Strand’s No 17 is one of the best par 3s in the Western Cape, an unexpectedly beautiful and challenging hole. Part of a strong finishing stretch, sandwiched between two par 5s, it plays between 160 and 175 metres from a variety of tees. You skirt the edge of a large dam and anything left of the target will be wet. A vast bunker with a high lip short of the green gives wonderful definition to the hole and will trap balls which balloon into the wind. Bunkers and water hazards are ever present at Strand, and two large trees in the middle of the second fairway make this a memorable and unusual short par 5. The four par 3s are to be respected; nothing easy about any of them, especially the 213m 14th which is stupidly long for a green protected by water and bunkers, playing mostly into the wind! The par-4 fourth at 237m is an easier hole, and really just another par 3 for today’s elite golfers. Strand’s cleverly shaped greens, mostly poa, are excellent and slick to putt on.
