Blind Par 3's Good/Bad?

[Emile Bonfiglio]

Eastmoreland's 4th is one of the great points on the property.

The fact that it's blind from the deepest teeing ground section does not change the hole one bit. It's not blind, when you can see the hole before teeing your ball up on the back of the box.

Normally I do love the hole and it is my favs on the course, but this is the first time in my 100+ times of playing the course that I had a front pin with a very back tee box. I've never seen a hole do that before. Sadly the real travesty is the condition that tee box is in. They don't even have sand to fill divot.

[D_Malley]

Pocono Manor East #3 is a very cool blind par three.

It is about 190 from the back tee and the green sits in a sunken bowl.

I have a couple pics which i will try to post

[D_Malley]

Tee View (or non view)
http://www.flickr.com/photos/34384781@N08/4340938521/

Green
http://www.flickr.com/photos/34384781@N08/4340938525/

[Joe Bausch]

Let's put some IMG tags on there Dan (and grab a usable URL from Flickr!):

Tee View (or non view)


Green

[Doug Braunsdorf]

Are the green surrounds maintained as short grass?  That is what appears from photos...if so, this looks like a blast to play

[Steve_ Shaffer]

16th @ Whiemarsh Valley (Thomas) in the Philly 'burbs- 145y uphill.

Courtesy of the Bausch Collection:

[Steve_ Shaffer]

Generally speaking, I'm not a big fan of uphill par3 holes. The 16th at Whitemarsh Valley above and the 4th at Bedford Springs Resort- Ross' famous Volcano hole- are exceptions.

Here's the Volcano hole. At 200+y it's quite a challenge:

[Jim_Kennedy]

Phil,
I tend to agree with you that a blind tee shot on a 4 or 5 isn't much different than on a 3, but at least on the 3 you know the proper yardage to hit the shot.

A blind par3 has more in common with an uphill approach to a par 4 or 5, but  I've played with guys who didn't like a blind 3 but had nothing negative to say about the same type of shot on 4s and 5s on the same course.

Go figure.   

[David_Tepper]

I am not a big fan of blind par-3's.

The most exciting shot in golf is a hole-in-one (or a near miss) and what fun is it if you can't see the ball go in the hole?

I would not want to see more than one par-3 on any given course be a blind shot. The Lake Course at the Olympic Club used to have blind shots on 3 of the 4 par-3's and I felt that was to the detriment of the course.   

[Joel_Stewart]

I would not want to see more than one par-3 on any given course be a blind shot. The Lake Course at the Olympic Club used to have blind shots on 3 of the 4 par-3's and I felt that was to the detriment of the course.   

Problem is the superintendent took out the best one for no apparent reason?  This was one of the original holes, pre Watson and was one of the most famous holes on the course.

[Jim Nugent]

A pair of NLE blind par 3s:

1.  Forest Park (St. Louis) old #3.  Tee perched along one of the lagoons built for the 1904 World's Fair.  Flat and a bit of water for the first 70-80 yards or so.  Then it climbed a pretty steep slope that bordered/led towards Art Hill.  Green and pin at the top were completely blind from the tee, as I recall.  Around 185 to 190 yards long. 

2.  Forest Akers #18 (pre-renovation).  Similar to the Forest Park hole in length and setup, without any water.  Not sure if it was completely blind -- flag might have been visible -- though the green was not. 

[Steve Strasheim]

In my opinion, a good non-blind par 3 will always be better than a good blind one.

That doesn't make blind par 3's bad.

[Tim Bert]

I was surprised that hole #7 at Pebble Beach plays mostly blind if you back up to the back of the tee box. If I recall correctly almost all of the green is out of view from back there much like the hole described in the opening post. Depending upon where the flag is located it may be visible. The closer up you move on the tee, the more of the green comes into focus.

I will say neutral as I don't think blindness alone makes the hole good or bad. I enjoy a fun par three with partial blindness, where part of the green is in view and part is not. It is fun to see a ball rolling toward the pin, know you are in pretty good shape, but not know how you finished up until you get closer to the green to see the result.

[Sam Morrow]

Glenwood Springs, a little 9 holer in Colorado has a par 3 that is blind and over a public road, that's a double whammy.

[Kevin Pallier]

I was surprised that hole #7 at Pebble Beach plays mostly blind if you back up to the back of the tee box. If I recall correctly almost all of the green is out of view from back there much like the hole described in the opening post. Depending upon where the flag is located it may be visible. The closer up you move on the tee, the more of the green comes into focus.

I will say neutral as I don't think blindness alone makes the hole good or bad. I enjoy a fun par three with partial blindness, where part of the green is in view and part is not. It is fun to see a ball rolling toward the pin, know you are in pretty good shape, but not know how you finished up until you get closer to the green to see the result.

Tim

I thought it was quite visible - then again - I'm pretty tall

[Tiger_Bernhardt]

Joel I agree with you on Olympic lake. I had one in my hometown. The Monroe Muni had a 110 hard short blind par three. I was always exciting to see if you stayed on the putting surface. It was not a great hole though.

[Patrick Kiser]

I think a blind 3rd calls for enough green to land your ball or have it roll on.  Punchbowls are fine too.  Raynor made some pretty good ones from what I can tell.