Every hole is two-hundred something...

[Matt_Cohn]

Lincoln Park GC, San Francisco, CA. A weird course, 'tis true.

But I think this is the weirdest part. The back nine has seven holes whose yardage starts with a two:

268 (4)
265 (4)
203 (3)
500 (5)
259 (4)
282 (4)
239 (3)
240 (3)
383 (4)

Does any other course in the world have 7 of 9 holes starting with a 2? Or 4 holes in a row starting with a 2? Or 7 out of 9 holes whose yardage starts with the same number? (excluding par-3 courses where every hole is 100-something.) Maybe a nine with 6 par-4's in the 400 range, and a 490-yard par-5, or something like that.

Anyway, a fairly unique place in many respects.

[Adam Clayman]

Well spotted. I never noticed. It sure doesn't play as easy as those who look at scorecards, prior to deciding itinerary, would think.

Dan King once wrote in these very halls that the pros would be more challenged, if we shortened the course, and slowed the greens. Since lengthening has NOT worked as an interesting game/challenge, Lincoln Park would be the perfect venue to test his theory. As long as they didn't manicure the place right out of character, and, Make them play it down, all the way, the way we do.

 Knowing the city, it would be a marvelous opportunity for payback patronage, ridiculous waste and mind boggling expenditures. Oh, and there's that revenue too.

[Lloyd_Cole]

Coincidence. I just played 11 holes (we meant to play nine but got lost..) at the Roehampton Club in London.

Hole 4 - 268
Hole 5 - 292
Hole 6 - 258
Hole 7 (par 3) - 202

This was a really fun little run. 2 of the 4's easily driveable. I played the holes 2 over!!
I asked the pro who laid out the course, but he didn't seem to know.

[Bill_McBride]

Great stuff!  I will never forget standing on the 11th tee out in front of the Palace of the Legion of Honor, a great art museum and monument to our lasting relationship with France (honest!  ), far above the green which is hidden behind a huge mound, and striking a very solid driver right at the green some 265 yards away.  

The thrill at breasting the top of the mound and seeing your ball nestled by the pin cannot be described.  

Lots of fun short par 4s and mostly brawny par 3s at Lincoln Park.  The short par 4s have tiny greens tucked into hollows or on top of knobs.  The par 3s are just huge.  The course is the essence of quirk, too bad it's not better maintained, but maybe that's some of the charm.

[Matt_Cohn]

Yeah, it's really not nearly as easy as it looks on the card. I pictured hitting driver to the green on every par-4 and making a lot of two-putt or chip-and-putt birdies.

But like you said, Bill, all of the greens are tucked around trees, on the edge of precipices, on top of knobs, etc., and they're very uncomfortable targets. I was playing for a score yesterday so I spent most of the day laying up, and those layup shots aren't so simple. Then you have a bunch of semi-blind wedge shots from bad lies with uncertain yardages...

...one doesn't make as many birdies out there as one would think!

That #11 is one of the better holes out there, for sure.

[Tom Huckaby]

Lincoln puts the U in unique and the Q in quirk, that's for sure.  And Matt discovered the secret of the place - people look at approximately 5000 yards, par 68 and start thinking all-time low scores.  Yet rare is the golfer who even gets in the low 70s there.  And why?  You guys have all hit on it - brawny par threes, very quirky weird and tricky short par 4s.  Huge trees, OB on nearly every hole and generally horrid conditions don't help the scoring, either.

It would be interesting to see the big boys attack Lincoln... of course it will never happen.  Closest we get is SF City tourney - and the plus handicaps never tear it up in that.

Interesting parallel to shivas' "love" thread, also.... it takes a unique golfer to really LOVE Lincoln given the awful conditions.  I guess I have a certain love for it myself - many many memorable rounds have occurred there - but it's always tempered by an acknowledgement of the conditions.  Lots of warts there... lots to love too...

TH

[Jim Nugent]

I played there once, around 1987.  Thought 16 and 17, the two par 3's, were the standouts.  Was told that the course gave Tom Watson fits when he was at Stanford.  Anyone know about that?