Best holes that can be seen from a major highway?

[Doug Ralston]

Oops;

I meant to mention to David: If you were in Louisville, you must surely remember crossing the Ohio River on I-64. Below is beautiful [*choke*] Shawnee GC along the south bank.

I too have admired Old Silo as i passed by, and enjoyed stopping to play it.

[Tom Huckaby]

Jon - good call re Las Positas.  Man there are a lot of courses viewable from our major highways.. here's my try at a comprehensive list.


101, SF to San Jose and further:  
Poplar Creek, San Mateo.  Toughest hole on the course is right there by the freeway - long par 4 #2.  You can see damn near the entire course.

Palo Alto Muni - tiny glimpses through the trees.

Sunnyvale Muni - again, glimpses through the trees.  But when they're cut back you can see a lot of the freeway side of the course.  And 237 goes right through it, so you can see the other side.

The aforemention RANCH AT SILVER CREEK (San Jose) - Hole #12, visible up on a mountainside, defying one's imagination as to where the rest of the course might be....

Coyote Creek (San Jose) - you can see pretty much the entirety of both courses.  Pick a hole.

The Institute (Morgan Hill) - far off, up on a hillside, bunkers and greens visible in the distance.

Cordevalle (San Martin) - same thing, and you have to know where to look, but you can see the top of the driving range.

King City Muni - much of the course viewable.

That's as far south as we need to go.

I-280, SF to San Jose

Glimpses of SFGC through trees, same with Olympic Club and Lake Merced.  Each course can be seen better from other roads on the other side, as has been mentioned.

Cal Club, as I said.

Crystal Springs (Burlingame) - much of the course viewable - very pretty.

Sharon Heights CC (Menlo Park) - some holes visible.

Los Altos CC  - same


The I-380 spur runs right by Peninsula GC - much of the course visible.


I-680 offers Sunol, as Jon said... and Castlweood CC if you know where to look.  Closer to San Jose, you can definitely see Summitpointe in Milpitas up on a hill.  Farther north you pass right by Buchanan Fields in Concord.

I-580 gives you Las Positas in Livermore, as well as Dublin Ranch way off on a hillside in Dublin.  

580 as it turns into I-5 runs right through Tracy G&CC.

The length of 880 from Oakland to San Jose offers no golf course viewing.  I drove that for over a decade... sadly.....

I believe I've covered it all, at least close in to SF and SJ.  And the best hole remains the one at Cal Club.

[RT]

Agree with Matt on Twin Hills in OKC, I craned my neck more than several times on I-35, northbound, to get a view down onto the 4th green, par-3.

A classy course.

[TEPaul]

"I've driven on the PA Turnpike many times but never the Oakmont stretch--had no idea it bisected the course."

David:

Although the Pa Turnpike passes between either side of Oakmont if you happen to actually see the golf course while driving along the Pa Turnpike it would mean you're in a vehicle that's so high you're bound to be killed by either of the two walkways that players use to get from one side of the course to the other.

By the way, one of those walkways is brand new and put in just for this US Open. Apparently the club actually tapped one of the members to pay for the entire new walkway over the Pa Turnpike. Apparently he agreed to do it and pay for the entire thing which was over a million bucks under one stipulation and that was that nobody tell his wife.

[Doug Ralston]

I see in this we are virtually all agreed. It is a happy experience to be driving along and see a golf course!

Doug

[David Miller]

I meant to mention to David: If you were in Louisville, you must surely remember crossing the Ohio River on I-64. Below is beautiful [*choke*] Shawnee GC along the south bank.

While Shawnee is certainly no architectural treasure, it is the site of my lowest career score, so I enjoy that view for different reasons!

[Kalen Braley]

Hey Huck,

Las Positas was my call..    

I am surprised you left off perhaps the most jaw-dropping site in the entire bay area.  When heading west bound over the San Mateo bridge you can see Mariners point, which has got to be the best par-3 9 hole "links-style" course I've ever played.  And at night its gets extra points for being all lit up in dramatic "Field of Dreams" style.  

[Tom Huckaby]

Kalen - my bad for lack of attribution.

And yes, Mariner's Point is a bad miss... especially since for about three years I looked at it every day.  Just spaced out on the bridges.

BTW I had 380 wrong also... it's 92 that you see Peninsula GC from.  Hey, not bad, three mistakes for a blistering type off the top of one's head summary.

 

[Greg Clark]

The John Carpenter freeway (State Highway 114) runs right next to the 14th hole at the TPC at Las Colinas where the Byron Nelson is contested.  Not a world class hole, but one of the 2 or 3 best on that course.

[Andy Troeger]

I'm surprised this thread has been around this long without anyone mentioning Lost Dunes being bisected by I-94. You can't see a whole lot, but you get a few glimpses of golf.

You can also see just a tiny corner of Point O'Woods a little further down...but if you blink you'll probably miss it.

[Paul Richards]

Andy

You just beat me to it.

Lost Dunes is bisected by I-94 and you can see at least parts of holes 1-4 to the east of the highway.

Cheers!

[mike_beene]

From the big steel bridge on 360 in Austin you can see a lot of Austin Country Club just south of the river.

[mike_beene]

I thought of one more.LBJ (i635)is I believe the most congested freeway in Texas.From the freeway you can see the 4th green and 5th tee of Dallas Athletic Club blue course which was where Nicklaus won a PGA and later renovated both courses.

[Pete Stankevich]

You can see a few from I-684 in the Westchester, NY area of Century CC in Purchase, where I believe Ben Hogan was an assistant pro very early in his career.

[Jason Topp]

16 at Waveland in Des Moines, IA is up against I-235 and is one of the better par fours I have played anywhere:

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&q=50311&ie=UTF8&ll=41.594135,-93.686492&spn=0.003603,0.007231&t=k&z=17&iwloc=addr&om=1

[Paul Stephenson]

"I've driven on the PA Turnpike many times but never the Oakmont stretch--had no idea it bisected the course."

David:

Although the Pa Turnpike passes between either side of Oakmont if you happen to actually see the golf course while driving along the Pa Turnpike it would mean you're in a vehicle that's so high you're bound to be killed by either of the two walkways that players use to get from one side of the course to the other.

By the way, one of those walkways is brand new and put in just for this US Open. Apparently the club actually tapped one of the members to pay for the entire new walkway over the Pa Turnpike. Apparently he agreed to do it and pay for the entire thing which was over a million bucks under one stipulation and that was that nobody tell his wife.

Can you not see a bit of the course when driving north?  Not near the walkways, but about 1/2 mile south?

[Guy Nicholson]

You don't have to look too hard to see the 15th at Highlands Links from the Cabot Trail.

http://www.highlandslinksgolf.com/holedescriptions.html
http://www.golfclubatlas.com/capebreton000114.html

[Matt_Cohn]

[Tom Huckaby]

excellent work.  I've always said we need a better coastal north-south Interstate... 1 and 101 both suck.  And that hotel that used to be there was highly over-rated anyway.

 

[Brian Joines]

Andy

You just beat me to it.

Lost Dunes is bisected by I-94 and you can see at least parts of holes 1-4 to the east of the highway.

Cheers!

Since the original question asked for the best holes, I would nominate #2 from that bunch. It's my favorite hole at Lost Dunes.