How to play the back nine at Wentworth with Billy Foster... live scoreboard

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Yesterday I posted how to play the front nine at Wentworth GC the historic course at the DP World HQ in leafy Surrey, England. With round two currently suspended on Friday morning due to lightning, here is how veteran caddy Billy Foster guides his player European Ryder Cup star and US Open champion Matt Fitzpatrick around the back nine.

Hole 10

Par 3 | 184 Yards | 168 Metres

The tenth hole is normally a 6 or 7-iron off the tee. The green sort of runs front left diagonally to the back right so you’re hitting it across the green a little bit which makes it an extra 15-16 yards to carry to the right half of the green. Quite often you’ll see the guys in the bank coming up short right to some of the pins. If you miss the green left, it’s not an easy shot as you’re chipping over a bank and the green runs away from you from the left. You’re looking to get the ball left half of the green and the middle of the green is always a good play.

Hole 11

Par 4 | 408 Yards | 373 Metres

On the 11th you’ve got a couple of bunkers on the left that you can’t carry and a couple of bunkers on the right that you can’t get past so you’re forced to hit a good drive. If you tug it a little bit there’s heather and ferns up the left so you can get some really bad lies. It’s a demanding tee shot but if you hit the fairway it’s a birdie chance as you’re only hitting a pitching wedge to an elevated green. It’s a two-tier elevated green which normally spins quite a bit, it’s quite severe back to front.

Hole 12

Par 5 | 520 Yards | 475 Metres

You’d be disappointed not to make a birdie here because you basically just need a driver and a long iron. The green has quite a steep false front so if the ball is five yards onto the green, it will back off. The green does slope from front to back so you’re looking to land it on the front and the ball will feed back from there to some of the pins. It’s a smallish green with two big bunkers on the right which gobble up a lot of second shots, but you’d be disappointed not to pick up a birdie here.

Hole 13

Par 4 | 470 Yards | 430 Metres

There’s a bunker at the left at 310 yards and a big bunker down the right at 270 carry, but in the modern game most of the guys will be flying over that nine times out of ten. Fairway is a bit of a dog-leg right to left with the blind second shot playing six or seven yards uphill – you’d probably want to be playing a 7-iron. The green tends to bounce either way from right or left – you’d be disappointed to miss it with a 7-iron. Just get yourself in the middle of the green and you’ll never have that long a birdie putt.

Hole 14

Par 3 | 174 Yards | 159 Metres

The 14th can be a tricky par-3 up the hill. Players are probably going to opt for a 7-iron, maybe a 6-iron sometimes. It plays 10-11 yards uphill with another massive false front with the slope starting at five yards onto the green so anything a few yards onto the green, you’re going to land 30 yards short. It’s a two-tier green with a plateau back left and back right. Try and fly it in the middle of the green and you’ll give yourself a decent birdie chance but it’s all about distance control and controlling your ball flight because it plays severely uphill and the wind can be swirling a lot down there.

Hole 15

Par 4 | 491 Yards | 449 Metres

The 15th hole is usually quite a demanding tee shot that is usually a driver. If it’s downwind you can possibly hit a 3-wood depending on how firm it’s playing. There’s a ditch that runs tight to the right edge of the fairway and across the fairway at 340 yards. You normally try and hit a driver down the left half of the fairway to obviously take that ditch out of play. The second shot is around a 6-iron to a green that plays three of four yards downhill. The green runs away from you front to back and slopes right to left, so you try and land it middle-right half of the green to let the ball feed into right to left to the flags. It’s one of the toughest finishing holes so you take your four and get out of there.

Hole 16

Par 4 | 383 Yards | 350 Metres

You’ve got two traps up the right that are in-play between 240 and 270 yards, so it’s a 7-wood every day off the tee, leaving a 9-iron second shot. The green is narrow and slightly elevated so you have to be very precise with your second shot as there’s also big bunkers short right and short left. Get the ball in the middle of the green and give yourself half a chance of making a birdie.

Hole 17

Par 5 | 610 Yards | 558 Metres

The 17th requires quite a demanding tee shot which plays about 15 yards downhill with a fairway that slopes severely left to right. You want to hit it right to left to hold the fairway and get it around the corner. If you hug it too much on the left side there’s big trees which you can hit and the out of bounds is very close to there so it’s a difficult tee shot – you’ll see a lot of guys bail out towards the right-hand trees. If you can keep it on the edge of the fairway, right half of the fairway, then you can get home in two but it’s still a long second shot. It will be a wood for most guys which is blind over the top of the hill. You want to land it 20 or so yards short of the green and hopefully it will run down there. It’s a very narrow entrance to the green with a big run-off to the right-hand side. It’s a good shot to hit the green in two but it’s a hole you’re really looking to make birdie on.

Hole 18

Par 5 | 523 Yards | 478 Metres

The 18th is the opposite to the 17th as you’ve got to hit a big cut off the tee or a big bomb right over the big trees on the right-hand side of the fairway. If it’s firm it can run out to 325 yards and there’s a ditch that runs right across the fairway so some guys will hit 3-wood off the tee. There’s a couple of big bunkers up the left-hand side and if you hit a straight tee shot it will run out to them which leaves a wedge over the creek and a wedge for your third shot. If you can get your tee shot away you can give yourself a great chance of birdie and outside chance of eagle. The green is quite small which does run away from you and there’s more to short and to the left-hand side of the green so you’ll see a lot of players bailing out to the right-hand bunker. But if you do go over the back right you’ve left yourself a demanding chip shot as you’re chipping downhill towards water. It’s all about getting a nice yardage in your hand on this hole so you’re not stuck in between clubs.

edit **** Canada's Aaron Cockerill was sailing along at -4, after a fine 310 yard drive hit 2 long approach shots into the water, resulting in double bogey 7, when he was looking at birdie or even that eagle, reminding us of the risk and reward of this classic finishing hole.

europeantour.com

Bryan Angus (edit)