Do hole names help you remember?

[Richard Choi]

While driving back from a great rounds at Bandon, my friend I were going through all of the holes one by one, comparing them and analyzing them which made the 7 hour drive fly by.

While going through the holes, it was remarkable how readily both us remembered holes from Old MacDonald compared to other threse courses, even though we played many more rounds at other courses (compared to 36 at OM).

I believe this was not only to the great design, but also the fact that every hole has a very descriptive name. Names like "Double Plateau", "Hogsback", "Long", "Short", "Ocean", "Punchbowl" and "Westward Ho" make it much easier for your brain to identify them and remember them. The template names like "Eden", "Sahara", "biarritz", "Road Hole", and "Cape" also help a great deal (at least for GCA junkies like us).

So, my question is, who don't more courses try to give a very distinct and descriptive names? And I don't mean just any random names. I know Augusta National names the holes after all the flowers, but even after decades of watching Masters, I have no idea which is what. But I would think something more descriptive would certainly help you remember holes from a course that you just played. And memorability is a big factor in rating courses.

[Steve Salmen]

I think names of holes are kind of annoying for the reason that most of them are not memorable.  The holes or the names.

Cnocmoy is my favorite name and one of my favorite holes.  Points for who can guess the hole and the phonetics.

[Tom_Doak]

Richard:

It's extremely hard to come up with good names for all 18 holes, unless you are following templates.  I did hole names for my first couple of courses, but even I can't remember them all anymore.  [The best name of all though was for the 12th at High Pointe, which had a white pine tree shaped like a cross behind the green ... "Hole o'Cross" after St. Andrews.]

However, I can say that when people are telling me which hole on one of my courses they like the best, they often get the hole number wrong ... I would guess 15-20% of the time.

[Adrian_Stiff]

Not many people remember hole names. I like the idea but they probably need to be on the scorecard for around 50 years before they get stuck in minds....I did the names for our new Stranahan course... Frank's First - Hole O Cross - Shepherds - Long Jack - Cup - Southgate - Molly's Pit - Parker's Corner - Whiting's Oak - Black Poplar - Frying Pan - Adey's Choice - Marshall's - Barringtons' - Lumber Yard - Painswick - Sands Court - Flitcroft.

[Bill_McBride]

Not many people remember hole names. I like the idea but they probably need to be on the scorecard for around 50 years before they get stuck in minds....I did the names for our new Stranahan course... Frank's First - Hole O Cross - Shepherds - Long Jack - Cup - Southgate - Molly's Pit - Parker's Corner - Whiting's Oak - Black Poplar - Frying Pan - Adey's Choice - Marshall's - Barringtons' - Lumber Yard - Painswick - Sands Court - Flitcroft.

I can only think about the hole called "Painswick" and smile.  Please describe!

[Dan Herrmann]

We toyed with naming our holes for a couple of years and decided that "one", "two", "three", etc worked best

[Adrian_Stiff]

Bill - This course is quite near Painswick, which has been an inspiration to me since 1974. Many of the other holes strangely are more Painswicky athough I have no blind ones like 5 or 10. The Stranahan is par 68 5500 yards and full of quirk, its only on 70 acres, 7 short holes like Painswick, starts and ends with a 3. The 16th has a back drop that resembles the beacon.
Lumber Yard is cut through a wood re, Caddyshack and Flitcroft is after Maurice Flitcroft who played 4 times in the Open championship qualyfying. I promised Maurice I would name the 18th after him, he died a couple of years ago.

[Richard Hetzel]

I think Old Silo in KY had one named, "Tomfoolery", which you could use to name each and every hole on some courses....

[Matthew Rose]

I like Pete Dye's names the best. Particularly when he makes a bad pun involving his own surname, i.e. "Dyehard", "Dye-a-bolical", etc..

[Matt_Cohn]

[Mike McGuire]

One way names are helpful is when you switch nines.

Hidden Glen (PB Dye) in Wisconsin recently did this after 10 years.

Now when some one says they did so-and-so on six you first picture the original #6 then you have to count 10-11-12-13-14-15 (or at least I do ) to get to the visual. 

[Steve Lang]

  where is that Lang Whang?

I enjoyed going up the Lang Steps at Edinburgh Castle.. from the Lang Seige of 1573 ..


 oh holes .. always thought the Hogsback at Highpointe was aptly named, especially from viewing at the top tees..

i always remember a calmness at TOC Eden hole as i watched a 5 iron shot almost go in the hole.. and roll to 3 feet away..

[Jason Topp]

No.  A hole should only be named when it earns a name.

[Ed Oden]

At The Recession Club, the hole names are apropos.  My personal favorite is "fiREDANdrehired".

[Sean_A]

I like the idea of names, but as Adrian says, they need to be on the card an awful long time before they become seriously memorable and there needs to be something about the name, history and/ or hole.  At the moment, I can recall only two names from my previous club, Thompkins Plateau - named for a guy who couldn't hit his tee shot to the top of the hill so when he was Captain he had a plateau cut below the crest - very cool.  The other is Malverns obviously named for the glorious view of the Malverns.

I don't know why clubs don't just number holes until a good name comes along.  I don't see anything wrong with a mix of numbers and names.  One thing to avoid at all costs is numbers and names.  I think it is easier to remember a name if there is no number. 

Ciao

[Adrian_Stiff]

Lang Wang is also the name of the 17th at Turnberry. Into a strong wind back in the 70s Peter Alliss described the 500 yarder as Giant Lang Wang Bang ....500 yards is a par 4 now!!

Sean - You have to have numbers now as well for all the computer/ handicap inputs. Visitors ofcourse will aways refer to numbers.

The naming of holes is probably Dye-ing.

[Sean_A]

Lang Wang is also the name of the 17th at Turnberry. Into a strong wind back in the 70s Peter Alliss described the 500 yarder as Giant Lang Wang Bang ....500 yards is a par 4 now!!

Sean - You have to have numbers now as well for all the computer/ handicap inputs. Visitors ofcourse will aways refer to numbers.

The naming of holes is probably Dye-ing.

Adrian

You don't need hole numbers for computers.  Any input program can be designed to just drop down to the next box.  In fact, I am pretty sure that is what happens now.  Nobody pays attention to the hole number, they look at the final 9 and 18 hole scores.

Ciao

[Ally Mcintosh]

i always remember a calmness at TOC Eden hole as i watched a 5 iron shot almost go in the hole.. and roll to 3 feet away..

Maybe you're proving a point... You can remember the shot but not the name of the hole...

[Jeff_Brauer]

I'm in the camp that says the hole names ought to be earned, not given.

For that matter, I prefer names after features rather than naming the holes.  Church Pew bunkers are unforgettable, and descriptive.  Its harder to name an entire hole, especially BEFORE anything of signifigance happens there.

Lastly, naming them all reduces indivuality, as opposed to say, the "South America" hole which stands out because of the story involved.  Number them, and name them if something happens there to warrant it.  I suspect most names just grew rather that were forced on holes like that.

[Gary Slatter]

We toyed with naming our holes for a couple of years and decided that "one", "two", "three", etc worked best

My preference too!   we were asked to name the holes (36) recently and after a few months decided to let them age and hopefully deserve whatever names they end up with.  One, Two, Three are easy to remember and IMHO there shouldn't be 27 hole courses.

[Terry Lavin]

No.

[PCCraig]

Personally I always thought hole names were kind of stupid...

I suppose I understand them on golf courses old enough where the holes are given to them over time and with meaning. Can't say I understand them on brand new modern golf courses. 

[Brent Hutto]

Personally I always thought hole names were kind of stupid...

I'd say "silly" rather than "stupid" but yeah, me too.