Very short par 4s

[Mark_Rowlinson]

Discussion on straight par 4s set me thinking about par 4s that are under 300 yards long, and the fact that most of these must now be within driving range of the best players, and are, therefore, also straight.  What are the best sub 300-yard par 4s (and they have to be sub-300 yards from the back tees)?

[Scott Szabo]

I'll go first and throw out #7 at Sand Hills.  I pushed my drive a little and caught the ridge to the right of the green.  Made five after not getting my first shot far enough on the green and having to replay the shot a second time.

Easy birdie turned into bogey.  

[Mark Pearce]

14th at Ganton may be the best short par 4 I've played.  A really challenging drive if you go for it and not an easy par if you lay up.

[Tony_Muldoon]

275 yards plays slightly uphill  and when Colt designed it, he must have pictured a running draw.  Can't wait to play it and report back

[Ed Tilley]

4th hole at St. Enodoc - 292 yards from the back tees


It's the hole in the background in the first picture. The golfer is on the tee. The green is incredibly narrow - it's a very difficult pitch from low and left. You need to be as close to the OOB (wall) as possible to leave a straightforward pitch and run. You can drive it but the penalty is severe for missing the green.



From above the hole it gives some indication of the sharp drop off into trouble left. You can also see the famous Himilaya bunker on the 6th.

[Jon Earl]

16th at Tandridge - 290 something off the whites.

Not sure it is reachable in 1 due to the hole being uphill and bunkers guarding the direct line. OOB on the right and fairway slopes to left towards some trees. Hard pin to find with the 2nd shot especially if the hole is on the front lower portion of the green.

[Mark_Rowlinson]

Nice examples.  I don't mean to imply that I could aspire to driving a 290-yard par 4. I might just make a 190-yard par 4 [sic], as long as it's downhill and can be reached with a putter.

[Bill Satterfield]

I'm sure #7 at Olympic (288 Yards) and #9 at Cypress (289 Yards) are worthy of this discussion.  In the 1998 US Open, I believe John Daly drove the green and took a birdie at Olympic's #7 the first day and carded an eight the next day at that hole.

[Garland Bayley]

15th at Astoria CC. Tiny green between 40ft. dunes. When built the back tees were a short 268 yards par 4.



Now for high level tournaments, I believe they move the back tees in front of the front tees and call it a par 3. The day I played it the back tees were all the way back.

[JESII]

Garland,

I am starting to think you have a certain fondness for that hole...did you lose your virginity on that green or what?

[John Foley]

How about #15 at French Creek 292 yards & #13 at Kingsley 285.

Both are fantastic.

[Brad Tufts]

#6 at Myopia.  260 yards straightaway from the tips.  The green is small, slightly elevated, crowned, and slopes hard (like 4-5 feet in the span of 30) right to left, barely puttable.  There is a creek crossing the hole at about 210 from the tee, and it curls to within 15 yards of the left edge of the green, where there is a small bunker.  Also, there is a pond down the entire right side of the fairway short of the creek, and fescue rough on the other side of the fairway.

#1 at Myopia.  274 yards from the tips.  The hole plays directly straight and uphill, and the flag can be seen on the green.  A blind bunker lurks right of the fairway.  The green is benched into the hillside and is very flat.  The left edge of the green leads into a shaved bank that feeds into a bunker maybe 7-8 below the green edge.  It is not common for weak bunker shots to roll back down the hill into the trap again.  There are stories of people driving the green, putting to a left-pin too agressively, ending up in the bunker, and making 6 and worse....

#6 at my course, Tedesco, 277 from the tips.  The green is uphill from the tee maybe 30 feet.  The tee shot is blind to a fairway past a small ridge.  When going for the green, this brings woods, bunkers, deep grass bunkers, and a wildly-sloping green into play.  It is the most sloped green on the course, and widely considered the best.  There are several spots where uphill putts look downhill and vice-versa.  Even though I can make the carry to the front edge, I always hit 5-iron off the tee here so I can more accurately choose an easier part of the green with a wedge.

Multiple holes at Northeast Harbor in Maine...#7 is only 270, dogleg right through dense woods to a pretty Ross pushup green, #18 is about 295 downhill dogleg left to a small crafty putting surface....and at Kebo Valley...#12 is about 280, with a great crowned green, and #16 is 268 uphill to a green fronted by a cross bunker, and several wildly-shaped bunkers within 50 yards of the green.

[David Stamm]

The 10th at Rancho Santa Fe. Every time I've seen local tournaments there I've never seen that hole torn up by the players.

[ForkaB]

Painswick#1

220 from the front tees and a whopping 224 when you cross the single track road to get to the tips.

At Buda II in over 100+ rounds, none of the 30+ players (including a Walker Cup player) made it near to pin high.

[Mike Boehm]

Painswick#1

220 from the front tees and a whopping 224 when you cross the single track road to get to the tips.

At Buda II in over 100+ rounds, none of the 30+ players (including a Walker Cup player) made it near to pin high.

That is unbelievable no one could get to a par 4 that sounds like a long iron based on the scorecard.  Does it play into the prevailing wind?  Up a mountain?  Is there something in front of it (e.g. a stream) to keep players from giving it a go on their first swing of the day?

