Bonus Holes Within a Routing / Course

[Kenny Lee Puckett]

Knollwood C.C. in Elmsford, N.Y. Has a Bye hole of 120 Yards as its walk back to the clubhouse after an all-world 18th.

Bonus points if anyone on th board knows the signicance of what occurred in the grill room in the early 1930's...

Haig Point has 29 holes - 2 are alternate par 3's.

JWK

[Forrest Richardson]

Any more examples?

[Bill_Yates]

Forrest,
Cog Hill #2 is a 21-hole course that is playerd with various routings. When using "Frank's" routing (named for Frank Jemsek the Owner of Cog Hill), 3 holes are skipped.  When using the "Tournament" routing, 2 holes are skipped, leaving the players 200+ yards from the clubhouse with a cozy little par 3 as a 19th hole should they choose to play it.  When playing the "Original" course, all of the new holes are skipped and the final par 3 just discussed is now, or was then, the 18th hole.  And finally, there is the "19 - hole" routing which, as you might imagine, includes the par 3, 19th hole.

This particular course has one other unique element. There are two parallel (approximately same length) holes that are typically both in play as hole #4.  If there is a backup on one of the tees you are to go to the other tee and play away.  While this might look good on paper or to those who are already sick of waiting after 3 holes - it causes an absolute pace of play disaster on the subsequent holes.  With two groups playing hole #4 almost simultaneously, for all intents and purposes, they will now have approximately the same "tee time" for holes number 5, 6, 7, etc.  OUCH!

Now aren't you sorry you asked?

Bill

[Bill Wernecke Jr]

It looks like Erin Hills will have 19 holes, with an extra par 3 Dell hole in the middle of the course.

[Forrest Richardson]

Thank you Bill Y.

Bill W. — How will players be asked to count (or not count) this hole? Will it constitute practicing during a round?

[Bill Wernecke Jr]

Forrest

Sorry to take so long to reply.  They have not decided what to do yet.

The story I got is that some people complained that a tournament should not have a blind par 3 hole.  Then they found a spot that was perfect for another par 3 and built one there -- it is a beautiful-looking hole.  It is kind of in the middle of the course, so not too practical for the 19th hole.

It will be interesting to see how they handle this once the course opens for daily fee play.  I will let you know!

[Mike McGuire]

The story I got is that some people complained that a tournament should not have a blind par 3 hole.  Then they found a spot that was perfect for another par 3 and built one there -- it is a beautiful-looking hole.  It is kind of in the middle of the course, so not too practical for the 19th hole.

Bill-

I think the dell hole at Erin Hills was meant to be a part of the regular course and the extra hole was meant to be #19.

The last two holes  of each nine (a par 4 and a par 5) start next to each other and both head twoard the clubhouse.  At some point there was some debate on which should be #18. If the par 4 is to be #18 (original design?) the extra hole would be perfect to get you to the clubhouse. If the par 5 is  #18 you would have to backtrack to get to the extra hole.

I had not considered this until i read your post but you could skip the dell hole (#7) without a long walk and play the extra par 3 as #9.  # 18 would be the par five getting you right to the clubhouse.

So you would have the option of #6 and #7dell being par threes or #6 and #9 (no dell)

[Forrest Richardson]

Tom — I am still not so sure, but the practicing matter is quite interesting. Typically, "practice" is meant the play on a "course". If extra holes are not deemed part of the course, then they would not assist (too much) in one's round or play. Of course, if the player "chipped" or "putted" only, then this seems OK.

[Matt_Sullivan]

Two of the top Australian courses -- Kingston Heath and NSW -- each have an extra hole that is used if another hole is out of play.

At Kingston Heath, the "19th hole" is a par 3 that lies between the second and third holes. It is not the best piece of land on the property (adjacent to the road and a little bit apart from the rest of the course) but it is a great hole and not out of place on a course with some other cracking par threes.

At NSW, the "19th hole" is also a par 3 and is a great little hole -- just over a 100m or so uphill to a treacherous little green. I think it might even be as good as or better than the second hole at NSW (which I never really liked). The hole is situated between the 14th and 15th tees

BTW, I think Mike Clayton did the extra hole at KH, but I'm not sure ...

[Bill_McBride]

I have this recurring vision that you could play the alleged par 3 at Pasatiempo as #14 and then play a par 5 finisher from the 17th tee to the 18th green.

Wouldn't that be a beauty?  

[Tom Huckaby]

Great idea, Bill!

But you'd need to cut down the trees in between 10/17 to make it work... that rather ruins the tee-shot challenge on 10... and given best line in on the new 18 would be from way down in 10 fairway, you'd have to issue hardhats to all customers!

Hey, I think about butchering Pasa all the time - my favorite idea is to cut down all trees between 11 and 12, make BOTH alternate fairway holes.  But talk about hardhat requirements!'

TH

[Mike Erdmann]

Forrest, I can think of two bonus holes within a routing that haven't been mentioned.

The first is a short, 140 yard par 3 between the 14th and 15th holes at Nicklaus' Bear Mountain in Victoria, BC.  You can see a routing map and even a short video of the hole at their website: http://www.bearmountain.ca/golf-country-club/golf-course/layout-map.html

The second is a par 3 at The Raven in Sandestin, FL.  They have two 16th holes, a 16A and a 16B.  To me it seemed to be an effort to get more golf-frontage lots, and they alternate play between the holes rather than allowing/encouraging you to play the other hole as a bonus.

[Forrest Richardson]

Thanks for these examples. Keep them coming.

[Bill Wernecke Jr]

The story I got is that some people complained that a tournament should not have a blind par 3 hole.  Then they found a spot that was perfect for another par 3 and built one there -- it is a beautiful-looking hole.  It is kind of in the middle of the course, so not too practical for the 19th hole.

Bill-

I think the dell hole at Erin Hills was meant to be a part of the regular course and the extra hole was meant to be #19.

The last two holes  of each nine (a par 4 and a par 5) start next to each other and both head twoard the clubhouse.  At some point there was some debate on which should be #18. If the par 4 is to be #18 (original design?) the extra hole would be perfect to get you to the clubhouse. If the par 5 is  #18 you would have to backtrack to get to the extra hole.

I had not considered this until i read your post but you could skip the dell hole (#7) without a long walk and play the extra par 3 as #9.  # 18 would be the par five getting you right to the clubhouse.

So you would have the option of #6 and #7dell being par threes or #6 and #9 (no dell)

Mike

I believe they now will be using the par 5 as #18.