“It’s a long par 4 over a well-bunkered fairway with a smallish green set atop a ridge. A very deep bunker sits behind the green, so in the prevailing north wind, even a great player is taking a big risk by trying to fly the ball onto the green and hoping it will hold. The safe approach is to play short of the green and try to run the ball up the hill, but the bank is high enough that only a shot played with a low trajectory short of the bank will climb it.
“The result – many players wind up at the base of the green in two. The uninitiated will try to play a pitch from the tight lie, but unless they make perfect contact the ball will come back down the bank. More experienced or imaginative players instead will putt their third shot up the bank. In this instance, both the second and third shots are profoundly influenced by the selection of grasses, which encourages shot-making ability, creativity and feel.”