[Patrick_Mucci]

than Baltusrol Upper ?

I recall, many years ago, playing in a tournament, paired with a fellow from Houston, who three putted four of them and four putted two of them.

I played the course recently with two very good golfers and one fellow who's an excellent putter.
All of us had great difficulty in negotiating those greens, managing only six birdies amongst us.
I was 0 for 15 on birdie putts.

The rainbow like putts, where pace and line have to be perfect, are demanding to say the least.

Putts above the hole are treacherous.

Is there any other course, where the introduction, the first six holes, has greater putting demands ?

[Wayne Wiggins, Jr.]

The one that springs to mind is Oakmont, although the 4th is probably not neary as ferocious as the other five greens.

[Mark Saltzman]

Well, I've never played Baltusrol so cannot compare, but three that come to mind are Old Town Club, Crystal Downs and Prairie Dunes. 

Wait, do those courses have any connection? Nah, don't think so.

[William_G]

Old Macdonald

[Tommy Williamsen]

The first time I played it I putted off the green two of the first three holes. good thing too, otherwise I would have four putted twice.  It doesn't count as a putt if you have to chip after you putted, right?

[David_Elvins]

Pat,

Are the greens undulating or tilted? If tilted, do the slope from the back to the front, or do the angles of slope to the line of play vary?

[Jim Sherma]

The 8 or 10 times I played the Upper it was always after being mauled on the lower in the morning. The first stretch being discussed is a wonderful set of greens and in some ways always felt like a breather after the Lower. I never felt that they were goofy just very tough with a lot of risk if you ended up having to putt across the slope front to back or back to front. It's been a while but I know I had a couple of chips for par after under-reading or over-hitting a birdie putt.

I'll always believe that being out towards the end of the opening stretch on the Upper is one of the little slices of heaven that I've been lucky to have visited in my life.

[Steve Lapper]

Winged Foot West
Myopia Hunt Club
Crystal Downs
Merion

Just to name a few

[JMEvensky]

Winged Foot West

Is there ever a question about difficulty where WFW isn't a good answer?

[J_ Crisham]

FRom my experience, Oakland Hills, Crystal Downs, Sand Hills, Lost Dunes, Prairie Dunes come immediately to mind. Somerset Hills are supposed to be the toughest in NJ- hope to find out later this summer.

[Mark Pritchett]

ANGC

[Patrick_Mucci]

Pat,

Are the greens undulating or tilted? If tilted, do the slope from the back to the front, or do the angles of slope to the line of play vary?

David,

On the first six, there's not much in the way of contour, mostly slope, but, the slopes aren't primarily back to front, although some have back to front slope.  The slopes vary, mostly right to left with back to front mixed.

The first time I played the Upper was in a tournament.  We teed of in a shotgun and my first hole was the 3rd, a par 3.

I hit the green and had about a 45 footer and asked the caddy where to play it.
He indicated about 15+ feet above the hole.
I said to myself, "my luck, it's 8:00 am and I've got a caddy who's already drunk"
I had read it about 3 or so feet, so, I split the distance between our reads and hit the putt on the line I chose.
Unfortunately, he was right.
I couldn't believe it.
You really have to keep the ball below the hole, but, that's not easy to do.
Anything above 4 and 8 oclock causes real problems.

I've played Oakmont, WFW and Merion and while those greens are challenging, they're not as severe as the first six at BU.

And, the more difficult aspect of those greens is that they're difficult to read.
WFW's greens have always required more analysis as they have some subtle breaks as well.
Oakmont and Merion's greens were rather easy to read, execution was more of a problem.

But, BU's greens are deceiving in that there's far more break in them than meets the eye.

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