA events are rarely more than 1% of the scores.
I've been watching these threads with interest. The exact same layout was played at the Texas States Am event two weeks ago. This time of year Texas is known for different weather every day. We had that same thing. Friday, strong sustained winds at about 25, but not much gusts, and out of the south. The course basically heads north and south (in a circle) save a few transition holes. SO we were throwing against the wind on holes 1, 4, 5, 6, 7, 9, 10, & 13b; with the wind on 2, 3, 10a, 11, 13a, 15, 16, & 17. So only 5 holes had crosswind.
On Saturday we had lighter wind out of the north, but pretty consistent misty rain and/or drizzle. It was actually very foggy tee-ing off in the morning and the fog didn't burn off until afternoon. Saturday evening a cold front came through, so Sunday we had gusty winds out of the north, 30+mph and colder, around 40-48 degrees as opposed to 70s & 60s the two previous days.
It's a 602ft. par 3.. I'm pretty sure that one is a misassignment. With lots of OB and moderate winds, I don't see how that one can actually play as a par 3.
Disclaimer -- just one guy's opinion.
There are two holes in a row with a similar pattern of artificial OB, but with markedly different distances. Holes 6 and 7 both create a much skinnier lane of inbounds to the left of the normal fairway with a wide open nearly circular section around the basket (larger than the 10m circle). Hole 6's first shot is also about 15 ft down hill b/c of an elevated tee. Against the wind it is a tough 3 for RHBH, because you have to negotiate the OB, and it's "as the crow flies 602ft" that becomes about 680 because any dead straight shot that lands between 280 feet and 500 feet is over the artificial OB. So you have to throw into the open section to the left about 340-360 or so to leave yourself a comfortable approach that doesn't risk OB, i.e., the approach is 100% over inbounds. (No one dared go for the circle off the tee in that notorious Old Settlers' wind.) If you're much shorter than 350-ft or so, (which the wind might cause), you can still reach the basket but going down the inbounds lane gets much trickier because of trees & bushes further down the fairway that you have to negotiate -- unless you're left-handed or have a big forehand. If you're shorter it's actually a much easier shot for a righty to power hyzer to the right of a big hole-defining tree but that shot is nearly a 100% carry over the artificial OB, PLUS you have to hyzer out BEFORE your disc gets over the course boundary. SO against the wind this hole can be tough for RHBH players.
opcorn: 
