47 potentially reachable in two. Elasticity is an important component of good golf design, but nothing can stretch that far. British architect Jonathan Davison says: “I think a course should have a genuine three-shotter if possible, but it is very hard now because elite golfers hit it so far. The seventeenth hole on my Heritage course at Penati in Slovakia is over 500 metres into the prevailing wind, but when the Challenge Tour played there, the guys were hitting long irons into the green. I guess a genuine three-shotter for pros is the par six on Penati’s Legend course, but that hole is 783 yards long!” The second shot on an unreachable par five has been referred to as the most boring shot in golf. Kyle Phillips says he sympathises with this view, but not absolutely. “There are examples of par-five holes where the lay-up second shot has plenty of pressure of both distance and accuracy in order to achieve the preferred spot to get up-and-down for birdie,” he says. “Yas Links’ eighteenth is an example of this, as is the eighteenth at Pebble Beach. The yardage on the card at Pebble is less, but there is less dogleg to bite off on the second shot, out of bounds looms tight on the right and both trees and bunkers cut into the fairway and approach to the green.” An additional complication is that reachable par fives are one of only a few occasions where professionals are required to hit the sort of long, challenging approach shot to a tightly guarded green that has been the hallmark of the champion throughout the game’s history. Citing the eighteenth hole on his colleague Ross McMurray’s Twenty Ten course at Celtic Manor in Wales, Robin Hiseman says that testing this sort of shot remains an important goal for golf architects. “It’s the eagle/ double bogey gambit,” he says. “The ‘hero’ shot is very enticing and par fives offer this more than other holes. One needs a potent jeopardy for it to work most effectively. The eighteenth at Celtic Manor does this – it is, in conception, the same as the fifteenth at Augusta, but longer.” Jim Nagle of Forse Design says that no hole should be an automatic go- or no-go decision. “The chance of reaching a green in two is dependent on the overall distance, but nothing should be guaranteed,” he explains. “I find it much more interesting to tempt them to go for it in two but also to provide the option to lay back. Additionally, a well-designed green with tucked hole locations to the perimeter will make the ‘par three’ element equally as exciting as going for it in two. If it’s going to be a par-three approach, make them play to the appropriate distance and angle to attack the pin. Then build strategies around the lay-up.” GCA Photo: European Golf Design PAR F I VES EGD’s Ross McMurray designed the eighteenth hole of Celtic Manor’s Twenty Ten course with the ‘hero’ shot in mind “ I find it much more interesting to tempt them to go for it in two”
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