The hole is named after J H Taylor, five time Open Champion and designer of the original Royal Ascot course and the hole features his trademark design feature, a bunker stretched across the fairway on the approach to the green.
According to the official guide to playing the hole taken from the website: "Respite at last, a chance of a birdie. Lay tee shot up before the replica J H Taylor bunker, trust yardage to pin as bunker foreshortens the approach shot. Green has a lot of subtle borrows, usually turns more than you think."
The tee shot needs to be aimed down the right edge of the fairway to allow for the contours to take it back into the centre. Care is needed not to run out and find the bunker around the 260 yard mark but even more so the thick rough that protects the right edge of the hole which in the Summer can be extremely penal. You can afford to go left and there is actually much more room on that side than it appears standing on the tee. There is a dead tree at the end of the teeing ground but it shouldn't really come into play although it can focus the mind, especially if the opening few tee shots haven't set confidence levels soaring.
Having hit your tee shot, you should be left with just a short iron in your hand. The green is fairly large by Royal Ascot standards but slopes severely right to left and from the back down to the front edge. You need to aim for the right hand portion for a flag positioned in the middle or left hand side to allow it to gather down. However don't over compensate and pull the approach. There is a bank on the left edge and the ball will release and roll down and there is an out of bounds fence only about ten yards away waiting to claim another victim. In the Summer it is very easy to find yourself having to hit another after the first one has disappeared outside the confines of the course. There is protection on the right too in the shape of two bunkers. Go in these and you are faced with a very tricky escape which will be downhill all the way. Definitely a place to be avoided.
Assuming everything has gone to plan and we've negotiated the tee shot and our second is on the green, there is still much work to be done before you can mark your par or even birdie down on the card. With the slope there really isn't anything resembling a straight putt to be found anywhere on the green. If you are looking at a downhiller, you'll need the nimble touch of a safebreaker to tease your ball to the hole. If you've got an uphiller, it can be hard to convince yourself to hit it hard enough for it to make the full journey. Suffice to say, a lot of members three putt here on a regular basis.
However, get the approach right, especially if the greens are holding and you can make a birdie and soften any pain felt over the first few holes. Get it wrong and what should be such an easy hole becomes a bit of rebel. Like all the holes on the course, it has a bite. I've seen four putts on more than one occasion and even see one poor chap who was playing in our Member's Guest Day take nine after being in one of the right hand bunkers in two. He caught the bunker shot far too clean and it shot straight out of bounds. After his penalty drop he got it our for five. However gravity took over and the ball rolled off the slop to the left and he was forced to chip back up onto the putting surface. He did quite well getting it to within ten feet. His first putt was only about two feet away from eventual salvation in the cup but as I've already alluded, there are no straight or easy ones and this one didn't scare the edge of the hole. He made the return but there were mutterings all the way to the 5th tee.
So there you have it. A classic design, and a simple looking hole on paper but a far stiffer test in reality. Having played the first four holes how's your score looking? Personally anytime I can walk off the 4th green and be level with my handicap (in a medal) or have 8 points (in a stableford) I'm more than happy. Don't be fooled though, there's still a lot of golf left to play.
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