Another unusual par 3

[Kalen Braley]

I was playing around with Google Earth and came across a course that had some interesting holes, at least it appears that way from the aerials. Some may recognize this straight-away, but its new to me.

And I found the following par 3:



It appears that this par 3 may have 360 degrees of teeing ground which I've never seen before.  As a matter of due diligance, I took a good look around this hole and am pretty sure its not just an elaborate practice area.  Its away from the clubhouse and the hole routing plays thru this area and continues on.  If this really is a par 3 that can played from anywhere along the outer edge, would this be the only one of its kind?

Kalen

[mike_beene]

Somewhere Mr Muirhead is smiling. Kalen,you gotten good at these aerials.

[Evan Fleisher]

What's up with the Pacman-Fish bunker?

[Kalen Braley]

More holes from the same course.  

This next one I think is a par 5 with other than the obvious water with a bit of risk/reward to go for the green in 2.



And then here is another par 3:

[Brian_Ewen]

This is the work of Desmond Muirhead at The Montgomerie in Dubai

[Tom Roewer]

There is a lot of fun in many Muirhead designs.  I've said this before, but again, it's too bad some of this did not rub off on Jack Nicklaus when he was learning from Desmond!

[Jeff_Brauer]

I suspect this is posted only to bring Tommy N back into the fold, as he loves Desmond!

[John Kavanaugh]

There is a lot of fun in many Muirhead designs.  I've said this before, but again, it's too bad some of this did not rub off on Jack Nicklaus when he was learning from Desmond!

Golf would be a dead sport if Nicklaus had copied the style of Desmond.

[Tom Birkert]

I believe that par 3 at The Mongomerie in Dubai is marketed as having the "largest green in the World". It can also play a huge variety of distances depending on which tee is used.

The green is in the shape of the UAE apparently.

[Tom Roewer]

There is a lot of fun in many Muirhead designs.  I've said this before, but again, it's too bad some of this did not rub off on Jack Nicklaus when he was learning from Desmond!

Golf would be a dead sport if Nicklaus had copied the style of Desmond.

I don't know what you mean by "dead sport" and i did not propose that he copy the style.  

[John Kavanaugh]

There is a lot of fun in many Muirhead designs.  I've said this before, but again, it's too bad some of this did not rub off on Jack Nicklaus when he was learning from Desmond!

Golf would be a dead sport if Nicklaus had copied the style of Desmond.

I don't know what you mean by "dead sport" and i did not propose that he copy the style.  

I mean "dead sport" by that if Nicklaus had built as dumb of courses as Desmond millions of Baby Boomers would have given up the sport long ago.  I don't think many people appreciate the role that Nicklaus has played in the success of golf over the last 40 years.  Given his playing ability he was going to build hundreds of courses no matter what the quality of the architecture.  Crap like pictured on this thread would have killed the sport.  That is what I mean.

[Kalen Braley]

So.....

Back to the original question, is this the only hole of its kind in regards to having essentially 360 degrees of tee placement?  Has anyone played the course and confirm this yea or nay?

I also thought that par 5 was pretty damn unique as well...

[Mark Chaplin]

Kalen,

It's does appear to be the Monty course in Dubai which I played a couple of years back. The par 3 does have a 360 degree tee and if I recall can play between 120-200yds. The green was around 100 yards long with some big slopes, unfortunately the green was very wet and spongy.

The par 5 looks like the 18th which I think was 550+ yards off the FRONT tees and well out of range for all but the very longest hitters.The hole looks better than it played....just a long slog.

Didn't notice the hand bunker but those things tend to look better from above.

The Montgomerie course was reasonabe fun to play, great service but expensive and only reasonable VFM.

Mark

[Kalen Braley]

Thanks Mark,

Its good to hear feedback from one who has actually played it as opposed to just seeing aerials with no ground counturing perspective.  

Does the course pass the "replay" test if you were in the area again, or was it a see it once deal and that it?

Kalen

[Doug Ralston]

This is the work of Desmond Muirhead at The Montgomerie in Dubai

Looks like the Archie wanted to give you a hand with that front bunker.

Doug

[Joe Hancock]

Nice, Doug.

Caption contest, huh?.....hmmmm

[Doug Ralston]

Nice, Doug.

Caption contest, huh?.....hmmmm

Sorry Joe, I've been sick for over a week, and these thing happen under undo hardship.

Doug

[Joe Hancock]

"When the architect told his associate he wanted the green protected by one large palm, he obviously misunderstood."

[Kyle Henderson]

Based on the photos:

While I think this style of course probably has a lot of drawbacks from a playability standpoint and I'm not very keen on how it presents visually, I'm all for variety.

Someone out there must enjoy this type of course at least some of the time. I think it would be fun to try once, so long as I was prepared to sacrifice a few dozen balls to the "boundary lagoons."

The 360 degree teeing grounds have potential. Perhaps someday the Old Course will play forwards, backwards, and crossways as well as a sort of composite with the New Course at St. Andrews.

[Kalen Braley]

Kyle,

The variety is the first thing that came to mind when I saw this hole and realized it was a 360 degree hole.  You could literally play this hole 50 times and everytime it have it play uniquely when you combine different tee placements with varying pin positions.

While it may be very unconventional, I think it does win major points in the innovation department, even if it is several years old now.

Being a big fan of quirk, a hole like this would seem to be a blast to play again and again.

[Joel_Stewart]

I could see at being the Muirhead course but why would Colin Montomery allow his name to be put on the course???

[Matthew Hunt]

I could see at being the Muirhead course but why would Colin Montomery allow his name to be put on the course???

Money

[Mike Mosely]

I havent see one 360, but I doodled one once...a spiral with the tees spinning closer and closer from six different angles.

I didn't like mine either:)

[Jordan Wall]

I really want to play this golf course.

Yea, it may be the most contrived piece of ________ ever.

But man, it sure looks fun and original.
I mean, WHO DOES THAT?

 

[mike_beene]

Jordan,it may have been before you were a regular here,but the search engine would reveal several very interesting threads on Mr Muirhead. He died fairly recently,and while he may not be a traditional favorite,he was a very interesting character.Your Plantation course just came on by the way.