It’s time for my (first) nemesis, the (first) hole on the course that can cause a bump in the road and allow my fragile mentality to show.
The fourth hole is a deceptively short Par 4 - it’s only 337 yards from the back tee, where the flyover starts, and 275 yards from the front, on the left hand side once through the chute of trees. There is another tee just on the right-hand side through the chute that adds around 10 to 15 yards.
The biggest problem off the tee is that there’s trouble both left, which will (at best) result in a recovery shot but most likely a lost ball. Right doesn’t really fare much better. The trees block any direct shot to the green, and a pull or push will be rewarded by being out of bounds. Recovering under the trees is an option but it needs a very solid shot - go left of the bunker and the trees beckon, go right and out of bounds cuts in. So the likely result is at the bunker or hope to hit to punch over.
Life doesn’t especially get much better at the green. Anything long is out of bounds - whilst there is thick grass behind the green it slopes so quickly that a ball won’t catch and will end up down the hill and out of bounds.
Running an optimisation algorithm on the hole suggests that the thing to do is send driver over the trees at the green. However, that’s not taking into account not being a professional! There’s too much danger unless your trajectory is perfect, and doesn’t turn. It’s also a completely blind landing zone, so you’ll have no idea whether it’s safe or not.
So how do I do?
Well the numbers aren’t good:
Overall my scoring average increased from 4.68 to 5.00, the proportion of GIR hit has decreased from 0.381 to 0.323 and GIR plus now has decreased marginally from 0.762 to 0.742. The most worrying about these is obviously the score and GIR.
The question to ask is where does this come from and why, remembering that I define fairway and rough as having the ability to play an unimpeded shot, in 2021-2022 this was 65%, in 2022-2023 it was 67%, with an approximately equivalent percentage in recovery and penalty areas. Even with fairway success percentages roughly even across the distance banding, it’s clear that GIR is falling massively.
However, there’s a compounding problem. The fourth is not a green that I like, it slopes and I’m very likely to be nervous over putts. The putting average for being GIR is over two, more three putts are happening that I like. Worse still the average putts when I miss don’t hit the green in regulation is climbing.
Dealing with Uncertainty
Increasing mental toughness on this hole is important, to be able to stand on the tee and feel comfortable and that I can get the ball somewhere in play. In a way there’s too many bad memories on this hole, and that’s having more of an impact that anything specific. This is a hole to definitely feel calmer, and take my time with the tee shot to feel confident and that I can get a ball in play.