Quite Possibly the Hardest Par 5 in Golf

[Peter_Collins]

I recently returned from playing in the Kansas Amateur in Garden City, Kansas.  The tournament was played at Southwind Country Club, a Don Sechrest design in the southwest corner of the state which most would be surprised to learn is sand dune/desert landscape complete with ice plants, cacti, and rattle snakes.  The 15th at Southwind is quite possibly the hardest par 5 in golf.  Certainly harder than anything I've played.  

564 yards double dog leg into the wind which during the summer is typically 10-20 miles per hour with gusts to 30.  The tee shot is played from an elevated tee box to the southwest.  The fairway is ample but from the left side your second shot is a blind shot over a hill to a narrow downhill fairway.    The right side of the fairway provides a view of the fairway for the second shot, but errant tee shots too far right and through the fairway find severe side hill lie on a sand dune covered with the aforementioned ice plants, cacti, and an occasional rattlesnake.   The second shot is played to the southeast down hill to an incredibly narrow fairway, 6 paces wide at its narrowest point.  The rough is another six or seven paces and beyond that back into the sandy gunch.  One may be tempted to go for the green in two but the right side of the green is guarded by a 65 foot thick gunch covered sand dune 30 yards in front of the green and the left by an expansive green side sand bunker with yucca plants (a la Prairie Dunes) on the green side margin of the bunker.

The third shot (from the 6 paces wide fairway if you hit it) is played back uphill to the southwest to the elevated green, an errant pitch shot to the left finds the aforementioned vegetation rich sand bunker and errant shot right the green past the sand dune finds a severely sloping rough covered hill running away from the green.  

The green which is approximately 30-45 feet above the fairway is a long (front to back) narrow green with two levels, the front half is slightly dome shaped, the back tier, which is maybe fifty feet above the fairway is relatively flat.

Hardest damn par five I've ever seen.

[Glenn Spencer]

So, apparently we are talking about, stupid-hard here? It does sound difficult. I will throw #18 at Fox Run's hat into the ring, an Art Hills par 5 that is so bad that it is impossible to play properly and that makes it the hardest par 5 I have played. Yours does sound difficult though.

[Mike Benham]

But is it an easy par-6?

[Doug Ralston]

And besides Glenn, I promise you, Eagle Ridge #4 is harder!

[Glenn Spencer]

Doug,

OK, I give. When are we playing? What is the tariff out there. I cannot and will not give Hills more than $50. I wouldn't be able to call myself a golfer anymore. How far is it from us? btw, nothing is harder than #18 Fox Run. There can't be anything harder from the back tees, there is nowhere, nowhere to hit it on the tee shot or the second shot. No play makes sense and the right side of the fairway is a riot!!

[John Goodman]

there is nowhere, nowhere to hit it on the tee shot or the second shot. No play makes sense and the right side of the fairway is a riot!!

Sounds a little like Yale # 18 . . .  

[Glenn Spencer]

there is nowhere, nowhere to hit it on the tee shot or the second shot. No play makes sense and the right side of the fairway is a riot!!

Sounds a little like Yale # 18 . . .  

John,

I don't know which one of us is at fault, but somehow we have managed to have Yale and Art Hills in the same discussion. Something is just flat-out wrong about that.

[John Goodman]

I was just being facetious, or trying to.

I will say that after about half a dozen tries I have not played Yale 18 properly or well.  I'm not sure if it's a failure of understanding on my part or just a lack of execution, or both.  The hole is definitely a difficult par 5, IMO.

[Glenn Spencer]

Yeah, I know you were. I am about 0-20 on Fox Run's 18th. Made one birdie there, best drive and best 2-iron I have ever hit, but you are not supposed to go in two, so that doesn't even count. I ahve made about 7-8 doubles though.

