[Sven Nilsen]

Looking through the old guides I often find myself dwelling on the names given to the holes on the early courses.  Some names create a sense of place, you can almost picture the course just from the monikers.   Others seems to be an homage to inspirations.  As an example, here are the names from two early courses:

Campobello Golf Club (Maine)

1.  Tennis Court - 233
2.  Knoll - 287
3.  Long - 387
4.  Snow's - 188
5.  Old Garden - 157
6.  Whitehead - 147
7.  Old Well - 233
8.  Lake Road - 172
9.  Home -  335

Straightforward, descriptive, but one does wonder where "Whitehead" came from.

Killarney Golf Club (Illinois/Jame Foulis)

1.  Muckross Head -125
2.  Devil's Bit - 325
3.  Vinegar Hill - 460
4.  Eagle's Nest - 410
5.  Ross' Castle - 260
6.  Youghal Harbor - 180
7.  Gap of Dunloe - 505
8.  Vale of Avoca - 260
9.  Donnybrook - 280

I feel like I've just watched the Gaelic language version of the Lord of the Rings. 

Would be interesting to know if the names came from the architect or if they were given by the clubs themselves, and if from the architect, if there was any pattern or reuse of names (ala CBM using the templates).

Anyone have any favorites from the old days?

[hhuffines]

Carolina CC in Raleigh had names for each hole dating back to the early 1900s.   The one our older members discuss most was the Devil's Den, a dogleg right that swept down over a chasm to the green.  Unfortunately it no longer exists.

[Sven Nilsen]

Couldn't find the names for Carolina CC, but I do have the names from the first course at Pinehurst:

1.  Short One - 116
2.  Deer Park - 310
3.  Ridge - 213
4.  Barn - 386
5.  Nursery - 487
6.  Punch Bowl - 213
7.  Wind Mill - 355
8.  Dam - 311
9.  Ghost Walk - 153
10.  Buchans Branch - 317
11.  Westward Ho - 258
12.  Wilderness - 484
13.  Cross Roads - 257
14.  Long One - 496
15.  Easy One - 152
16.  Over the Hill - 296
17.  Clubhouse - 168
18.  Home - 254

Very sensible selections.  Ghost Walk may be my favorite so far.

[Chris Newton]

Stanley Thompson paid homage to his native Scotland with the hole names at Highlands Links. I've always thought they were interesting:

Front
1 - Ben Franey
2- Tam O'Shanter
3 - Lochan
4 - Heich O' Fash
5 - Canny Slap
6 - Mucklemouth Meg
7 - Killiecrankie
8 - Caber's Toss
9 - Corbie's Nest

Back
10 - Cuddy's Lugs
11 - Bonnie Burn
12 - Cleugh
13 - Laird
14 - Haugh
15 - Tattie Bogle
16 - Sair Fecht
17 - Dowie Den
18 - Hame Noo

A few explanations on some of the hole names from Thompson:

3 - "Is a small sheet of water and I thought the water at this hole indicated the name."
5 - "As this called for a very tricky shot, one had to be canny."
6 - "Was a loud mouthed woman in Scottish lore. As the green on the sixth hole had a yawning opening with cavernous traps on either
side, we thought this name described the hole." 
8 - "As this hole is blind...it was thought it suggested the tossing of the caber (up and over)."
9 - "My grandfather used to place his two hands together with his thumb inside the palms and then say 'Put your finger in Corbie's
 (a scalaway crow) hole.'  Then he'd pinch it with his thumbs."
18 - "The last hole is always called the 'Home Hole' and it was given the Scottish touch."

[Jeff_Mingay]

How 'bout "new-er days"?

When we (Rod Whitman and co.) finished Blackhawk Golf Club, in Edmonton, Alberta (c. 2003), I pitched names for the holes. The main partner on the development rejected a few (!), but excepted a majority. Off the top of my head, here's how they still appear in the scorecard there today:

#1 - Caber's Toss (similar tee shot to the 8th at Cape Breton Highlands Links)
#2 - Sand Hills (Rod and I talked about a particular hole at Sand Hills when this green was being designed/built)
#3 - Flat Top (the putting surface looks like it was created by chopping the top off a small hill)
#4 - Thompson (Rod created the features of this green site by mimicking distance hills... something "Stan the Man" did, too)
#5 - Plateau (classic name for a golf hole that relates to the fairway situation, here... which falls off left and right)
#6 - Short (another classic name... shortest hole at Blackhawk)
#7 - Abandoned Well (the topo map showed that there was an abandoned oil well on this hole... but the name is also applicable to the greenside bunker shaped by Dave Axland: Deep)
#8 - Dell (another famous name, borrowed... this green sits in a dell of sorts)
#9 - Valley (you get your first glimpse of the North Saskatchewan River valley coming down the fairway at this hole)

