Pete Dye best holes

[Jordan Wall]

New architect.

Let's begin!

[cary lichtenstein]

The 5th at the River, Made in Heaven and the 8th, Hell's Gate

[Matt_Cohn]

#16 at Oak Tree Golf Club. A wide semi-split fairway, a be-as-bold-as-you-want greensite, a tempting design that can get a greedy golfer in more and more trouble as he goes along, a fun and testing green with trouble everywhere but an opening in front to run shots up - from a long distance? from the trees? It comes at the perfect point in the round, too.

[CHrisB]

The 5th at Pete Dye Golf Club is probably my favorite Dye hole. It is a hole where the difference between a good and so-so tee shot makes a huge difference in the demands of the 2nd shot (the fairway sits up on a diagonal bluff), which is especially important since the green is small and right on the river, and the player really wants to get a good angle and distance for the approach. It's a par 5 where every shot seems to matter equally--not easy to design one like that.

[Tom_Doak]

The 13th at The Golf Club.  Took a dead flat piece of the property, sawed off some telephone poles and created something special.

The 15th at Teeth of the Dog is one of the great shoreline par-4's in golf.

[Wayne Freeman]

I'd vote for all the waterfront holes at Teeth of the Dog, the par 3's and the 18th at Whistling Straits, and pretty much every hole at The Golf Club-  the whole 500 acre easily walkable experience is the best.

[Michael Dugger]

From TV I always liked the look of the 11th at TPC Sawgrass.  

[Jordan Wall]

Can the island hole go unmentioned...?

OK, maybe thats not his best hole but its gotta be his most famous, right?

[John_Conley]

Can the island hole go unmentioned...?

OK, maybe thats not his best hole but its gotta be his most famous, right?

Unquestionably, but you asked for his best and that surely doesn't come to mind.

[Jordan Wall]

Can the island hole go unmentioned...?

OK, maybe thats not his best hole but its gotta be his most famous, right?

Unquestionably, but you asked for his best and that surely doesn't come to mind.

Why is this not his best?

Things that makes the hole good are things not many holes can say.
For instance:
-The hole plays well from all tees
-The hole is fun enough where everyone likes it
-The hole is just 145 yrds, yet it still challenges the pros BIG TIME

ok, now the 17th is up for discussion
What makes a hole an archies best hole?
And now Im out to watch the final round
 

[John_Conley]

I've played it and a few things come to mind.  For one, the course is really on an awful site and has a terrible setting.  Considering all the times Dye has NOT been constrained by that it only makes sense that his better holes would be at places like Teeth of the Dog or Blackwolf Run.

I believe a great hole needs to be playable for anyone and allow for the chance to recover.  Not so on your choice at 17.

There is a guy named Nysse that posts here.  His signature mentions that he works at Long Cove on Hilton Head.  I really like that stretch, he can correct me if I get the holes wrong, from 4 to 6.  I think 4 is a great short par 4.  It affords a lot of different playing options (while the island green doesn't afford any Plan B) and can be birdied by anyone (I doubt many women with handicaps over 18 can make 2 on 17 when the green isn't wet).  Overall Long Cove is tight and twisty - perhaps a little too much so for my tastes because I spray it a little - but I'll offer up that three hole stretch on the front as some of his better holes.

While it might be a lot too hard for average golfers, his 18th at the TPC Stadium in Sawgrass has a lot of things going for it.  

[Adam Clayman]

Jordan,

So far, most of the best holes described are completely unique and therefore deserve to be on any Pete's best list.

Island greens, capes, RR tie bulk heads holes wouldnt seem to fit the query.

Do you ever get to Portland? East Moreland's seventeenth, while not exactly an Island, is such a similar hole to the penultimate in Ponte Verde, attributing it conceptually to Pete, would be inaccurate. Of course IMO.

[Tom Zeni]

I need to go with Jordan here. It's the 17th at Sawgrass. It's famous, but it's famous for a reason. Besides, no one did island greens the way Dye did prior to the 17th.

