Nominations for the worst in the history of golf architecture.

[John Kavanaugh]

The only requirement being that the course is respected in some circles.

I'll start with:

1.  The routing of 17 to 17 back to 18 at Tobacco Road.
2.  The forced walk to an elevated tee on 16 at Rustic Canyon.  (The Fazio hole)
3.  The IOU bunkers at Olympic Lake 18.
4.  The turf choice at Apache Stronghold.
5.  Flipping the nines at Erin Hills forcing the bye hole into the middle of the round.  (I made a 2 that forced a 5 shot swing in my first 18 or real 18)

[Kalen Braley]

I've got to go play a local 9 holer again here in Utah and take some pics.  There are courses that are built into the side of a mountain and then there is this one.

This course could easily have 4-5 legitimate nominations. Pictoral review hopefully coming soon based on snow meltage.

[George Pazin]

There's probably a ton of posts on here that qualify....

I'll nominate the panning of the Shinnecock setup in 2004.

Can't say I have a clue about them, but the alterations at Inverness and Oak Hill would seem to belong - even those performing them express regret.

[Chip Gaskins]

though i dearly love the course, the walk from 13 green to 14 tee at bandon trails.  actually i love the course so much i over look it (but i know some folks can't)

[David Stamm]

Ojai, and I don't even know where to begin.

[John Kavanaugh]

though i dearly love the course, the walk from 13 green to 14 tee at bandon trails.  actually i love the course so much i over look it (but i know some folks can't)

I don't mind the walk half as much as the distracting stupid cart.  On my recent visit I refused to ride in the thing as my caddie sheepishly asked my permission.

[Bill_McBride]

Say no more.

Furry Creek.

 

[Rick_Noyes]

The replacement of white sand (because it shows up better on television) for the native greyish sand at Pinehurst #2.  I know it seems trivial, but it looks out of place and ridiculous to see native sand all over the place and bright white sand in the bunkers.

[Joel_Stewart]

I think Ran should start a category on the left, instead of "The next Fifty" have the "Hall of Shame".  Place courses that are god awful examples of architecture or renovations that have gone terribly bad.

I'll nominate,

St. Andrews on the Hudson.  One of the 5 original courses for the the USGA, members were swayed by Jack Nicklaus to blow it up and start with something new.

[Jason Topp]

Ran's article on the subject:

http://thegolfermag.com/F_top_arch.html

[Adam Clayman]

Lowering the 10th green at BWR 34' and turning the flattest green you ever saw into a potato chip. Adding the forest approach to same.

JK, Is the walk up to 16 @ RC the worst, or, is it best you can come up with?

Augusta National has to fit into this thread somewhere. I'll say the 16th. Love that look of the original how the green melted into the creek.

[Lloyd_Cole]

The willful forestation/beautification of the Sandbelt courses.

If we can allow clubhouses - the new Ralph Lauren one at Sea Island, the Marriott Hotel at Bandon and the newer grander Royal Melbourne.

[John Kavanaugh]

Lowering the 10th green at BWR 34' and turning the flattest green you ever saw into a potato chip. Adding the forest approach to same.

JK, Is the walk up to 16 @ RC the worst, or, is it best you can come up with?

Augusta National has to fit into this thread somewhere. I'll say the 16th. Love that look of the original how the green melted into the creek.

Adam,

What gets me about the walk at the 16th on Rustic is that it is so out of character with the rest of the course.  A lower tee closer to the 15th green would have provided a more interesting diagonal tee shot and eliminate the uphill slog.  They fell in love with the framing.

[Rich Goodale]

Westerwood in Cumbernauld, Scotland by Seve Ballesteros.  When I mentioned this 7+ years ago on this site, one distinguished wag said "They let him design an entire course?!"

[Phil McDade]

RTJones work at Oakland Hills prior to the Open won by Hogan in the 1950s. As opposed to, say, Pine Valley -- a penal course when off the fairway, but a course with wide fairways -- the reworked Oakland Hills penalized slightly off-target driving, and led to the current US Open/USGA fascination with bowling alley Open set-ups.

[Sean_A]

I don't know exactly how this fits, but what about Cruden Bay not using the land reserved for the little course?  That is some lovely terrain to devote to a relief course. 

How bout Hillside?  Its a good course, but that site should have yielded a great course.  The routing between the dunes is terribly conservative. 

The trees at Beau Desert.  They were planted to hide the coal mining works surrounding the course.  Coal mining is long gone, but trees choke a handful of holes and block what should be magnificent views and a fierce wind.  The kicker is the land is now protected so the club can't just take out the trees. 

To be quite specific, the 8th at Addington.  Man, make this corridor 30 yards wider and you have a hole which is in the same class as #s 12 & 16 - that is to say world class.

Finally, the flat greens of Delamere Forest.  This is certainly one case where I would welcome modern intervention to bring this course to its potential.

Ciao 

[David Whitmer]

I don't know why I remember this, but maybe 15 or so years ago I saw a piece in (I think) Links Magazine about a Desmond Muirhead course called Stone Harbor, in New Jersey. He designed it using Greek mythology, and the holes looked so incredibly contrived, out of place, and downright silly.

I remember one island green had zig-zag bunkers on either side of it, designed to be a ship entering a fortress or something like that. The holes had funky mounding and weird shapes. I think one hole is supposed to look like a dragon!

I haven't played it, and if I am wrong about the course I hope someone sets me straight. I just couldn't believe a "name" architect came up with the idea, and the owner gave it the go-ahead. It seemed incredibly stupid and gimmicky to me.

[Lou_Duran]

A hole which forces a lay-up short of a hazard then requires a shot of similar or longer length.

A long approach with a green running away from the shot and bunkered in the back.

The same as above with water instead of bunkers.

The same as above with bunkers or waters not visible from the approach.

 

[Tim Pitner]

A hole which forces a lay-up short of a hazard then requires a shot of similar or longer length.

I too despise this type of hole.  In my limited experience with his courses, it seems to be a specialty of Arthur Hills. 

[Kyle Harris]

A hole which forces a lay-up short of a hazard then requires a shot of similar or longer length.

I too despise this type of hole.  In my limited experience with his courses, it seems to be a specialty of Arthur Hills. 

Tillinghast called this the "Cart before the horse" hole and wanted to build it.

It's essentially the second hole of Huntingdon Valley's C-Nine.

[TEPaul]

JohnK:

Have I told you recently you're weird? 

Don't try to tell me I haven't told you that you're weird. I was just wondering if I've told you recently?

Well, on third thought, maybe incendiary is more appropriate than weird.

[Chip Gaskins]

a par 5 where you have to lay up off the tee to not go in a hazard, but still have a chance to reach the green in two shots.  i.e.  2 iron off the tee, 3 wood second shot.  bad design

[Lou_Duran]

Shivas,

Nonesense!  Spanish Bay is one of the most unjustly maligned course on this site.  Considering what was there to start with and the unimaginable environmental hurdles that they faced building it and now maintaining it, it is a damn fine course.  Compared to its neighbors built on superior sites during earlier, friendlier times, it may not fare as well, but placing it in this thread is blatantly unfair.  I personally liked it better than Poppy Hills.

[Mike_Cirba]

Ojai, and I don't even know where to begin.

Gesundheit, David.


Actually, and I only bring it up because I love the course so much, the two little bunkers on the left side of perhaps the most naturally fascinating inland hole in the world (the 5th at Merion) that block balls from running into the creek are both a visual and a strategic blight, and are the golf architecture equivalent of a boil on the ass of Natalie Gulbis.

[Jed Peters]

The Falls at Lake Las Vegas.

That place needs to be blown the f-up.