Last year the Oklahoma Open took place on three unique disc golf courses (Blackhawk, Redhawk, and Pecan Valley) all located at Mohawk Park. This year the pros will be attacking Blackhawk, Redhawk, and Blackhawk X. What’s Blackhawk X you ask? It’s a new layout at Blackhawk to make it even more difficult than it already was. There’s four holes with new pin placements and those are 1, 2, 4, and 18. Let’s break them down.
Hole 1 used to be a 284ft dead straight shot with trees throughout the fairway. The biggest gap is right down the middle but that’s no easy task. This basket got moved about 70ft to the right which opens up the forehand. As long as your drive can make it out of the woods and take a skip to the right you should be in good shape. With the basket now on the right, it makes for a very difficult backhand.
Hole 2 is drastically different. It used to be a 302ft backhand hyzer shot with the basket on a little mound but now it got pushed back about 150-200ft. They also added a mando to avoid players from going across the parking lot on the right. This change forces players to throw a placement shot off the tee and then execute the approach by avoiding the woods near the basket. If you’re not in a good spot off the drive then it’s going to cause some issues.
Hole 4 is essentially the same shot off the tee as before but now the basket is pushed back about 100ft and tucked in the woods. As before, if you had an errant drive it was pretty manageable to get up to the basket on the approach but now it takes much more precision. I can see players going a lot more conservative since the two is now out of reach. Both times I played this new hole I went aggressive with a forehand and found myself in the rough without a clean line for my approach.
Hole 18 is my favorite change of them all. The original hole is a 289ft backhand turnover shot with scattered trees all throughout the fairway. They moved the basket about 100ft to the right and about 80ft back. The only way I can see someone getting a two is either a forehand skip shot or a backhand roller. The low ceiling prevents you from getting all the way down there in the air. The best landing spot for this hole is 30ft right of the old pin placement and from there it’s still no easy up and down. I assume some players will be going very aggressive off the tee which can result in a horrible tree kick and leave you pitching out back into the fairway.
The changes made on these four holes add so much more difficulty to an already difficult course but that just makes for more separation in the field. I can’t wait to see the pros attack all three courses on October 19 at the biggest tournament in Oklahoma. Post produced videos will drop the following week. STAY TUNED!!!
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