Best Closing Holes

[Bill_McBride]

Interesting you would pitch the Old and North Berwick, most of our analysts seem to think the finishers there are weak ones.

I'm with you, I love to finish with a half par hole (3-1/2 not 4-1/2).

Bill,

I think you're confusing good with hard (or the other way round?). Good is usually also interesting and enjoyable . Hard is usually just hard

Well, like I said, I like to finish with a 3-1/2 (or 4-1/2) par hole because it's interesting and enjoyable.  Hard for the sake of being hard has never been too interesting to me.

[Sean_A]

Gentlemen,

Beyond NGLA, the most unique FOUR hole finish in the world is at Prestwick. Actually from the 13th tee onward, I can think of no peer.

Selah,
g

Gib

You may be right, but at least two of those four holes are nothing special. 

Ciao

[Ari Techner]

Put me in the Sand Hills camp.

[Michael Dugger]

Put me in the Cypress Point camp

[Michael Dugger]

Here is Sand Hills

[Michael Dugger]

Pac Dunes

[Scott Szabo]

It's hard for me to think of a course that I love that ends with 3 consecutive outstanding holes.  I've played a lot of courses with 2 outstanding finishers and one pretty good one or 3 really good ones, but none come to mind where the final three all blow me away.

Sand Hills might be as close as it gets for me though I'm not in love with 18.

I also liked the under-stated finishing holes at Belvedere.

Tim,

Interesting comment about #18 - can you share what you don't like about it?  From the tips it's a very demanding hole from the tee shot to the final putt.

Scott

[Ian Andrew]

The three that came to mind:

National Golf Links of America
Merion (popular choice)
Royal Melbourne East


I'm curious, what do people think about TPC at Sawgrass

[Bill_McBride]

The three that came to mind:

National Golf Links of America
Merion (popular choice)
Royal Melbourne East


I'm curious, what do people think about TPC at Sawgrass

Sort of manufactured..........but one of a kind (except for TPC at PGA West I guess).

[Lenny Polakoff]

Great choices, I appreciate the responses.

Pat Mucci - I second Boca Rio although a lot of people have never played it.  I was a teaching professional there about 12 years ago for 1 season, actually my last season in the golf business.  Great , Great golf course, actually playing there in a couple of weeks.

I was also thinking WFW in terms of difficulty. 

I am glad that nobody suggested Baltusrol Lower!

[Dan_Callahan]

Dan Callahan:

This thread asks for the BEST finishing holes. When you mentioned Tobacco Road, you must have thought you were posting on the thread about blind shots.

Jim Lewis

I have to agree with that. 16 and 17 might be the weakest holes on the course. Certainly 17 is the weakest of the par 3's and 16 is pretty much optionless and nearly impossible if you can't control distance and line off the tee perfectly. 18 is a good finisher.

I think Tot Hill Farm has a better closing stretch than does Tobacco Road in my opinion.

Come to think of it, 16-18 at Tot Hill Farm might be the best I've played, I can't think of another real great closing stretch, though Tanglewood Park has a good stretch to end on.

This shows how the same holes can elicit very different opinions.

Just because 17 at Tobacco Road is the weakest of the par 3s (in your opinion), that doesn't make it a bad hole.

And I guess this choice reflects my bias because I love blind tee shots (much more than blind approaches). And 18 is one of the best and most intimidating I've ever seen.

As for Tot Hill, when I first played it, 16-18 were my least favorite holes on the course.

After my second round, I still hated the tee shot and layup on 16 but liked the approach. I started to really like 17 but think the green is way to too crazy for its own good. And I still think 18 is a fun but kind of average par 5. And when you play in the late afternoon the entire hole plays directly into the sun.

[Mark McKeever]

Merion East is one of the best finishes I have every played.  16-18 always manage to determine the better player in a close match it seems.

Mark

[Jason Topp]

The three that came to mind:

I'm curious, what do people think about TPC at Sawgrass

Ian:

I think the finish at TPC Sawgrass is terrific, particularly for match play.  The 16th green has very interesting contour that allows pitch shots to feed to the correct locations.  17 is much better than other island greens I have played.  I think the idea works much better at 135 yards than 160 like you see on some courses.  18 is a great driving hole that rewards a well struck properly placed drive but tempts one to bail out. 

My only problem with the holes is that the sharp edges of the pond and relatively straight edges make them seem more like a playing field than a game played in nature.  Thus, I probably would not classify the finish as among the very best out there.

[Patrick_Mucci]

Great choices, I appreciate the responses.

Pat Mucci - I second Boca Rio although a lot of people have never played it.  I was a teaching professional there about 12 years ago for 1 season, actually my last season in the golf business.  Great , Great golf course, actually playing there in a couple of weeks.

I was also thinking WFW in terms of difficulty. 

I am glad that nobody suggested Baltusrol Lower!

Lenny,

While the last three finishing holes are as you describe, "great", the entire back nine is very, very strong, one of the best around.

Would you agree ?

[Cliff Hamm]

Why is that?

[Lenny Polakoff]

Pat Mucci - Boca Rio is an overall great golf course.  There are 2 other great golf courses that run in the same social circles as BR that i don't think i have ever seen mentioned here, High Ridge and Banyan.

