OVGA Amateur Golf Tour

This week the OVGA returns to the site of last year’s President’s Cup, Circling Hills Golf Course. This week’s Hole Of The Week is the par 3 18th hole. This 9 HDCP hole plays 170 from the black tees, 155 from the blue tees, and 115 from the yellow tees. Depending on the pin placement, The player has either an easy shot over a lake to a gymnasium floor, or an intimidating laser shot to a small front porch. The back of the green is very wide and relatively flat. The only concern other than clearing the lake is avoiding the sand trap behind. The front of the green is another matter. The putting surface narrows to a mere 7 yards wide at it’s thinnest. The front of the green is about 2 feet higher than the surrounding rough. Left of the green is the lake, which comes right up to the edge. Right of the green is a valley a few yards wide followed by a large mound which will save the errant shot from going out of bounds. However, the player may be left with a downhill chip over the valley toward the lake to the narrowest part of the green. The safest shot might be to the back of the green, even with the PIN up front. Anything to the front except a close miss provides a difficult up-and-down and risks other trouble.