Dear Member / Property Owner,
Since September 2004, the par of The Indiana course has been temporarily reduced to 71 (a reduction of one stroke).
This modification arose because hole number 17 was changed to a par 3, to be played from a new tee complex pending the provision and establishment of further landscaping and trees requested by the golf course designer either side of the fairway approaching the green, creating a denser landscape and a more interesting hole, with the purpose of discouraging the player from attempting a shot that is likely to end up out of bounds.
Pending the completion of those works, and so that there were still opportunities in the meantime to play the Indiana at its original par of 72, in November 2008, the Club Committee decided to select four of the more important Desert Springs Club events, where the 17th hole would revert back to its intended par 4 format, played from the original tee complex.
It was agreed by the Committee to review the post analysis of the players tee shot pattern recorded from a designated ball spotter during the President’s Cup held on 8th November 2008, to decide whether or not future selected and scheduled tournaments would be played with the 17th Hole played as a Par 4.
Accordingly a review was taken by the Committee. The analysis showed that from the shots played by the competitors that 27% of them had landed out of bounds, outside of the golfing boundary either side of the hole.
In light of this information and in the interests of safety, the Committee agreed that further selected and scheduled tournaments for the 17th Hole to be played as a Par 4 revert back to play from the Par 3 Tee complex, until such a time as phase one of the scheduled remodeling work was completed to the satisfaction of the course designer and achieves its objectives.
Now five years on, and with the growth and establishment of landscaping that has been introduced to date, coupled with alterations to the fairway design and landing area from the players tee shot, the Club Committee has requested that for Desert Springs ‘Board Competitions’ the 17th hole revert back to its intended par 4 format, played from the original tee complex. The first of these competitions will be the upcoming ‘Desert Springs Open Championship’ on 15th & 16th February followed by the ‘St. Patrick’s Day Bowl’ on 17th March, ‘The Indiana Masters’ on 12th & 13th April, ‘The Club Championship’ on 22nd & 23rd April, ‘The Desert Classic’ on 11th & 12th October, ‘The Club Handicap Salver’ on 1st & 2nd November, and finally ‘The Presidents Cup’ on 08th November.
It was agreed by the Committee to review the post analysis of the players tee shot pattern recorded from a designated ball spotter during these competitions, to decide whether or not future tournaments could be played with the 17th Hole played as a Par 4.
Please note that all players scheduled to play The Indiana course on those competition days, but not competing in the selected tournaments, will play the 17th hole from the Par 3 tee complex as usual.
