From a playing perspective, what's your

[JMEvensky]

I second Southern Hills and for the same reason as above-I'm a sucker for downhill opening tee shots.I'd probably put Riviera along side when/if I ever get out to play it.

SH seems like the fairway should be easy to hit but isn't,probably due to the added hang time.The first green slopes away which requires added calculation.So,you walk off the green with "5" and look back wondering how you screwed up a hole you expected to par easily.

First on the Old White course at the Greenbrier for sheer beauty.

First tee shot at Ballybunion simply because I'd never "aimed" at a cemetery before.

[Shane Wright]

"aimed" being a little bit of an exaggeration I take it?  do you really play that big of a hook?   

I second Southern Hills and for the same reason as above-I'm a sucker for downhill opening tee shots.I'd probably put Riviera along side when/if I ever get out to play it.

SH seems like the fairway should be easy to hit but isn't,probably due to the added hang time.The first green slopes away which requires added calculation.So,you walk off the green with "5" and look back wondering how you screwed up a hole you expected to par easily.

First on the Old White course at the Greenbrier for sheer beauty.

First tee shot at Ballybunion simply because I'd never "aimed" at a cemetery before.

[Tim Leahy]

#1 at Spyglass Hill, downhill par 5 that goes from the woods to the dunes and starts that great stretch of dunes holes.

[Mark Pritchett]

Cuscowilla - a short par 4 that quickly let's you know your opponent's style of play and/or state of mind... he is either going to blast his opener over the bunkers for an easy/short approach to the green or play safe to the right and face an uphill shot over the greenside bunker. You can learn a lot on that hole.

[/quote]

Agreed, just an awesome opening hole.  Also in match play if you are driving second you can base your decision on your opponent's position. 

[George Pazin]

It wouldn't make anyone's top 1000, but nothing makes me feel like I do standing on the 1st tee of my home muni, North Park GC.

'Course that says more about the game than the course.

[archie_struthers]

 

Portstewart is a really good answer......very very Irish

[Jim_Kennedy]

Pat,
I like our first, an uphill par 4 usually played between 405 and 420 yards. Undulating terrain w/turbo boost, two-tiered green benched into the hillside and protected by bunkering on the left and a 10' drop off on the right.

A bogie is never bad, par will elate you and a birdie will make you ecstatic.

[mark chalfant]

Plainfield   c. 430 yards
Slight concern about  OB right.  Great topgraphy in the fairway, fabulous green that wakes you up right away




Eastward Ho, Creek and Hotchkiss

[Patrick_Mucci]

Any hole with OB is out of the running - nothing wrecks a day more than reloading on #1.  So I have to say no to Pasa and even Pebble and SFGC and all others with OB as a possibility.

Shivas,

You're correct, any starting hole with OB is automatically disqualified.

How can any of these bozos nominate a starting hole, especially for medal play, with OB at the flanks ?

As initiator and moderator of this thread, any starting hole with OB is disqualified.

Carry on.

[Jim_Kennedy]

There's a 70 yard expanse of grass between the goal posts at Hotchkiss' #1. If you can't put it between them go home.   

[C. Squier]

Wolf Run GC

[Mark Pearce]

Any hole with OB is out of the running - nothing wrecks a day more than reloading on #1.  So I have to say no to Pasa and even Pebble and SFGC and all others with OB as a possibility.

Shivas,

You're correct, any starting hole with OB is automatically disqualified.

How can any of these bozos nominate a starting hole, especially for medal play, with OB at the flanks ?

As initiator and moderator of this thread, any starting hole with OB is disqualified.

Carry on.

Rubbish.  There's OB on the 1st at TOC.  It's more benign than half the holes mentioned and the Swilcan Burn is far more of a threat.  In medal play.

[Mark Pearce]

So Pat disqualifies anything with OB and then Clint nominates Wolf Run.  That's one of the few holes mentioned in this thread I have played.  Great hole.  Super course.  Bloody difficult, though.  No way do I want that as the first hole in a medal.  Maybe in matchplay.

[C. Squier]

So Pat disqualifies anything with OB and then Clint nominates Wolf Run.  That's one of the few holes mentioned in this thread I have played.  Great hole.  Super course.  Bloody difficult, though.  No way do I want that as the first hole in a medal.  Maybe in matchplay.

It may be my favorite hole in the midwest.  It just works SO darn well as a first hole.  If it were found later in the round, it's a birdie hole.  It's not too long and by then, you'd be comfortable taking on the bunkers and bombing one down the fairway.  But right off the start, it can be terrifying with the elevated tee shot and bunkers guarding the green.  Not to mention waking up in the lodge only 50 yards away from the tee just can't be beat.

I think an architect has a lot of responsibility in making a first hole fit in not only with the golf course, but with the mental and physical gyrations a golfer faces when being introduced to the course.  It is equally or more important than the 18th, IMO.