[Anthony Butler]

QUOTE FROM THE LEDGES WEB SITE-MY COMMENTS IN CAPS:

"You’ll close out your round on that par-5 that everyone says is the most difficult finisher in New England. First of all, it has monster length: 618 yards from the back tees.  You start out with a tee shot over water. From the tips, it’s a 230-yard (MORE LIKE 240) carry." BUT TO CLEAR THE HAZARD WITH YOUR SECOND,  YOU NEED TO RIP YOUR DRIVE AT LEAST 280 INTO THE LEFT HARD PORTION OF THE FAIRWAY. (BTW – WATER ALL DOWN THE LEFT HAND SIDE OF THE LANDING AREA)
"This is a hard dogleg right that has a 200-yard uphill stretch once you make the turn.Then about 170 yards of the green, there’s more water. If you lay up short of this hazard, you’re playing from over 180yds to a really difficult green  for your third" ONLY BY PUTTING YOUR TEE SHOT IN THE RIGHT PLACE DO YOU HAVE ANY CHANCE  TO CLEAR THIS 60YD WIDE HAZARD WITH YOUR SECOND. THEN YOU NEED TO HIT IT ABOUT 210-220yds WITH SLIGHT FADE (TO PREVENT RUNNING INTO THE TREES ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THE HAZARD)

PUT TOGETHER THESE TWO SHOTS AND YOU'RE LEFT WITH 9 IRON/PW TO A GREEN WHERE YOU CAN BARELY SEE THE TOP OF THE PIN.

"The green” says Blasik, “is very fast and undulating.”

ONE PAR IN 5 ROUNDS.

[johnk]

I'd say San Juan Oaks #15 is the hardest par-5 I've ever played, and it's not super long. From the blues: Almost no landing area for the drive.  

Sidehill lie in the rough for a lay-up 2nd of about 170 yards to clear a diagonal barranca, still going up hill.  There are Oaks in the hazard that catch many balls. If you over club, you can fly it over the fairway into a hazard.

The ostensible 3rd is usually about 150 uphill, playing on a sidehill lie that pushes everything towards barranca (or bunkers if lucky).  Easily plays 2 clubs longer.
Big green.  Left is very heavy rough hillside...

Anyways, I've played there about 50 times.  I have 1 birdie, maybe 3 pars, and any number of 7,8,9+

http://www.sanjuanoaks.com/pages/hole15.html

Harder than Eagle Ridge #4 by a lot...

[Tim Bert]

Two come to my mind -

The 18th at Yale, which I only recently played.  I'm not quite sure how many doglegs the fairway takes from the tee, but I think it was three or four.  We stepped back to the elevated tee from the tips, so we could enjoy the hole in all of its glory.  I didn't fare so well, but one guy in our group birdied it from 620 to shoot 79.  I don't imagine that is too common a score on 18.

The 5th at Cordova Club in Memphis.  This is by no means a good hole, but it is certainly hard.  From the back tee, the hole is about 550 yards.  The tee shot carries water and there is a little creek on the right where you can also take a penalty.  Left is out of bounds the entire length of the hole - there are houses that back up against the course with little or no room for relief.  The worst part is that the hole doglegs forever left around these houses, so everyone is always trying to cut a little of the corner.  There are some nasty bunkers guarding the right side for anyone that wants to play the smart angle.  The entire faireway also falls away if you go too far right.  There is a pond guarding the entire front of the green, so you can't attack from too far away unless you are reasonably confident striking a high, soft long-iron or hybrid.

The 5th at Cordova does not represent golf at its finest.  If all golf holes were similar to this one, then it wouldn't matter if water cost $1 per gallon because no one would play golf.

[Tim Bert]

I feel like I've done an injustice to the Shattuck for not listing the par 5 (4th or 5th?) but I think that hole has been discussed in more detail on another thread.  That hole is just silly.

[Tom_Doak]

At least ten people have told me that the 15th at Cape Kidnappers is the hardest par five in the world.  On windy days they may be right.

[ForkaB]

Tom

I'm surprised that 10 people have actually played Cape Kidnappers.  A friend of mine was there recently and he and his whost were the only players on the course.

