What are the Quirkiest Courses in the United States?

[Sven Nilsen]

Blind shots, wild greens, undulating fairways, "half par" holes, odd hole/par disbursement, unique traditions...

This sounds like an advertisement for Kingsley...

Jud,

I've yet to have the pleasure of playing Kingsley. How many blind shots are there? How is par dispersed?

To answer your question:

1 - drive can be blind if you're blasting it over the hill. 
4 - can be blind on the approach if you've hit it to certain areas
5 - blind par 3 with a punchbowl green
7 - second shot is blind to your landing area
13 - arguably blind on the approach
14 - the fairway sweeps around a set of bunkers on the right, the ideal line is hidden by those bunkers
17 - if you're carrying the hill, the landing area is blind
18 - contours around the green can make this a partially blind shot, especially to a back right pin

There are a lot of shots that can be blind, but the contours and visual guides never make you feel out of sorts with the type of shot that should be played.

Par goes - 5, 3, 4, 4, 3, 4, 5, 4, 3 on the front, 4, 3, 4, 4, 4.5, 4.5, 3, 5, 4 on the back

[Mac Plumart]

Meadow Farms

[Jud_T]

And don't forget the unique mailbox tradition....

[Carl Nichols]

Hanover (NH) CC -
-Two consecutive par 3s and no par 5s on the front 9, with the back 9 finishing 5-4-5-5
-Depending on the tee box chosen the 17th can play as a par 3, par 4 or par 5
-Walkers pick up a golf cart between 16 & 17 fairway while playing 16, then use to drive from 16 green to 17, returning cart mid-play of 17.
-The 6th hole and the 18th cross
-One of the back 9 holes used to be on the outrun of the NLE ski jump
-Course used for sleep-outs by amorous couples on certain spring coed weekends back in the day

Dave-
Great call. Don't forget the practice course.

Hanover CC might have been even quirkier before they added the new holes, especially with the ski jump and ability to cross Lyme Road for a six-pack ..... which I don't think is possible anymore.

[George Freeman]

To answer your question:

1 - drive can be blind if you're blasting it over the hill.  
4 - can be blind on the approach if you've hit it to certain areas
5 - blind par 3 with a punchbowl green
7 - second shot is blind to your landing area
13 - arguably blind on the approach
14 - the fairway sweeps around a set of bunkers on the right, the ideal line is hidden by those bunkers
17 - if you're carrying the hill, the landing area is blind
18 - contours around the green can make this a partially blind shot, especially to a back right pin

There are a lot of shots that can be blind, but the contours and visual guides never make you feel out of sorts with the type of shot that should be played.

Par goes - 5, 3, 4, 4, 3, 4, 5, 4, 3 on the front, 4, 3, 4, 4, 4.5, 4.5, 3, 5, 4 on the back

Jud - you can be in or near the fairway on #3 and be pretty much blind (if not 100% blind) to the green.

[Keith OHalloran]

St George's, Stony Brook, NY.  Blind tee shots, hidden bunkers, fairways mown together,  road crossing, tight space, houses on the 12th. It may be quirky, but it is awesome!

[mike_beene]

Not in a good way,but Mountain Air in NC is so severe with hilly holes.

[Bill Seitz]

And don't forget the unique mailbox tradition....

That's actually why I joined.

[Keith Doleshel]

Lincoln Park in San Francisco.  No hole on the back nine over 300 yards until you reach #18.  Back to back par 3s of 220+ yards.  Weaving around the Legion of Honor.  Blind tee shots, million dollar views, and greens that roll 6-7 on the Stimp.  I would say it qualifies.

[Mike_Trenham]

St George's  NY
Eastward Ho!
Merion West
Ballyhack

[Ronald Montesano]

I don't think Ballyhack is quirky. It's the antithesis, in my opinion.

Quirky summons the notion that others, or I, might find the course to be odd or weird in a pleasurable but slightly-negative way. I never got that sense in Roanoke.

[Jud_T]

Ron,

What's the negative connotation about quirky?  Different, odd or unusual are things to be treasured in the dark days of paint-by-numbers verdant championship venues and mathematically correct greens that roll at 12 IMO...

[Mark Saltzman]

Blind shots, wild greens, undulating fairways, "half par" holes, odd hole/par disbursement, unique traditions...

This sounds like an advertisement for Kingsley...

Jud,

I've yet to have the pleasure of playing Kingsley. How many blind shots are there? How is par dispersed?

To answer your question:

1 - drive can be blind if you're blasting it over the hill. 
4 - can be blind on the approach if you've hit it to certain areas
5 - blind par 3 with a punchbowl green
7 - second shot is blind to your landing area
13 - arguably blind on the approach
14 - the fairway sweeps around a set of bunkers on the right, the ideal line is hidden by those bunkers
17 - if you're carrying the hill, the landing area is blind
18 - contours around the green can make this a partially blind shot, especially to a back right pin

There are a lot of shots that can be blind, but the contours and visual guides never make you feel out of sorts with the type of shot that should be played.

