Golfing Carolina Colours’ 4th Hole

Walking to the slightly elevated tee of the 4th hole, the player sees that the golf course begins its front nine loop back to the clubhouse.  The first three holes are oriented to the southeast, while the 4th turns northward, bringing winter head winds into play as one hits down the tree lined fairway.   The wind will not be a welcome feature, as the tee ball on hole 4 is the one long, forced carry from a tee on the golf course.

By now, the player has become well acquainted with the wandering wetland that has twice been crossed.  Looking from this tee, you see it again crossing the fairway,  in some places as wide as 60 yards, with a tributary running from it, to its tee side, so that there is no lay up option.   Unless one’s tee shot is well hit, a penalty stroke is inevitable.  From the white tees, a ball need carry some 170 yards to safety.

There is a bunker guarding the right side of the fairway some 40 yards beyond the wetland crossing, but only the longest hitters will bring it into play.  For most of us, it serves as a useful visual tool to identify the right side of the fairway.

Once safely on the green side of the wetland hazard, there remains a shot of between 150 and 170 yards for most players.   The spacious green is guarded left front and center, and right front, by sand bunkers.  The green itself, some 130 feet deep and 90 feet wide near its back, poses the primary remaining challenge.  While it generally slopes from back to front, there is a ridge through the green running both side to side and front to back, so that both front corners and the left back corner of the green all have noticeable inclines feeding off the green.   Unless an approach shot is in the proper quadrant of the green,  two putts will be considered a successful navigation of the putting surface.

From the tee, this is likely to be the most intimidating hole on the course.  While fairly short in total distance,  the necessary carry from the tee will cause many an average golfer to overswing, and thus inevitably fail to make the necessary contact to hit safely into the wide available landing area.  If one can conclude play on holes 3 and 4 without incurring a penalty, a good score on the front nine becomes a real possibility.   This hole will go a long way towards determining whether the player has selected the proper teeing ground to play the Carolina Colours Golf Course.   From the gold and red tees, the intimidation factor largely fades away.

Average distances:

Black:  395     Blue:   363    White:  348   Gold:   306    Red:  257

Kenneth M. Kirkman, Carolina Colours Developer