A Hackers Guide To Royal Ascot - Hole 6 (Bluebell)

We're nearly a third of the way around the course now and have come to second of the par 3's. Looking at the yardage alone it seems a much easier proposition than the opening hole and the stroke index of 14 would seem to confirm this. Don't be fooled. This hole is a real sleeper. It can be a real card wrecker and is my own personal nemesis.

The website describes it as: "An aesthetically pleasing short hole that due its angle plays longer than is shown on the card. A four leaf clover shape of green means you could be on the surface having to putt off it. Play to the centre of green every time, a par is very acceptable." You play over a little valley to a green that is slightly uphill from the tee.

This is one hole that sucks any confidence I have out of me. It isn't a long hole, measuring just 178 yards off the white tees and has a generous green to aim at. However this one hole above all others has caused me no end of heartache and misery.



The biggest obstacle on the hole is the out of bounds both left and right. It really doesn't take much to find them. Anything sliced or mis-hit right will usually fail to clear the tree line and a reload is almost inevitable. The right hand out of bounds stops at the end of the trees to the left of the picture and so if you can get it high and long enough you should still have a shot. However that shot will usually be from thick rough over the only bunker on the hole to a green with severe undulations so it isn't anything to relish.
 
The out of bounds on the other side is some ten yards left of the cart path and seems to magnetically pull my ball towards it with regularity. Maybe it is mental and the demons have gotten into my head but I tend to hit more hooks and pulls here than anywhere else on the course. Just for good measure, there are also a couple of streams short of the green too so if you do happen to hit it a tad fat or scuttle one along the ground they will gladly gobble up your little white ball.
 

Assuming we have struck our tee shot well and found the green the challenge isn't over. The green is 35 yards long and so anything coming up short to a back flag will have a long, long journey and will have to contend with a large slope on the right side and a steep borrow from the left. Even a shot hitting the middle of the green can have lots of questions asked of it. Should our approach have found the single bunker situated to the right of the green, it will take something rather special to get it close as the large mound will make it hard to stop the ball and will throw it away from the intended target.

It hasn't always been a tale of doom and gloom here. I've won a nearest the pin on Captain's Day before, sticking my tee shot to within a foot or so. However it does have a history of battering any semblance of a good start out of me and it isn't uncommon for me to walk away with a 5 or worse and wonder what I did to deserve such a kicking.

I have to say it is one of the prettiest holes on the course, especially in the Spring when the trees are blossoming and the daffodils are out behind the back of the green. There are also carpets of bluebells in the woods on both sides (hence the name). Don't be fooled though by it's pretty nature. It is definitely another hole that has teeth and isn't scared to show them.