What a difference a reordering of play can make.

[Patrick_Mucci]

Not long ago I played a course that I had played a number of times over the last few years.

They changed the order of play on a few holes.

The 10th, 11th and 12th holes, a par 3, 4, and 5, are now the 16th, 17th and 18th holes.

The 13th, 14th and 15th are now the 10th, 11th and 12th.

While it's the same course, the difference is quite pronounced.
There's far more tension, drama and thought with those holes as the finishing holes as opposed to being the starting holes on the back nine.

The new 16th, a par 3 over water begins to place significant pressure on the golfer as one of the three finishing holes, the new 17th, a short, strategic par 4 with water fronting the green has more significance and the new 18th, a par 5, with water fronting/flanking the green is now an 18th hole where great drama and decisions abound.

How many other courses would benefit from re-ordering or reconfiguration of some of the holes ?

[Jay Flemma]

Bayonne...I started on 14 and finished at the clubhouse and I request that every time I play in a shotgun there.

[Patrick_Mucci]

Jay,

That's a pretty tough starting hole.

I'm not sure I'd want to start on that hole, although, I've always liked to get the most difficult holes out of the way first, right after I've come from the practice range.

Good call on reordering play and ending up at the clubhouse.

[Bill Brightly]

The back nine of Saucon Valley's Old Course has a 3 hole inside loop followed by an outside 6 hole loop. The 18th is a nice short par 4, I hit 5 wood then wedge up the hill to a green that slopes hard left to right. It is a fine hole, but not a classic finishing hole, IMO. When they hold events such as the US Senior Open and the Women;s open, the switch the loops because there is far more room for the necessary finishing hole grandstands behind the normal 12th green. This way, the finish is a really challenging 400+ yard dogleg left par 4 to a small Biarritz green. We played this rotation the year of the Women's Open and there was a slight movement to keep it that way, but tradition overruled