The Volcano Hole

[Jim_Kennedy]

Travis, Ross and others used them, there was a recent article about them in one of the trades.
I played a Travis version at Equinox some 8-9 years ago and most recently Ross' at Wilmington Muni ( you can see this hole in the course write-ups) this past spring.
I was not in love with the concept the first time I played on such a hole, I thought it was akin to an island green, but I have since done a 180 in my thinking and really like them.
The tee shot is fraught with danger. The penalty for miscuing is almost always bogey or worse. There is no guarantee of par if the green is hit in regulaton but just getting on in one is almost reward enough.

How do you think it stacks up against some of the other par 3 designs of note?

[George Pazin]

Jim -

The one at Wilmington almost looks like a 185 yard version of the famed Short Hole at CBM/R courses. Is it similar? Doesn't Westchester or Westhampton (sorry, can't remeber which one) possess a stretched out Short Hole? Could it be similar?

[TEPaul]

Jim;

Interesting! Never saw it before. I think that looks very neat! It looks like Ross woke up one morning and thought he was Chas "Steamhovel" Banks and went out and built that! There is some attempt at earthwork blending on the left side though! Just goes to prove that no one out steamhoveled Banks's look!

[ian]

There is a gem of a par three at Gleneagles (I'm guessing its the 5th hole) its about 180 yards from the back and 160 from the white.

The 6th and the 12th at CC of Buffalo, a great Donald Ross course near Buffalo, both are of this type. The 6th is a landform created by a limestone outcrop, and the 12th is a high point that falls off on all sides.

When the green is receptive (bowl shaped), this works really well.

[Jim_Kennedy]

George,
The one at Equinox is probably 20-30' above the fairway and the others in the article (New England Journal of Golf) show examples that are very abrupt or blend in to a hillside behind the green. The one at Norwich CC(Ross) is similar to the Wilmington version. Perhaps Ross did not get as severe as some others when building this type.
I don't think the "Short" is as abrupt.

[Jim_Kennedy]

Here is a link to the article, with photos( not to be used to judge the merits of the hole)
http://nejg.onecityinternet.com/features/feature_one.php
There are a couple photos in the print version that are not shown in the web article.
Ian,
As part of the article says- "Some may pay homage to the 5th green on the Kings Course at Gleneagles in Scotland, a 167-yard, par-3 named Het Girdle — a term that refers to the green surface and translates to ‘hot griddle.’ "

[Doug Wright]

Jim,

Although the Volcano Hole at Wilmington was fun to play, it sure stuck out like a sore thumb compared to the minimalist layout of the other 17 holes! Almost shocking, and you wonder what DR was thinking in building it--he could have built a rather nice downhill par 3 there to a well bunkered green instead. Was he doing his high to low to high thing (which I've seen on many Ross par 3s, eg Minikahda #3) artificially since he didn't have the land to do it naturally? Perhaps he was...

All The Best,    

[Anthony Pioppi]

Jim,

I've played a few of them, all on Ross courses and really like the concept: miss the green, forget par, much like the Short Hole.

The fourth hole at Ross's Shennecosset (sp.?) in Groton, Conn. is probably the most severe I've seen since the hole plays severely uphill and from the back tees is about 180 yards I believe, and that is without wind. I've played it when a 3-wood was required. A miss long, right and left all cause the ball to roll down a steep incline. A tee shot short, but not too short, is the only place to miss. Most people hate this hole. I think I've parred it once in about 20 attempts, with my worst score being an eight: tee shot miss left, out of fear of hitting over the green chunk chip shot, hit third shot over the other side, out of fear of doing that again chunk next chip, repeat previous shot, hit feeble chip onto green, three-putt.

Originally I believe the hole was followed by a short 5, a short 3 then another short 5 running in the opposite direction of the first. The first 5, the 3 and part of the second 5 were lost in land swap with Viagra manufacturer Pfizer.

Misquamicut (R.I.) also has one. (Volcano Hole not Viagra maker). I believe it is the eighth which plays about 165 yards. The tee is on roughly the same elevation as the green surface, but again there is no place to miss. The green surface is large, but the side slopes are wicked.

