Least Fun Courses You've Ever Played

[JNC Lyon]

I enjoy a "Most Fun" list more than most people, but I got pretty bored seeing North Berwick on every other post in that thread

For more excitement, how about listing the courses on which you've had the least amount of fun.  This has to be related to the ARCHITECTURE.  It has nothing to do with pace of play, what you shot, or how poor the beer selection was.  It's all about the GCA on this one.

Mine?  I'll pick three:

Cyprian Keyes in Massachusetts.  Though Mark Mungeam is a competent architecture, this is one of those courses that never should have been built.  It is filled with rock outcroppings and environmentally-sensitive wetlands area, Cyprian is a 300-acre penalty drop.  The thrill factor is high in places, but there is way too much encroaching hazard to give golfers a chance at enjoying their game there.

Hunters Ridge in Bonita Springs, Florida.  This area between Fort Myers and Naples is filled with the prototypical housing community golf course: water left, house right, no fun of any kind.  Hunters takes the cake with all of them.  It has water in play on 17 holes, houses or expressway in play on 18 holes, two island greens, several hidden water hazards, six or seven 90-degree doglegs, but, somehow, no good golf holes.  Playing this course at age 12 was no fun, and I can't imagine it being more fun now.

Oak Hill (East), Rochester, New York.  Sort of a controversial choice, since it falls well within the top 100 and is also one of my home courses.  For all of the solid golf holes out there, this course is flat out miserable to play.  It beats you up from the first hole, which a long par four bring trees, out of bounds, and a creek into play.  Every full shot demands perfect execution.  A shot hit into the rough and trees (one in the same on most holes) will result in a lengthy golf ball search, slow play, and a ruined round.  The Fuzio renovations don't help the cause either.

[Matthew Mollica]

Moonah Links (Open) and Eagle Ridge on the Mornington Peninsula in Victoria. Both terrible designs.

Eagle Ridge is straight, narrow, hugely over-landscaped and a huge waste of money.

Moonah Links (Open) is an unimaginative, long, boring tournament course on a good site.

MM

[Kevin Pallier]

MM

I know you put this one down as one of your most fun courses but National (Old) for mine fits the bill. Other than #7 I cant think of any other hole on the course that I say I really enjoy playing.

Bethpage (Black) though is the least enjoyable course I think I've ever played. The rough is just too thick and fairways too narrow on what on the surface one could see has the potential to be a much better course.

[Chris Cupit]

1.  Butler National. To be fair I've only played it in tournaments but it was just a slog.  Too damn hard for me.
2.  Atlanta Athletic Club, Highlands Course.  Again, just too difficult to be enjoyable for me.
3.  Echelon.  Just frickin awful, unless you enjoy hiking.
4.  Crown Colony, Lufkin, Texas.  OB left, OB right, repeat.
5.  Adios Golf Club. Awesome locker room.  I wish I had stayed there!
6.  Harbor Town. Tight, expensive, one dimensional and in crappy shape when I played.
7.  The Ocean Course.  Doesn't deserve to be here really but another expensive day of golf that was so windy as to be no fun and the greens were poor the one day I played.  I would love to go back as I am sure I just happened to play on a bad day.  But, that was the category.
8.  Bobby Jones in Atlanta.  Thought I should play it once and I did about twenty years ago.  Awful condition, over five hours to play and the course is really bad.  It was cheap tom play and still a rip-off!!
9.  Kilkeel golf course.  Second course used for The Amateur Championship stroke play qualifying when Am was at Royal County Down.  Terrible, terrible course that is as bad as RCD is great.  R and A should have apologized for playing there. 
10.  Stanwich Golf Club.  Long, tight with super fast greens that tilt sharply back to front......on every hole.  A beautifully conditioned grind.

[Mark Pearce]

Slaley Hall Hunting, Woodhall Spa Bracken.  No joy in either.

[Sean_A]

I reckon there isn't much point in going after the little guys here, so I will attack the big dogs. 

1. Troon - some good holes scattered throughout the course with the standout 8th, but the starting three holes and back nine slog left me perplexed as to why folks would pay top whack to play Troon.

2. TEC - a great property spoiled by narrow corridors and lush turf.  Again, a very expensive round that left me puzzled. 

3. Nefyn - there just isn't much there on the course to be wowed by,  The views are the star of the show by a very long way.  Again, I didn't like the turf as it was parkland lush.

4. Harbourtown - is there a golf course in the forest?  Such a waste because what I could see of the course looked pretty darn good.  This course is probably the single best to learn from in terms of teh good and evil of trees.

Ciao



   

[Martin Toal]

The Belfry (Brabazon) - mostly dull and forgettable, except for the holes which were unforgettable because of their memorable unplayability.

Torrey Pines (either) - mainly because a round there moved slower than evolution.

[Keith OHalloran]

I hate to be negative, especially as it concerns some that use this site, but the owners of Stonebridge on Long Island, did not give the architects enough room to create a fun course. The houses are way to close, there is internal OB, the entire place is too constricted.

[Phil Benedict]

Princeville and PGA West.

[Niall C]

Slaley Hall Hunting, Woodhall Spa Bracken.  No joy in either.

