Why are Par-3 18th holes so rare?

[Greg Tallman]

Unless changed Tampa Palms does not finish with a par 3.

It did play this way for the Senior Tour event held there for years as the true 18th could not accommodate ANY gallery around the green and the 17th played to the side of the clubhouse and hillside below allowing for large galleries around the finishing hole.

Tom Doak's point was played out in a decent regional amateur event won by a friend of mine... all even coming to the last hole, he has the honor... slam dunk - game over.

[Chris_Blakely]

Van Cortlandt Park Golf Course in The Bronx, NY does not finish with a 210 yard par three.  The 17th hole is around that yardage.  The 18th hole is a 330ish yard downhill par 4.

[Kyle Henderson]

Pacific Grove Municipal G Cse, Pacific Grove, Calif. - 18th is par 3.

Pacific Grove finishes with a par 4, not a one shotter. The ninth hole is a par 3 that used to be a par 4.

Also, Empire Ranch in Folsom, CA. has a challenging par 3 finisher that can be added to the list.

[peter_mcknight]

Mount Airy Golf Club in Mount Pocono, PA used to end on a 231 yard par 3 back in the old days.  I remember it from when my alma mater held its Senior Formal there in 1993.  Today, it ends on the old 9th, a 556 yard par 5.  Essentially, the club flipped the nines to end on the par 5.

Currently, Mount Airy is one of the two locations in the Poconos that can be awarded one of the stand alone casinos in Pennsylvania.  Louis deNaples, a successful local businessman, tore down the old lodge and will rebuild it at a cost of $360M.  They have already broken ground on the new lodge ahead of the final vote on the casino location for the Poconos.  The new lodge/resort/casino will be on the left side of the pond when you drive into the golf club.

They will also renovate the golf course as well and make it a bit more playable.  The 9th hole is some sort of knock off of a par 3 from Champions.

[Greg Tallman]

One more for the list...

Golf Club of West Virginia (Formerly Par Mar Pines) in the same neck of the woods as Green Hills CC on Jeff's list.

[Tom Huckaby]

Kyle - we can forgive Jeff's list for being a little out of date re PG Muni... they seem to have switched the nines countless times and the current #9 is a par three, as you say.  Darn good hole, also....

[Tom_Doak]

Jay:  Erin Hills did just what you described, which was discussed here a month ago -- a bye hole between nine and ten.  

I don't think it started out that way.  It sounds like the client decided he wanted to use the planned ninth hole as the finisher because it came right up to the back of the clubhouse, leaving the original 18th hanging 200 yards away from the clubhouse (and the tenth tee) as the ninth, and the bye hole as the connector.

As you know I am not a big fan of convention in golf course design, I'm all for people doing anything they want.  But at some point, when I'm debating the merits of golf courses, I want the architect to choose what is the golf course he's presenting.  If that's 19 holes, that's fine -- but if you start using the bye hole to impress some people at the same time you're telling others to ignore it, that's different.

[Bill Shamleffer]

Brackenridge Municipal Golf Course in San Antonio also is a par-3 18th.

I think this is the only regulation course I have ever played with a par-3 for the 18th hole.  I think I lean toward Shivas on this one.  I do prefer an 18th hole that requires a full tee shot and testing 2nd shot.  My own preference would probably lean towards a difficult par-4 or a par-5 that is reachable in 2.  A weak 18th hole seems to be more problematic than if that hole were to appear elsewhere in the round.

[Tom Huckaby]

Bill - I get that point, as I understand shivas as well.

BUT... what if the 18th hole one-shotter was a VERY strong and difficult golf hole?  And keep this in mind - the way the ball flies these days, how many par fours exist that are going to leave the strong player with more than 150 into the green?

I'm thinking a strong 180+ yard hole is a pretty damn good way to finish.  Of course it doesn't test the driver, but it tests a longer club for approach.  Of course we wouldn't want EVERY course this way... but those who have this I think can be appreciated....

TH

[Scott Coan]

Bill - I get that point, as I understand shivas as well.