One factor not mentioned for the 17th is the wind. Combine that with the pressure of hitting the target or falling into the watery abyss - regardless of club selection, and you've got one great hole that is not only playable by all, but where each factor of club selection, accuracy, wind consideration, shot shape is of prime consideration. If those aren't computed correctly, you've got an instant one stroke penalty, not to mention the stress placed on the next shot from the drop area.

[Adam Clayman]

Besides, no one did island greens the way Dye did prior to the 17th.

This is so easy to prove incorrect.

[Tom Zeni]

Maybe. But Pete Dye has often been called the Father of the railroad ties.

[Greg Tallman]

#2 at PDGC from the back tee box (though technology may have softened it somewhat as far as the angle able t be taken from the tee)

#16 at Harbour Town (Actually gotten more interesting with technology advances... as evidenced at this year's MCI)

[Adam Clayman]

Maybe. But Pete Dye has often been called the Father of the railroad ties.

Tom, I have never heard that. I have however seen the use of RR ties from GB&I. That's where I thought Pete borrowed the look from.

[Tom Zeni]

I'm sure this point can be argued, but I did find these articles to help us out.....

"In fact, it was in 1963, that Dye’s style congealed on a visit to Scotland. It was there that he discovered railroad ties, tiny pot bunkers and many other course elements that he has successfully incorporated over the years. Most all of these features can be found on many of his internationally celebrated courses, including the world renowned Stadium Course at the Tournament Players Club at Sawgrass, the PGA West course, the Ocean Course at Kiawah Island and Whistling Straits."
http://www.casadecampo.com.do/en/golf/pete_dye.asp

And this from 10 Things You Didn't Know About Pete Dye

"6. Pete's trademarks aren't really his trademarks anymore. Adapting an old Scottish feature, Pete used railroad ties as bunker walls and along lake edges on his breakthrough designs of the late 1960s, including Crooked Stick in Indiana, The Golf Club in Ohio and Harbour Town in South Carolina. He used them so much that Hubert Green once joked that Pete's were the only courses that could burn down. But once other architects embraced railroad ties in the mid-1980s, Pete quit using them, except as an occasional accent. At Whistling Straits there is just one railroad-tie bunker, on the 11th hole, and just one wooden bulkhead, left of the par-3 17th. As for his other trademark, the island green, Pete says he's only done two—the infamous 17th at the TPC at Sawgrass and the 17th at PGA West's Stadium Course. All the rest are imitations inspired by those two, done in his name by associates. During construction of Blackwolf Run (just down the road from Whistling Straits), he resisted owner Herb Kohler's desire to create a waterfall on one hole. Pete Dye has never been into waterfalls."
http://www.golfdigest.com/majors/pga/index.ssf?/majors/pga/gw20040806petedye.html

[Andy Troeger]

There's a lot of them I like...some of my favorites off the top of my head, a few already mentioned and a few others...

#3, 6, 7, 16 at the Golf Club
#5, 8, 9, 11, and 16 at BWR-River
#7, 8 at Whistling Straits
#1, 13 at Long Cove
#17, 18 at Harbour Town
#14, 15 at BWR-Meadow Valleys
#6, 13 at Crooked Stick

[Kevin Pallier]

#16 thru #18 - for mine one of the best finishes in golf....especially the challenges that each hole provides and the variety of scores they can produce. There's no escaping the pressure in execution.

16 - reachable P5 (water right)
17 - precise short iron
18 - long P4 (water left)

[Jim Franklin]

5th at Long Cove or 18th at Pete Dye GC (I like the 2nd there too).

[Glenn Spencer]

14-Harbour Town
8,9 at The Ocean Course
2,5,14 at The Honors
3,6,7,8,11,13,15,17 at Crooked Stick

[Jason Topp]

11 at TPC Sawgrass is the best I have seen.

[Mike Hoak]

5th at Long Cove
9th at Harbour Town

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