January 29, 2009

AMHERST, VA — Poplar Grove Golf Club, the final design of golf legend Sam Snead, was chosen to host the 2009 Carl Spackler Open Championship. On behalf of the Captains Club, Greg Long, Greg Garrett, and Kevin Long, continued to provide the detail surrounding the tournament course.

Kevin Long, Jr. continued through the tournament course with the 11th hole, "Stairstep", which is a 491-yard Par 5. The 11th hole is second true uphill hole at Poplar Grove. The beautiful hole includes poplar trees, ravine, lake, risk/reward, and bunkering. There is a ravine crossing the fairway 300 yards off the tee and 185 yards from the green. The ravine guards well against long punishing drives.

The 11th hole could be a signature hole at lots of courses," says Greg Long. "The position of the ravine and bunkering takes incredible design thought; a perfect hole indeed."

Long added, "The hole plays very similar to the 14th at Darby Creek in Ohio, but this one is a dogleg right and drop the first half of the hole to creek level."

Stairstep has a straight 491-yards fairway. The green is at the top of the hill off to the right temping golfers to cross over the stairstep bunkering. "This is the easiest hole at Poplar Grove if players do not get fancy," says Kevin Long, Jr.

Golfers have the opportunity to reach the green in two shots, however cannot hit their tee shot 280 yards. "There is risk and reward at every Par 5 at Poplar Grove," says Greg Garrett. "Hit your tee shot just short of the ravine and you have 195 uphill yards to the green."

The green is 3-leaf clover pointing in parallel with the fairway. The back third of the green is on an upper tier. The green is 33 yards or 99 feet deep, but 42 yards or 126 feet wide.

There are four large sand traps; one greenside and the rest stair stepping up the hill guarding against any shot left short of the green.

Greg Long played the hole in two shots. "A soft driver worked for me," says Long. "It gave me the 5-iron to the green and two-putt for birdie."

Kevin Long, Jr. was 3-over par when he arrived to Stairstep. He played the hole in 8 shots. "His second shot was shanked into the tall fescue," added Greg Garrett. "We found his ball and he hacked it into the first stairway bunker. Then hacked it again, but it never left the deep bunker. He yelled some profanity. Then hacked it into the next stairway bunker near the green. Yelled some more profanity really loud. Then hacked it again onto the front fringe."

Greg Long added, "Garrett and I were standing up top of the green tending the flagstick. Kev had a 100-footer for his double-bogey. He putted it hard. It came up the upper tier and ran past the hole by 12 feet. We just watched it run past our feet. It stopped at the top of the green and turned around. The ball slowly rolled backwards towards the pin. Kev had walked up the green and joined us as we watched the ball continue to roll towards the hole. The ball stopped 6 inches short for his triple-bogey save."

The 11th hole tee shot is the third shot where course knowledge can effect your score and future club selection. The other two include the second shot at the 3rd hole and tee shot at the 6th hole.

SCORE SUMMARY: Slick played the 11th hole even through two days. Double G played even through two days. Winger played +3 through one day. The USGA handicap suggests the 5th easiest hole at Poplar Grove, however the Captains Club suggests the 3rd easiest hole with 5 rounds +0.4 strokes over par.

The 2009 Carl Spackler Open Championship will host its players at Poplar Grove Golf Club in Amherst, VA and the Quality Inn in Lynchburg, VA. The hotel includes breakfast, room, and banquet room for the player meeting, pizza dinner, awards dinner, and awards presentation.