#1 · PAR FIVE
(Stroke 17) This hole serves as a fitting introduction to Parkview - looks can be deceiving, a par is easier to imagine than it is to achieve.
#1 · PAR 5 · STOKE 17
With a stroke index of 17, at first glance this classic Par 5 seems generous and welcoming; a gentle uphill fairway curves from left to right, with a pair of shallow bunkers pinching the fairway at 250 meters. Running 473 meters from the championship tees to the more approachable 356 meters at the front red tees, each distance presents its own set of obstacles and opportunities. This hole serves as a fitting introduction to Parkview - looks can be deceiving, a par is easier to imagine than it is to achieve.
Tee Box
Your choice is to land your tee shot on the widest part of the fairway short of the bunkers and take the bunkers out of play, or give it some welly and thread the needle to give you a chance of a second shot onto the green. A fade can bring the legendary sluit into play, a draw will put you among a collection of perfectly positioned trees, arranged to make a punch out the most likely 2nd.
Approach
Whatever your lie, the approach to the green is once again guarded by two bunkers left and right, leaving a narrow neck of fairway connecting to the mouth of the green. Both have been known to turn a certain par into a double. Consider the flag position on the day before leaning on your sand game. Short of the bunker on the right is safe, but expect a generous cut of rough. Long is nasty, but not as nasty as right of the green, there lies the sluit. Good luck.
Greens
They are legendary, or perhaps infamous. Some love them. Others despise them. To play Parkview is to experience what a green should be: equally parts welcoming and unkind, technical and mysterious. Whether running at 13+ for a club championship, or at a gentle 9.5, the trick to avoiding three-putts at Parkview is more about feel and wisdom, rather than ability. Considering that some of our greens were literally shaped by hand, playing what you feel rather than what you see is often the trick to finding the bottom of the cup.
Water Hazard
Perhaps the most formidable and striking feature of Parkview is the waterway that runs the length of the entire course. It is both a blessing and curse; giving us the water that keeps Parkview lush during the harsh highveld winter, a constant supply of reasonably priced slightly used balls, and adding a constant danger that you must navigate on almost every hole. Beware that not every green slopes to the sluit as you would expect.