Martis Camp 3rd Hole
Here on the 3rd hole, from the elevated tee boxes, you are rewarded with a sweet frame of large pine trees to line up your tee shot. The key is to decide to line up for safe par, or a chance for a risky birdie.
You must contemplate this cape shot, onto the reden-like, high centered green. It typically plays much shorter than it eludes, especially if the pin is placed in the back of the green. When the wind is at your back, as it often is, you best pick your iron wisely.
It involves a risk/reward tee shot with a carry over water. All 6 tee boxes are perched in the top right of the image, within the edge of trees lining the pond.
The tee's are set off to the side, so the player has to decide how difficult or severe of an angle they are willing to take. Of course, as you know, if you come up short, the penalty can lead to a less than satisfying outcome. The longer the carry, the closer and easier of a second shot you will have. On the other hand, playing a safe tee shot now makes your second shot infinitely more difficult.
By the way, the large iconic Jeffery Pine tree, seen here as a sentry in the front the green, has not long ago disappeared, and is now in tree heaven.
This intimate lake, at this par 3, 3rd hole, was exquisitely created by Tom Fazio, shown here in its gothic early dawn light. Here, is one my favorite sanctuaries in all of the Martis Golf Course.
This image was created in mid-June, 2012, early dawn at 6:23am. It is a 180 degree, three image triptych captured with a 10mm wide angle lens. Then, those 3 images were stitched together in photoshop, providing an extraordinary hemispheric perspective. When the shot was taken, I was whisking rain drops off my camera lens, an opportune morning rain was occurring, revealing the blissful rainbow in the top right corner of the image. As we all know, the abundant, brief morning or afternoon summer mountain rain showers (as long as there is no lighting) are alike to a blessing, and a good omen, in the Sierras and as in Hawaiian lore as well. In fact, the word for wealth in Hawaiian is “Waiwai”, which means “lots of water”. Be it a lake, raindrops, rivers, or rainbows, water always surrounds us.
