Course Breakdown: Kingsley #10

The 10th hole at Kingsley is probably the most straightforward hole on this course and if I was in charge, I’d flip the 9’s because this is a perfect starting hole. The fairway is pretty large with fescue grass up both sides. The fairway sits in a valley and anything off line has a chance of kicking back into the fairway. There are bunkers up both sides of the fairway but the bunker on the right side of the fairway, roughly 250 yards from the blue tees, loves to gobble up balls. Generally speaking, you can always aim further left than you think to avoid that bunker and bank on a friendly bounce if you hit it too far left. The left bunker(295 yards) is not reachable for most golfers even if it doesn’t look that far away.

Even when I’m playing a hole that is seemingly wide open, I still try to pick a specific line to aim at. I had a golf coach that would always say “aim small, miss small”. On this hole, that line is the bush above the left greenside bunker.

The green slopes back to front for the first 3/4s of the green with the front left part of the green defended by a bunker and a nob that will projectile golf balls if they land on the backside of it. The back ¼ of the green slopes away towards the stone wall. With the prevailing wind generally helping you with an uphill approach shot, shots tend to roll out more than you’d expect. If you’re between clubs, go with the shorter of the two.

This is one of the few holes where there really isn’t a horrible spot to be when you’re greenside. Left, long, short, and right are usually all reasonable when it comes to getting up and down but there is one pin location where you need to make sure not to miss long.

This pin location is the front right portion of the green. There is a ridge right behind this pin location and if you get past this ridge, you have to hit a perfect putt just to keep the ball on the green. Depending where you are on the green, there is a secret route where you use the front left mound on the green to slingshot a putt up and around the front slope. It really depends on where you are putting from and where exactly the pin is, but this route has made me look a lot smarter than I actually am.