Bultrug | Texelse

Humpbacks are baleen whales, which usually move in the depths of the ocean, but occasionally lose their bearings and get lost in our shallow waters.

Not infrequently they strand backwards on a sandbank and cause uproar on the other side, especially in cucumber time. Humpback Johannes (who later turned out to be Johanna) held the attention of the whole of the Netherlands for days in 2012, stranded helplessly on De Razende Bol.

The sand ridge on this hole slides up between the two fairway legs like the back of this giant fish above the water.

Drive

The club to play here is at least the metalwood 3 or the driver in two or three strokes to reach the green. The tee-box is located in the direction of the right dune where most players end up. This often takes at least two strokes. Set your starting position and address position on the left on the sand dune, and in the worst case you will then be on the left in the rough, which is not as densely-grown as the right dune and it is the shortest way to the green! The most ideal line is straight across the left dune top seen from the tee, because then your ball is in the centre of the fairway. Try teeing the ball on the right side of the tee-box, because then you are turning away from and not towards the hazard! Conclusion: dare to attack the fairway on the left and take the risk!

Approach

For the second shot to or in the direction of the green, a low iron or metalwood is often needed. With an iron 7 or higher, you can assume that you are hitting the ball on the green, but with a lower iron near the green or front green, so don’t fix your second shot on the green. It’s often better to choose a position ahead of the green! The risk is too great of lying to the left or right at the level of the green, with the obstacles such as deep rough, water, dune and a deep pot bunker. If you have a third shot left to the green, play the ball high, not low with a 7 chipper, because the front green has a lot of height differences. Use a PW or SW and play the ball on the flag, so attack. Look carefully at the hill in the middle of the green. It’s often more important to know where to land the ball than to just estimate its length. Conclusion: define your strategy before you hit the ball!

Green

The hill or slope in the middle of the green is really treacherous and difficult to read. It’s most important to know that the high side runs downhill from left to right from every ball position. Look carefully to see if you are playing downhill or uphill. You know anyhow that a downhill putt is more difficult than an uphill one.

Tip:

The long-hitter plays between the left dune and the club, while short-hitters just put their ball right in front of the hill with the tree.

Bultrug

Gedenk hier Johanna de bultrug.
Zij zocht op ‘n zandbult haar toevlucht.
Te dicht bij de kust
vond zij eeuwige rust.
Voor u is er altijd een weg t’rug

Jan Heemskerk

Par

4

Stroke index

4

Wit

375

Geel

369

Blauw

314

Rood

309

Oranje

290

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