The long and short on Longaberger GC

Whoever wins the 37th PGA Club Professional Championship will have to master the devilish first, fifth, ninth and 18th holes at Longaberger Golf Club.

By Roger Graves, Special to PGA.com

As the field of 156 players prepares scouting reports on Longaberger Golf Club for the 37th PGA Club Professional Championship, focusing on one or two "most difficult" holes is tantamount to trying to nominate a single Democratic presidential candidate two years before the 2004 election. All 18 holes at Longaberger are strong candidates for the "most difficult" sweepstakes.

"Every hole on the golf course is a good, solid test. Every hole will make you think, and every hole is demanding in its own way," warns Longaberger Director of Golf Danny Ackerman, whose resume includes 12 years at Pinehurst Resort and Country Club in North Carolina.

"There isn't a breather out there," agrees Longaberger Head Professional Eric Barto. "Generally speaking, the fairways are fairly wide, but your iron play and your short game better be hitting on all cylinders. The greens can be tricky, too. There are some slopes and undulations to the greens that can get you if you don't position your approach shots properly."

Some slopes? Subtle undulations? Longaberger Golf Club, the immaculately conditioned Arthur Hills design that opened in June of 1999, is quickly becoming renowned for its humps, bumps and confounding contours that have made its slippery greens monumentally challenging.

Indeed, while many courses let competitors ease into the layout by providing a relatively simple first hole, architect Arthur Hills wanted the challenge to begin immediately at Longaberger Golf Club. In fact, when the 2002 Northern Regional CPC was conducted at Longaberger, No. 1 tied for most difficult hole on the course statistically.

Somewhat surprisingly, two of the other "most difficult" holes were par-3s, the fifth and ninth holes. Then, creating a bookend of challenging par-4 holes at Longaberger, the long, uphill 18th also ranked among the most difficult, providing an exclamation point to what many observers call one of Hills' finest designs in North America.

The par-4 first hole isn't unusually long, stretching only 411 yards from the CPC tees. But the uphill dogleg right features a large tree in the middle of the fairway (about 260 yards from the tee) and four large bunkers in the right elbow of the dogleg to discourage those who contemplate cutting the corner. Then, there is the green, the front portion of which is virtually out of play a la the front of the putting surface at No. 9 and No. 14 at Augusta National because of the severe undulations.

"No. 1 is a great short hole," says Longaberger's Barto. "It tied for the hardest hole on the course during the regional CPC, yet you will see most PGA Professionals just hit a 3-wood off the tee and lay it up in front of the tree in the middle of the fairway. Then, you only have an 8-iron or 9-iron into the green, but that green is very demanding. If you miss it left or long, you're dead. No. 1 is not a two-tiered green or anything, but there is a hump in the middle of the green that distinguishes the front from the back. And it slopes pretty severely from left to right. In the summertime, No. 1 is lightning fast, and if you get your ball above the hole or on the wrong side of that hump, look out. It essentially has a false front on the green, so if you get a putt going down the hill with any speed at all, it will go right off the green."

The fifth hole will measure 206 yards for The CPC, and is the first of four immensely challenging par-3s at Longaberger. A vast natural wetland area stretches between the tee and the green, meaning virtually any shot hit short of the putting surface is hazard material. One of Longaberger's largest greens is situated between three bunkers to the left and the wetland to the front-right. The front-left hole location and back-right pin placements are particularly devilish, demanding unusually accurate control to negotiate the bunkers and the wetlands.

"It was a little surprising that No. 5 played as difficult as it did in the Regional CPC," says Longaberger's Ackerman. "The green is quite large, and it gives you the perception that you have more room to miss it left than you actually do. The wetlands come into play more along the right half of the green. The farther right the pin is, the longer carry you have over the wetlands. So from the tee, it looks like you can miss it left, but if you miss the green left, it leaves you a difficult up-and-down from deep rough or from the bunker. Plus, the green can be tricky with some subtle undulations if you're too far away from the pin. You just need to hit a good, solid shot into the proper portion of the green on No. 5 and you'll be all right."