[Anthony Gray]

The first at St. Andrew's.   As a lefty with a fade, even I can't miss that fairway.  It is followed by a short second shot that asks for some precision now that you have left the R&A in the dust.  

   Agreed

[Brian Joines]

I've always loved the first hole at Lost Dunes and think it's a great opener. The plays only 385 so you're not forced to hit driver right off the bat. However, the landing area is quite generous and a well hit drive gives you a much better look at the green. The green itself is one of my favorites as it falls away and has a lot of interesting internal contours. I think it's a great way to start the round and it sets the tone for the rest of the course and it's wide fairways and wild greens.

[Bradley Anderson]

This is an interesting topic because it addresses the concept of "warm-up" holes.

I wonder if that concept is a contempory one, or did the ODG architects design with that concept in mind too?

I doubt that Travis would have designed the opening hole as a warm-up because he was such a great match-play player, and he carried some serious game-face with him on those opening holes. He wanted to get up on his opponent early in the match, and so I think we may assume that at least he would have designed for difficulty and not "warming-up" in the first hole.

Maybe the reason why so many opening holes are fairly benign is because they almost always play down hill, owing to their proximity to the clubhouse, which naturally occupies the high ground?

[Peter Ferlicca]

I

So Pat disqualifies anything with OB and then Clint nominates Wolf Run.  That's one of the few holes mentioned in this thread I have played.  Great hole.  Super course.  Bloody difficult, though.  No way do I want that as the first hole in a medal.  Maybe in matchplay.

It may be my favorite hole in the midwest.  It just works SO darn well as a first hole.  If it were found later in the round, it's a birdie hole.  It's not too long and by then, you'd be comfortable taking on the bunkers and bombing one down the fairway.  But right off the start, it can be terrifying with the elevated tee shot and bunkers guarding the green.  Not to mention waking up in the lodge only 50 yards away from the tee just can't be beat.

I think an architect has a lot of responsibility in making a first hole fit in not only with the golf course, but with the mental and physical gyrations a golfer faces when being introduced to the course.  It is equally or more important than the 18th, IMO.

I couldn't agree more, every time I step on the tee you just know you are in for one heck of a golf course.

For a second nomination and I know I am biased, but the natural settleties of number 1 at Stone Eagle is great.  No bunkers, TONS of ripples in the fairway, big rock dunes on each side of the fairway, extremely sloping green, and when you stand on the tee you can see almost the whole golf course.

[David_Madison]

Jupiter Hills #1 - It's positively alarming to be standing on a tee in South Florida and have the fairway lie way below you. The opening tee shot tells you that you are in for something very unusual, unlike anything else in the region. A reachable par-5 that still requires a good deal of accuracy/finesse as things narrow down considerably as you get near the green. So in one opening hole you get to check a lot of your game as well as that of your opponent's.

[Cristian]

Most Colt & Co. opening holes; Everybody talks about the warm up factor on the one hand and the first strike option in match play on the other hand. Colt-openers achieve both, as they are usually not too difficult, but often a par 4 and a half for many.

Royal Hague
De Pan
Royal Zoute
St George's Hill
Kennemer

Portrush probably doesn't count as it has OOB on both sides of the fairway. ;-)

Another great one (not sure if Colt had anything to do with it) RCD 1.

[Patrick_Mucci]

I hit it OB on # 1 at TOC.

It's out !

[Martin Toal]

The first hole at Royal Co. down (Newcastle) is a nice par-5, reachable in 2 on a nice day with a good drive, but with enough trouble to keep your attention. It also gives a nice chance to experience that feel of links turf and the slightly drum-like sound when you strike the ground. There is a beach to the right, but only a wild drive should reach it.

You can also see the dunes rise ahead of you and to your left, and you get a nice (reverse) view of the iconic 9th hole as you go down the hole.

[Dan Herrmann]

Merion East #1.  It's only 360, but what a 360.  Bunkers abound, but a decent shot will give you a short shot to a green that gets your putter shakin' (don't be above the hole!).    But its tee location gives you butterflies, seeing how it's adjacent to the clubhouse patio.

[Sean_A]

I gotta go with the obvious answer -- Machrihanish. Read all about it and be ready to be disappointed, but I wasn't at all. Love it.
Cheers,
Dan King

Machrihanish was not a grueling course, but any legitimate scratch golfer who went around in level fours would be extremely delighted. And yet I don't think a twenty-handicapper would ever struggle to break a hundred there.  Machrihanish was fun, yet challenging, a combination that is suprisingly rare.
 --Michael Bamberger

This is unquestionably my choice.   

Ciao

[Jim_Kennedy]

Do you prefer Ian Baker-Mucci or Patrick Baker-Finch?