With so many iconic holes at Pebble Beach Golf Links to choose from, I'm going to take you through one of the often overlooked tough ones players face early on their back nine.
The par-4 11th hole only measures 380 yards on the scorecard, but is listed on that same scorecard as the fifth-hardest hole on the course.
See the "+16" in the bottom-right corner next to the par-4 380 box? That means the tee shot plays 16 yards uphill! The reason Mark Long put the sight line, "Left edge of house," at the top of the page is because when you're standing on the tee, that's the best frame of reference on a shot that is semi-blind.
Most pros hit either driver or 3-wood off the tee, depending on the wind. Where you don't want to miss is right off the tee. There's treacherous rough and a bad angle to the green, almost guaranteeing a bogey.
This is definitely a second-shot hole because of the green complex. While most amateur golfers desperately want to spin the ball like the pros do with their wedges, on this hole, most would rather hit wedges like you do, with very little spin. That's hard for them!
In one of the rounds last year, the hole was located 17 paces on and seven paces from the right edge. You can see the green is 24 paces deep, so it brought the right front bunker into play -- but also, because of spin, brought the back bunker into play, too.
If a pro hit the tee shot to the bold 92 in the middle of the fairway, the hole would play like this: 98 yards to the front edge, 107 to cover the right bunker and 115 to the hole.
Did I mention the second shot is almost completely blind as the hole sits in a bowl between the bunkers? Look closely at the arrows around the green. Pros with guts hit the second shot a smidge long and hope it doesn't fly into the back bunker or spin off the front of the green!
Pay close attention to the way this hole is played, and you'll pick up exactly how in sync each player and caddie team are this week.
Yardage books provided by Mark Long -- TourSherpa@gmail.com. Copyright 2016 Tour Sherpa, Inc. All rights reserved.