Plenty of risk-reward holes at Quail Hollow

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MORE: What the players have to say about risks and rewards at Quail Hollow

CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- The first golf course that George Cobb ever helped create was at Camp Lejeune when he was an engineering officer in the Marines during World War II.

Cobb had a degree in landscape architecture from Georgia, but he had never built a golf course. So he asked his superiors to hire Fred Findlay as the designer. As Cobb later explained, "I didn't want to be court-martialed if it turned out bad."

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The 18th hole at Quail Hollow caps off a grueling final three holes.

As you'll see in this chart, the finishing holes at Quail Hollow are routinely among the most difficult on TOUR.

Cobb worked as the construction superintendent on that project and in the early 1950s, following his second tour of duty with the Marines, he struck out on his own. He would design more than 100 courses, mostly in the Southeast, before his death in 1986.

Among Cobb's finest creations came in 1961 when he built Quail Hollow Club, which hosts the Wachovia Championship this week. His avowed goal of designing courses that are enjoyable, not excruciating, to play was certainly accomplished in this toney Charlotte enclave.

He had some high-powered help, too. Arnold Palmer, a long-time Quail Hollow member, modified several holes on the course in 1986 while Tom Fazio added the teeth in advance of the PGA TOUR's return in 2003.

The TOUR's finest golfers annually are attracted to Quail Hollow for its simplicity, depth and variety. But what really gets their juices flowing are the high-risk/high-reward decisions they face on the 7,442-yard layout.

The tree-lined layout offers a pair of drivable par 4s, as well as a quartet of par 5s that can be reached to reward the well-placed shot. But it also offers trouble for aggressive shots that go astray. Tough decisions and difficult shots lurk around every corner.

"They've got a lot of holes out there that you've got to be smart on," Lucas Glover said. "That's why it's such a good course and guys like it so much. ... Not only is it more fun, but you've got to think more.

"Sometimes you've just got to be smart or lay back or not really go at all the pins. There's a lot of hole locations out here that you've got to be careful of."

Brandt Snedeker, who finished third at the Masters two weeks ago, agreed.

"There's definitely ... a lot of strategy involved out here," he said. "There are a lot of angles you can play, a lot of short par 4s (and) par 5s you can go for or choose to lay up -- just playing to your strengths."

Just 10 courses on TOUR last year were more difficult than Quail Hollow, but that hardly tells the whole story. Only three venues, all hosting major championships -- Oakmont (U.S. Open), Southern Hills (PGA Championship) and Carnoustie (British Open) -- produced more bogeys than Quail Hollow, yet among the top 20 courses in difficulty, none offered more birdies or eagles.

In other words, you can shoot really low ... or really high. It's a roller-coaster experience.

"There's a lot of pin locations that you can't really fire at and there's a lot that you can," Johnson Wagner explained. "It's kind of like Augusta in that way that you can really work it off some slopes to get close to holes and you don't always have to go at them. A couple of driveable par 4s, some reachable par 5s with water -- I'd say it's risk-reward."

Wagner wasn't the only player to mention the Masters home in the same breath as Quail Hollow, and small wonder. Cobb, a close friend of Bobby Jones, designed the famous Par 3 course at Augusta National, and more recently, Fazio was instrumental in the lengthening of the legendary layout.

There are few rewards on Quail Hollow's home stretch, though. The final three holes, called by some the "Green Mile," ranked among the top 10 most difficult Nos. 16, 17 and 18 on TOUR each of the last four years. The combined total over par was the highest of any three finishing holes on the PGA TOUR last year.

"It's great what they've done here," PGA TOUR Tournament Director Mark Russell said. "It's an old, traditional golf course where the greens and tees are close together. That's one reason players like it so much. It's a classic old place.

"Nothing's really manufactured here. They took the lay of the land and put a golf course here. It's not a putting contest. You've got to hit shots.'

And when the pros hit good ones, they are often rewarded.

The two holes that offer the biggest rewards are the 342-yard eighth and the 346-yard 14th. Tournament officials have the option of moving the tees up in an effort to entice players to drive the par 4s. They frequently make the move when the field has been cut for the weekend.

The eighth is pretty straightforward with a slight dogleg right and a pair of bunkers that guard the green. More often than not, the goal is simply to get the ball somewhere near the green and wedge close for the birdie try.

"I don't see how you can hit the green even if you were playing from 40 yards up," Billy Andrade said. "I don't think you could hit a 3-wood and keep it on that green. So get it up near that green and maybe get it in a bunker, and even in a bunker, it's not a guarantee. It's a very difficult hole."

The 14th offers a much bigger risk, as it bends slightly to the left where water lurks beside the green. Small wonder there have been 52 double bogeys and 13 triples there.

"It's a great hole," Snedeker said. "You can hit driver and make eagle, you can lay up and hit 3-iron and make birdie. Driver brings both eagle and bogey into play. So you really have to decide what you want to do there all week and stay committed to it.

"It makes for some fun TV. "

Both No. 8 and No. 14 have played under par in the five previous years the Wachovia Championship has been contested.

The eighth has produced four eagles; the 14th six. There have been 635 birdies at No. 8 and 306 bogeys or above. The 14th has seen 500 birdies made and 323 of the dreaded above par scores.

The par 5s, particularly the 536-yard, water-lined seventh hole, offer more natural enticements. Knowing when to take the risk is a product of experience, as well as opportunity, so it's no surprise that the five winners of the Wachovia Championship have a combined 127 PGA TOUR wins.

"I also think it's timing," Andrade said. "(It's) when you get to that hole if the wind switches or it it's downwind, how you're playing, what circumstances you're in. It seems like playing it safer is going to give you more opportunities for birdies. But you also in the back of your mind, as a player, think maybe you can make an eagle if you hit the miraculous shot.

"That's why the game's so great. That's why it's so awesome."