Perhaps I missed the boat on my #4 entry in our Toughest in10. Still, I find it hard to believe that people are birding Hole 17 on Tahiti Cove almost every time they play. With that said, the voting was split almost exactly down the middle and it appears that I need to play better and pick better holes from here on out.

And so I move forward… (Taking a deep breath) Our #3 hole in our Toughest of ’10 series is hole 18 on Monument Valley.

Only a few weeks back, The Milkman, (aka a GT player and fan) posted this in our IT Forum regarding this hole and Monument Valley in general.

“Not awesome at all, just silly and not fun. Certainly not for the “regular” player. Maybe worse than Grand Savanna 17. Reminds me of Heather Point 18, in tough setups it’s basically unplayable. Sorry, but Monument Valley seems like a gimmick course to me.”

He’s not the only one who has had issues with perhaps THE feature hole in the entire update. Many have commented on Monument Valley 18 and shared their thoughts on where exactly it stands difficulty-wise in GT 2010.

Let me tackle this item first. After watching literally hundreds of games on Monument Valley at Club Lucky’s Tournament of Champions, I never saw a situation where a player couldn’t reach the green in two. I did, however, see some of the game’s best players cringe at times with certain looks on this finishing hole.

While Monument Valley can be tough, specifically the 17^th and 18^th holes, they are very fair. I believe that the possibility of getting 8 or worse on 18 is there from time-to-time. I also believe the hole is positioned so you have a chance to succeed regardless of how tough it may be. This is also without question the best finishing hole in 2010.

Monument 18 is a two-tiered par-5 that has a severe drop separating the fairway about halfway through the hole. The green is positioned much lower than the top fairway that players “typically” hit out of, and it is surrounded by rock walls. A pond guards the front part of the green and anything short or “too” long is going to get wet. More on that in a bit.

While distance can usually be a problem on longer par-5s this isn’t he case here, well, sort of. Distance alone is never the issue, the wind, however is always the issue.

Whatever wind you have (tailwinds, crosswinds, headwinds) there’s a good chance it’ll be greater than 10 mph and will greatly alter both club and shot selection. I’ve seen 5 hybrids get to the green on the 2^nd shot, while also watching crushed drivers come up short.

If you are off on your distance or direction, you’re going to either end up in water or hit the back/side walls and likely end up in the water after that. Although you could end up with a “Shot of the Month” candidate instead.

Better Lucky Than Good.

The pin placements to go along with these tough winds make this hole truly one of the toughest in the game. When the pin is tucked in the back corners, particularly the far left-back portion of the green, it could mean major problems if you’re not exactly on the mark.

A trend I’ve seen a lot of late is players flying their ball onto the lower portion of the hole and going at the pin out of the “dusty dirt.” This isn’t something you can do with all tee boxes, winds, or club/ball combos, but it’s definitely possible. Here’s one more for good measure.

Sick Shot, Sick Score.

Play safe, learn your distances and what clubs travel best in a given wind, and you should be just fine. Thus far in 2010,  I’ve had a double eagle, a handful of eagles, a LOT of pars, and a few scores that I don’t really feel like mentioning. As I play more, however, I’m starting to get better at scoring on this hole. Still, no matter how much I play, this will always be one of my Toughest in 10.

What about you?

 Loading ...