Course Breakdown: Grandview holes 10-14

GV #10

Whether this is the starting hole or the 10th, it’s one of the coolest holes at Grandview. The tee box is elevated about 50 feet above the fairway, and the cart ride to the bottom can get scary if you aren’t paying attention. This hole is a slight dogleg left, tree-lined up the left side, with a bunker to the right of the fairway. There are two water hazards beyond the fairway, starting at 280 yards.

I hit less than driver on this hole to avoid the bad miss of long and right. You can see from the overhead that if you drive your ball over the right bunker, you quickly get blocked by the trees. I usually hit my 5 wood, which typically leaves me around 130 yards into the green.

The green complex slopes from left to right and doesn’t have too bad of a miss. I will say that I’d rather miss right than left. I’ve been short-sided to a left pin and had no chance of hitting a chip shot close. Stay out of the trees and hazards, and you’ll do just fine on this hole.

GV #11

The 11th is a very scorable par 5, as long as you stay out of trouble. Sense a trend yet? Off the tee, you’ve got trees left and right, but a water hazard intrudes into the left half of the fairway at 275 yards from the tee box.

I hit less than driver here and usually go with a 5 wood instead of a 3 wood to avoid the temptation of trying to reach the green in two. Up around the green, there is another water hazard that starts 60 yards from the green and butts up against the front right part of the green. I remember attempting to reach this green in two once. I thought I hit a great shot, only to see my ball splash into the water. I ended up walking away with a 7 when I should have made no worse than a 5 if I had laid up.

The green is relatively flat and quite a bit larger than it looks from the fairway. My strategy on this hole is to hit something 230 yards off the tee, followed by a 170-yard layup. This gets me to a perfect lob wedge from around 100 yards.

GV #12

I can recall my entire outfit, down to even my underwear: gray polo, gray shoes, gray hat (sheesh), black shorts, and navy blue boxer briefs. (Clashes, I know.) This is what I was wearing for my first hole-in-one, which took place on this hole!

That day, it was an 8 iron from 157 yards that did the trick, but you need to remember that long is better than short on this hole. The front edge is protected by a false front on the right and a deep bunker on the left.

Until the back edge at 169 yards, the green slopes severely from the back right corner to the front left corner. My shot actually used this back right backboard and came back toward the middle of the green before it found the bottom of the cup.

So, take my advice as a hole-in-one maker: long is better than short!

If you take this advice too seriously and end up missing long into the bunker, don’t be afraid to pull the putter out of the bag and just putt through the bunker instead of trying to wedge it out.

GV #13

Since I had the audacity to talk about my hole-in-one, here’s the truth: I didn’t think after the 12th and strutted up to the 13th tee box feeling awfully confident. I then pumped my hole-in-one ball into the left trees and never found it. It’s a good thing I’m not much of a sentimental person.

The 13th is one of the tougher par 4s on the course, and this is especially true if you miss just a little too far left off the tee. The ground on the left side of the hole tilts toward the left trees, and you don’t want to be there. Driver is fine—just make sure to aim up the right half of the fairway.

The green is split in half by a ridge that creates a lower and upper part of the green complex. If the pin is in the lower part, it’s better to miss short. If the pin is in the back portion, I generally err on the side of missing long vs. short, but either is manageable. Like the tee shot, right is a better miss than left for the same reason: the ground slopes toward the left trees.

Good luck on this tough hole, and if you find a yellow Titleist Pro V1x #2 with the LEIST blacked out in TITLEIST, that’s my ball!!

GV #14

The easiest tee shot on the entire golf course is followed by the most severe green on the entire course. The 350-yard 14th is one of my favorite holes, but it doesn’t always treat me with the same admiration. The left fairway bunker is 247 yards, and there’s no reason to hit a club that might bring this bunker into play. I always hit my 230-yard club off this tee box.

I should have marked this on the overhead, but you do need to be careful up the right side of the fairway/rough. Balls tend to kick toward the right trees if you get unlucky.

The green slopes incredibly sharply from the back edge to the front edge. This is one of those greens where good golfers try to avoid spinning a wedge shot because a ball that lands in the middle of the green can spin off the front edge if your RPMs get above 10K.

Keep this in mind, and if you do find yourself on the back part of the green, putting toward the front, the putt is faster than you think and will break from your right to left. From the fairway, the green slopes left to right. Just making sure I give that visual correctly.

A good 5 wood, followed by a ¾ swing with my pitching wedge, is the goal on this hole.