BUT... what if the 18th hole one-shotter was a VERY strong and difficult golf hole?  And keep this in mind - the way the ball flies these days, how many par fours exist that are going to leave the strong player with more than 150 into the green?

I'm thinking a strong 180+ yard hole is a pretty damn good way to finish.  Of course it doesn't test the driver, but it tests a longer club for approach.  Of course we wouldn't want EVERY course this way... but those who have this I think can be appreciated....

TH

Exactly right Tom.  My home course had a 180 yd par-3 finisher that was uphill with a SEVERELY sloped green back-to-front.  Just to add into the "chooch"-factor, the clubhouse balcony was right there on the left.  No match was ever decided until the final putt was dropped.  Any shot from above the hole took Tigeresque skill to get close and EVERY putt from above the hole scared the crap out of you.  I've seen 3 foot puts lip out on the high side and slip 10-15 feet down the hill.

The fun part was that the entire hole was played in full view of the clubhouse crowd so during tourneys there was all sorts of action on who would make the green in regulation, who would 3-putt, etc.  Heaps of fun except if you were the guy with the 3 foot downhill, sidehill putt to win a match!

[Bill Shamleffer]

Tom,

I agree with you 100%.  Although my expectation for a strong 18th hole is a hard par-4 or a par-5, if the hole does not meet these characteristics but is a strong or exciting hole, it would be an excellent 18th hole.  This could be a par-3 or even a short par-4 which is either drivable or calls for a lay-up tee shot.  I would prefer a fun or testing par-3 over a bland driver, mid-iron/long-iron par-4.  The 18th at St. Andrews is the perfect example of a par-4 that violates my expectations of what is required to be a strong finish.

I think when I perceive the 18th at Congressional as an uneventful finish (only having seen this course on TV), this may be more due to my inability to accept a par-3 finish than it is a true judgment of that hole.

Although I do not think I would want to have Winged Foot's 10th as an 18th, its 3rd hole would probably be a strong 18th.

[Tom Huckaby]

Scott - that's it!  Tough to call that a weak hole, or somehow less of a challenge than a long par four.

Of course a boring weak par 3 is a bad way to finish... but holes like yours and 18 at Pasa and I'm sure many others all seem like very strong finishers to me.

TH

[Kevin Pallier]

Scotland (Brora) ...

 but I am yet to see a "very good" P3 finishing hole.

Kevin, does that mean you haven't been to Brora?   I thought it was a fine finish to the course and a "very good" hole totally in keeping with the style that had gone before.  It played as a 7w when I was there and I felt that (Shivas was wrong as) it did provide a challenging finish.  

Tony

Don't get me wrong, Brora's finishing hole is a good hole and certainly the best P3 18th I've seen but there's better P3's at Brora and that's my point. It's certainly a challenging hole but I enjoyed playing #9, #13 and #6 moreso.

[Matthew Rose]

Welcome, Matt.  Ah, Blackhawk, the greatest gambling Scotch Game course ever devised.  I loved that place.  It's gotta be the "highest beta" course I've ever played -- somebody is making birdie or eagle on every hole, and somebody else is making bogey or worse.  What's not to love? Is Jim Schnarr still the pro up there, or has he retired?

I don't know, but I definitely recognize the surname. I think my brother and I played against a couple of Schnarrs in high school and got our clocks cleaned.

I hated that course at the time, because I always felt like my score was a lot worse than I played there. It's a stroke play nightmare. I suffered from a bad case of "one-bad-hole" disease in high school and I think I made a 9 or a 10 on both visits. It was the kind of place where you always had nines of 48-37 for 85, rather than 42-43.

Trying to keep this on topic...I don't remember much about the 18th except that it was probably the easiest and least interesting hole on the whole course. I think I hit the middle of the green and two-putted for par both times I played it.

Definitely one of those situations where the nature of that property pretty much precluded any other type of 18th hole in that routing. I guess they could've flipped the nines...I recall 6-7-8-9 being very strong holes. isn't #9 the one with that little elevator thingy?

[Bill Shamleffer]

Tom,

I remembered another course I have played with a par-3 18th, I cannot believe I forgot this one as I have played or caddied at the course over a dozen times and it has a great 18th hole.