I want to say the fourth at Cohasse CC, a nine-hole Ross in Southbridge, Mass. is also a Volcano. The green complex fits the bill, but hole is much shorter than the other two I've played or the ones mentioned in Bob Labbance's article that appeared in the New England Journal of Golf., It is only a 125-yard tee shot and comes from about 10 feet above the green. Originally there were no bunkers. There is now one at 9 o'clock and 6 o'clock. A number of years ago Brian Silva convinced the club to remove a large strip bunker that guarded the back. Without the present bunkers, any miss would send a shot careening down the hill. If not for the present front bunker, short tee balls have the chance of rolling 40 feet back down into a pond.

What makes the hole even more interesting is that the putting surface is probably about 3,000 square feet. It has two distinct levels with the dividing line running from about 8 to 2 on the face of a clock. The back level is about 18 inches higher than the front.

Jim, since you are in driving distance of all three courses I've mentioned I think we have to get together and try them out. Hey, we should have a GCA outing. Maybe we can get Pfizer to sponsor it.

The 2002-2003 GCA Volcano Hole Tour Sponsored by Viagra - Never Up, Never In!

[Jim_Kennedy]

Tony,
I'm with you. I'll ask my friend Rick Altham about the Cohasset hole, he worked there recently.

Hotchkiss closes (no Volcano holes here) in two weeks and so I'm free to roam about, clubs in trunk, thereafter. Set 'em up big guy.  

[Craig_Rokke]

The only one I've ever played is at Ross's Bedford Springs.
It's distance is listed, I believe, at about 205, but it plays closer to 230. The drop from the green to the fairway has got to be in the neighborhood of 40' to 50'.

[Anthony Pioppi]

Jim,

The course is Cohasse, often confused with Cohasset.

I'm way until Nov. 2. I'll call when I get back and we'll set something up.

Anyone else interested in joining us?

Apioppi@earthlink.net

[Rich Goodale (Guest)]

"The 2002-2003 GCA Volcano Hole Tour Sponsored by Viagra - Never Up, Never In!"

Tell us the truth, Anthony!  Did you make this one up yourself?  If so you win the Pizza Man post of the month trophy!

The 2nd at Dornoch is a "Volcano."  Interestingly (perhaps) is the alleged fact that Donald Ross, on a brief visit home, wanted to move the green 20 yards right and make it a puchbowl in the gorse.  We are fortunate that Sutherland overruled him.

[TEPaul]

Anthony Pioppi:

When you mentioned the Short Hole there in your post, which Short Hole are you talking about? Is it NGLA's #6?

If it is you said; 'Miss the green and forget about par.' Which green are you talking about though? There're about four of them on that green!

[Chris_Blakely]

I have played two holes that qualify as volcano holes for sure and posibly a third and they are the 16th at Bedford Springs that Craig mentioned earlier that plays to 204 yards.  The the green is protected by 4 'pill box' bunkers that actually help you out if you miss the green and keep the ball from rolling back down the hill.

I have also played the 7th at St. Johnsbury CC in the 'Northern Kingdom' of Vermont.  The front nine was layed out by Wille Park Jr.; however, his health started to fail and the greens had to be completed by his brohter Mungo Park II.  The back nine was done by Geoffrey Cornish.  Contrary to the article, the hole plays 188 yards from the blues and 178 from the whites.  The green is perched on a hill about 30 to 35 feet above the tee and a bunker fronts the green on the left side.

The possible qualifier is the 16th at Blackhead Mountain Lodge designed by Nicholas Psiahas in the Catskills.  The hole plays at 100 yards and from the pictures I have has to rise at least 50 to 55 feet to the green.  If one misses short or right, the ball will roll down the hill the green is on to one of the ledges built into the hole.  If one is long, the hole is similar to St. J's and it will be in the woods.  I know Jim has played the course; thus, he can respond as to whether he thinks it qualifies.

As a design concept, I find them very interesting and challenging.  I enjoyed both that I played.  I also like how at Bedford Springs, the green has the four 'pill-box' shaped bunkers that help out the errant shot by not punishing it as much.  However, I can understand how today's golfers do not like them as they need everything to be visible in front of them and in the case of the two I played, the green is definetely not visble.  If one were to desing one today, I think the volcano at Bedoford Springs is one solution that will make the hole less penal.

[ian]

Jim,

It may sound like the green is not receptive by that article and the name; but I remember the green being sloped sharply towards the player making it very receptive.

Ian

[Jim_Kennedy]

golfnut,
I don't know if I could qualify what is a volcano hole or just a tremendously uphill shot but that hole at Blackhead sure is one or the other.
The ninth at Pontoosuc Lake in Pittsfield is another hole that appears to be a volcano. It's green is somewhat visible from the tee, it's a par four, but not from the base of the hill.
It, like the BHM hole, is a good 50' above the fairway but it doesn't jut out from its surrounds as much as the 13th at Equinox does.  

