| Prince Edward Island – Home Of BB PEI And Now...My Heart Pt 2 |
Page 1 of 2  Rodd Mill River's First Hole Is A Dogleg Left Par 4 - All Photos Courtesy Gayle Moss by Gayle Moss (www.golfgal.com) On Monday IG's gallavanting GolfGal began to enlighten us as to the pleasures of golf experiences to be had on the beautiful island of PEI off Canada's Atlantic coast. We now present part two of Gayle's Excellent Adventure. Could this be her 'Big Break'? The first hole at Rodd Mill River is a nice par 4 dogleg that slopes to the left and plays a bit shorter than the yardage would indicate. So far we haven’t seen it used as a challenge hole on the Big Break, but I expect at the end we’ll see it in a stroke play game between the two final contestants. Interestingly, this was originally a par 3 hole before the resort was built. The tee was where the bunkers are now out in the distance. But when the buildings went up, the bulldozers created a fairway from them to the hole to connect the course to the resort. The 2nd hole is a 525 yard par 5, over water off the tee and then up hill – very up hill to a dogleg right. Laying up on the left of the 150 marker avoids having to hit over the bunkers to the green.  The Par 5 Second Hole Requires A Tee Shot Over The Water Before Heading Up The Hill Unfortunately, I found the trees and the mosquitoes (June can be bad for those pests, but they taper off in July and August). Now on this hole, you may remember in Episode 6 where Brian predicted that the distance control pitching challenge would likely continue until there were 2 balls touching each other. It didn’t take Derek long to live up to that challenge on this green. In the mid 90’s Graham Cook redesigned the 3rd hole, along with 4, 6, 17 and 18 to bring the river more into the golf course. Hole 3 was used in Episode 5 for Nicole and Brian’s elimination challenge where Nicole spent her last day on Big Break. Mark (Head Pro Roberts) reminded me that this was also the hole where Brian was so disgusted with his wedge play (that made me laugh - when wasn’t Brian disgusted on this show?). Mark went on to say that my shot was pretty close to what Brian faced.  The Undulations On The Third Green Proved To Be The Undoing For Brian On BB PEI It was a hard shot from the rough and an even harder putt with all the undulations on that tricky green. The 3rd hole was also one of the “nemesis” par 3’s which sent Football packing in Episode 2. Mark said that although Football could be forgiven for his 11th hole problems (I’ll share those later), he was in a good position to easily make pars on 3 and 5 and just didn’t capitalize on his good chances. But hey…that’s golf right? Wind is often a factor on this short par 3 and there’s trouble if you’re long, left or right which Football found out the hard way. I ended up in almost the exact same position right of the pin, having to chip on the green as he did in his elimination challenge. Mark shared that Football didn’t really give the shot much attention, assuming it was a fairly easy up and down for him. Well, after hitting the shot myself, I can tell you, it’s certainly is a downer. Big Break PEI began on hole #4 with the dreaded 3-putt challenge.  Hole Number 4 Was The Site Of The Dreaded 3-Putt Challenge When I got to the green, I discovered it had two levels and the hole was on the top tier. It was a testy putt with more break than I would have expected from watching it on TV. In fact, TV doesn’t give you nearly the same perspective on the course as a whole. Finding a flat lie is almost impossible on all the rolling fairways; and the greens are very undulating and often multi-tiered. Bunkers are strategically positioned to not only catch you ball, but make sure your next shot is a knee knocker as you face greens that run away from you. The hole is a par 4, but risk takers will often try to drive the green down the right side. This is also the hole where Brian eliminated Kim in a playoff in Episode 5. |
||||
