The easiest routing at the 5th hole at Balsam Mountain Preserve is straight ahead, to the rightmost of the two greens.
I played the private golf course at Balsam Mountain Preserve today, a sprawling mountain community about 15 minutes from Waynesville, NC and 40 minutes from Asheville. The layout is an Arnold Palmer Signature design. I'll have a full review of the course and community after I return home to Connecticut in a few days, but let me whet your appetite with a few words on a most unusual hole.
The fifth hole at Balsam Mountain is a par 4 that plays from the men's (blue) tees to either 371 yards or 323 yards. The difference is not in the tee box you play but rather in which of two greens the superintendent has
placed the pin. The experiences are entirely different. Today the flag was in the green on the right, which provided the shorter route, straight on from the green. All that is necessary to achieve an easy par is a fairly straight drive to a generous fairway and a wedge approach to a receptive green.
But off to the left is the other green, and the approach is about 50 yards farther and over a wide ravine from which no ball can escape. The narrow green slopes away from near right to back left, making a draw approach shot almost mandatory to keep the ball on the green.
My impression was that there is a half-stroke difference between the two routings. On the card, the 5th hole is rated the 9th toughest on the course, but I'd say the easy route is the easiest par 4 on the course and the longer route, over the ravine, is one of the two or three toughest. It is an unusual hole, to say the least.
The play to the left green at #5 is over a cavernous ravine. A short approach shot will result in an almost certain double bogey.