GreatHoles
No .
3 By
LAKESIDE PARK CLUB
David Partridge
F
PAR 4 irst played in 2019 , the VSGA Multi-Format Team Championship has so grown in popularity that this year the tournament will include a Super Senior Division . To accommodate more golfers , starting this year the tournament was split into two events — one for the Open Division ( held earlier this year ) and another for seniors and super seniors that will be played at Lakeside Park Club in Richmond in early October .
This fun , strategic championship , is a two-partner event that includes 18 holes of captain ’ s choice and 18 holes of modified alternate shot . Lakeside Park Club , a Donald Ross gem that dates back to 1915 , measures just over 6,300 yards from the tips and it will be an ideal venue for this inaugural playing for the seniors and super seniors .
While certainly not long by modern standards , Lakeside Park Club is nonetheless an excellent test of golf and that is particularly true of the highly challenging , opening four holes . The third hole at LPC is a straightaway par-4 , played from an island tee to a narrow , tree-lined fairway that slopes from right to left . Given the demands of the second shot , it is crucial to find the short grass with your tee shot , and many players will elect to hit less than driver from the tee .
Ross is famous for many of his design elements ( e . g ., tight course routings — he
ingeniously built LPC on less than 100 acres — whereas most modern courses require nearly twice that much land ) and ultra-challenging approach shots that demand precision ball-striking . If you recall watching past U . S . Opens at Pinehurst No . 2 ( what many consider Ross ’ s masterpiece ) and where many of the green structures are built like upside down saucers ( called turtlebacks ), you will remember that accurate approaches are vital to score well on a Donald Ross course and that is certainly true of the third hole at Lakeside Park Club .
The green is not large and it “ plays much smaller ” because the first 12 feet of the putting surface is a false front , which will often repel shots back off the green , sometimes even as far back as into the deep depression that fronts the putting surface . While the green is sloped toward the fairway to better receive approach shots , the pitch of the green is , in spots , as much as four degrees so placing your second shot below the hole is key to avoid a three-putt on this demanding test .
Given modern green speeds , golf administrators avoid hole locations with more than two degrees of slope to ensure fair playability . While many things in golf have changed over recent years ( and certainly in the time since Ross designed LPC ), green speed is one of the most significant . U . S . Open green
Ross : 381 yards
Park : 375 yards
YARDAGES
Lake : 337 yards
Ginter : 328 yards
speeds generally run about 13 , whereas stimpmeter readings — even at courses famous for fast greens — were all below 10 when the device first came into common practice in 1977 . For example , according to the USGA Oakmont ’ s greens ran 9 feet , 8 inches in 1977 ( the fastest recorded at that time ) and Augusta was 7 feet , 11 inches .
The third at Lakeside Park Club is a superb par-4 and a worthy member of the opening quartet of formidable holes at this fine course . LPC will be a great test for the players at the Multi-Format Team Championship .
A five-time VSGA Player of the Year , David Partridge was elected to the Virginia Golf Hall of Fame in 2020 . He lives in the Richmond area and works as a mortgage banker .
PHOTO BY LOGAN WHITTON
16 V IRGINIA G OLFER | S EPTEMBER / O CTOBER 2023 vsga . org