"If there are a lot of different thoughts and questions that can occur on the tee box, that, in my mind, is a great hole."

Steve Adamek previews the Barclay's at A.W. Tillinghast's 27-hole Ridgewood Country Club design, and focuses on the driveable par-4 fifth hole, talking to the USGA's Mike Davis and consulting course architect Gil Hanse.

"I'm big fan of introducing more risk-reward into all golf setups," said Mike Davis, who as the USGA's senior director of rules and competitions shortened the 435-yard 14th hole to 277 yards for the final round and playoff of this year's U.S. Open at Torrey Pines.

"It gives the players options and I'm a huge fan of that."

"I think driveable par-4s really tax these guys mentally and ultimately as an architect in this day and age, there's only so much you can do to tax them physically," said Gil Hanse, whose Penn sylvania-based design firm retooled Ridgewood following the 2001 Senior PGA.

"If there are a lot of different thoughts and questions that can occur on the tee box, that, in my mind, is a great hole."

Phil Mickelson agrees.

Since becoming involved in course architecture, he said he's noticed that with par-3s stretching to 250 yards and beyond, and some par-4s now exceeding 500, short-4s have gotten lost in the shuffle.

So he loves the five-and-dime, which he tried to reach with both a driver and 3-wood during a June sponsor's outing.

"That's such a fun hole to play," he said. "The green is so narrow. If you miss it in the wrong spot, you can't make a 3, you're fighting to make 4. Yet, if you hit a great shot, you can make a 2."