Although BR is by far the longest and most difficult, i don't think HR or Banyan are too far behind and if I had to choose to play one course everyday, High Ridge just might be it. 

[Lenny Polakoff]

Cliff - I actually regret saying that.  I certainly have a tremendous amount of respect for Baltusrol and it is a real treat and privilage everytime I get to play there.  The club certainly has one of the most storied histories in the game and deserves its place. 
However from my personal experiences (which beleive me are not worth much), everytime i walk off that golf course, i feel like i somehow "missed the joke".

With no disrespect to the club or its membership, if Baltusrol did not have the history to go with it, would it be a top 100 course? 

[dsilk]

Mid-Ocean finish doesnt s--k

[Cliff Hamm]

Lenny...While I believe many of the criticisms of Baltusrol are justified, the beginning and end are among the stronger holes.  While I wouldn't say that Baltusrol deserves to be considered among the best courses for finishes it is far from weak.  The 16th is a relatively long par 3 played to a large and very undulating green surrounded by sand....17 is the well known 600 yard+ (for the pros) par 5.  In my opinion overrated hole but still a strong 3 shots.  On the other hand, I believe the 18th is underrated.  Dislike the traps that Rees added to the right but it is a strong par 5, reachable in two by the longest hitters.  The creek can be in play especially if your drive is not in the fairway.  It is nicely bunkered with among the better and deepest bunkers on the course.  The one criticism is the green is rather flat.  The ending with two par 5's alone separates BL from the typical course.

[Patrick_Mucci]

Baltusrol Lower doesn't seem to get much love on this site.

I must confess that I find the Upper more fun to play, but, the Lower is an excellent golf course provided you play from the appropriate tees.

Is there a weak hole on the Lower ?

If so, please identify it and tell us why it's weak

Thanks

[Cliff Hamm]

Patrick ... I agree that BL is very underrated on this site.  I also believe that is largely due to the greens not having as much internal contour as most other top rated courses and the bunkers being a bit shallow.  The green complexes as a hole are perhaps the weakest elements...the weakest holes i believe to be 7, a rather mundane par 5.  Nov overly long.  From the men's tees one should be able to avoid the bunkers right without too much difficulty.  The second shot is a layup for most.  The green does not fit with the rest of the course.  Wide and narrow. The hole just doesn't fit with the rest of the course....The second weakest hole I would say is 14.  Not awful.  As I recall relatively short.  Bunker straight ahead, but easily carried with a tee shot to the right.  Rather mundane hole...As  I inferred in my previous post it is the middle holes that by and large are the weakest.   Although Nicklaus once stated that he found those holes to have as much of a British feel as any course in the country....Again, I am a fan of the lower altho agree the Upper has much more character.  If I was Rees I would have changed some of the green complexes rather than adding bunkers.

[Tony_Chapman]

While Sand Hills would be my first choice, I love the finish at Wild Horse especially with that normal 30 mph south wind. Two great par-4s that you try to make a five on and a par-5 that you should make a 4 but you never can.

[Tim Bert]

It's hard for me to think of a course that I love that ends with 3 consecutive outstanding holes.  I've played a lot of courses with 2 outstanding finishers and one pretty good one or 3 really good ones, but none come to mind where the final three all blow me away.

Sand Hills might be as close as it gets for me though I'm not in love with 18.

I also liked the under-stated finishing holes at Belvedere.

Tim,

Interesting comment about #18 - can you share what you don't like about it?  From the tips it's a very demanding hole from the tee shot to the final putt.

Scott

Scott - No doubt it is demanding, ad it is certainly a good hole.  As a low teens handicapper, I guess I wasn't viewing "best closing holes" as synonymous with "strongest" or "toughest" final stretch.  I like #18, but it isn't one of my favorite par 4s on the course.   

I was mentally straining to find a course where the final three holes would be my favorite three hole stretch on the course, and I can't come up with one.

Just curious to know if everyone else posting on this thread thinks that any top tier courses they have played have a 16-18 stretch that stands out as the best three hole stretch on the course?  I know we are talking about finishing holes and how they compare to other courses, but I can't think of one course I've played where my favorite stretch is 16-18.

 

[Patrick_Mucci]

Cliff,

I often feel that the Lower gets that "uninteresting greens" label because many compare those greens to the greens on the upper which have a tremendous amount of slope, but, not much in the way of contouring.

I also think that the size of the greens on the lower gives the false impression that they're relatively flat, which they're not.

As to # 7, it plays as a par 4 in tournaments, as does # 1.

I was trying to think which green was the flattest and would probably have to say # 17, but, most others still have some interesting slope.

Like many courses that host Opens and PGA's fairway widths seem to suffer, and, like Oakmont, there was a desire to move the bunkers in to match the narrowed fairways.

But, overall, it's an enjoyable and good test from the appropriate tees

Holes like # 3, 4,

[Matt_Ward]

Hard to beat the closing holes at either Merion, Oakmont or WF/W.

They are all superb and require nothing more than total pinpoint play from the moment you step on to their tee boxes.

Frankly, I can't think of three holes collectively that can be named that can top what these three have to offer -- particularly when inserting a par-4 closer.