{"id":431,"date":"2010-10-01T11:36:52","date_gmt":"2010-10-01T11:36:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/janinajacobs.com\/?p=431"},"modified":"2010-10-02T19:02:28","modified_gmt":"2010-10-02T19:02:28","slug":"do-you-feel-lucky-irresistible-risk-at-the-twenty-ten-s-15th","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/janinajacobs\/golf\/431\/do-you-feel-lucky-irresistible-risk-at-the-twenty-ten-s-15th","title":{"rendered":"‘Do You Feel Lucky?’ – Irresistible Risk at the Twenty Ten’s 15th"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\n
<\/dt>\n<\/dl>\n
\"\"<\/a>

Decisions at the 15th tee.....fly the trees right and go for the green or play safe toward the bunkers?<\/p><\/div>\n

As\u00a0the sporting world turns its gaze toward Wales and\u00a0the pastoral\u00a0city of Cardiff to watch the 2010 Ryder Cup competition\u00a0unfold,\u00a0speculation buzzes as to\u00a0which hole will\u00a0prove pivotal in the matches.\u00a0 Given the numerous risk-reward holes specifically\u00a0built into the Twenty Ten layout at Celtic Manor, one can only wait and watch to see\u00a0who will hit what and\u00a0when.\u00a0 As any veteran of match play knows, each shot is dictated conditionally, only moments before it is struck.\u00a0 You can\u00a0arrive\u00a0at the course with a plan, but when an opponent initially deemed a lesser\u00a0player in your mind\u00a0is already 3-up after 3 holes, what then?\u00a0 Change your plan, of course……boldly.<\/p>\n

Much criticism has been leveled at the Twenty Ten course for what it is not:\u00a0 a links course swept by sea winds and tamed by weather familiar to fans of UK golf.\u00a0\u00a0 Opened in 2007, it’s an infant as courses go in Europe.\u00a0 Borrowing and re-fashioning nine holes from the former Wentwood Hills championship course, which\u00a0had been the\u00a0site of the last three Celtic Manor Wales Opens,\u00a0and moving over 1 million tons of earth and rock to orchestrate the remaining nine, European Golf Design’s Head Designer Ross McMurray consulted Wentwood’s original architect, Robert Trent Jones Jr., to create this course especially for Ryder Cup match-play strategy and spectator viewing.\u00a0 \u00a0More suited to American tastes with water, water everywhere, on-site visitors as well as TV viewers may wonder ‘what were they thinking?’\u00a0 Nary an ocean, sea, or bay in site.\u00a0 Only the Usk River, beautiful as it is, and a few lakes.\u00a0 But since the Ryder Cup has become more of a spectacle\u00a0catering to tens of thousands, those needs have\u00a0been addressed:\u00a0 the course can accommodate 45,000 people at any given time.\u00a0\u00a0 And one can find a pretty good seat.<\/p>\n

Attending any major match play event as a spectator is very frustrating.\u00a0 With the Ryder Cup final day format featuring 12 matches on 12 holes, it is unlike stroke play tournaments where you can catch the action anywhere.\u00a0 Following one match?\u00a0\u00a0Count on\u00a0miles of\u00a0walking and posturing for the best spots\u00a0to maybe, just maybe, catch a glimpse of a great shot.\u00a0 Usually, it is happening where you are not…..but you do hear the roar as you search for the source on one of the flat screen televisions\u00a0tournament organizers now post around the course.\u00a0 During\u00a0 four Four-ball and Foursomes matches in the morning and afternoon on Friday and Saturday,\u00a0the playing area is compressed, translating into much more determined crowd positioning, sometimes 10-deep.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0The Twenty Ten was designed to alleviate these issues, much like the TPC stadium-style courses in the U.S.\u00a0 A number of\u00a0ample \u00a0‘spectator mounds’ were incorporated into the routing, allowing fans\u00a0to\u00a0mull about\u00a0and relax, simply turning around\u00a0to view play on multiple holes at once.\u00a0\u00a0 With water on half the\u00a0holes, it is quite easy to see a splash from hundreds of yards away, even if you can’t see much else.<\/p>\n

Normally, an architect pays considerable attention\u00a0to holes 17 and 18\u00a0and how they will challenge the nerves of golfers.\u00a0\u00a0 Think of the island green\u00a017th at TPC Sawgrass or everything <\/em>on the 18th at Pebble Beach.\u00a0 \u00a0In stroke play tournaments, knowing these holes are coming up creates a gnawing\u00a0dread deep within and the butterflies churn regardless of your strength of play during the preceding\u00a016 holes.\u00a0\u00a0 However, in match play, many matches never make it to 18 or even 17, so really, any drama there is almost a moot point.\u00a0 That’s why the 15th at Twenty Ten, the shortest par-4,\u00a0should\u00a0be fascinating to watch.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

This babbling brook awaits errors both from a bold tee shot or a safer second shot from the fairway.<\/p><\/div>\n

Now here’s a fun thing to do with this hole.\u00a0 Read the rest of this article, then\u00a0go to Google Earth.\u00a0\u00a0Find the\u00a0Fly To, then type in these coordinates just as you see them here:\u00a0 51 37 10.36 N, 2 54 36.68 W, which will take you to the middle of the fairway where the ‘play safe’ \u00a0landing point is.\u00a0 Have some fun scoping out the possibilities and the dangers of the 15th.<\/p>\n

The 15th, a 90-degree dogleg right\u00a0playing 377 yards, doesn’t sound difficult.\u00a0 However, the risk-reward options are almost\u00a0completely risk.\u00a0 There are two thoughts\u00a0on the tee shot with near identical yardage options:\u00a0 1)\u00a0hit a long iron about\u00a0250-265 yards\u00a0safely up the fairway where two pot bunkers await a little over-developed\u00a0or off-line caution, or 2) try for the green, still 270 yards away,\u00a0while also avoiding a\u00a0stand of trees right, a creek which runs diagonally left of the green complex, and\u00a0a large bunker wrapped around the front and right side of the green.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Knolls on the shallow and narrow 15th green may not gracefully yield many eagles.<\/p><\/div>\n

Regardless of which route a player takes, the shallow, narrow\u00a0multi-tiered putting surface is\u00a0framed by\u00a0long, thick rough and will not yield birdies nor eagles readily;\u00a0 the afore-mentioned creek awaits an even slightly mis-hit shot from either the longer tee shot or the shorter fairway\u00a0pitch\u00a0as golf balls will easily bounce off, back up,\u00a0or\u00a0slide down the steeply sloped bank depending from which\u00a0angle they arrive.\u00a0With a natural amphitheatre enveloping this hole, cresting and continuing\u00a0along 16, 17, and 18, the fans will have found a perfect place to oohhh and aahhh as these top\u00a0American and European players gamble on their accuracy.<\/p>\n

As Clint Eastwood’s classic American icon Dirty Harry once said, ‘Do you feel lucky?’<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Superb golf courses often feature a great short par-4. Is the 15th at Twenty Ten worthy?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":31,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[9,17],"tags":[3516],"class_list":["post-431","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-golf","category-courses-and-travel","tag-one-hole-can-tell-the-tale-at-the-ryder-cup"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/janinajacobs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/431","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/janinajacobs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/janinajacobs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/janinajacobs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/31"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/janinajacobs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=431"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/janinajacobs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/431\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":441,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/janinajacobs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/431\/revisions\/441"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/janinajacobs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=431"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/janinajacobs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=431"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/janinajacobs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=431"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}