By Simon Dubiel

Hole #9 • Par 3

The Setup: 505-yard, par-5 from the blue tees. The fairway will kick everything to the right. Your approach shot offers you two options — lay up to the left of the tree island for a level lie and the best angle to the green, or let it fly and hope to carry the hill to a large green sloping from back to front and left to right. Bunkers await on the front right and back left. It can be reached in two, but asks you to hit two long and accurate shots. The Risk: Some would say playing Kayak is a risk/reward for your handicap. The 128 slope rating is legit. Your length off the tee must be average or better to even consider having an eagle putt on this par-5. If your approach shot sniffs the right side, you’d better have an extra ball ready. Yank it left and you can end up in the tree island or fly through the fairway to the very thick rough. Land it in the front right bunker and the green will be above your head, leaving you a ridiculous out. The Reward: 225-250 may be a bit much for some, but if you can poke it off the tee that probably means you can handle your long iron, 3-wood or hybrid. Take it deep and you will be looking at a real birdie opportunity. Even a slight miss can leave you in good shape for at least a par or better. If you leave it short, you will have a nice uphill pitch with which to be aggressive. Final Call: It’s always hard to not go for broke, but you must know when to push in your chips and when to toss your cards in the muck. We like to follow the advice of the wise man who once said, “You can’t win what you don’t bet” … or something like that. Stick the chips in the middle and pull the 3-wood. Besides, the lay-up left is a tricky shot in its own right and the monster green begs you to take aim. Would you pull the trigger?