Hardest Hole You Have Ever Played?

[Jud_T]

Kalen,

at least it's POSSIBLE to hold that green, or bail out....

[Adam Clayman]

11 at Bayside. I also assume, because it is similar, that "Pirates Plank" at Cape Kidnappers is likely the hands down winner. Sean O'hair(sp?) makes double double toil and trouble to lose a half million.

[George Freeman]

The hardest hole I have ever played is #11 at TOC.  This was more due to circumstance than the hole itself, although the hole seems pretty difficult no matter the conditions.

When I stepped to the tee there was a steady 45 mph wind (gusting into the mid 60s) in my face quartering slightly from the left.  That day we had to insert our tees into the ground at a 45 degree angle upwind in order to keep the ball from being pushed off!  I attempted to hit a punch 25 degree hybrid, or maybe it was a 5 wood (either way, a bad idea), which had no punch in it, got caught in the wind and ended up about 25 yards right of Shell bunker (which was easily 60 yards offline).  Hit a full punch 7 iron from about 50-60 yards straight back into the teeth of the wind, which ended up short of Strath.  I'm not even sure what happened from there but in that wind it was an absolute bear.  

Fun day on my one and only trip around TOC...

[Jud_T]

I'm not sure wind should be included in the discussion.  Any hole can potentially be brutal in the right conditions...We played with 60 mph gusts at Turnberry and simply standing erect was a challenge...

[Joel_Stewart]

The 10th at Shinnecock.  Blind tee shot to a rolling fairway and then try and stick an iron on a very small landing area with a false front. 

[Scott Szabo]

11 at Bayside. I also assume, because it is similar, that "Pirates Plank" at Cape Kidnappers is likely the hands down winner. Sean O'hair(sp?) makes double double toil and trouble to lose a half million.

Adam, 

You beat me to this one.  It's not widely known as many have not made the trek to Ogallala, but it kicks my butt every year. 

The tee shot is managable, but after that the fun (?) begins....

[John Kirk]

A lesser known brute around the San Francisco Bay Area is the par 5 10th hole at DeLaveaga in Santa Cruz.  It turns almost 90 degrees about halfway there, narrow with a canyon on the left and OB right.  Didn't like it, but it sure was hard.

[David_Tepper]

Foxy, par-4 #14 at Royal Dornoch, is near the top of my list. I am pretty sure I have parred every other hole on the course at least once.

[Tyler Kearns]

9th hole at Pine Ridge in Winnipeg (routed by Bendelow, bunkers designed by Ross)
230-240 yds., uphill, to a green set atop of a knoll, hence an inverted saucer with only 2 pin positions. Bunkers left and long with steep drop-off on right hand side of green. Every year the hole ranks an one of the most difficult on the Canadian Tour.

TK

[Jaeger Kovich]

Hardest Par 4 - WFW #1... good luck even if you hit this green in regulation... welcome to Winged Foot!

Hardest long par 3 - The Ocean Course #17... grab your driver and pray the wind is helping

Hardest short par 3 - QR #9... plays hardest compared to par of any hole every year in our tourny

Hardest par 5 - Carnoustie #6 Hogans Alley - OB left, bunkers down the middle, ditch on the right and mortor fire going on in the background

[Mac Plumart]

Without doubt, #5 of Creekside at the Golf Club of Georgia. 

You can read all about it in The Doak Gazetteer, as it is listed in his "worst holes" list with ample prose to describe it.

[Bill_McBride]

#10 at Butler is the hardest Par 4 I've ever played.

#2 at Isleworth is the hardest Par 3 I've ever played.

Ryan, Cypress Point #16 makes #2 Isleworth look like a little pussy cat.  Same concept, longer carry, windy and white caps!!

[Tim Leahy]

No. 4 at Spyglass, par 4 all sand and iceplant down the left side from tee to a super narrow green.
No. 18 at Riviera, par 4, blind drive, trouble both sides, tough big green, kikuyu.
No. 3 at Olympic Lake, par 3, elevated tee, long iron, wood to a small green
No. 18 at Industry Hills Ike, par 5 668 yds, sand everywhere, water left, really difficult green.

[Brent Hutto]

If I think about it a few minutes I'm sure a more difficult hole will occur to me. But the first one that popped into mind is the thrice-damned tenth at Dornoch. I have no idea how to make a tee shot that will end up on the green, there is no place to miss the green deliberately and leave an easy second shot and if there's any wind it is totally exposed, bringing real trouble into play. Played it four times and never parred it, never bogeyed it, not sure I ever double-bogeyed it. Just a train wreck every time for me.

[JR Potts]

#10 at Butler is the hardest Par 4 I've ever played.

#2 at Isleworth is the hardest Par 3 I've ever played.

Ryan, Cypress Point #16 makes #2 Isleworth look like a little pussy cat.  Same concept, longer carry, windy and white caps!!

You may be right but I have to take issue with your comment for two reasons.

1. I've never played CP.
2. I usually arrive to the second hole at Isleworth during late Janaury having it been the second hole I've played in over 3 months.  Then I'm asked to hit a 230 yard shot, as straight as an arrow between two huge trees to a green no winder than 8 yards.  In late Janaury, on the second hole, I don't have that shot.  At least at CP, you have 15 warm-up holes.  

[Bradley Anderson]

Number 14 at Olympia Fields.

Number 1 at Oakmont.

[Jordan Wall]

8 at Pebble.

