Dreams can come true.
For anyone who has ever been frustrated by that giant island of trees that splits the fourth fairway at the Moose Run Creek Course and wished for the demise of every piece of shrubbery on that plot of land, your wish is granted.
Word from a reliable source informs the AGB that the trees have been leveled on the fourth fairway at the Creek. Details were not available as to what the area will become. Will it be a bunker? Will it become lush grass from which to strike eagle bids? We’ll have to wait until summer to find out.
One local golfer expressed displeasure at learning of this massive change to a hole he used to consider a worthy challenge, a hole that asked you to choose one of three options. You could hit a tee shot down the left side, the right side or lay up short of the trees in the middle and fire over them on your second shot. Big hitters could add the fourth option of clearing the trees on the fly, if they were playing the white tees, but what big hitter would waste time playing the white tees?
As for the official AGB opinion: We think it is a good move. The hole was essentially unfair. Many a respectable tee shot would find its way into the center island and cost a golfer two shots for a lost ball and lead to a demoralizing double bogey or worse.
According to another reliable source, a USGA official visited the Creek last summer and found four holes to be rather detestable, when viewed on behalf of the average golfer. Those holes were No. 4, No. 9, No. 10 and No. 18.
All four of those holes require shots that the average golfer can rarely hit, the USGA official reportedly claimed. The tee shot at the fourth, the approaches at the ninth and 10th and the second shot on the par-5 finishing hole are too difficult.
While some golfers, usually the more advanced ones, enjoy the challenge of the Creek, many average players avoid playing there due to its difficulty. The course was once ranked by Golf Digest as the 49th toughest course in the U.S. Brush clearing projects in recent years helped to remove the Creek from that list and this latest clearing at the fourth hole should soften the Creek even further.
