Tropicana Magazine Mar-Apr 2018 #117: Edge Of Excitement

THE SWING
“You probably get a sense
of what is to come when
you board your helicopter
after finishing at the 18th
so you can ascend to the
top of the nearby Hanglip
Mountain to play your tee
shot”
CAPE KIDNAPPERS,
NEW ZEALAND
7. Cypress Point - 16th par 3, 219 yards
One of the greatest challenges in the game on the course called
‘The Sistine Chapel of golf’. Alister Mackenzie gave the player
two options, either to drive over the Pacific Ocean to the green
or play safely to the fairway on the left. Few can resist the
temptation to see if they can carry the 233 yards that span the
inlet to the tiny green and Jack Lemmon, during one year’s
Bing Crosby Pro-Am, had to be propped up by Clint Eastwood,
Peter Jacobsen and Greg Norman to stop him falling 30ft down
the cliff when he played his precariously positioned second.
Three-times Masters champion Jimmy Demaret said of the
hole, "There is no relief. The only place you can drop the ball
over your shoulder is in Honolulu.”
8. Doral - 18th par 4, 473 yards
Refreshed by course arcitecht Gil Hanse two years ago,
the hole is the original ‘Blue Monster’: a spiteful par-four,
presenting water on the left and trees on the right, studded
with unforgiving bunkers. Thirty balls ended in the drink off
the tee on the PGA Tour last year, while only half of those who
attempted it hit the fairway. Nobody has made an eagle here
since 2005. As Bubba Watson put it, "It’s an impossible hole.”
9. Kiawah Island - 17th par 3, 221 yards
One of the most beautiful holes on a pretty spectacular course:
fescue grass, palm trees and oaks fringe the fairway, and the
water presents an enticing backdrop. But be distracted by the
view at your peril: the tee shot, which carries entirely over
water and features two horrible bunkers on the left, is a brute.
10. Cape Kidnappers - 15th, par 5, 650 yards
One of the most dramatic holes on any course, anywhere - and
one of the most challenging. Quite apart from its monstrous
length, the Tom Doak-designed hole on New Zealand’s North
Island features drops into oblivion on both sides of a narrow
fairway and winds which make some of gales which batter
British links courses look like gentle zephyrs. No wonder it is
known as the ‘Pirate’s plank’.
11. Ko'olau Golf Club 18th par 4, 476 yards
This Hawaiian course reserves its grimmest challenge for its
final hole, a nightmare par-four which requires two shots
over sheer ravines to even reach the green. Players have been
known to give up after seeing ball after ball disappear into the
abyss.
12. Royal Troon - 8th, par 3, 123 yards
The ‘Postage Stamp’ was given its ominous nickname by a Golf
Illustrated writer, describing the treacherously small scale of
the putting green. Finding that surface is one of the biggest
challenges in links golf: a tee shot struck from high ground has
to sail over a gully and onto a green set into a sandhill. Deep
bunkers add to the sense of peril on the shortest hole on a
course that hosts the Open Championship.
61 MARCH/APRIL 2018 | TM