Royal County Down Golf Club
My favourite Hole at Royal County Down Golf Club is the 3rd hole. The hole is brilliant, hard to play and set the scene with the beautiful Dundrum Bay is on your right. But, the hole is a total beast! As your two best shots are needed to reach the green in regulation. The hole plays from the back tee 475 yards to the forward tee at 473 yards to the hole and it is ranked the 3rd hardest hole on the course.
Where to play off the Tee:
I can best describe how to play the hole from the points of view of the long hitters and the shorter hitters. Indeed, depending on the set of tee blocks that you are playing from. I would recommend for the shorter hitters aiming your tee shot between the fairway bunkers allowing for a kind bounce to the right side of the fairway. Also, for the bigger hitters, you should aim to carry the left-hand bunker to the plateau. This should give the player a good line into the green. However, before you hit ensure you can do what you need to do and please do consult the yardage book or your caddy or your range finder identifying the carry.
From The Fairway:
No matter where you are on the fairway, the approach shot to this green is tough and challenging to play. The factors to consider are; distance for your approach shot, wind, rain and how your ball is lying. If you’re shot is short then there is a knuckle guarding the front left of the green. Also, there is a bunker to deal with on the right and depending on how good the lie is, a good bunker shot out is pin high right. Don’t forget, if you are in the rough or the fairway bunkers, take the pain and chop the ball back into play to avoid a disaster score!
The 3rd Green Royal County Down Golf Club:
Notably, The 3rd green is one of the flatter greens at Royal County Down to play on. Thankfully there are not any big slopes massive greenside bunkers to deal with. However, reading this green or any of the green at RCD is not easy at all and, please do take a few seconds to view the putt from both sides. That said, I would always recommend reading all puts from the low point where possible.
Indeed, the best score at this hole for me is par, but I would like to birdie the hole sometime. Finally, please do watch out for the rough, it’s thick and even with a good lie, try playing a 9 iron or a wedge back into play. This is a flyover view of the 3rd hole: CLICK HERE to see the flyover:
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