How The Owner Plays Redstone: Hole 16

Hole #16 — No guessing. No hero routine. Just make birdie.

HOLE 16 294 yds (blues) · Par 4 · Straight away

Green: generous, back pin, flat surrounds · Bunkers: front of green — respect them

The walk from 15 to 16 is the last uphill grind of the back nine. If you’re pushing or carrying your bag, your legs know it. And if you just made double on what felt like an easy par four, your ego knows it too.

294 yards. Straight away. Generous green. Driveable par four — it says so right on the card.

Ten years ago I would always go for it. Driver, full send, see what happens. Now even old man strength doesn’t quite get the job done. I can hit it just far enough to dribble into the bunkers in front of the green — which is exactly the worst possible outcome. So that’s a no.

Today I step up with the 5-iron and hit it to the 100-yard marker. No guessing. No hero routine. I am genuinely good at this shot and I know it.

TEE

5-iron to the 100-yard marker. Clean. 110 yards to a back pin. Exactly the plan.

2ND

58-degree wedge. The number is right, the swing is pure. Ball lands 6 feet from the pin. Flag is surrounded by flat ground — no slope to worry about, no tricks. Just a straight putt.

PUTT

Six feet. Straight. I drain it.

Birdie

FUN FACT
PGA Tour players convert 6-foot putts at a 70–71% clip. LPGA players convert at 68–70%. Basically the same. World-class golfers miss this putt nearly one in three times. Today I am not one of them.

I stride off to 17 feeling considerably better than I did leaving 15.

— Cary