[Tom Huckaby]

John K. :  I've noticed in the past you and I disagree quite often about local golf courses, and golf holes... So I am please to weigh in this time with general agreement.

#15 SJO is a difficult golf hole, a stone bitch.  You described it well.  Add only that the tee shot, however one chooses to play it, is very uphill also and anything left gets blocked by trees such that often one has to lay up in front of the crossing hazard lying two, with still 260+ yards left, up the moutain.

What makes it tough is even the most conservative cautious strategy still means three damn tough shots to execute.  Aggressive play tends to get punished big time.

Great call.  And yes, it's way tougher than 4 Eagle Ridge, which is a doozy in it's own right.

TH

[Anthony Butler]

At least ten people have told me that the 15th at Cape Kidnappers is the hardest par five in the world.  On windy days they may be right.

OK, if we're talking about wind... I would nominate #5 at NSWGC. Downwind: Driver, 9 iron. Into the wind: Driver, 3 wood, 3 iron and you'd better hit each one in the screws or you'll never see that ball again.

[Jonathan Cummings]

Sorry Peter - your hard Par 5 is 'Executive Course' difficult when compared to Doak's terror at Cape Kidnappers.  Take your Southwind sustain winds and gusts, make them crossing at Kid's #15 and I'll put 4 X's down on the cards of the 4 pros you give me.

Of the 900 courses I've seen worldwide, this is the hardest hole I've played and there's not a close second.  I'm one of the ten who have told Tom this.

JC

[Philip Gawith]

Tom - I played at Wairakei in NZ the day before I played at Kidnappers and there was a par 5 there (maybe the 14th) which seemed more difficult than the 15th at CK.

 I suppose it all comes down to weather. I played Kidnappers twice and the am round was benign, and though the wind came up pm, the 15th was downwind so it was actually reachable in two (whereas a good drive on 16 did not reach the fairway) - I don't recall the markers we played. No doubt conditions  were different when the other ten guys were playing it.

[Mike_Clayton]

Philip.
14 at Wairakei is hard but only to par.
It's easy to make 10 into the wind at 15 at CK.
It's easily the hardest par 5 I have ever seen - and the most intimidating

Sorry I missed you at Hoylake.What a great week.

[D_Malley]

18th at paxon hollow

you can sit on the patio looking over the green and just watch one player after another just butcher the hole.
8's, 9's, and 10's are common place on the hole.

after playing it several times, i have found out that the best way to play it is: 5 iron - 5 iron - 8 iron

[TEPaul]

Peter:

Why don't you try to qualify for the 2007 Open at Oakmont and then tell me if you think that hole at Southwind is harder than Oakmont's #12 from 667yds with firm and fast fairways and US Open rough just off them.

It would be an interesting comparison.  

[noonan]

So, apparently we are talking about, stupid-hard here? It does sound difficult. I will throw #18 at Fox Run's hat into the ring, an Art Hills par 5 that is so bad that it is impossible to play properly and that makes it the hardest par 5 I have played. Yours does sound difficult though.

I nominate above hole for the worst hole in golf.

[TEPaul]

"after playing it several times, i have found out that the best way to play it is: 5 iron - 5 iron - 8 iron>"

Racetrack:

I'm aware of that hole (I was over there with Jim Wagner who is working on the course) and that perhaps it has been reduced to that kind of odd one dimensional strategy. Obviously that hole has a whole series of limitations of one kind or another that have been put upon it over time and it's just a shame it can not be opened up somehow to play better than that, but I am aware or its limitations and the reasons why. To me that is an example of the worst form of devolution of architecture and strategic options.

[Philip Gawith]

Sorry to miss you too Mike. You must have had a lot of fun inside the ropes those last two days watching the Tiger master-class. Hopping around the course getting to see occasional shots was fun enough - seeing the whole thing in technicolor was a special privilege. It was a lot of fun and I am glad that Hoylake came out of it well.

I am sure glad, btw, that I did not play CK on a hole 15/ten shots day. I think the experience might have paled a bit!

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