And so it comes down to this.

The final hole in our Toughest in 10 is upon us and while I’d love a suspenseful selection, I have a feeling many of you already know which hole will hold the top spot. Our previous selections certainly all presented very challenging looks. In my opinion, however, none of the holes selected 2-5 come close to our #1 selection. There, that should do juuuuuust fine for build up.

Ladies and gentlemen your Golden Tee 2010, Toughest in 10 hole is…

Bella Toscana 18.

The 18^th on Bella Toscana is a drivable par-4 that can usually range anywhere from 260 to 300+ yards. The green is extremely narrow and is surrounded by water on the front, left, and back. There’s a large hill guarding the green which is positioned directly in front of the water.

Typically this hill can be trouble for any ball that may happen to find, although as seen in the shot below – that’s not always the case.

So if you happen to hit a shot like this, you’re gravy. Otherwise there are plenty of items of note that can be trouble when trying to finish off the round. The hole is intimidating from any tee box with any wind, and while there can be some more favorable setups, bagging an eagle requires a truly outstanding shot.

Here are a few of the major factors that make this “The” toughest hole in 2010.

The Green: The green itself is tough to hit even with very little wind and a comfortable club – aka a 3 or 5-wood. It’s extremely narrow, perhaps smaller horizontally than any hole in recent memory. Oh and it has a down-10 slope!

If you’re slightly off laterally, you’ll get wet. If you come up just short, you’ll hit the front wall of the green and ricochet in the water. If you over hit your club slightly, your ball won’t be able to spin enough because of the slope and you’ll find more water. It’s easy to be off on this hole even when you’re off only slightly.

The Wind: It’s obvious that the wind is a critical variable in Golden Tee. Heck, it’s been a major factor in all five of our Toughest in 10. Bella 18 is no exception; in fact, it’s the leader of the pack.

On the rare occasion where you’re given a straighter wind of less than 12 mph you better take advantage. More times then not, you’ll likely have a cross wind that will typically range anywhere from 12 to 17 mph. Yikes. You’ll have to get extremely creative with your shots to battle these winds and also learn to control how your ball spins when it hits the green. Bella 18 has the toughest winds in the 2010. Period.

The Stagger: Stagger is a Golden Tee term that might be new to some. Usually players are lined up straight at the hole from the tee box or fairway, but in some instances they will be moved left or right creating a more difficult shot. This in essence, is a stagger and is seen more on Bella 18 than any other hole in the game.

This particular stagger forces players to be right on with their direction and precise with their distance even with angle or cut shots. Staggers are typically small and sometimes you may not even realize you are playing slightly off of the pin. Not here though. This is a stagger I particularly enjoying cursing out almost every game.

But that’s not all. Say you are having the round of your life and you’re simply looking to birdie this hole. While there is a layup area in the back right portion of the green, this can be a tough spot to get to and can actually be one of the trickiest wedge shots to hit from if the wind is remotely tough. Well, maybe not for you pros but for guys like me.

You can also layup by playing for the middle and knocking it in the fairway, but you might be left with a very challenging look especially if the pin is tucked up near the top portion of the green. While laying up is certainly safer and is almost necessary with some of the looks you’ll get, it doesn’t mean you’re home free.

While the hole is truly challenging, I actually love playing it. I think it plays fair and requires one, (sometimes two), good shots for an eagle or birdie. I’ve seen the hole played in one live event so far and the suspense and strategy that it created in match play was outstanding.

There’s also the chance you’ll have a shot like this and won’t even have to take the putter out of your bag.

How you decide to play Bella 18 is up to you. With time you’ll figure out what works and what doesn’t. While many will share a variety of strategies on how to play this hole, I think (key word here being think) most everyone can agree that this is the Toughest in 10. So I have to ask…

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Posted in Golden Tee 2010, Posts by Adam Kramer | 2 Comments »

Two out of three ain’t bad, and that would seem to be our current ratio in Toughest in 10 hole selections. Our #3 choice, Monument Valley 18, was somewhat of an overwhelming choice as being one of the toughest holes in the game. My feeling, however, is that these previous 3 holes are somewhat easy in comparison to our final two choices of the most challenging holes in Golden Tee 2010.

My #2 ranked hole in 2010 is none other than Southern Oaks #16.

This hole can really make you cringe and can pack quite a punch on your scorecard. It’s a par-3 that can vary greatly in distance, and is highlighted (or sometimes low-lighted) by the giant pond that surrounds the front and entire left side of the green.

Speaking of the green, it slopes extremely hard to the left (go figure), and anything slightly off the mark will most likely find the water.

The real interesting part of this hole is the hill that surrounds the back portion of the green. It almost plays as a backstop would in a baseball, and a lot of players are using this to their advantage. While this might be the “recommended” way to play in a lot of instances, that doesn’t mean that it is necessarily easy. The problem that I have found with this is you never know exactly what type of bounce you’re going to get. The ball seems to land pretty soft overall, but sometimes it can’t land soft enough.

While the shot featured below finds the bottom of the cup, it probably would’ve had a different fait had the hole not gotten in its path.

I’ve beaten the wind to death like a dead horse in our previous selections and I will do it once again -  the wind on Southern 16 can be absolutely BRUTAL. Anything blowing remotely to the left (aka towards the water) will require a picture perfect shot or some serious luck. Miss the green and you’ll most likely be give a drop which is no picnic either. In fact, if the wind is blowing hard with or against you, this could be one of the tougher chips in the game.

The pros will tell you that a big cut shot is required, aka bringing the ball in hard from the left to the right. This strategy certainly makes sense, but please try this at your own risk and stay patient. Using backspin is another story, and use this cautiously if the wind/pin call for it.

Through about fifteen games on Southern, I averaged close to bogey on this hole. “Not good, Peter.”  I’ve had a few birdies, a couple of near aces (turned crooked number), a handful of pars, and a bunch of big numbers in there as well.

Do your scorecards look like this, or am I just that bad? So the question must be asked…

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Posted in Golden Tee 2010, Posts by Adam Kramer | 4 Comments »

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?

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Posted in Golden Tee 2010, Posts by Adam Kramer | 2 Comments »