At the heart of all great short par-4s is the interesting choice to be made on the tee. As a rule, if you decide to eschew the challenge and play the ‘easy’ tee shot the pitch will be pretty demanding. It works the other way too.
WESTERN AUSTRALIA
ALBANY GC
292-metre, 3rd hole
This rolling dogleg right is a fantastic risk and reward hole and reachable from the tee in the right conditions. The shallow green is well protected by a lone bunker to the front right where the surrounding fairway feeds balls into this area. While this hole is short and seemingly straightforward, it can play tough if you’re not in position for your first and second shots.
COTTESLOE GC
286-metre, 16th hole
Two staggered fairway bunkers – the first to the right, and a second to the left – are both well in play and determine your strategy. The longer you hit your tee shot, the more likely you are to find the left bunker as the fairway slopes into the sand. The short approach is also a stern test of your accuracy as a
multi-level green awaits.
JOONDALUP RESORT – LAKE COURSE
302-metre, 2nd hole
From the tee, the fairway looks like a green island surrounded by bushland left and a deep gorge and a towering rock wall right. The emphasis here is on accuracy from tee to green. The approach must avoid four bunkers on the right of the green. If you find yourself bunkered here it will take a magnificent recovery shot to help save par.
KALGOORLIE GC
320-metre, 3rd hole
An interesting Graham Marsh creation and one of the best to be found at Kalgoorlie. A generously wide fairway stretches out from the tee, with a fairway bunker laying at the end of the short grass. There is a rolling stretch of desert sand separating the left of the fairway and the greens surrounds. The further you hit towards the end of the fairway, the shorter the approach shot becomes, but the more a bunker beside the green comes into play.
LAKE KARRINYUP CC
294-metre, 1st hole
Like so many little opening holes, Lake Karrinyup’s 1st hole presents players with a chance to get their round started with a birdie … if they are smart. For the longest of hitters, the green is within reach from the elevated tee but for the rest the green is orientated to reward the player who plays close to the fairway bunker on the right of the fairway. The further you play away from the sand the poorer the angle into the green.
LAKE KARRINYUP CC
302-metre, 14th hole
Three diagonal fairway bunkers cut from right-to-left across the fairway, dominate the view from the tee and determine how you will play the hole. Your choice will vary from day-to-day depending on the wind, the position of the tee and the flag. There are four different routes to the green, all with their pros and cons.
MEADOW SPRINGS G&CC
329-metre, 5th hole
One of the biggest bunkers at Meadow Springs lies beside the 5th fairway and stretches nearly 70 metres towards the green, complicating what would normally be a straightforward hole. This tight dogleg right offers little confrontation from the tee except for the lone ‘super’ bunker lying through the end of the fairway.
THE CUT GC
298-metre, 3rd hole
Expansive ocean views greet you on the tee as you consider the question: “What do I do here?” Most of the fairway is obscured by a large sand dune. Bunkers on the right of the fairway lie short of a wide landing zone before it narrows to squeeze through three bunkers diagonally set across the fairway. A gem of a hole.
THE CUT GC
293-metre, 17th hole
Thick crops of dune scrub significantly narrowing the fairway about 40 metres short of the green take the driver out of the hand here. A 170-metre tee shot alongside the sandy waste area right will leave an easy wedge or short iron into the slightly elevated green and a possible birdie.
THE LINKS KENNEDY BAY
285-metre, 7th hole
Aptly called ‘Temptation’, longer hitters can back themselves to reach the green with their tee shot but it is a gamble to avoid the staggered pot bunkers left and right, as well as the deep trap cut into the front of the putting surface. The undulating green also demands a pitch be left below the hole for an easier first putt.
THE LINKS KENNEDY BAY
330-metre, 12th hole
The slight dogleg left, known as ‘Finchy’s Folly’, features a mound that obscures the right half of the fairway. Playing left of the mound certainly makes the hole shorter but it leaves a blind approach into a shallow, angled green surrounded by mounds, hollows and two deep pot bunkers, one of which is well short of the putting surface.
QUEENSLAND
HAMILTON ISLAND GC
321-metre, 12th hole
The short uphill dogleg left 12th is a sleeper hole on this Peter Thomson and Ross Perrett-designed layout. The second shot is played over a valley to an elevated green protected by a large deep bunker on the left. Club selection will be difficult into the prevailing wind from the south, as short irons thrown up into the wind inevitably fall short of the green.
LAKELANDS GC
324-metre, 8th hole
A terrific short four when played from the blue markers. This brings all elements of the hole into play for all players. Sandy wasteland and a lake left, stretch all the way up to the front edge of the green. For the few that can make the distance from tee to green, the fairway cambers gently toward the water and will catch the greedy hitter.
MAROOCHY RIVER GC
292-metre, 15th hole
There are six seemingly random-placed bunkers in the last 100 metres before the green, with the smallest of them being the most menacing. The bunker lying in the middle of the bend in the banana-shaped green, which can lead to some interesting shots if you leave your drive or approach shot on the wrong side of the flag.
PELICAN WATERS GC
309-metre, 12th hole
The charm of this hole is the bunkering and large mound short and right of the green. As a result, the right half of the green is obscured as you stand over you approach shot. When the pin is cut to the right, the green appears incredibly small and most seem to miss to the left, leaving a monster putt.
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