How The Owner Plays Redstone: Hole 14

I love this hole. I birdie it sometimes. I par it most of the time. Back in the day I was going for eagle on every visit. Now a birdie genuinely makes my day. Funny how time and age adjust your expectations — and somehow make the good shots feel even better for it.

But before I tell you how to play it, I need to tell you how we found it. Because this hole has an origin story and it’s one of my favourites.

MARCH 2006, ON FROZEN GROUND
Les Furber always said the golf course was already there — we just cleared the trees and revealed it. After low-elevation flyovers and contour maps laid out on paper, Les set out to design the course. We hired Milos Hintenberger to lay it out on the ground. In March of 2006, Les Furber, his partner Jim Eremko, Rob Felsch and I went stomping around on frozen ground to walk the layout. Several spills. A few spectacular post-hole leg traps in the snow. The usual.

When we arrived at what is now Hole 14, the survey centre line ran straight across a thirty-degree slope. I turned to the group and said: no way this is a golf hole. There was a little dread in your mind when all you could see was a wall of hillside going nowhere useful. We sat down and started talking alternatives.

Then I looked over Les’s shoulder and noticed something. The slope seemed to get steeper — and then the treetops just disappeared. Quickly. Like the land dropped away on the other side of something.

I got up. Walked over. Scrambled up on all fours for about fifteen feet.

I crested the slope and saw the most amazing thing. A huge flat field stretching about 200 yards in front of me. A few cottonwoods, living and dead. But flat. Maybe the flattest stretch on the entire back nine — sitting right there hidden behind that ridiculous hill, completely invisible from below.

I yelled down. The others struggled up. Les Furber has a beautiful smile. Once he was up and steady on his feet, he turned to me and said quietly:

“You’ve found our 14th hole.”

We all stood there shaking our heads. How do you go from dread to euphoria in fifteen seconds? That’s this hole. And it’s been delivering that same feeling ever since — happiness and heartbreak at every swing of the club, right from the very beginning.

Now. How to play it.

You know the sound of a perfect iron strike — that unmistakeable click. When you play with great golfers it’s uncanny how different the ball sounds off their club. Les was like that. Pure, effortless contact. This hole was designed for that kind of golf, and it rewards it.

My tee shot target is the duck’s head — the fairway bunker on the right side at about 240–260 yards. I aim at it and hit dead straight, or play a little draw to cut the corner and bring the second shot down to something very manageable. With a good tee shot you’re looking at about 80 yards in.

There are bunkers in the next landing area around 100 yards out and one right of the green — but they shouldn’t be in play if you’re making good decisions. Today I am making good decisions.