Mike Clayton (2)

3 South.

This has always been a long par 3, but the green was rather flat and the bunkers rather shallow. Mike Clayton has lengthened the hole to 200+ metres from the back tees and made the green very steep and the bunkers very punitive.

Although the green is huge, there are precious few flat spots on the green to place the hole. If you hit your tee shot into one of the bunkers, then you’re probably facing a very difficult explosion shot just to get back somewhere on the green. These two factors would be fair enough on a 120m hole, but are, again, way too punishing for a 200+ metre hole.

4 & 5 South.

The 4^th and 5^th used to be a shortish par 5 followed by a long par 4. Mike Clayton changed these to a long par 4 followed by a shortish par 5. Why?  How is this better than the previous layout?  In fact, the long par 4 is now into the prevailing westerly wind. I have a theory about what motivates Mike Clayton to make some of these changes, but that’s a topic for another day.