#10 - Poplars (the dominate tree at Blackhawk... this is the first hole that plays through a corridor of poplars)
#11 - Peninsula (the green here is pushed out into a water feature, creating a peninsula of sorts)
#12 - Gibraltar (very similar design to Alister Mackenzie's famous par 3 hole of the same name at Alwoodley, in England)
#13 - Escarpment (in tribute to the imposing feature on the opposite side of the North Saskatchewan River from this hole)
#14 - Hillocks (the entire left side of this hole features artificial humps and hollows)
#15 - Long (see #6)
#16 - Deception (very difficult to chose the proper club at this par 3 hole... the actual distance is deceiving, mainly because of the background to the green)
#17 - Crump (there are a couple of bunkers I roughed in short-left of the green... when Rod was giving me instruction, he said: "You know those bunkers short-left at #13 at Pine Valley?")
#18 - Hame Noo (another nod to Cape Breton Highlands Links... and, Scotland)

That was fun, revisiting the reasoning behind these holes names 10 years later

[Eric Smith]

Machrihanish has some funky hole names.



1. The Battery
2. Machrihanish
3. Islay
4. Jura
5. Punch Bowl
6. Balaclava
7. Bruach More
8. Gigha
9. Ranachan

10. Cnocmoy
11. Strabane
12. Long Hole
13. Kilkivan
14. Castle Hill
15. The Hut
16. Rorke's Drift
17. The Burn
18. Lossit

[Sean_A]

I think my favourite has to be Tomkin's Plateau at Droitwich.  Mr Tomkin was a well loved member who couldn't carry the hill on #16.  So a wee notch was cut that Mr Tomkin would aim for.  Its just beyond the shadows.


Ciao

[Sven Nilsen]

Spring Lake G&CC (NJ) -

1.  Anticipation - 285
2.  Desperation - 135
3.  Trepidation - 315
4.  Botheration - 145
5.  Prostration - 225
6.  Exasperation - 225
7.  Darnation - 310
8.  Aspiration - 305
9.  Culmination - 285

I'm guessing Salvation was found at the bar in the clubhouse.

[Sean_A]

How could I forget O.L. (to protect the innocent) and L.O.?  Back to back par 3s of distinction.  Once one stands on the tee of each the titles become very clear.

Ciao

[Mat Poade]

Sandwell has some great hole names

1     Colliery Way    
2     Woodlands
3     The Priory
4     The Spinney
5     Silver Birches
6     The Pulpit
7     The Warren
8     The Butts
9     Daffodils    

10     Corseeit     
11     The Farm    
12     The Drop    
13     Wheerisit    
14     Grave Outlook 
15     Badgers Walk    
16     Peter's Folly    
17     The Valley    
18     Gooin Wum

[Mark_Rowlinson]

Mat,

That takes me back. Those names have to be read in a Black Country accent! There used to be a magazine (may still be - I hope so) issued by the Black Country Society - Aynouk. You will, I'm sure, understand its provenance.

[PCCraig]

I really like the idea of naming holes. I think it really gives holes some additional character.

My home course's holes were formally named on the scorecard for a while. In 1907 the holes were named as followed:

#1 - Birches
#2 - Springs
#3 - Shelter
#4 - Ramparts
#5 - Billows
#6 - Boomerang
#7 - Cinch
#8 - Toboggan (The current 9th hole, which the 2nd shot traverses perhaps the best sledding hill in the Twin Cities).
#9 - Punch Bowl
#10 - Brook
#11 - Terrace
#12 - Oaks
#13 - Beverly
#14 - Down and Up
#15 - Dale
#16 - Far Away
#17 - Ben S
#18 - Home

[Pete Garvey]

Idle Hour CC was built by Ross in 1924 for Col. E.R. Bradley who, among other things, was a thoroughbred owner and breeder.  Although not originally called Idle Hour, the name comes from his horse farm.  It was originally called Ashland when built by Ross because of the part of Lexington that the course is located.  Ashland is where the Henry Clay still sits today.  After the WWII, a group of Bradley's friends and fellow horsemen purchased the property from him and changed the name to honor his racing stable. Thus the name Idle Hour.  It was after the purchase that the holes got their names.  The listed below names all have a Kentucky connection, many bred right here in the Bluegrass.

1. Kelso
2. Silver Spoon
3. Man O War
4. Alcibiades
5. White Skies
6. Equipoise
7. Hail to Reason
8. Nasrullah
9. Whirlaway

10. Nashua
11. Lamb Chop
12. Round Table
13. Myrtlewood
14. Mocassin
15. Citation
16. Assault
17. Shut Out
18. Buckpasser

I've always felt that 17 and 18 were perfect names especially when playing a Nassau!

[Tom_Doak]

We've named the holes on a handful of our courses (mostly the early ones), but most of them were never really acknowledged or used.

The hard part of it is finding a really fitting name for all 18 holes.  You can usually come up with good ones for half or 2/3 of the holes, but the rest are unsatisfying, and then the whole exercise is wasted.  Most of the names above were not given before the courses in question opened, they came about over the years, like the names that native American tribes use ... you don't get your name right at birth, you have to earn it somehow.

[Matthew Rose]

I always liked the ones at Turnberry. "Fin Me Oot"  "Roon the Bend" "Tappie Toorie"

[Tags:]

Tags:

[Tags:]

Tags:

Call to undefined function theme_linktree()