Rustic Canyon - 7th Hole
The seventh hole at Rustic Canyon is a strategic par 4 that plays 362 yards from the tips, 338 from the men’s tee and 253 from the upper women’s tee. Located just outside of Los Angeles, this Gil Hanse, Jim Wagner, and Geoff Shackelford design features a barranca on nearly every hole.
On the seventh, the barranca cuts the fairway in half at an angle diagonal to the line of play. On the tee, this forces each player to ask themselves: what club am I hitting and where am I aiming?
The first twenty times I played this hole I would hit a stock 190 shot from the men’s tee and hope that I could get it close with my approach. I did not look at the pin placement while on the tee or think through all my options, I just knew I could find the fairway with an iron. But as time went on, this hole began to frustrate me as it looked so straightforward, yet I always managed to make bogey or worse.
Besides the perched green, I initially thought the only sight lines were a single bush and cell towers in the distance. This lone bush serves as a marker for the end of the fairway and start of the barranca. The fairway almost appears to go on forever, as the runout is obscured by a ridge in the middle of the landing area that runs parallel to the bunker.
To get an idea of the question asked on the tee, we must first discuss the green and its complex. No matter where one plays their approach from on this hole, they must hit up to a slightly elevated green. This is the only one on the course besides the par 3-15th, which plays uphill the whole way. Part of this putting surface is obscured by a deep bunker short left, making the left-side of the target appear even smaller from the fairway.
Compared to the rest of the holes at Rustic Canyon, this one has a minimal collar in front of the green to use if playing along the ground. It is also one of the course’s smaller greens and features two distinct shelves divided by a trough that runs back to front and opens into the front third of the green.
That shelf on the left raises the entire side of the green while the smaller one perks up the back portion. Both shelves, along with the low area in the front third, have hole locations.
There are two bunkers right of the green, one catching weaker shots short of the green and the other corralling balls that roll off the right side.
Now with a greater understanding of the question the architect is asking, and with the help of my range finder (sigh, I know), I believe there are four distinct options off the tee.
First, you can in fact just hit a stock 190-yard shot, preferably to the right side of the fairway. This would be right of the direct line to the flag and on-line with the scraggly bush. From here, the player is left with somewhere from 135 to 150-yards depending on the pin placement.
The second option is hitting a fairway wood directly at the bush that is 225 yards from the tee. From this bush to the front of the collar is 95 yards and is 110 to carry the bunker if the pin is on the left half of the green. If the pin is right, this approach allows a run-up shot to the green as there is no forced carry over the greenside bunker, just the immediate barranca.
Eventually I realized there was a sightline even closer to the tee. At the start of the left side of the fairway there is a seeming inconsequential mound separating the fairway from the native area. This rise is approximately 100 yards from the tee box and obscures the view of the fairway up the left side of the hole. If the pin is left, this is the shot.
The third option is hitting a driver or 3-wood and fading the ball off that mound at the start of the fairway. The run-out into the barranca at the fairway’s furthest point is close to 290 from the tee, and if a ball runs through, it is just dead grass. If the pin is left, this is the shot. This is because the player will not have to take on the bunker with their approach. However, if the flag is short right or back right the approach requires plenty of touch over the penalizing bunker.
The final way to play this hole feels like a video game shortcut. That way is to hit a driver right and over the barranca and into the next portion of fairway. This requires a 245-yard carry from the men’s tee, with a sightline over the right edge of the women’s tee. The further left one hits this shot, the greater the distance required to carry the barranca. If this tee shot is executed, the player has less than 90 yards and the most advantageous angles to all possible pin locations.
For so long I thought this hole demanded iron off the tee until I realized hitting more club allowed for an easier, and obviously shorter, shot to the green if properly executed. All these options involve flirting with the barranca, but the payoff is worth it.
If the player chooses a 190-yard shot and it is pushed, it will be a long way home. If pulled, the bunker comes more into play on the approach. Similarly, a pushed fairway wood aimed at the bush will find the barranca while a pull will also require taking on the bunker on the approach. If hitting a driver left, a push finds the barranca and pull finds the native area. And finally, if right or left with a driver to the right, the player will find the barranca. The exacting line, and the rewards received if executed, make this hole ideal.
In “The Spirit of St. Andrews” by Alister MacKenzie, the great architect states “the ideal hole…gives the fullest advantage for accurate play, stimulates players to improve their game, and which never become monotonous.” To me, the seventh at Rustic Canyon checks all these boxes.
