The best hole in all of golf

[Ted Kramer]

#4 Bethpage Black.
Looking over a bunch of pics from a website linked to the "image fanatics" post has made me sure that I consider #4 Bethpage Black to be the single greatest hole that I have ever seen or played.

#4 tests it all. Good shots are rewarded. Poor shots are punished. Strategy exists throughout the hole. There is room for the heroic . . .

If I had to use one hole to define golf and its varied thrills and challenges, I would choose #4 Bethpage Black.

[Gene Greco]

Great choice, Ted.

#4 at The Black is definitely a candidate.

One must be able to hit his irons long and high for the heroic side to come to fruition but it has been shown it can be done. Though it is not the preferred way to play the hole.

What's more astonishing is to contemplate that it may be the best hole in the world yet one must consider that it may not be the best hole on the course!!! (The next one, #5).  

[Kevin Pallier]

Ted

I don't think that I can define a single hole as being the "best" in all of golf as how does one distinguish between a P3 / 4 /5 ? but I certainly have some favourites them being...

P3 15th = Kingston Heath
P3 11th = The Old Course
P3 5th = Royal Melb. West
P3 15th = North Berwick (West)
P3 8th = Royal Troon

etc..

P4 11th = Ballybunion (Old)
P4 17th = The Old Course
P4 14th = Royal Dornoch
P4 6th = Royal Melb. West
P4 3rd = Kingston Heath

etc...

P5's...

[Jim_Coleman]

    #8 at Pebble Beach.  Hands down!

[Paul Richards]

#7 at Chicago Golf Club

The Redan


Historic and exhilerating - as well as the site of my hole-in-one!!!

[Tiger_Bernhardt]

#8 at Pebble for the world, 15 at Cypress for me. If I had one hole to play before I died it would be 15.

[Rick Shefchik]

Tiger --

Having played #8 PB but not #15 CP, I think I might have to agree that, if I could only play one more hole in my life, it would be the latter.

Having said that, I don't think a par 3 can be the best hole in all of golf, no matter how great a par 3 it may be. Seems to me the best hole in golf almost has to be a par 4 -- allowing for a wider variety of ways to play the hole (but, unlike a par 5, not too many; the exam must be fairly exacting.)

So I vote for #8 at Pebble (I haven't played #4 BB, either, but geez, visuals have to count for something, right? )

[Bill_Ryzewski]

I would nominate Bethpage #4, Perfect drive, layup right to 85y, sand iron to 2 feet, tap in. One month before the US Open (from the black tees).

On the way to 84.

 
Bill

[Evan_Green]

16th at Cypress Point

[Bill_Ryzewski]

16th at Pasatiempo.

[Bill_Ryzewski]

Seriously,

I hit what I thought was a bad hook only to find myself on the only level lie on the fairway. Hidden away, tucked up against the jungle, affording the best view of the green, the perfect little spot (and I mean little). Pin back, 8-iron to 12 ft!

 
Bill

[Jason Blasberg]

Looking over a bunch of pics from a website linked to the "image fanatics" post has made me sure that I consider #4 Bethpage Black to be the single greatest hole that I have ever seen or played.

#4 tests it all. Good shots are rewarded. Poor shots are punished. Strategy exists throughout the hole. There is room for the heroic . . .

WHAT?

[John_Conley]

16th at Pasatiempo.

If a hole gets the nod from this course, I'd lobby for 10 or 11.  Diff'rent strokes.

[Ally Mcintosh]

what was number 1 in the "best 500 holes in golf" book?... was there a number 1?

anyway, i'd have to go with the road hole for any number of reasons... why they put tarmac over the actual road 8 years ago though, i'll never know...  

...and doesn't 16 at cypress point always beat 15?

[Jim Nugent]

Ally, you're probably talking about the book by George Pepper and Golf Magazine.  No number one hole in the world, but they did give their top 18, which consisted of 4 par 3's, 10 par 4's and 4 par 5's:

Par 3's:

#4     Banff
#17   TPC Sawgrass
#15   CPC (not 16)
#4     NGLA (redan)

Par 4's:

#17    TOC
#11    Ballybunion Old
#9      RCD
#5      Bethpage Black
#14    Shinnecock
#13    Pine Valley
#16    Merion (Quarry)
#12    Southern Hills
#5      Mid-Ocean (Cape)
#6      Royal Melbourne West

Par 5's:

#18    Pebble Beach
#13    ANGC
#3     Durban
#6     Carnoustie

[TEPaul]

My new favorite is the 12th at Oakmont. There is just more strategic stuff going on with that hole than a barrel of monkeys.

[Doug Ralston]

Isn't it always thus on GCA? You are so certain that the 'best hole in golf' MUST come from the few famous favored courses of the ideologues here!

There are COUNTLESS courses out there, never mentioned here, who have great holes. How could you possibly begin to answer such a question?

I would wager that most of you also believe, because YOU have only seen Earth, that only this planet has 'intellegent life'.

What a horrible thread. No one could possibly know what the 'best hole in golf' is, even if there were objective criteria to determine.

On the other hand, it IS fun to talk about OUR favorite holes. That does not require any criteria but our own likings.

Eagle Ridge [KY], #13, no doubt about it. Just too fun!  

Doug

[Tiger_Bernhardt]

Rick, I agree with you 100%.

[Mark Pearce]

The first at Hollinwell because it's the next hole I'll play (on Tuesday morning) and it's the first of 108 holes I'll be playing in three days, so I'll still have 107 holes to play when I finish it.

[Mike Hendren]

The Old Course's no. 12.

That d**n hole is my daddy.

Mike

[SPDB]

My new favorite is the 12th at Oakmont. There is just more strategic stuff going on with that hole than a barrel of monkeys.

TEPaul - What kind of strategic stuff goes on in a barrel of monkeys? I'm intrigued, do tell more.

[JESII]

Hell, I take him to see Tom Paul's barrel full of monkeys. I do need to hear about the strategy of that barrel though.

[Evan_Green]

...and doesn't 16 at cypress point always beat 15?

Quoting none other than Ran himself from his Cypress Point writeup:

"The greatest hole in the world. " under the picture of #16

"The 16th is the author's favorite golf hole in the world, thanks to its unsurpassed beauty, strategic options, and the feeling of being at one with nature. Many people speak of the 15th hole in equal terms but to the author (and MacKenzie too), the hole holds only a fraction of the strategic interest of its big brother. "

[Anthony Butler]

Hell, I take him to see Tom Paul's barrel full of monkeys. I do need to hear about the strategy of that barrel though.

While I am intrigued by how much 'strategery' Tom Paul has found both in a barrel full of monkeys and the 12th at Oakmont, I'm going with the 17th at The Old Course. Due to Faldo and Tiger's dominance in three of the last four British Opens played at St. Andrews, we haven't seen how crucial that hole is–both in the way it is played and how it fits into the round. Can't remember exactly what happened in 1995 as I was playing in a tournament and saw only the Rocca putt from the Valley of Sin on the highlights.

[JESII]

Bare with me because I have never been there, but are there really more than two options on the 16th tee at Cypress Point? And to take that line of reasoning a step further, doesn't that become one realistic option for a very large percentage of the golfing population?  When I say realistic I would ask that we go outside the box of the "I am only here once so I am giving it a go"[/i] mentality.