Maybe we could get a clearer definition from someone more in the know?? Perhaps Ian has the answer as he knows the Gleneagles hole they are patterned after

[Scott_Burroughs]

Here's one at Ross' Roaring Gap in the North Carolina
mountains (from the write-up).  It's the par 3 6th, 145 yards:

[Anthony Pioppi]

Rich,

I swear I made that up, well sort of. Caddies in Great Britain will tell you the read of a putt is a Viagra if they want you to hit it straight and hard.

So do I get the award? My friends and family will be so proud.

TEPAUL,

I was referring to the Short Hole concept and probably thinking about Yale's 5th hole when I wrote that line. From the half dozen or Shorts I've played that belong to Raynor or Macdonald, it seems a miss is almost a guaranteed bogey. Come to think of it, the Short Hole at Raynor's Blind Brook probably fits the bill as a Volcano Hole. Did I just write I played with Raynor and Maconald's shorts?

So Jim and I have not takers for the Viagra Tour? What if Pfizer kicks in a bunch of those little blue pills for all the participants?

[RJ_Daley]

Thanks Jim for posting Mr. Labbance's article and the link to show what was meant by the "volcano hole".  I am like the article in that I have been calling these holes by several different names during the years I have been posting.  I first called them "butte" because they reminded me of the geologic stuctures found on the high plains in the west where there is a plateau or mesa on top of what looks like a large hill with the top cut off.  Then I started thinking of them as "plateau holes" and after further reading began to think that was wrong because the Raynor 'Plateau' is more about the double or risen terraces on a built-up green.  Then I found the term "knoll hole" and thought that best described what we have an abundance of here in Wisconsin, primarily by Langford and Morreau and Bendelow courses.  Lawsonia is graced with numerous Volcano, knoll, butte, plateau and double plateau holes.  There are several others at West Bend CC, Hickory Hills, and Quic Qui Oc where two of Bendelow's all time great examples can be found.

But, in modern times I would say that another style that brings to mind the image of 'vulcano' has been offered by Pete Dye at the Irish Course at Whistling Straits on the 13th named "Blind Man's Bluff".  

http://www.destinationkohler.com/ws/irishpic13.html


http://www.destinationkohler.com/ws/irish13.html

The top right side tees look down into what appears to be a vulcano crater, while the back lower left side tees, which are the longer, play semi-blind up and into a crater above the teeing ground.  I think there was more earth moved to create this one hole than most moderate modern designed golf courses move in total project.  The picture link above really doesn't capture the essance of the hole very well.

[Anthony Pioppi]

RJ,

I like your term, "plateau," for some of the Volcano Holes. At Misquamicut for instance, it appears Ross just levelled off the top of a natural up-thrust of earth. I think your term, at least in that case, fits the bill more appropirately.

[Bill_McBride]

For anyone who has played Nicklaus' Grand Cypress North and South nines in Orlando, one of the par 5's, maybe 16, has a "Volcano" green complex.  The hole doglegs gently left around a lake.  The green is maybe 25' above the otherwise flat fairway.  The only play is a layup to 100 yards or thereabouts, because taking a whack it in 2 and trying to hit it up onto that volcano is a ridiculous concept!  Although probably John Conley has done it.  That course in general is loaded with early Nicklaus gimmickery.

[McCloskey]

RJ
I think Mr. Nicklaus's term for this green complex design would be "perched".

[Paul Turner]

Here's a good example, the 5th at Gleneagles (Kings):





The 17th at Swinley is a subtle version, perhaps not quite a volvano.

[Mike_Cirba]

GeoffreyC will probably concur that the 2nd hole on the "Pelham" course at Pelham/Split Rock Golf Club in NY is also a type of Volcano hole, done by Lawrence Van Etten in 1908 and revised by John Van Kleek in 1934, although I'm not sure which of the two built that par three hole.  

It looks pretty similar to the pic Paul posted of Gleneages.

[Chris_Blakely]

If you are taling about the Pelham course at NYC's Pelham/Split Rock golf complex.  I beleive you are talking about the old third hole which is a 160 yard par 3 that plays to a raised green with bukers on both sides and in back.  When I say "old" third hole, it is simply because they have now reversed the nines on the course and this hole is now the 12th hole.