[Pete Lavallee]

That is unbelievable no one could get to a par 4 that sounds like a long iron based on the scorecard.  Does it play into the prevailing wind?  Up a mountain?  Is there something in front of it (e.g. a stream) to keep players from giving it a go on their first swing of the day?

Yes, it plays up a mountain with a quarry in front of the green; the wind wasn't much of a factor the day I played it. I've never been so winded by playing a golf hole on foot than the first at Painswick!

[wsmorrison]

How many courses can compete with the short par 4s at Merion East, and the West for that matter?  

1,7,8,10,and 11 on the East and 1,2,7,8,10,12,13 and 18 on the west are both excellent sets of short par 4s.

[Jonathan McCord]

The 17th hole at The Peninsula Golf and Country Club is certainly in this category.  The hole plays 285 yards from the back tees and is a slight dog leg right, which of course requires a fade.  The green is fairly wide, but not very deep.

[Jonathan McCord]

Another GREAT short par 4 is the 300 yard 17th at Forest Dunes in Michigan.  This is a hole I have yet to par in the three times I've played it because I just can't resist trying to hit driver on the green.  The hole is across a massive wasteland and a carry of at least 255 yards is necessary to carry a fronting bunker.  This is one of Weiskopf's trademarks, and its got to be one of the best.

View from Green across the sand towards the tee


This is where one "should" play a safe tee shot to.


View from the back tee box

[Michael Robin]

Mr. Rowlinson, can I sneak in the great 10th at Royal Melbourne West? 305 yds I believe, but some days when the tees are up, it qualifies.

[Andrew Thomson]

St. Andrew's Beach #2 must be close to being under 300 yards.

#3 at Kingston Heath also

[Tony_Muldoon]

Mark Chaplin did you ever play this one when you were living nearby?  
It's a fun hole to end the round.  270ish downhill feed your ball in from the right.

[Jim Nugent]

10th at Belfry looked incredibly cool to me on TV during the RC matches.  

Bill, I also love the 7th at Olympic Lake.  

[Chris Perry]

No love for Cypress #9?

8 or 12 at PV?



Up around these parts I think a couple good candidates would be (provided Google Earth Co-ords for those available, for those people interested):

#14 Shuksan Golf Club - Bellingham WA

Five iron is all that is needed to get it into play to leave an 8-W in. There are trees right and creek left, both are dead. The green is perched on a 30 foot plateau, and is hard to judge distance and hold from the standard landing area. Junk on the slope on the left side, and a trap at the bottom of the slope in front.

If you gamble with a 3W or driver around the treeline you may be rewarded with getting on, or a chip shot from 15 feet below the green with it's entire length to work with, unless the pin is in front.


#16 @ Northview Canal - Surrey BC

 49° 7'28.02"N  122°46'23.87"W

Tee shot of 280 carry over water straight to the green, or wuss out and play to the fat of the fairway. Don't be long with the layup as there is water over the other side of the fairway as well. Prototypical Palmer R/R hole.

#8 @ Northview Ridge - Surrey BC

 49° 7'19.45"N  122°46'6.65"W

Though measured through the dog-leg at 350, the straight distance from back tee to green is about 300 yards, and it suckers you to ignore the fairway and go for the green every time, usually resulting in a tentative swing and a wet ball. Oh, I forgot, it's 260 to clear the water in front, but it's also about 30 feet downhill off the tee.

11 @ Semi-ah-moo - Birch Bay WA

 48°57'38.02"N  122°47'15.60"W

Palmer again. Straight line carry over water (and over the 12th green as well) of 270 yards. Green is TINY and best hope is to land in the bunker in front and hope it doesn't plug, Most mortals will not risk it on this hole and play conservatively to the fairway.

17 @ Quilchena - Richmond BC  

49° 9'35.36"N  123°11'27.68"W

Pond fronting entire green, but club pro's have managed to get on in one. Would be a typical par 3 if it were 70 yards shorter. Rumor has it former head pro Cec Ferguson aced this hole.

True story, my friend pushed one waaaay right and almost put it OB of the NEXT hole, found it in the treeline, hit a wedge that we heard rustle striaght up into the branches, and had no clue where it went. We looked at the green, and all of a sudden it plopped dead on the pin a settled to two feet. Lucky bastard.

13th @ Northlands - North Vancouver, BC

 49°19'3.17"N   122°58'32.18"W

OB all down the left side, you can flirt with trying to hit the green by going over the fairway bunker on the left, but the  green is situated in a bowl obscured behind the crest of the landing area off the tee. The green itself is surrounded by humps and hollows, as well as traps, so these is no guarantee as to what kind of lie or stance you will have if you aren't dancing. Of course, you can always play safe, but it's still a tough target to hit even from the fairway.

That's all I got for now.

[Tom_Doak]

I love short par 4's, but I had never built one under 300 yards until we started working in Australia, where everything is measured in meters and I paid even less attention to the distances than usual.  As a result we came up with three great par 4's under 300 yards on those two courses ... the 4th and 12th at Barnbougle Dunes and the 2nd at St. Andrews Beach (Gunnamatta).  The fourth at Barnbougle is probably my favorite of the three but I would be happy to include any of them on a course I was building.

I do think there is a strong prejudice for modern designers against building par-4's under 300 yards (350 for some today) or par-5's under 500 yards in today's era of longball.  This despite the fact that some of the best holes in the world fall into the category.