“You're just trying to give them the option of taking them on but you've got to give them different shots, whether it's uphill downhill, wind direction,” explains Lead Architect Dave Sampson of the short par-4s he designed at Marco Simone, host venue for the 2023Ryder Cup. 

The tee on the 5th hole can be pushed up to turn it into drivable par-4 but the two holes that players will definitely be taking a crack at are the 11th, which plays uphill, and the 16th, which plays downhill to a green guarded by water.

‍Hole 11, 329 yards

‍Dave Sampson: “The 11th plays slightly uphill right to left. The wind comes off the right shoulder so it really encourages the draw. The only way the player is going to get in there is they're going to have to bump it in. There's a gap that's about 10 to 15 yards wide between a couple of bunkers on the diagonal. And then there's a big mound that protects the front right to the green, which you can use to kick the ball in. But if you go to the other side of that, it'll then kick away from the green and into an awkward spot.” 

Hole 16, 303 yards

‍Dave Sampson: “The 16th is different in that it's playing 25 yards downhill and the player really has to fade the ball in. From the moment that hole came on the drawing board, we wanted the player to either pull driver or lay up with the potential for the crowd booing the player who lays up. It's 16 and those are the emotions that you get with the Ryder Cup and matchplay golf. We're really hoping that the players and the spectators will buy into that.”

For our short/drivable par 4s analysis, we look at holes of under 350 yards played on the PGA Tour and DP World Tour going back to September 2022. We only include holes where some players have gone for the green. If a hole is less than 350 yards and the data shows that no one went for the green, that hole is excluded from our sample.

We define going for the green as the distance of the tee shot being within 30 yards of the hole length. If a player was playing a 300-yard hole and hits it 300 yards but is 40 yards to the right of the pin, we count that as going for the green

In the fourball matches it could be important to match players that take on the short par-4s from the tee with those who can be relied upon to make birdie via a more conservative approach. If the player going for the green hits a wild tee shot then his partner can keep the team in the hole without having to take the high-risk approach.

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