Normandie Golf Club in St. Louis.  It is over 100 years old, designed by Robert Foulis, the same designer as Glen Echo that is profiled under "My Home Course".  The 17th hole is 570 yards on a continuous uphill incline.  Then the 18th is a 250-yard par 3.  There is a slight swale between tee and green, but the green is only a couple of feet below the tee, with OB about 5 yards left of the green and about 10 yards behind the green and about a 15 foot drop off to the right of the green.

This is a GREAT 18th hole!  I have never heard anyone in St. Louis complain that this finishing hole is a par-3 rather than a brute of a par-4 or par-5.

Here is a link to a picture of this hole:
http://www.normandiegolf.com/page/339-15848.htm#18

[David Panzarasa]

At my home club in Metuchen NJ, we have a very nice par 3 18th closing hole.
 For me there are two ways to look at it. I like it and i dont. Playing by myself and not playing a serious match with someone else for some money, I simply dont like it. After you do it for a while it really becomes a poor way to end the day....even if you birdie it. I cant very well explain why, but it is missing something.......
 That being said, when you are playing against someone or a two man team game, it is THE BEST! First this green is right in front of the mens grill and the outside patio....so on a nice day at any given time there are many people watching and stopping to see what you do. I tell you, if you never have played in front of people watching you it is NEVER RACKING!
 This particular par 3 18th is a great one as well, plays anywhere from 150-190 with wind, small greet, deep bunkers and i joke you not, if people are out there and you hit the green they applaud....and i cant imagine a better way to win your a game and test your nerves, to double down, press, or be losing and have a great shot that wins it.
 I could go either way with it. I think I would rather not have an 18th par 3 at my club, but when playing for some money and bragging rights it is just a perfect ending!

[Doug Ralston]

Jeff;

Add Clear Creek, in Bristol, VA.

Doug

[Kyle Henderson]

Kyle - we can forgive Jeff's list for being a little out of date re PG Muni... they seem to have switched the nines countless times and the current #9 is a par three, as you say.  Darn good hole, also....

Certainly, not knock of Jeff's list.

I figured they might have switched the nines at some point. Playing in the dunes first must have made for a terribly anticlimatic back nine, not that the current 18th isn't also a bit of a let down.

Come to think of it, the 17th at Pacific Grove would be a splendid par 3 closer. All in favor?

[Ira Fishman]

A thread from 10 years ago. Are there any new courses built since 2006 that have a Par 3 as the finishing hole?

[Mark_Rowlinson]

Two that were missed, though not new courses, are Lindrick and Sandiway. Lindrick, near Sheffield, was host to the 1957 Ryder Cup which, unusually, GB and I won. Sandiway is a very good middle ranking club in Cheshire with three of the toughest par 4s you could hope to meet, 10th 12th and 14th (Colt 1920).

[Mike_Clayton]

Gil Hanse is proposing one at Royal Sydney -

[Thomas Dai]

At the Dunhill tournament the 18th at TOC is effectively a par-3 for the big boys.
Atb

[Adrian_Stiff]

A thread from 10 years ago. Are there any new courses built since 2006 that have a Par 3 as the finishing hole?

Yeah I built one. The Players Club (Stranahan Course)  18th is a par 3, also the 1st is. The second course is an after though so the 1st and 18th had limited property available to get out onto the new land. Even quirkier is 15 - 16 and 18 are all par 3 holes. No one really mentions anything other than it is a tough finish.

[Steve Lang]

   Bill McBride's Pensacola CC has a par 3 18th, great finisher with ocean on right, clubhouse on left; oldest club in FLA was devastated by hurricane and rebuilt by Jerry Pate, lots of fun there in 6800 some yards..

[Terry Lavin]

  Bill McBride's Pensacola CC has a par 3 18th, great finisher with ocean on right, clubhouse on left; oldest club in FLA was devastated by hurricane and rebuilt by Jerry Pate, lots of fun there in 6800 some yards..

Now, that's a worthy one shot finisher!  Gotta get there.