best stretch of par3-4-5..inany order

[jkinney]

Holes 6-8 at Stone Eagle

#6   One of the coolest looking par 4's that is around 360 yards

#7   A downhill 218 yard par 3 with a view from the tee that will take your breath away


#8   A great strategic par 5 that is only 501 yards, but plays A LOT harder than the distance

You're right, Peter. It's a sensational stretch of holes.

[jkinney]

Thank you, Gene.  I have nothing to add as you covered it perfectly.  Except this... on a totally different thread I also just mentioned my snowman on 11 at Shinnecock.. we have some fine esp going today.. and that does remain both a proud and shameful moment for me.
 
Tom - There's nothing to be ashamed of taking 8 on "the world's shortest par 5", Shinny's 11th. I'd have done it and worse many times, had I not picked up having reached a 7 !! At least you holed out, I presume.
 

[Tom Huckaby]

JK - for exactly that reason I am proud and ashamed... I am proud of WHERE my snowman occurred, and the fact that I doggedly holed out without holding up the group.  I am ashamed that I took a snowman no matter what.  But if it had to happen, great place to do it, for sure.  And as you no doubt can guess, I really didn't hit a single awful shot.. tee shot was pulled a little... really funny as I thought it would be fine, caddie says "oh, no" with ball in the air... but Gene summed it up correctly - ping pong after that.

 

[Mike Hendren]

Well reasoned, Gene.

[Tom Huckaby]

Indeed so by Gene.  Just note also that I have Augusta a VERY close #2.. and if "ghosts" are factored in - and I think they really ought to be - then Augusta is indeed #1.  No ghosts fly around Sand Hills... yet.

 

[Michael Wharton-Palmer]

One of the things that most impressed me with number 16 at Sand Hills, is simply how hard it is to get the ball close to the hole.
There is that wonderful"knob" at the front iof the green that means the only true simple access to any pin location is from the very left side of the fairway.
The same laft side that has a gaping bunker and nothing but crap should you miss aforementioned fairway.
Sure you can hit the green from anywhere..the more right...or the safe side...you play to the more prominenet is the "knob", but getting the ball close is nye on impossible
A front pin...forget about getting it close.

Now...the second shot, if into the prevailing wind..now all of a sudden those bunkers that you perhaps dont even notice on a still day, are very much in play.
The answer...you play to the rgight of the fairway and then the shot into the green agian becomes increasingly difficult.
So I have to totally disagree with a no gup factor./
In fact I could argue that number 13 at Augusta would be an easier five than that at Sand Hills.
It is shorter meaning a drive, mid iron and wedge to the centre of the green would set you up for a par...I cant see that happening at 630 yards on !^ at SH.

This is not to say that I at all disagree with the 11-13 being one of the best combinations out there...arguably the best..but to say that 16 at SH has bo bite..I totally disagree.

As for some of the opinions that #17 is overated.....I just cannot see that at all.
It is a brutal hole if you are anywher but on the green.
The bunkering is exquisite and testing...long is DEAD...I mean really dead.
Right of the bunkers...DEAD....Short left or right...DEAD...
At 150 yards it is a great hole.
I have hit wegde there I have hit 4 iron there...both equally tough to stay on the putting surface.

Comparisons to an island green..
Jason you cannot be serious!
All that great bunkering and contouring around the green...versus water...
The option of landing the ball short and running up the right side f the green versus plonking it into the water.
No options is it is an island green, #17 gives you plenty of options, that is what makes it such an awesome hole.

[Jim Nugent]

While none of them is the best, St. Louis CC has four good stretches like this.  Ran's profile gives photos and details of all these holes, as I recall:

1)  3, 4, 5.  3 is the Eden, that George Peper rated one of the world's 500 best holes.  4 is the Road Hole.  5 the par 5 with a blind/semi-Alps approach to a punch bowl green.

2)  7, 8, 9.   7 is the Short.  8 the Cape, that also reminds me of #11 at Merion.  9 a reachable par 5 that used to be my favorite hole on the course.

3)  11, 12, 13.  13 is the Long.  12 a par 3 called Crater.  The only par 3 that is not a template, it also used to be the par 3 I liked the most.  11 a cool par 4 with elevated tee and green.

4)  14, 15, 16.  14 is a par 4 with a Redan-type green.  15 another interesting par 5, and 16 the reverse Redan par 3. 

[Jason Topp]

I do not recall an option to run a ball up on 17.  Isn't this the angle from the tee?

[Gene Greco]

   Jason:

  The photo I have posted is the angle from the tee. The one in your post is from the original tee which was abandoned after the 1997 season.

 And you are correct - running the ball up is usually not the way to play this hole satisfactorily.

            Gene

[Michael Wharton-Palmer]

When the hole is playing down wind..just about the only way to get the ball to stay on the green is to land it short right.
The natural contour then kicks the ball toward the left and the hole.
That is just the way it was last weekend...little nine iron landing aboyt 5 yards short of the green to the pin located 22 feet from the front...nice two...thank you very much

[Tom Huckaby]

Great deuce, Michael!

And you beat me to this.. I too was thinking that in a downwind situation, bounce-up as you did was the only way to play the hole.  I faced this once, didn't trust it, landed a ball on the green and sadly had it bounce over.  Of course as Gene says, it's not the usual best play, but it sure can happen.