The ninth hole at Longaberger is the shortest of the par-3s at 187 yards, but highly reminiscent of the tricky 12th green at Augusta National. A greenside waterfall to the front-right of the putting surface feeds a large pond that fronts the entire putting surface. Tee balls struck short usually roll down a steep slope and into the water hazard a la Rae's Creek at Augusta National's 12th hole. The green has more width than depth, but missing the green long means a sand shot from a large bunker back toward the water, again like the 12th at Augusta. Proper club selection and distance control is the key to conquering No. 9, which yielded more double bogeys (and worse) than birdies during the 2002 Northern Regional CPC at Longaberger.

"Just like the 12th at Augusta, No. 9 is a very narrow green and you'll seldom hit a shot short of the front of the green that will stay up on the bank. Most of those shots will kick down into the water hazard in front of the green," says Longaberger's Ackerman. "It's a challenging hole because if you try to play it safe, go for the wide side of the green on the left and hit it too solid, you'll knock it through the green and be left with a tough bunker shot that slopes away from you and down toward the water."

The final three holes at Longaberger Golf Club, the par-5 16th, par-4 17th and the par-4 18th, comprise a formidable finish to the 7,225-yard course. But the uphill 18th is truly the "coup de grace", and will play more like a medium-size par-5 for the majority of competitors in The 2004 PGA Club Professional Championship.

The 18th will play between 454 and 466 yards for The CPC on the scorecard, but when you factor in an additional 15 percent for the steep uphill climb, the final hole at Longaberger could become known as Heartbreak Hill. Three large fairway bunkers will swallow drives hit left in an attempt to shorten the long, uphill challenge. A large kidney-shaped green is surrounded by an amphitheater setting for spectators, but the right half of the green is guarded by a large bunker, with a smaller bunker catching those long-iron or fairway wood approaches struck left of the green.

"No. 18 plays straight uphill, and it always plays longer than the yardage on the scorecard," says Longaberger's Barto. "The drive on 18 is one of the most demanding on the golf course, because you're hitting right into a hill and you get little or no roll. You have to hit the fairway if you want a legitimate chance to put the ball on the green in two. Most of the competitors will have about 200 yards uphill left to the green, and you're hitting into a kidney-shaped green that can be tough to find. If the conditions are firm and fast like we anticipate, you'll see a lot of guys hitting anywhere from a 5-iron to a 2-iron into the 18th green. But when the pin is back-right, you'll see a lot of guys hitting fairway woods into the green."

"There is nothing easy about the 18th hole," warns Longaberger's Ackerman. "Because it is so long and plays straight uphill, you feel like you need to bomb a big drive there. But if you bomb a drive left, the chances of getting your second shot on the green from the rough are not good. Plus, the green on 18 is fairly narrow. It's pretty wide, but you're hitting a long iron (or fairway wood) uphill into a tough green. You'll see a lot of players scrambling to make par on the 18th."

Since The 2002 Northern Regional CPC was contested in late September at Longaberger, and was shortened to 54 holes by rain, it is difficult to predict how course conditions might differ in late June for The PGA Club Professional Championship. But if conditions are firm and fast, the greens are quick, and the rough is penal, don't be surprised if even par contends for the title over 72 holes.

"The winning score, of course, depends on the weather, course conditions, and how fast the greens are allowed to run," projects Longaberger's Ackerman. "If conditions get firm and fast and we don't have rain, I would expect the speed of the greens to be at 11 or 12 on the Stimpmeter. In that case, even par will be a good score. The level of talent among these players is so high that you're almost always going to see a handful of players under par."

Longaberger's Barto, noting that the course is not going to play to its full length, believes the eventual champion could complete his 72-hole tour of Longaberger comfortably under par. "If the conditions are firm and fast, even par will definitely finish in the top 25, but I think something between 5- and 10-under will win it," predicts Barto. "Someone always gets hot over the course of four days, so if conditions are ideal for scoring, and we think they will be, then someone will average 2- or 3-under a day. That's not out of the question, because these guys are just a step away from the PGA Tour."

The 2004 CPC winner may finish well under par, but only if he can conquer the first, fifth, ninth and 18th holes at Longaberger Golf Club.

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