Hole #3 “Blind”
411 yards, 379 yards, 336, par 4
Charles Banks in 1925: “The second water hole on
the course has a [diagonal] water carry of 118 yards.
The hole forces water play as there is no way around.
Across the water, the fairway runs parallel to the
water on the right and is flanked on the left by high
ledges and knolls. The play of the second shot is
directly over the saddle between two knolls into a
groove between these knolls and a second line of
knolls, or directly to the green over the right knoll.
The groove leads directly to the green over the right
knoll. A long sand trap stretches in front of the first
line of knolls. [ED note: This was removed and not
restored.] The green is a double punchbowl with
water along the batter on the right and back of it. The
fairway undulations of this hole are natural and the
hole is most attractive to the eye and furnishes
interesting play. There is a close and narrow pitch
approach to the green on the right but it is very
dangerous. [ED note: this is no longer possible.]
Like the first hole, this par 4 plays from elevated tees over water to an undulating fairway. Unlike the first hole, though, the fairway doglegs right from the back tees, and from the regular and forward tees, the fairway is set fully perpendicular to one’s drive. The fairway is flanked on the left by high ledges and knolls. Drives that do not reach the beginning of the fairway at the top of the plateau will carom right, and slices will find the water. Second shots from the fairway are short but they are blind, played over a ridge to a rather small and right-sloping green.
There have been two significant changes to this hole’s design. The original green was a “double punch bowl” that swept around its protective hills and edged over to the pond, as seen in the 1925 construction photo below, that was taken from the #4 tee box, looking back across the third green. Later it was reduced in size so that it is tucked behind the approach hill and completely hidden from the fairway. Also, in the 1960’s, a new “regular” tee box was added to the right of the “long” tee and 30 yards behind the “short” tee. This had been the area that Coach Joe Sullivan used for his short game lessons. The regular tee yardage is unchanged from the original, but the angle is quite different. The evergreens that were planted when the tee was built have been removed. A bench on this tee is dedicated to Bob Tettlebach. He began playing the course in 1937 as a 10-year-old, sneaking on with his older brother Dick. Later he caddied at the course and finally became a member in the 1950’s.
