Hole 1: The Oaks

• Par:
  4
• Tournament:
  451 yards
• Championship:
  437 yards
• Handicap:
  3

Description:

Traditional course architecture calls for a relatively straightforward, even easy, 1st hole, sort of a warm welcome. Not Oak Tree. Here, the welcome mat is a 451-yard par four that most mortals have to attack as a par five. The drive plays downhill to a fairway that kicks everything to the left. If the ball kicks too far left, the second will have to be played from rough, over a lake, over sand, over trees, then more sand, to a green that is only a few steps wide. Imagine that into a wind—-or even downwind and you’ll understand why even some of the pros lay up short of the green, then hope for a pitch-and-putt par.

• Front 9
• Back 9