Carroll Valley Tour Part 9

Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7, Part 8

Hole 9: 502 yards

Boy, that's a great picture of the pond.

This is the shortest par 5 on the course, 3 yards shorter than the first hole.  Don't let that yardage deceive you though, this tee shot is nothing but pure evil.  This hole and the next are very difficult driving holes, although if anything, this is the easier drive.  The most obvious feature on the drive is the pond running along the right side of the fairway, and which actually cuts the hole in two a bit further up.  I don't think anybody has to worry about running out of fairway, but the water on the right is a bit of a concern.  Not to mention that there's a native area left of the fairway, not too close to the fairway, but close enough that I can't feel comfortable bailing out left.  So, I feel like I have to challenge the water on my drive because I hate using a 3 wood or less on a par 5.  I like playing aggressive.  I've hit my fair share and probably someone else's fair share into that pond as a result.

The second shot, if you've found the fairway, plays up the hill towards a green surrounded by bunkers.  There's a bunker in the fairway short which will catch lay-ups that are too aggressive or poorly struck attempts at the green.  A little nitpick: there's internal out of bounds to the right, and I don't understand why.  There's just the tenth hole over there, and it's the only instance on the course of internal O.B.  I don't like that entire concept, so I would honestly get rid of it here.

The green is sloped rather severely from back to front, so being above the hole is not recommended.  This hole can be tough, but it isn't too difficult to get a decent score on the front nine.  I'm not the biggest fan of this course, but I do like the fact that there are three par 3's and par 5's on the front, instead of the usual two.  It's a bit different, and that's good.  I wish the par 3's had a little more variety though.  Get ready though, the next hole is the toughest on the course.

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