If you don't list forest lake country club among the notable golf courses in bloomfield hills, a affluent suburb north of detroit, you're revealing your prejudice toward short-distance roads. Forest lake is a 1920s william diddel creation that still plays to just 6,200 yards, much as it did when it first opened.

That isn't to suggest the course hasn't made an attempt to stay current, since it retained arthur hills to step in and fix some holes that members felt were holding the property down. Even now, as in many traditional short-distance courses, there are a few holes that have defied technical developments.

That hole, no. 17, is forest lawn's iconic par three. The 205-yard hole, though not a true redan, allows players to hit a longer shot into the bank of a fairway slope to the left of the tee, leading the roll into position for a late-round birdie and probably a clinched match.