The correct way to play the sixth, if you have the ability and the nerve, is to hit your drive as close as you can to the bunkers on the left. Then all you have to do is to playa crisp approach over the first or the second bunker in the long white line. From the back tees, the pro at Seminole, Jerry Pittman -- he succeeded Henry Picard, who succeeded Harmon usually hits a 3-iron or 4-iron for his second when the wind is against him and as little as an 8-iron or a 9 when it is with him.
Occasionally the wind at Seminole comes out of the north but the prevailing wind, as noted earlier, is from the southeast. It changes direction and force quite often, but however it blows it has a decisive influence on how the holes play. On the 17th, a par 3 that is 175 yards long from the back, Pittman uses a 2-iron to a 5-iron. On the 18th, a 417-yard dogleg left on which the tee, like the one on 17, is set on a sand ridge above the beach and the ocean, he plays anything from a 3-wood to a 4-iron on his approach. "The southeast wind sweeps across from left to right on both these holes," Pittman says. "It can be a strong wind, but you don't feel it on the 17th tee because you're sheltered by the growth of sea grape. When you move down the fairway, you feel its full force. By that time, of course, you've already seen what it's done to your shot." In a north wind the 18th can be a tartar.
Pittman remembers playing in such a wind with Jack Nicklaus and George Burns, two of the most powerful hitters in the game. Neither of them was able to get home with two woods. In any wind, and from any of the tees, the last two holes at Seminole provide a properly rigorous finish.
One of Seminole's best-known members and staunchest admirers is Ben Hogan. No one is more effective in describing its appeal and its worth. "It's one of the few courses I know that I don't get tired of," Ben said last autumn. "The wind is different nearly every day, and that changes all the shots.
I used to play Seminole for 30 straight days when I was preparing for the Masters, and I was just as eager to play it on the 30th morning as I was on the first.
"Seminole is a placement course," he continued. "Most of the holes bend one way or the other slightly, and you must place your tee shot on the right side or left side of the fairway to have the best angle to the green on your approach shot. I was always a spot player-that is, I played to a spot on the fairway and then to a spot on the green. That's the fascination of golf for me--placing the ball in the proper position and then coming as close as I can to playing precisely the kind of shot that's called for. You just don't hit a club -- say, the 4-iron -- the same way all the time. There are 10 different ways to hit a 4-iron. At Seminole you get the chance to play all the shots there are. I like that and the fact that you can visualize clearly what you have to do.
"If I were a young man going on the pro tour," Hogan added, "I'd try to make arrangements to get on Seminole. If you can play Seminole, you can play any course in the world."
One more thing. As Hogan and its other enthusiasts seldom fail to mention, the ingenious routing of the holes contributes immeasurably both to Seminole's enchantment and its difficulty. Seldom do two holes in a row move in the same direction. Quite the contrary. The sequence, full of twists and turns, varies so abruptly from hole to hole that it brings to mind the complex pass patterns that
Lynn Swann of the Pittsburgh Steelers runs, and the unpredictable gyrations that John Havlicek of the Celtics used to resort to in order to lose his man and get free. Particularly on courses like Seminole and Cypress Point, where the wind is such a factor, a fine routing pattern can change a good course into a remarkable one.
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