and lined by trees, no-one would be complaining. The bunker, we can safely conclude, is a perfectly legitimate strategic device used by Phillips. Where his rant gets interesting, though, is his assertion that all par fives should be in principle reachable by a professional golfer who has hit a good drive. Golf architect Robin Hiseman of European Golf Design, for one, does not agree. Of Hatton’s comments, he says: “I thought he was actively def lecting responsibility away from himself for poor decision making and shot execution. The hole in question was within range with a good drive. He just hadn’t hit one. The key word here is ‘always’ and I don’t agree with that. In reality now, any par five under 600 yards falls into that bracket and quite a few above, so holes which are out of range for the tour pros are few and far between. Provided the hole poses an interesting strategic choice for the lay up then I think a true three-shotter is perfectly valid, albeit undesirably long for the other 99 per cent of players. “Essentially it is the same design task as you would face on a shortish to medium length par four, assuming a drive into A1 position. The approach is as easy or as difficult as their lay-up makes it, but I’d like a target with hole locations that will make them vary their thinking as to the side of the fairway and 43 Photo: Jacob Sjöman Tour pros have to navigate a central bunker about 300 yards from the tee of the 646-yard eighteenth at Yas Links. Playing left opens up the shortest, yet most hazardous, line to the green
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