4 at Olympic.

18 at Riviera.

15 at Aldarra.

14 at Chambers, from all the way back.

[Jason Topp]

7 at Veenker in Ames IA.  A goofy, difficult hole.



590 yards, tree lined, woods on right sloping down to water, tee shot slopes severely downhill and left to right and if you hit driver it can go in a creek.  If you lay up and hit it shorter than 225, you are left with a downhill, ball below the feet lie.

View from the tee (these pictures are from the course web site):



from about 100 yards off the tee:



From the fairway looking back at the tee:




After a successful tee shot, you have the choice of either a sideways short iron to land between the first and second creek or a full belt with a fairway wood to carry the trouble.  The layup can only go 100 yards and leaves an approach of 210 or so (according to Google Maps). 

The agressive option requires a carry of about 195 yards.  If you are on the left side of the fairway, you need to hook it around trees.  If you do not, you will hit it ob.  Here is what it looks like from the middle of the fairway.  You can see the edge of the trees on the left side of the picture (which incidentally hang over a creek - if you hit them the ball drops in the creek and your option for dropping is either on flat land behind the trees or on the downhill sidehill lie)



By any reasonable measure - this is a stupid golf hole.  Nonetheless, I always look forward to playing it.  Melvyn may be right about the way the game should be approached.

[Steve Wilson]

Visualize this.  A 200-210 yard par three playing out of a narrow chute of trees for the first third of its length.  A pear shaped green, with top of the pear towards the tee box, 20 to 30 feet above the tee, no more than ten yards wide at its maximum.  To the immediate left is OB and the ground is canted so that any miss to the left is apt to continue in said direction.  Behind the green is a copse of trees.  To the right is a drop off reminiscent of the 6th at Royal Dornoch.  Landing the tee ball short for a run up  is probably the unlikeliest option of all since the ramp to the green is a hogback not as wide as the green itself.  Balls ricocheting to the right will almost always find a scruffy lie on nearly bare earth as there is no irrigation and 90% of tee shots end there (and a healthy percentage of second, third, etc. shots).

This was the 2nd, 5th, or 8th (depending on which of the three configurations was currently in use) at Doolin Golf Course (NLE) in New Martinsville WV. The time period was between 1958-1972 and of course that means real woods and clunky balls.  Threes were precious, fours eagerly accepted and fives the order of the day.  A two was a miracle.  I remember carving a 3 wood stiff on one (and only one occasion).  It may be the best result I ever obtained from a golf shot. 

Had the green been somewhat wider or the chute of trees removed so the ball could be worked from the tee, it would have been a really good hole instead of a nearly impossible one.   

Hardest holes don't have to famous ones or great ones.  I'd venture to say that some of the truly hardest holes are not particularly good ones.     

[K. Krahenbuhl]

I would add #8 at Prairie Dunes into the conversation.  From the new back box even a good drive leaves a long uphill second to a severe green.

[Garland Bayley]

There is that 18th at Wildhorse in Davis. The hazard takes driver out of your hands and then you have the all carry to the green. What kind of architect builds that stuff?

Having never seen Pine Valley, I can't compare the work of the archies.

[Tony Weiler]

Torrey So., No. 12.  Long, into wind, uphill, and a difficult greeen.  Just a hard hole. 

[Sean Leary]

I would add #8 at Prairie Dunes into the conversation.  From the new back box even a good drive leaves a long uphill second to a severe green.

Kyle,

I actually think 9 is harder. After 40ish plays with mostly good players, the scores on 8 are generally better than 9 if you can believe it, especiially with the prevailing wind.

I would not have thought that after a few plays...

[James Boon]

Trying to think about the hardest hole I've played and holes like the previously mentioned 9 at RCD spring to mind, but so does this one from a course most wont have heard of. The 8th at Chevin, just north of Derby, known as Tribulation.

- Its about 380 yards, all uphill. No bunkers. No water.
- The fairway is a hogs back so only a really straight drive will do.
- Anything slightly left will run up against a drystone wall. Further left and beyond the wall is Out of Bounds.
- Anything slightly right will be on a severe ball below your feet lie, usually from thick rough. Further right and it will probably kick all the way to the bottom of a hill, leaving a wedge back up to the fairway as the only choice.
- Sits on top of a hill so its virtually always windy, from left to right and into slightly, forcing a shot down the hill to the right.

The real challenge is finding the fairway! If and when you do the approach is uphill all the way though not as much of a challenge as the drive. I've never managed a par on here. I've probably reloaded off the tee, more than on any hole I've ever played, and some people tell me I'm a straight driver of the ball...

Cheers,

James

[Bill_McBride]

#10 at Butler is the hardest Par 4 I've ever played.

#2 at Isleworth is the hardest Par 3 I've ever played.

Ryan, Cypress Point #16 makes #2 Isleworth look like a little pussy cat.  Same concept, longer carry, windy and white caps!!

You may be right but I have to take issue with your comment for two reasons.

1. I've never played CP.
2. I usually arrive to the second hole at Isleworth during late Janaury having it been the second hole I've played in over 3 months.  Then I'm asked to hit a 230 yard shot, as straight as an arrow between two huge trees to a green no winder than 8 yards.  In late Janaury, on the second hole, I don't have that shot.  At least at CP, you have 15 warm-up holes.  

Good points!

At Isleworth I just took the driver and nailed it right through  the green, pitched back for a safe bogey.  No way I was messing with that lake!