On last night’s episode of “Donald J. Trump’s Fabulous World of Golf” the Donald was riding in a cart down the 18th hole at Bay Hill, which features a pond fronting the green, with Arnold Palmer when he asked “Arnold, does a great 18th hole have to feature water?” Arnold then responded with a “uhhh yeah it forces the player to be more precise…” to which I started laughing.
But then I started thinking of different 18th holes that I’ve played that are highly regarded and noted that many of them do indeed feature water. So then I asked myself, is Donald Trump right?
To start, I did some googling and found the following list on the Golf Channel’s website that shows the top 10 best finishing holes on Tour, then noted if they feature water:
10) Harbor Town – Yes.
9) Kapalua – Ocean is seen, ravine is in play.
Quail Hallow – Yes.
7) Riviera – No.
6) Valhalla – Yes.
5) Doral – Yes.
4) Bay Hill – Yes.
3) Sawgrass – Yes.
2) Carnoustie – Yes.
1) Pebble Beach – Yes.
Only Riviera features a totally water-less 18th hole.
I then pulled up the Golf Digest Top 100 in America list from 2009 and figured out on each course if featured water or not. By my count 52 courses have 18th holes with water. Of those 52 there are more modern courses than classic, and a quick trip through the Golfweek Modern List made me believe that there would be a much higher percentage of that list with courses finishing with water in play.
It’s also interesting to note the following list of architects and the percentage of their courses that made the list feature water on the 18th:
Coore 0% (0/2)
Doak: 50% (1/2)
Dye: 90% (9/10)
Engh: 67% (2/3)
Flynn: 33% (1/3)
Fazio: 85% (11/13)
Nicklaus: 100% (10/10)
Ross: 33% (3/9)
RTJ, Sr.: 17% (1/6)
Is the Donald onto something here? Do players generally prefer an 18th hole with water and does the lack of water diminish the hole in the general public’s eyes?? Should the 18th hole be treated any differently than the other 17? Why are so many modern architect’s building their courses with a water feature on the last hole? Are the developers asking for it?