Mastering the 4th Hole: Strategies at Lahinch Golf Club
TJ Ford joins Smylie Kaufman and Charlie Hulme to break down the 4th hole, and overall design of the course at Lahinch Golf Club for the 2026 Walker Cup
Video Transcript
Should we start here with the fourth?
This, this is, I believe it's called Klondike.
Uh- Yeah it plays, this, and this is a par, a 470 yard, 475 yard par five, correct?
Yeah.
Yeah.
So, like it's, it's quite a short par five by today's standards.
Really narrow fairway.
So you'll see the guys play this probably a couple of ways.
You know, there's banks on both sides.
If you wanna just pause it there for a second.
Yeah, so there's banks on both sides that you can use to kick the ball in.
It might only be a, a two iron or a three wood.
It's so narrow.
Yeah, yeah.
I mean, look at that fairway, dude.
That's so good.
So you can kind of, you lay up to just behind the, the hill, the, the Klondike hill, and then you're hitting a blind what's maybe a five or six iron for these guys over it.
What you'll probably see, especially if it's downwind, is a lot of guys take driver and smack it over there to the right of the fairway to get a, a clean shot into the green.
Uh-huh.
But there is- Like over, like over here where, where these- Yeah like, or, or more- Yeah okay.
In this, in the general area.
Okay.
Yeah.
Yeah.
So you're right at 300 yards to the base of that hill.
Um- Ah, mm-hmm so that's kind of around where they're carrying it, but, but they'll go right and hit, you know, maybe a nine iron or a wedge if they get a good lie and avoid those bunkers and, and a lot of the marram grass that's around there.
Um- Where's the predominant wind?
Downwind on that hole.
Yeah, coming off the other- Oh, so they're sending it over this thing.
Yeah.
Yeah.
And actually during the, we had the Arnold Palmer Cup in 2024 and, Gordon Sargent played in that, and a lot of those guys were just driver straight over the top of the hill.
The hill wasn't even there for the cup.
Wow.
I think s- I think Sargent was nearly in this bunker that you see way up nearly green side, which is like- Stop maybe four- On a par five 20 yards kind of green- Right up here on, on the right- Yeah, yeah this right side here?
Wow.
Yeah.
Pitch and putt.
Wow.
but that was a strong wind, you know.
So I think you'll see guys either hit two irons into the fairway or take the risk- Mm-hmm and go out the right.
But it's a great match play hole, you know.
And especially if, if- Yeah you know, depending on what your opponent does in front of you, obviously, you'll kind of, you'll kind of make your decision and go there.
But it's, we have what, what we call a, a hill man.
So on the top of this hill we have a guy who stands there all day every day 'cause the 18th crosses, crosses the other way, so he's got a red flag and a green flag.
Uh-huh.
He's kind of our traffic, you know, traffic control man.
So if people are walking up the 18th, you get a red flag and, uh- Oh, there he is there's our hill man- There's our hill man in his little hut.
Are there, are there Klondike bars in there too?
Just asking for a friend.
Yeah.
TJ, you familiar with that or is that a, is that a US thing?
No, I have never.
The ice cream bars.
No.
No.
No, they're just- No the Klondike ice cream bars.
It's like a brand.
I don't think it's spelled the same, but still- Okay it'd be nice to see, get a little ice cream on the way through the fourth hole.
Yeah.
Yeah, there you go.
Exactly.
So that's, that's a unique job to Lahinch.
I mean, there's kind of one of one hill man in the world, I think.
Um- That's so good but it's a cool feature
