There are holes that haunt a recreational golfer’s dreams. Throw in some water, high rough, maybe a few trees, more water. Douse it all in a bit more water. You’re more likely to be reaching into your bag to reload than to be celebrating a birdie, a par or even a casual bogey.
Turns out that Tour pros are human, too, with the same fears and frustrations when it comes to such obstacles. They are much better at managing the hardest of golf holes, of course … but not always. No. 18 at Quail Hollow, No. 1 at East Lake, No. 11 at Augusta National – these holes present special challenges that typically result in high scoring averages, approaching and sometimes surpassing half a stroke higher than par.
Count No. 16 at Innisbrook’s Copperhead Course for the Valspar Championship among them. The 475-yard par 4 plays to a diagonal fairway angled to the right, with water down the entire right side off the tee. The tee shot is to a fairly narrow ribbon of fairway, and any golf ball fired too safely away from the water is likely to hop through the curving fairway into high grass or trees. It’s the hardest hole on the course.
Last year No. 16 at Copperhead averaged 4.294 strokes over the four rounds of the Valspar Championship, and it took an average of 4.414 shots for the Tour pros in last year’s first round. In this year’s Valspar, the hole averaged 4.350 strokes in the first round. Among the 154 players to play it Thursday, there were 42 bogeys and 12 double bogeys or worse, mixed in with 91 pars and only nine birdies.
In keeping with the Florida theme of naming stretches of golf holes, the closing run at Copperhead has been dubbed the Snake Pit. No matter if you’re a fan of such moniker marketing or not, Snake Pit is a fitting theme here, especially for No. 16 as it curls around the pond as if ready to strike – which it often does. Check out the details of No. 16 and all the rest of the holes at Copperhead in the PuttView yardage book below.
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