Welcome to the Course Caddy, a look at each and every hole in Golden Tee 2014. Over the next few months, we will spend each day looking at a different design, starting with Hole 1 on the first course and ending with the final hole on the final design.

We want—no, NEED—your help in this process!

How do you play a particular design? Share your thoughts on strategy and YouTube uploads in the comment section. Your feedback is integral in the complete understanding of the design.

All holes will then be available for reference on the Course Caddy page—a bookmark must for the entire encyclopedia! Enjoy.

Highland Links Hole No. 17

Hopefully, Hole 16 didn’t destroy your scorecard. Things get slightly less destructive here, although the last par-5 on Highland isn’t without its deadly quirks.

Such quirks are evident with the tee shot, which is really the biggest hurdle on this design. Yes, some shots into the green will be difficult—and we’ll get to those—but tee shot placement is critical here.

More specifically, staying out of the water, rough and bunkers are items 1, 2 and 3 on your checklist.

With a big out wind, the right tee box, and a high tee, you can blast over the first fairway and the bottleneck connection to the second part of this hole. It’s amazing how much the high tee can do to change the strategy here, and the payoff is huge.

From this point, you’ll have a short iron into the hole and the hole will likely be much easier than it would have been had you laid back. This strategy won’t work always, however. And that’s where the danger in this hole really comes into play.

If the conditions don’t setup for the “blast off” tee shot, you’ll want to aim at the area just right of the body of water in the middle of the hole. It’s a small-ish landing area, a runway of sorts and it slopes toward the water. Because of this, you have to ensure that you stay dry, even if it means accidently finding the rough and taking eagle out of the equation.

If you do land on the fairway—and for the sake of staying positive, let’s assume you do—you’ll likely have options at attacking the pin. If the pin is located in the front and near the bottom of the green, a shot like this will have a lot of sense. Backspin (or Bite) will be a must.

You’ll want to keep the slope of the green in mind when you hit this shot. If not, your spin will likely carry you too far down the slope.

For pins near the back of the green, the shot becomes slightly more complicated. Sticking the green becomes a bit more challenging, and staying on the green will be even larger task.

You might, if the shot calls for it, have to go up near the rough and trickle your ball down near the cup.

(As seen here.)

Obviously there are many ways to attack this hole. Staying safe on the tee shot will eliminate the blowup, and a solid shot into a difficult green can lead you to an eagle. 

How do you play it?