Weirdest feature on a golf course?

[Jeff Schley]

Not talking clubhouse, but actually on the course. What is the weirdest of most unique feature you recall existing?

For me I was playing in the Philippines and they added an electric fence to one of the holes to keep the monkeys out of the course as they would come onto the fairway and steal your ball after hitting it.  One of our caddies, which were all ladies, went out onto the edge of the fairway before we hit as well.

I didn't see any monkeys actually, but after I hit I saw a couple 8-9 year old's run onto the course and pick up my playing partners ball.  The caddie tried to chase them but oh well this is what they meant about monkeys I guess. They entered the course from another location apparently as I didn't test the electric fence needless to say.

A friend from Texas said he played a course that had an old junk car in the middle of the fairway for years.  Not sure where that was, but I guess it was a poor mans tree that didn't need water or maintenance.

[John Kavanaugh]

I loved Fossil Trace in Denver. Stupid fun with the emphasis on stupid. You'd love it because it feels like home on Illinois street.


https://www.fossiltrace.com

[Ira Fishman]

http://www.whiskeycreekgolf.com/golfcourse

Not a bad course.  Ridiculous idea for an 18th hole.

Ira

[Kalen Braley]

Antler Springs near Spokane, WA.


Wish I still had my photobucket account... but they have a short par 4 with a crescent moon shaped green surrounded by sand.  Tiny target, and certainly very unusual.  More quirk than I ever seen on a golf course.  It was a home built job by a local guy...


http://www.antlersprings.com/

[Tim Leahy]

I loved Fossil Trace in Denver. Stupid fun with the emphasis on stupid. You'd love it because it feels like home on Illinois street.


https://www.fossiltrace.com

Chimney in the middle of the fairway just for starters. LOL.


Bing Maloney muni here in Sacto has airport lights cutting down a faiway.
In Socal several courses have oil wells in play.

[Nate Oxman]

There is, or at least was, a public course in Virginia, I think, that had a bunch of unique holes. I remember from the website that one was a baseball diamond.

[V. Kmetz]

It's not a design thing, but the few bits of statuary in the bunkers at Morefar (Back o Beyond) as well as C.V Starr's grave behind the 15th tee (and the story of what they did to bury him there) give that sense of Goth horror to a place straight out of mythic secret.


cheers   vk

[Bret Lawrence]

Across the reservoir from Morefar is Richter Park in Danbury, CT which has hazards on the 15th and 16th holes made of quick humus, similar to quicksand. Not a good place to look for lost balls!

[Matt Wharton]

There is, or at least was, a public course in Virginia, I think, that had a bunch of unique holes. I remember from the website that one was a baseball diamond.

The course is Meadows Farms and it's 27 holes just west of Fredericksburg, VA.  There are three sets of 9's and each possess unique characteristics with one being gimmicky holes (a la the baseball diamond par 3).  Played there once around 2001 or 2002 but did not play that particular nine.  I did play the nine that boasts the longest hole in the United States, a par 6 of 841 yards http://www.meadowsfarmsgolfcourse.com/-about-golf-course.


However, the weirdest feature on a golf course that I recall was at Scott County Park Golf Course, a 9-hole course just outside Gate City, VA. The course sat on top of a ridge and the fairways were severely crowned.  Along the edge of the woods adjoining the holes was a short fence (about 2-3 feet in height) made of chicken wire.  The fence was there to prevent balls from rolling into the woods and out of bounds.  The local rule was you took relief from the chicken wire fence within two club lengths without penalty.  A ball not stopped by the fence was OB and stroke and distance was the penalty.  Lots of divots and very little turf within about a carts width within the chicken wire fence. Different.


Cheers,

[Sean_A]

I think the weirdest thing I have seen on (above!) a golf course is a par 5 on Swansea Bay (the 12th?) which plays under an exit ramp of the M4. 

Ciao

[Greg Gilson]

The Hills in Queenstown NZ. Course is littered with a hundreds of the owner (Jeweller, Michael Hill)'s outdoor sculptures.


