Par 3 finishing holes

[Michael Blake]

Preakness Hills' 18th is a shortish par 3 that tests your nerves.

Downhill, over a pond, to a two-tiered green.  I've ruined a couple of rounds on that hole.  My brother once bounced one into the dining room window just beyond the green.

Hopefully Mr. Mucci will chime in with his insight.

[Ed Oden]

Brad, you can add both Irish Creek and Roaring Gap in NC to your list.

[Anthony Gray]

 They're just aren't too many modern courses that have a closing par 3. What are the reasons?


  Anthony

[Tom Kelly]

Worksop has a decent par 3 hole to finish.

It has the clubhouse and O.B tight to the right side of the hole which I am sure must have cost the club a few pennies in repair bills form the odd nervy, errant tee-shots!

http://www.worksopgolfclub.com/pages.php/course_hole.html/2fe08b88-bdf1-102c-9079-001ec9b331b2/18.html

[jeffwarne]

Other than being restored to its' original design, can someone explain to me why this version is better than the one in Robert's picture?
Not trying to stir the pot, just curious.
I realize the pictures were shot from different distances so that could be contributing to my ignorance
[/quote]

Not to hijack the thread.. but since you asked I'll do my best to explain why I think its a better hole now that it has been restored to its original design.

Here are two photos of the hole as it was before restoration. One from the ground and also an aerial view.





Tillinghast wrote that:  "It is the thought of some that the one shot hole needs only to provide a teeing-ground and a green with immediately surrounding hazards.  But as a matter of fact the approach is of incalcuable value when it is constructed to lend finesse to the play."

The old version of the 18th was exactly this, a one shot hole with immediately surrounding hazards... it did not require "finesse to the play" and did not really provide options of attack.  The fully restored version requires the player to consider many options to find the best way home.  He can play the hole three or four different ways:

1. "The raking shot home" as Tillinghast called it.
2.  "The careful two-to-the-green" from short right of the right side bunker.
3. "a kick to the green from a pulled shot into the throw on the extreme left of the fairway."

The options of attack are in my mind what makes the restored hoe a much better hole than the previous version.  Check out Chapter 40 called "The Reef Hole" of "The Course Beautiful" for the full text.

[/quote]

Brian,
Thank you for the well thought out informed response.
I assume the new picture illustrates more of a fairway option left and short of the green, as well as more fairway right.
The older aeriel has the fairway as more as of island in the rough (I assume eliminating runup)

I realize this is a restoration, but the bunker in the left foreground seems really big.
Do you not think Tillinghast could've accomplished the same intent with something a bit smaller/subtle?

Agreed Brora has a great closer

[Jeff_Brauer]

Years back, I came up with a list of about 300 par 3 finishing holes, courtesy of Ron Whitten and I posted it here.  From memory, at the time, 6 of the top 100 finished on a par 3.

So, 6% of top courses, maybe 2% of all courses, or one in fifty finish on a par 3.

You might be surprised how many times I came across a routing where the par 3 finisher made sense, usually by choice of the clubhouse location near a property corner to shorten road and utility runs leaving a 150 yard or so piece of land near it.

[Patrick Kiser]

If the land only provides for a par 3 finish, then why not finish with an excellent par 3, rather than some contrived closing hole.  This is the uphill 193 yard 18th at Paramount CC

Robert,

Sounds like Pasatiempo would fit the bill to me...

[Mark_Rowlinson]

Off the top of my head, locally, Sandiway (Colt), Altrincham (formerly known as Timperley), Avro, Cheadle, Didsbury, Gatley, Helsby, Leasowe, Macclesfield, Poulton Park, Runcorn, Stamford, Vicars Cross,  

[John Shimony]

Robert,

I'm guessing you took that picture of Paramount a few years ago, probably 2008?  Here is the most recent picture of the 18th at Paramount, restored to its original design.  I think Jim did a fantastic job with this one.  Jim would probably tell you TILLINGHAST did a fantastic job on this one...

The layout of this hole looks very similiar to the layout of the first hole at Victoria Golf Club.  But the hole I viewed on television last night was perhaps 30 - 40 yards longer.

