Gleneagles GC at McLaren Park #3 & #12
Down the Hill
The is the third post in a series.1
Hole 3: par 4, 357 yards.
Hole 12: par 4, 322 yards.
Gleneagles could close at the end of 2024.
Gleneagles GC at McLaren Park is arguably the most challenging course in San Francisco, but many folks in the city have never played it. Unfortunately, it may be closing if the city does not renew its lease this year. I think this Jack Fleming design is incredibly interesting. So I am writing a series on its architecture, and why a course that is less than 6000 yards is able to test the best players in the region. “The Eagle,” as it’s known by its regulars, is a nine-hole course, but with two very different sets of tees that allow it to be played as a full 18.
Due to water constraints, the fairways are often in poor condition. It’s serious enough that the club plays preferred lies in tournaments. So, those who prefer conditioning over architecture will likely not see the course’s value. Yet, despite its short length, it is one of the very few courses that has not been made obsolete by improvements in equipment. It rewards people who think hard about every shot, and more often than not, asks players to take shots they don’t want to hit. I want to share and preserve the architecture of this course, so I’ll be writing (way too much) about each pair of holes and the challenges and strategies that make them great.
I don’t want to wait until it is too late to bring attention to this course. If more people play the course or join the club this year, it’s much more likely to remain open. The course is worth a visit.
The Tee Shot:
Unlike the previous holes discussed, we start this discussion with a view from the tees. The two sets of tees here are not far apart, and while the 12th tee does bring the fairway bunkers a bit into play, the different positions shouldn’t really change strategy much. On its face, the tee shot is fairly straightforward. The overhanging trees immediately on the right only allow for a straight shot or standard fade, so players might think they should simply launch one that gently fades toward the fairway. Unfortunately, at Gleneagles, it’s never that simple.
Deceptive Wind:
The course’s defense against this strategy is the prevailing wind, which blows across the hill, mostly toward the out-of-bound, but with some headwind as well. A straight shot into this wind will be pushed toward the trees on the left side:
The other typical option is to play a fade, or even a cut, but when played into the wind, it can cause the ball to balloon to the right, and end up behind another tree:
Left-handed players could simply play a draw here when the wind is up, but there is a second problem to this shot beyond the interaction between the architecture and the wind: the tilting, unkempt tee boxes. These tee boxes make a nuanced strategy here difficult.
Unfortunate Tees:
Both sets of tee boxes on these holes have a distinct and strong tilt to the left. This forces right-handed players to pull the ball off the tee, and left-handed players to push it. This makes controlling a left-to-right shot, often into the wind, nearly impossible. The best advice here is to ignore the urge to play a strong drive, and just try to get the ball into any playable position in the fairway. Thankfully, given that the hole is downhill and short, this isn’t a real hindrance.
If players are not able to play their driver off of these tilting tees, they can probably get away with a punched mid-iron down the hill. It isn’t perfect, but knocking one down the hill and having it run out to the fairway will often still leave a short-iron into the green. This can be a bit more challenging in the winter, but keeping the ball low, and playing it off the downslope can take the headwind out of play.
The Approach: Angles
The most intuitive strategy here, a good angle into the green, can help, but is not necessary for scoring.
This strategy seems straightforward. The trees in the pinched section of the fairway create an hourglass. This suggests that players can attack flags if they have a good angle to them. And while these good angles will help access difficult sections of the green, the benefits might not outweigh the risks.
Playing to the left on this hole is extremely dangerous. Ending up even a bit too far left will make the approach effectively impossible. It also doesn’t make attacking the back-right hole location significantly easier.
Bailing out to the right is pretty safe, but it’s definitely not very desirable. It brings fairway bunkers into play, including the especially nasty “horseshoe bunker” short-right of the green. However, this angle does give players a reasonable line to attack a back-left pin, but the surface of the green can push the ball left behind that bunker from other angles too.
The Approach: Distance Control
If we just think of this hole’s strategy as angles, I think the hole fails. However, there is another aspect that makes this hole unique: the sloping, downhill lies on the approach. The ground slopes surprisingly strongly down to the green. If the grass were fescue instead of kikuyu, I suspect that during the summer many players could reach the front edge of the green from the tee.
On the one hand, this downhill aspect allows the player to access most of the green from the air easily. On the other hand, it makes the shots more difficult. The downhill slope here makes lofting the ball a bit more tricky, and prevents players from just hitting a stock shot to a number they know.
From most positions in the fairway, the side-slope will pull the ball toward the left side bunker. However, players can use the slop next to the horseshoe bunker, short-right of the green, as a kicker to leave a bit of room to miss right. However, this can only happen if playing a conservative shot to the front of the green.
