Are There Any Golf Holes That Have You Snake Bit?

[Bradley Anderson]

For me its number 13 at Franklin Hills. The dreaded volcano hole.

I played it again last night. Perfect drive down the middle and close; wedge up on to the tiny green that you can't see. I walk up and there's no ball anywhere. This green is maybe 2000 square feet total, it slopes off on three sides, and yesterday it was rolling about 11.5.

So there's my ball bunker left. I climb down and remind myself don't decelerate through the swing - there's enough green to play with here. Doh....the ball rolls off the other side. So I chip up and two putt.

5 shots from 50 yards out. This hole has me totally snake bit.

[Sean Leary]

The 9th at Prairie Dunes. Just cannot seem to get my drives in play and when I do, I mess it up.

I have played it probably 50 times and have never birdied it, and parred it 2 or 3 times. I am a 3-4 handicap.

[Tom_Doak]

Bradley:

Have you tried laying back to 80 or 100 yards?

[Ronald Montesano]

No...although I'd love the opp to be snake bit at the two courses mentioned so far.

[Bradley Anderson]

Tom,

Laying back actually makes a lot of sense on that hole. I don't think the yardage is even 300 yards and you have to lay back? That is an amazing little golf hole.

[jonathan_becker]

#13 at Harbourtown.

Back in December during a 36 hole visit, I played the hole +3 with a wedge in my hand from the middle of the fairway both times.  

The first time I flushed it at a front flag and it came up a yard short, it hit the wood wall, then ricocheted 30 yards right and was under that huge tree with no shot from there.  Nice 6.

The second time from almost the same spot I purposely missed a club long and ended up 3 putting.

That hole owns me!!  

[Matt OBrien]

18 at Black Creek in Chattanooga. It is an easy par 5 that I try to go for every time and choke. I have laid back the last few times and still manage to bogey.

[RSLivingston_III]

18th at Dornoch.
Tried to play for a bogey last time I was there..., big(ger) mistake

[Andrew Lewis]

Although I've had my share of issues with a certain par three on the course, I thought I'd share what a friend of mine who is a legitimate +2 experienced this last weekend on Kingsley's 8th hole.

In two plays, he carded a triple and a double.  And both times he had no more than a pitching wedge in from the fairway.  The culprit?  A combination of a pin cut just past the false front, and the inability to believe that a Texas wedge was the proper recovery option!

[Mike Hendren]

The 12th at The Old Course.  Unless you're relatively long off the tee, it's like trying to roll a marble through a piece of swiss cheese.

Bogey

[Steve Kline]

Both par fives at PV. I've played 45 holes there (front 3 times, back 2 times) and on the five par 5's I played I made four double bogeys while shooting 78 and 74 for my two 18 hole rounds.

[Mac Plumart]

1 through 18 at Grandfather!! 

[Steve Salmen]

Talk about first hole jitters, #1 at TOC.  My four rounds there I've made 5-4-6-6.  Been in the burn three times.

[Tim Johnson]

Michael, that is a simple and true description of the 12th at TOC.

Steve, in addition to the 1st hole jitters, what about the jitters of hitting your approach into 18 at TOC. It is not a green you want to go long, if you fly the green, your ball will just keep bouncing, providing it doesnt hit one of the spectators.

All the people watching make both those holes tough even though they are short and have the widest fairways in the world, 2 of toughest shots in golf to hit.

[Bill Hyde]

Bradley:

Have you tried laying back to 80 or 100 yards?

I usually hit hybrid here because it's really short, downhill and the green is really frickin' small so I need fairway which is about a 50/50 proposition with my driver.

An interesting topic might be "great holes that take driver out of your hand."

Anyway, to add onto the topic of this post...#13 at Seminole, #3 at Baltusrol and #15 at Scioto.

[jim_lewis]

#5 on Pinehurst #2 is the toughest hole for me that I can think of. I don't own a club that I can hit to reach and hold that green. Very difficult up and in and very difficult green to make a putt on.

[Mark McKeever]

15 at Bethpage Black.  I can never find the fairway off the tee and typically end up with a dicey lie in the rough.  Trying to keep a decent score going, I will try to put something up around the green and I always end up bogeying it or worse.  I know I should just pitch it down to the end of the fairway and try to get up and in with a wedge in hand....

Mark

[Bill Seitz]

The fourth hole at Ravisloe.  The third hole is a 490 yard par five, and the fourth hole is a 180 yard par 3.  I've played there about six times, and I've birdied the third hole five of those six times.  I think I've parred the fourth hole once, and probably doubled it once.  The holes have a 300 yard difference in length, and my scoring average on the two is almost exactly the same.

[Kevin_Reilly]

I've hit my drive into the trees on the left on #2 at SFGC I think about 99% of the times I've played the hole.  Or maybe 99.99% of the time.  Root for me to break the streak later this week...."tranquility now" is what I'll be thinking on the tee.

[Patrick_Mucci]

Bradley,

I think that's an interesting question.

Certain holes just don't seem to set up well to my eye, so I try to ask myself, what is it about the architecture that makes me feel so uncomfortable ?

Often, it's the angle of the tee box as it relates to the hole and the way I prefer to flight the ball.

I'll try to expand on my answer in the next few days.

[Sean_A]

#13 at Burnham and Berrow.  A shortish, narrow par 5.  The drive is cut off by a bridle path.  The green slopes deceptively hard right and is protected immediately left with mounding.  I have watched very good golfers take six from just off the green left.




Pennard's 17th.  Short hard dogleg left par 5 with a blind drive.  The hole climbs steadily the entire way and slants to the right all the way up the fairway.  To go for the green in two requires a heroic shot over shit and if one errs there is a high likelyhood his ball will be found by someone - eventually.  The lay-up to the corner is the easy option, but it leaves a tough approach.  The middle ground is to lay-up and still cut the corner - usually not a wise decision.  This is definitely one hole where it pays to be the longest off the tee so you can see how the others faired and then devise a plan of attack or defense.  This is easily the most controversial hole at Pennard, but many seem to love it.




Ciao   

[Anthony Gray]

  14 at Pebble Beach,just don't have enough length. 17 at Kingsbarns,too long and tight on the approach.

  Anthony

[Jason Topp]

Several holes that turn right with a tree near the tee preventing me from hitting my normal draw (or hook) into the fairway.  I have no problem with this type of design as long as it is not overdone.  In my view one should be required to hit a straight ball or a left to right shot on occasion from the back tees. 

[Rob Swift]

10th St Andrews Beach,

Wide fairway, but things get a whole lot tougher after that, uphill second to a small green dropping off on the left and front, bunker back and right. Think I have played the hole 60 times and maybe only hit the green and handful of those times.

[Jeff_Brauer]

I was very nearly snake bit at the ass on the 18th hole at Sand Hills.  My playing partner Dana Fry insisted I clamber up the large fw bunker/blowout on the left to get his picture in that bunker.  I took his camera, climbed, and sat on the top ridge.  I thought what were a lot of crickets, but soon realized it was a rattler. I looked just to my left and I missed sitting on it by no more than a foot or so, yet it was content to warn me, not bite me.