Mark

Slaley Hall - I reckon if the reversed the course they would have a better track, that is play from site of 18th green to site of 18 tee on and so on. I reckon it could be accomplished apart from one hole that is through trees and has a sharp do-leg, they would need to get the chainsaw out for that one.

Niall

[Jonathan Davison]

Niall, Mark
Slaley is such a shame as the land is wonderful, rolling countryside, nice trees and natural streams. The landscape had the ingredients.
It would be a great re design, I would love the chance.

[archie_struthers]

  :


Butler was pretty boring....

[Mac Plumart]

I second Echelon.

[Mike Nuzzo]

Silvertip

[PCCraig]

Cinder Ridge onI-55 outside of Chicago is the least fun and worst golf course I've ever played. I'd rather quit golf then go back and play there!

[Eric Strulowitz]

I second Echelon.

Have not played there yet, but was planning to join a bud there in two weeks.  If it is that bad, we need to reconsider.

Really knowing nothing specific  about the course Mac, what is so bad about it.  Have heard very little good about it.

Thanks

Eric

[Bill_McBride]

9.  Kilkeel golf course.  Second course used for The Amateur Championship stroke play qualifying when Am was at Royal County Down.  Terrible, terrible course that is as bad as RCD is great.  R and A should have apologized for playing there. 

Chris, our two couples stayed in the largest hotel in Kilkeel during the Walker Cup in 2007. The only nice restaurant in town was closed. 

Luckily the clubhouse at Kilkeel Golf Club was open and served us very good casual meals. The staff could not have been any nicer. The Guiness was fine!

So the golf may not be top notch but the food, beverage and service was good and appreciated!

Nice to meet you at Rivermont Tuesday, Chris.  We had a good day, thank you for your generous hospitality.

[Tim Martin]

Cape May National in South Jersey is like a Tampax- It might not be number 1 but it`s up there.

[Dan King]

I'm shocked the Ranch in San Jose hasn't been mentioned yet. I'd be curious of anyone who has ever played there would have a different course atop their list.

Honorable mention would have to go to Troon North in Arizona. I have wiped out of my memory which of the two courses I played, but I did decide  despite having a tee time that I wasn't going to bother with the other course.

More honorable mention to most any of the dozen courses I played when I lived in South Florida. I'd have to agree with Adios. It really wasn't all the bad, but the members are so proud of it that it ends up making the list.

In Scotland I wasn't all that impressed with Troon, Turnberry or Nairn. But they don't rank up there with the least fun courses.

Cheers,
Dan King

By all means screw their women and drink their booze but never write one word about their bloody awful golf course.
  --Henry Longhurst (advise to a fellow journalist being pressed to make a trip to a new expensive golf development)

[Chris_Clouser]

Played a few local haunts that weren't fun.  Brockway in a Lapel is one.  For a wider audience the least fun course I've played would be Medinah No. 3.  I can see why it would be good for the pros.  It rewards repetition of the shot because almost every hole seemed to be the same one over and over again.  Of course the fact that it was a corporate outing did not help matters either.

[Wayne Freeman]

Chris-  I agree with you on Butler..  although the overall club experience there is not to be missed. Fantastic ambiance.
        I also didn't think Atlanta Athletic was much fun... long and tough with ballbuster par 3's and very little interest.
        My experience at Kiawah was different from yours... we had a beautiful day with mild winds. Played the Senior Open
            tees and had a tour caddie.  I guess it helped that I had one of my best rounds too.  But in the afternoon, my buddy
         and I went back to the U.S. Open tees and with a 2-3 club wind got pounded.  But I still had a ball there. It's such a
         great golf course.

        Another course I thought was no fun at all for me was Champions.  Just flat, long, and boring. Gigantic greens that didn't
           do a thing for me.

Kevin,
      Thinking about Bethpage... I loved it the first 2 times I played it before the Open, but you know that since then, they
           keep the rough up and the fairways so narrow.  I agree with you.. it's not a lot of fun anymore.  But it certainly is a
           most worthy Open track.

[Mike_Clayton]

Another vote for Slaley Hall.There are a some holes that would be better if they had only put the tees in the right place but overall it is a a completely joyless place.

[Cory Lewis]

For me it was Winged Foot West.  The tone was set early, I was playing with three other scratch golfers and all 4 of us putted off the first green, we haved the hole with 6's.  Nobody in the group made a par until 4.  The rough was up, the greens were hard and of the super fast variety.

[Jay Flemma]

1.  Atunyote at Blarney Stone Casino

2.  Liberty National

3.  Farmington Woods

[Mac Plumart]

I second Echelon.

Have not played there yet, but was planning to join a bud there in two weeks.  If it is that bad, we need to reconsider.

Really knowing nothing specific  about the course Mac, what is so bad about it.  Have heard very little good about it.

Thanks

Eric

Eric...

There are a bunch of little nit-picky things to criticize Echelon about, but the big problem is the routing and the elevation changes in the property.  MASSIVE uphill and downhill holes again and again.  It borders on goofy golf.  If the price is affordable, play it.  It is neat to see the good, the bad, and the ugly in my book.