The other way to deal with these awkward lies is to run the ball up. The downhill slope makes it much easier to run a shot to the front of the green. There is a small valley just short of the front edge that can get soft, so the shot isn’t trivially easy. Still, even missing a bit short should leave a simple uphill bump to any hole location except the toughest back-right locations.
Playing It Safe:
A fun aspect of these risk-reward trade offs is that the back-to-front green means that the conservative shots to the front of the green will leave the safest putts to the hole. Obviously the challenging back-right hole location is the exception, but most anywhere else on the green is accessible from the front edge. The approach to the front is a very low risk shot, but attacking the pin can leave an easy birdie.
High handicappers have a real opportunity to play smart golf here, while lower handicappers can play riskier shots here and try to score.
History:
Of all the holes on the course, this one has probably changed the most. The first thing to notice is that the current green is not original. Unfortunately, the historic aerial photography appears less clear than for the other holes, but I think the old green is where the horseshoe bunker is now. I attempted to overlay the current layout of the course onto this historic photo:
Again, I suspect the old green is where the existing horseshoe bunker is, given the wide back-to-front area that exists there now. I’m guessing the removal of the tree, where the current green is, resulted in the dramatic contour there as well. Note the two black lines indicate the location of an old paved road that went through this section of land before the course was built. The remnants of this road can still be seen in the contours of the ground, and I suspect that the existing grading from the road was used in the choice of the previous green site.
Another change is that the old fairway seems shifted slightly left. The existing cart path is on the right side of the trees, but it appears that the cart path historically went through them, where a maintenance shed currently sits, leaving a more open fairway.
Update 8-24-2024: the following paragraph and photo above may be inaccurate. According to Steve Proctor, in The Speakeasy of Golf Courses, it was Erik de Lambert in 1980, not Jack Fleming who added the second set of tees to the course. This leads me to suspect that, if there was only a single set of tees, they are likely not the tees speculated here.
The other surprising thing is that it appears the #3 tee may be directly behind the second green, pushed far to the right of its current location. If this is the case, it would fit with the extra fairway on the left, and would dramatically change the way #3 plays. Players would likely need to lay up short of the left side trees, but the previous green site’s location would leave a completely plausible approach shot. If this is actually how the hole played, it would certainly fit with how Jack Fleming, the course architect, forces two different shots on the other holes. However, it does seem that tee shots from this angle would bring the road dangerously into play. I could certainly understand if the angle was changed to prevent damage to automobiles.
Criticism: Two Unmaintained Tees Ruin the Experience
I have no greater criticism of the course than the two poorly maintained tee boxes on this hole. I’m not normally one to complain about an uneven teeing surface. I know that they often have a slope to help with drainage. However, these two tee boxes tilt so dramatically to the left that players need to hit bizarre and uncomfortable shots just to prevent a pull toward the trees on the left side. This can even be dangerous as players often need to use strong left-to-right motion to compensate, but the #6/#15 green is directly in the landing zone of shots that move too far right. I’m not asking for the tee boxes to be perfectly flat, but if there were anywhere on the course where playability would benefit from an update, it would be these tees without question.
Conclusion: Control It Off the Tee and the Hole is a Fun One
The previous holes I reviewed took me a couple days to write. This one has taken me more than a month to get to and finish. I think it is simply that this hole does not have a clear, focused task for the player. That isn’t to say the hole isn’t fun – it actually tends to be one of my favorites on the course. However, the hole is complex in the challenges that it presents, and there is no dominant strategy. Playing the ball to an offset fairway against a crosswind is tough, but you can easily lay up. Playing the angles is only necessary if you really want to attack the pin, but a high wedge can access any part of the green. Probably the most challenging part of this hole is the downhill uneven lie. Only players with true control of their lofts will be able to approach the toughest hole locations from the air. Still, players can easily bump the ball to the front edge and get in for par with a two-putt.
This is an imperfect hole, but it’s one that players can be aggressive or cautious with if they choose. It rewards players who play to their strengths, and there are multiple ways to get birdie here if the shots are played well.
Other posts in this series:
#1 & #10: A deep dive into the architecture that makes this intimidating opening hole so interesting.
#2 & #11: A Switch From Strategic to Penal Architecture
#3 & #12: Down the Hill
#4 & #13: Visible and Invisible
#5 & #14: Short and Long
#6 & #15: The Old Road
#7 & #16: Wind Tunnel and Blind Bunkers
#8 & #17: Invisible Redan
#9 & #18: Contours Forever
#19: Old Peculiar’s
Tricky holes that on any given day or time of day are transformed by the wind. Middle and easy is the first shot