Par goes - 5, 3, 4, 4, 3, 4, 5, 4, 3 on the front, 4, 3, 4, 4, 4.5, 4.5, 3, 5, 4 on the back

A few more places...

1: if you don't get your tee shot to the top of the hill the second shot can be blind.

3: left rough leaves a blind and scary approach

4: right side of fairway leaves a blind approach

6: approach from right rough/bunkers is blind.

[Mike_Trenham]

I don't think Ballyhack is quirky. It's the antithesis, in my opinion.

Quirky summons the notion that others, or I, might find the course to be odd or weird in a pleasurable but slightly-negative way. I never got that sense in Roanoke.

Tell me what within 200 miles of Ballyhack is like it?

[Sam Morrow]

Glen Mills
Roman Nose State Park in Oklahoma, 5500 yards but you can't break 80 on it.

[Bill Seitz]

A few more places...

4: right side of fairway leaves a blind approach

Well, blind is kind of a relative term.  When you end up in the swale on the right side of the fourth fairway 80% of the time, you develop a knack for picking the right tree in the background at which to aim.  Over Labor Day weekend, I played the front nine ten times, and I'm pretty sure I never saw the flag but for one time where I pulled my tee shot a bit.  But I got REALLY good at picking the tree to the right of the fifth tee that I wanted to aim at for that approach.

[Matt OBrien]

Ledgerock in PA

[George Freeman]

A few more places...

1: if you don't get your tee shot to the top of the hill the second shot can be blind.

3: left rough leaves a blind and scary approach

4: right side of fairway leaves a blind approach

6: approach from right rough/bunkers is blind.

And the ideal landing area on #8

[Jay Flemma]

This is a great thread.  I agree with all of our descriptions of what we define as quirk, I just wish the word didn't have a negative connotation to the mainstream golfer who might confuse quirk as some sort of negative like perhaps "anachronistic."

As for quirky courses, here's three of my faves:  White Bear Yacht Club, Garden City G.C., and St. George's (Long Island).  They all have some blindness, especially if you get out of position, there's lots of false front greens or greens that roll to the back, they all have excellent wild greens with terrific green complexes, and there are several really good half-par holes.

Also Inwood and Lawsonia have wild par sequences.  Inwood has a stretch that goes 5-5-5-3-3-4-3, and Lawsonia has a stretch that goes 5-3-5-3-5-3.  St. G's has a wild routing as well, no par-3s in the first 6 holes, then four in the next nine...the par-5s are at 2, 6, and 18...talk about unbalanced!  Cool:)

[Phil McDade]

Blind shots, wild greens, undulating fairways, "half par" holes, odd hole/par disbursement, unique traditions...

This sounds like an advertisement for Kingsley...

That's sort of what I was thinking....

Add my usual suspects to this list: Blackhawks in Madison, and of course, THE Reverse Jans National.

Blackhawk (Madison WI):

http://www.golfclubatlas.com/forum/index.php/topic,41775.0.html

The Reverse Jans (Wilmette/Evanston IL)

http://www.golfclubatlas.com/forum/index.php/topic,38096.0.html

[Patrick_Mucci]

Garland,

Tommy Nacarrato felt that Astoria was at the top of the list in terms of quirk.

Keith,

Good call on St George's.
It abounds in quirk and I love it.

Some say NGLA is quirky, and I think it has that element in the design.

[Ed Oden]

45 posts and no mention of Old Macdonald?  For my money, it is as quirky as anything I have seen in the US.  Does the fact that Old Mac is a CBM homage/template course somehow alter our perception of the amount of quirk present?

[Jay Flemma]

Both Ed and Pat Mucci are right.  I can't believe it took is that long to say NGLA or Old Macd either.

Might some call Leatherstocking quirky?

Canted fairways...there's another example of quirk...

[SL_Solow]

It has been a long time since I played there but Putterham Meadows in Brookline Mass had its share of quirk.  Exposed rock outcroppings in play.  A par 4 where the drive played to the bottom of an extremely steep hill with the green perched on top leaving a relatively short but blind approach.  A dog leg 4 with a tee shot into a valley where you waited to tee off until after the group in front rang a bell.  Another 4 where there was an old periscope on the tee to see ahead and if I recall correctly, another where a built up platform allowed you to survey the landing area.  Perhaps some of this has changed since the mid 70's but the course was a throwback and provided an interesting and fun afternoon when I needed a respite from the law books.

[Garland Bayley]

Garland,

Tommy Nacarrato felt that Astoria was at the top of the list in terms of quirk.

...

The problem with this list is that Pat and many of the respondents haven't seen things like do it yourself dell holes. Astoria is so unique, that blind shots are blase' humdrum commonality when it comes to quirk.

http://www.golfclubatlas.com/forum/index.php/topic,26002.0.html