[PCCraig]

Here is the 170 yard 18th at Town & Country Club in St. Paul, MN...which comes after back-to-back-to-back par-5's.

From Jason Topp's thread in August:


Here is a historical image of the same hole from an article related to their bidding of the 1936 Walker Cup courtesy of the LA84 Foundation. At that time, the hole played ~140 yards across a ravine to a square green.

[Brian Chapin]

Brian,
Thank you for the well thought out informed response.
I assume the new picture illustrates more of a fairway option left and short of the green, as well as more fairway right.
The older aeriel has the fairway as more as of island in the rough (I assume eliminating runup)

I realize this is a restoration, but the bunker in the left foreground seems really big.
Do you not think Tillinghast could've accomplished the same intent with something a bit smaller/subtle?[/quote]

Jeff,

Yes, the restored fairway gives options to the left and short of the green so that the player has the option to carry the left bunker and run it up into the green with a kick to the right off the bump short left of the green.


I wont attempt to explain why Tillinghast used such a large bunker, but i can show you the old aerial from 1940.  It's a bit fuzzy but you can see that the scale is right when compared to the restored bunker.  Also, the depression from the original bunker was in-tact, so it was easy to see how big that bunker was.

[jeffwarne]

Thanks Brian,
wonderful aerial.
I'm often accused of being a tree hugger, but that picture shows me the need to lose the left pines to  make the left option more attractive to a strategic  play by a shorter hiter

[Michael Wharton-Palmer]

Moor Park near London and St Perre in Chepstow both at least used to have par three 18th holes..back in my youth.
Both good finishing holes...I remeber the last at Moor Park in partcular..last hole of the Carris Trophy.

[BCrosby]

Brad -

Delete Myopia. It does not finish with a par 3.

Add Highlands GC, Highlands, NC., Ross 1926. Bob Jones' summer course.

Bob

[Aidan Bradley]

As noted in Brad's list, Sandpiper #18..........

[BCrosby]

One of those odd coincidences is that the two courses Jones played most often in his life - East Lake and Highlands - both finish with par 3's.

Bob

[Mark Pearce]

The 18th on Berkshire Red is probably the weakest of the 6 par 3s on the course.

St Pierre was still a par 3 finisher when I played there 10 years ago.

[Matthew Petersen]

The Experience at Koele on the island of Lanai, HI (Greg Norman design) ends with a par 3. Not a very good one, though.

[Joe Leenheer]

A par 3 finishing hole can create great drama in competitive golf (match or stroke play).  Our 18th hole at Fairlawn Country Club (Langford) is an absolute brute of a hole (can play up to 240 yards with ravine left, and OB long and right).  Many of rounds have been spoiled, matches lost, and memories made come the 18th.  Another reason why it is a great finishing hole is that the 17th sets you up well for it.  A short Par 4 that allows you to make up a shot knowing that you may be giving it right back.

I stood on our 18th during a local PGA tourney at 3 under par (had just birdied 17).  I hit it short of the green, pitched it 4 feet above the hole (a big no-no) and knocked in a slippery downhill slider...one of the best pars of my life.

Regardless of the par or beauty, a finishing hole should offer a dramatic finish to a match or round.

[Mark Woodger]

Deal GC in New Jersey has a par 3 to end finish up with. Have not played it well the two times i have been there.


Runs down the back of the club house so anybody in the lounges can see your effort. Similar to the par 4 first at Deal in the UK, which runs past the front of the clubhouse. certainly adds a little bit of pressure.

[Bill_McBride]

One of those odd coincidences is that the two courses Jones played most often in his life - East Lake and Highlands - both finish with par 3's.

Bob

Bob, was that the layout at East Lake when Jones played there?

[Tom_Doak]

The original Tillinghast layout at Shawnee on the Delaware also finished with a par-3, a very long one at that.  The hole is still there, but now it's just one of three nine-hole loops and doesn't register as the 18th hole, which is probably why Brad's list failed to include it.

[Anthony Gray]

  So what are the negatives?

  Anthony

[Patrick_Mucci]

Forest Hill Field Club
AWT

Great par 3 finish

[Sam Morrow]

  So what are the negatives?

  Anthony

If it's a good hole I really don't see any negatives from a design standpoint.