[Ben C. Dewar]

Perhaps it is unfair to pick on a bad nine hole course near my cottage, but it deserves it so here goes.

The opening hole at North Frontenac Golf Club is a 410 yard par five.  From the tee you have one choice, to hit you 105 yard shot to the fairway which runs perpendicular.  No chance to cut off the hole as the wall of trees they planted "took care of that" I was told.
From there you face 250 yards of rock hard terrain guarded by a bunker front.  The bunker does not consist of sand, but more of a silt/soil, making explosion shots even more interesting.
The green is flat and slow, leaving you with a real decision from 20 feet whether to chip or putt.

It is not fair to rip on this little course, but when I wanted to the contribute to this post the only two holes I could think of were this one and the dogleg par 3 7th at this track, so sorry NFGC.

[ForkaB]

Ben

As much as I hate to admit it, you have, very elegantly, described a truly BAD golf hole.

I hereby humbly revise my previous opinion that such was not possible.

Yours faithfully

Rich

[ForkaB]

Ben

PS--Please tell me that the 105 yard tee shot is a forced carry with a precipice 10-15 yards behind..........

[Mike_Cirba]

Rich,

I'm having deja vu all over again.  

Haven't we discussed this before and I convinced you with examples of bad golf holes?  

There's the one at "Country Club of the Poconos at Big Ridge" by Jim Fazio that is a 370 yard par four, straightaway over mostly flat terrain.  

From the tee, a drive that maxes out at 150 yards is required.  Anything further will reach wetlands, which continue for the next 200 yards to just short of the green.  Tall reeds growing in the wetlands block any visibility.  Going right or left is not an option because of thick woods.

So, after driving with an 8 or 9 iron, the golfer is rewarded with a full-carry 220 yard blind approach to a small green with wetlands and woods also coming into play on each side.  

Rich...I have others if you force me to use them!

[ForkaB]

Mike

I don't remember your description of that hole, but my memory is very fragile when people might (JUST POSSIBLY!!!) prove that I am wrong.  Spare the rest of this DG and save your other examples for our hopefully historic meeting this weekend.

Cheers

Rich

[Ben C. Dewar]

Rich,
I did not give enough description of the tee shot.  The first eighty yards are over "swamp", the fairway is maybe 25 yards deep (wide?) and a healthy forest is on the other side.  There was talk of clearing the forest out, as there is generally a delay when people blade their wedges through the fairway.
Regards

[Mike_Cirba]

Rich,

Does that mean you don't want to hear about the 750 yard uphill par 6 with two forced water carries?

Or the 430 yard par four up the side of a mountain with a blind pond stretching across the fairway in the 200 to 260 yard range?

Or even the 150 yard par three that doglegs 90 degrees around tall trees?

Ok....I'll spare you this time.  

[ForkaB]

Ben

You are still my hero!

Mike

"Does that mean you don't want to hear about the 750 yard uphill par 6 with two forced water carries?"

Sounds like an heroic hole to me.  Pine Valley on steroids?

"Or the 430 yard par four up the side of a mountain with a blind pond stretching across the fairway in the 200 to 260 yard range?"

Didn't St. MacKenzie wax eloquently on blindness and changes in elevation?

"Or even the 150 yard par three that doglegs 90 degrees around tall trees?"

Was it a slice or a duck hook that was required (assume you are right-handed for the moment)?

You play far, far too much golf, Mr. Cirba.........

Rich

[Scott_Burroughs]

That par 4 you describe sounds a little like #1 (par 5) at Mt. Airy Lodge (the ski slope hole).  An uphill 2nd shot toward the green into a pond that you can't see.

[Mike_Cirba]

Scott,

Thanks for reminding me.  That's quite a beaut, I'd admit, but the skillful player will be sure to play for the generous 3 yard wide fairway cut that traverses the safe right side of the pond.  Missing that, of course, the ball would tumble down a ravine.  

Actually, the course the first two holes I described comes from is Mountain Manor G&CC, which is about 10 miles from the aformentioned Mt. Airy, which would provide another 4 or 5 examples of really horrendous holes I could cite.  