Same goes for #13....

[Jason Topp]

   Jason:

  The photo I have posted is the angle from the tee. The one in your post is from the original tee which was abandoned after the 1997 season.

 And you are correct - running the ball up is usually not the way to play this hole satisfactorily.

            Gene

Thanks Gene - I know the photo is from the abandoned tee but isn't that the tee that is used now in the picture?

[Michael Wharton-Palmer]

that may be the ladies tee.
The mens tees on the other side of the path..
now from the abondoned tee the ways to play the hole would have been more limited.
I went up there and played some six irons...I could not get a ball to stay on the green, the right bunkers then become back bunkers, and that is where all my shots ended up.

Into the wind from that tee would be great though...one heck of a challenge but a great hole.

[Joe Bausch]

After about 60 posts or so I'm sort of amazed that the following combo hasn't been mentioned yet:

The par 3:



The par 5:







And now the par 4 (my fave of the three, with all being so darn good):

[Mike Wagner]

14,15,16 at Erin Hills are pretty spectacular.

[Mike_Trenham]

Interesting exercise.  I've played 11 courses the last 30 days, so this really got me thinking.  Tended to find the par 5 first as there are fewer great 5s and then see if there were a 3 and 4 in sequence.

Here's my thoughts on the courses I played the last 4 weeks.

St Davids Golf Club - 7/8/9 (a short 5 between a long 4 and a long 3, make a 6 on the easy par 5 and you feel you ruined your round)
Essex County 8/9/10 (#8 is probably the week link but #9 (3) and #10 (4) really get the mind going
Plainfield - 3/4/5 (I just like #4 so much better than #10 as a short par 4) a tough call
PVGC - 5/6/7 (picked this over 13/14/15 on the strengh of #5 vs #14 also I think #6 is under appreaciated)
Delaware National - 6/7/8 (#7 is a great use of a very long wild stretch of land)
Colorado Golf Club - 1/2/3 (a great start if a bit of a soft start to a challenging round)
Dismal River 4/5/6 (many other possible combinations include #10 which I don't know enought to say if I like it or not after one play)
Sandhills 12/13/14 (I prefer this group because you get the wind in more directions and I think 14 is better than 16)
Ballyneal 14/15/16 (something about me really likes hole that turn left at the end with elevated greens)
White Manor - 11/12/13 (I typically don't like water hazzards but the creek on 11/12 and pond on 13 are so well placed)
Field Stone - 16/17/18 (#16 is different for the other par 3s and I like the very penal center line bunker and green on #18)

Also for Sandhills one could argue 17/18/1 as so many golfers just keep going round until the sun sets.

[Ronald Montesano]

Bausch, the reason they hadn't been mentioned is simply because the topic is ridiculously spacious and specious.  Note that it hasn't stopped me from contributing, but can't 1000 courses have three consecutive great holes?  In the same vein, isn't there something about every triumvirate that makes it less than perfect?  Let's invent a thread called "best tee deck in America."  Would an RTJ runway win out over an Engh amoeba or a Strantz ellipse?  We can create threads for the sake of creating threads, and all we come up with (I found this quote of Disraeli in a Telegraph article today) are “Lies, damned lies and statistics.”

That burden off my chest, numbers 5-7 at Pete Dye Golf Club in West Virginia are quite good.

[Patrick_Mucci]

As big of a fan as I am of Sand Hills (my favorite I have played), I think 17 is overrated.  It is a 150 yard shot to a small elevated green.  

Why is it so great?

Gene Grecco,

I would defy anyone to walk back up to the old abandoned tee on # 17, survey what's in front of them, then walk down to the current 17th tee and survey what's in front of them, then declare that # 17 isn't a terrific hole, in its original or current form..

Limited play usually produces evaluations that get modified through additional play.

I think part of the problem with categorizing holes is the tendency for some to equate difficulty with architectural merit, and, if a hole isn't very difficult, (usually a function of distance) then it gets discarded as having merit.

So, if someone wants difficult, have them march up to the top of the ridge/hill and play the hole from the old abandoned tee, especially when the winds are up.

[Jason Topp]

As big of a fan as I am of Sand Hills (my favorite I have played), I think 17 is overrated.  It is a 150 yard shot to a small elevated green.  

Why is it so great?

Gene Grecco,

I would defy anyone to walk back up to the old abandoned tee on # 17, survey what's in front of them, then walk down to the current 17th tee and survey what's in front of them, then declare that # 17 isn't a terrific hole, in its original or current form..

Limited play usually produces evaluations that get modified through additional play.

I think part of the problem with categorizing holes is the tendency for some to equate difficulty with architectural merit, and, if a hole isn't very difficult, (usually a function of distance) then it gets discarded as having merit.

So, if someone wants difficult, have them march up to the top of the ridge/hill and play the hole from the old abandoned tee, especially when the winds are up.

Actually - difficulty has nothing to do with my reaction.  I think the hole is very difficult from 150 yards. 

My reaction is based on the notion that, on a course with a wonderful array of holes with options on how to play them, this is a hole where you just try and hit it on the green.  It photographs well but I do not see it standing out as superior to 3 or 13.

I appreciate Gene's justifications written above.  Perhaps repeat exposure will allow me to appreciate it more.