Four-Card Support

Q 10 5 3
9
Q J 10 4 2
K J 9
J A K 6
A Q J 10 6 5 K 7 4 3
A 8 6 K 7 5
Q 5 3 10 6 4
9 8 7 4 2
8 2
9 3 Vul: E-W
A 8 7 2 Opening Lead: J of spades

SouthWestNorthEast
Pass 1 Dbl 2 NT!
3 4 Pass Pass
4 Dbl 5 Dbl
All pass
It's just unbelievable. It's just impossible to understand. Yeah, sometimes you're faced with a tough choice between a major and a minor. Do I choose the major with rather skimpy support (say an honor doubleton) or the minor with more robust support. But when one has more support in the major than in the minor, and would save a level in the bidding, how on earth can anyone say, Oh, I'd rather be in clubs!
Could the double of four spades have spooked North? As if you might not get doubled in 5 clubs? Well, it certainly shouldn't have played any part in North's decision. His partner is asking, where do we have the best fit, the best chance to take the greatest number of tricks. Yours is not to think but the cooperate with your partner and tell him what he needs to know.
Well, how about South? Doesn't he deserve some censure for bidding clubs first? You betcha. There's just no excuse for bidding a skimpy four-card minor in preference to a five-card major. Oh, but the minor's got the ace! And the major is 9-high! Oh, come on. That ace of clubs will live in a spade contract. The same trick, the same value. You want length in your trump. The takeout double (of one heart) promises some length in spades. You've got to cooperate with your partner. Oh, I said that before. But as North just asked his partner for his best suit -- which surely is spades -- so South asked his partner to take his pick of two, and together they wound up digging their own grave. Final score: minus 1100. And four spades? Doubled: minus 300 for a very good board, as the opposition has a vulnerable heart game. A very good score indeed.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Bidding can be tough on occasion and we'll all make occasional mischoices. But let's not miss the easy ones, I often want to say. And this was an easy one, or should have been. You want length over strength, particularly when that "strength" is a single ace that'll surely ride in a spade contract. Even if South had had 5 clubs and 4 spades, as his bidding suggests, North should choose the latter! See this discussion on 3-card vs 4-card support here.