[Bob_Huntley]

If the 1st at North Berwick was duplicated and and laid down at Bandon or attributed to Nicklaus, would it be considered a bad hole?

[THuckaby2]

That's a hell of a good question, Bob.  Interesting also - the first at Bandon Dunes is indeed similar in many ways to the first at N. Berwick!

Silly me, I kinda like both holes - short par 4's, dog legs right, dunes all over the place, green on top of last dune.  What's not to like?

TH

[Rick Nowosad]

Quite a few of them out there, eh!

My candidate: #10 at Eagle Ridge, a new resort/residential property in Invermere, B.C. Almost all mountain courses around the world will have a silly hole. Something about the difficulty of heavy machinary moving them darn hills. But surely, designers and architects can avoid the silliness I'm hopefully about to describe in their preliminary routing plans!

The hole is 376 yards, initially downhill, then dogleg to the right and then up another hill. At the corner of the dogleg, perhaps 170 from the tee and across the fairway is a 50-60 yard chasm (angled obliquely from about 4 o'clock to 10 o'clock) designated as environmentally sensitive... of course. The tee shot is wide open to the left but a stand of 100'+ pines protect the right side.

The options: 1. hitting driver to the tiny landing area to the right of the chasm. To do this, a surgically accurate tee ball carrying about 260 yds over the 100'pines. A little tug or push and you're in the hazard or the forest. Hit it 280 dead accurate and you're in the forest through the fairway. How many of us got that shot?

2. A mid to short iron layup, of course. The ideal area (the flat swath) runs parallel to the chasm, is only 10 yards wide and would range from about 190 to 220 yards to the green which is way up there, at least an additional 2 or 3 clubs.

I played it 6 iron to the base of the hill, luckily (an extra club on the same line and I'm in Zondar, a club less and I have a sidehill, downhill lie over 200 yards from the green up the hill). I was 198 from the hole and an absolutely pure 2-iron barely makes the front fringe.

A head shaker of a hole!

[Matt_Ward]

If you want to find silly holes go to the Poconos ... there are tons of them available at a number of courses.

My best bet for worst hole is one that does not exist in its original state ... the 7th at Stone Harbor GC (Cape May Courthouse, NJ), the infamous "jaws hole."

Played from the tips numerous times at just under 200 yards the green was shaped like a diamond with water engulfing the green. To add to matters architect Desmond Muirhead created bunkers to replicate "jaws." The problem? The bunkers were bulkheaded, just like the green, and also set in the water but not connected. I had the pleasure in watching people land in the bunker and then negotiate a bunker shot that neded to carry water and still avoid water long! Rules officials from the USGA would be there for days giving rulings if the hole was used in a major championship.

When I see pros cry about the 17th at TPC / Sawgrass I fall down laughing -- the TPC hole is kid's stuff compared to this creation! The original 7th at Stone Harbor was nearly impossible to play --especially when the wind often blew. Even when played from the tips at just over 100 yards many players were utterly intimidated.

After a number of years of complaints the club changed the hole and it now grassed-in so that the separation of bunkers to the green is no longer present. To be honest, I only wished the club had continued with the hole because of all the fanfare it created. It clearly was a 19th hole item whenever you played Stone Harbor.

As a runner-up you could not go wrong in selecting the hole that precedes it -- the 6th. Murihead created an alternative fairway but, again when the wind blows hitting that target is tougher than nails and the green is fronted by water as well and bulkheaded. Total yardage from the tips is about 425 yards!

As a third candidate I have to pick the 10th at Alpine CC (Demarest, NJ). The hole (about 350 yards) literally rises uphill like a ski slope. A few years ago the club softened the narrowness of the fairway but the abrasiveness of the terrain is mindboggling. On top fo that the green is very small and well sloped. I have seen people hit the green but when putting downhill the ball has run down into the fairway and coming to rest about 30-40 yards from the green!

[Tags:]

Tags:

[Tags:]

Tags:

Call to undefined function theme_linktree()