Tillie's five and dime No. 5 provides risk, reward
By Melanie Hauser, PGATOUR.COM Correspondent
PARAMUS, N.J. -- It's one Tillie hole.
Quirky. A mere 291-yard par 4 that's anything but a gimme.
Green the size of a golf bag. Shaped more like a butter bean. Anything left is big time trouble. Right is fine, as long as you're talking in the bunker.
Driveable? Yes. But if you hit it on the front, don't expect the ball to stop until it gets to the back.
Geoff Ogilvy called it cool. Joe Ogilvie called it ingenious.
The members here at Ridgewood Country Club simply call it the Five and Dime. Sometimes the Nickel and Dime.
Lord Byron Nelson himself coined the term back in the '30s when he was an assistant here. He said the way to play it was with a 5-iron off the tee and a 10 wedge -- the predecessor to a pitching wedge. Hence, nickel and dime. Lore adds to the description -- go for it and you can either make a 5 or a 10.
Stories aside, the bottom line is what the field at The Barclays is playing as the fifth hole this week -- it was the sixth during the 1990 U.S. Senior Open -- is the club's signature hole. As in another inevitable twist on an A.W. Tillinghast 1920s classic beauty of a course.
Depending on the pin and tee placements, as well as the wind, you will see players do just about everything there this week. And, trust us, the crowd will cheer them on.
"A lot of members thought it would be a driveable par 4 (for the pros),'' said Don Mahoney, the vice chairman of The Barclays and a member at Ridgewood for 30 years. "A slam dunk ... and incredible risk-reward.''
But the more players stand up and take a whack in practice rounds, the more players are thinking about laying it up. Then again, we're talking most of the field.
Long-hitting J.B. Holmes whapped it up there pin-high in a practice round. Sergio Garcia said if he feels good, he'll go for it. And then there's Anthony Kim. It's a perfect driver distance for him. Plus, you have to hit a cut, just like he does, to hold the green.
"It plays 18 yards up the hill, according to the Bushnell Range Finder that my caddy just bought me,'' he said, chuckling. "... I don't see why I should lay back and let the birdie come to me when I can go chase that thing down.''
He did in a practice round -- one to 8 feet, one to 10, a third to 30 feet.
"I hit the surface every time, and obviously the pins might be to where I can't hit driver if the pin is in the front and I probably will lay up and probably try to suck something back off the middle of the green and play safe that way,'' he said. "But if the pin is in the back, I'm probably going to hit driver there every day.''
Players like Ogilvy think of that more as an option.
"There's a massive reward for going for it and hitting a great shot,'' said the 2006 U.S. Open champion. "There's a massive penalty for going for it and hitting a bad shot. There's still no guarantee. If you play ultra conservatively, you've still got to hit a great pitch shot.''
To a tiny green -- 19 to 27 yards wide, a mere 83 feet deep.
It's a fourth the size of the largest green here -- the sixth -- and half the size of the average green. Caddies and players walk single file.
"It's great,'' said Scott Verplank. "It's so small. It's like an old little par-3 golf course green.''
Like most players, Kenny Perry said he's never seen a green that small in his life.
"I noticed any of the guys that hit full sand wedges, no matter where they hit it on the green it came off the green,'' he said. "If you get just enough spin it will come off every time, even if you land it on the back of the green.
"I think the secret to the hole is to hit it up there as close as you can in the rough to where you can't get any spin. It will be an interesting week.''
Indeed it will.
Even if you miss the right front bunker, there are five more surrounding the green -- none with great angles. Plus deep rough. And the multiple-tier plateau effect on such a narrow green? It makes it fun to read.
Which brings us to the 1990 Senior Open and Jack Nicklaus.
"Jack was playing a practice round and (his caddy) made a comment to him about the putt breaking toward 17 -- meaning Route 17,'' Mahoney said. "Jack interpreted it as meaning hole 17 which is all the way the hell over on the other side of the course. So Jack looked at him cockeyed -- like what-the-hell-kind-of-read is that? When they finally connected, it was a riot.''
One of the only comparable holes is No. 10 at Riviera -- a 311-yard gem built just about the same time. Just not by Tillie. That green is wide, however, not deep. And players are always tempted to go for it. Even if it isn't the right play.
But No. 5? Former Masters champ Zach Johnson -- one of the shorter hitters -- sees it as a pretty easy tee shot if you decide not to go for it.
"It's a 4-iron to a 5-wood, that's ball park,'' Johnson said. "But then you have to hit a great wedge shot. Not long, but you've got to hit it.
"You can hit a great tee shot and still make a bogey. You can lay up and make birdie. You can lay up and make bogey.''
In this day of super-sizing courses, driveable par 4s are finding their place. Maybe it's the risk-reward. Maybe it's a little breather from the uber-holes.
Maybe it's the charm of the old days -- and having options.
"A little out of the norm for what we play now,'' Verplank said.
This little gem -- no matter what number they give it in a pick-and-choose tournament layout from Ridgewood's 27 holes -- has been around forever. And it's provided thrills and spills -- all the way back to Lord Byron's nickel-and-dime days.
This Tillie? It's all about options. About timing. About how much you want to risk.
"If you miss it in the wrong spot, you can't make a 3, you're fighting to make 4,'' Phil Mickelson said. "Yet, if you hit a great shot, you can make a 2."
And, perhaps, make something happen, as well.
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