Cannot decide if the sculptures ruin the course or the other way around.

[Tommy Williamsen]

Red Course at Dar Es Salam in Rabat, Morocco

[Tommy Williamsen]

The great sea rushes at Westward Ho! don't seem to exist on any other course I ever seen. Can't find my picture.

[jeffwarne]

Otway
2 fairways


9 holes

[Dave Doxey]

18th at Whiskey Creek in MD has the ruins of a stone house in the middle of the fairway, about where most drives end up.  Play the second shot to the par 5 to the left or right of the ruins (or through the window opening).

[Joe Zucker]

There is, or at least was, a public course in Virginia, I think, that had a bunch of unique holes. I remember from the website that one was a baseball diamond.

The course is Meadows Farms and it's 27 holes just west of Fredericksburg, VA.  There are three sets of 9's and each possess unique characteristics with one being gimmicky holes (a la the baseball diamond par 3).  Played there once around 2001 or 2002 but did not play that particular nine.  I did play the nine that boasts the longest hole in the United States, a par 6 of 841 yards http://www.meadowsfarmsgolfcourse.com/-about-golf-course.


However, the weirdest feature on a golf course that I recall was at Scott County Park Golf Course, a 9-hole course just outside Gate City, VA. The course sat on top of a ridge and the fairways were severely crowned.  Along the edge of the woods adjoining the holes was a short fence (about 2-3 feet in height) made of chicken wire.  The fence was there to prevent balls from rolling into the woods and out of bounds.  The local rule was you took relief from the chicken wire fence within two club lengths without penalty.  A ball not stopped by the fence was OB and stroke and distance was the penalty.  Lots of divots and very little turf within about a carts width within the chicken wire fence. Different.


Cheers,

The pictures of that hole are incredible.  If I were designing it, I would have put the green on the other side of the fence so I could feel like I'm hitting a home run!

[Wade Whitehead]

I didn't know about the ruins before I played Spring Island's Old Tabby Links.  Walking up on them was a surprise.

WW

[Pete_Pittock]

there is some course in eastlowthiun that had a freakin wall beween the fairway and the green. And that wasn't the only thing I saw there. But it's been more than 40 years and my mind is a fadin.


There is metal statue of something in the middle of #8? at John Day GC. Gotta research and get back on.

[Chris Mavros]

Scotland Run in NJ, which has an airplane in one of its bunkers.

[Cal Seifert]

Useppa Island Club once had a tee box on a boat that sat a few yards off the shore.  There's a picture of it but I could not find it on google search.

[Tommy Williamsen]

Manufacturers in Philly

[jeffwarne]

 the fairways were severely crowned.  Along the edge of the woods adjoining the holes was a short fence (about 2-3 feet in height) made of chicken wire.  The fence was there to prevent balls from rolling into the woods and out of bounds.  The local rule was you took relief from the chicken wire fence within two club lengths without penalty.  A ball not stopped by the fence was OB and stroke and distance was the penalty.  Lots of divots and very little turf within about a carts width within the chicken wire fence. Different.


Cheers,
[/quote


#7 at Goat Hill has this exact feature-in summer the "fairways" get so fast there's nothing to stop the ball so any ball center to right of center will roll against the saving fence.
There are holes in the fense those and along hitter can go past it and roll OB.
Previously you could still play the hole by driving left toward 8 fairway and the ball would finish center to right center(ideal position for a peek at the blind green) Alas defined rough has ruined that option

[BCrosby]

The ski ramp (NLE) that once ran down the middle of the 18th fairway on the Dartmouth College course.


Another: The Stationmaster's Garden.


Bob

[Terry Lavin]

I didn't know about the ruins before I played Spring Island's Old Tabby Links.  Walking up on them was a surprise.

WW

I was forewarned but I still think it’s one of the most surprising and enjoyable relic I’ve ever seen on a golf course. It really helps emphasize a sense of history, wholly unrelated to the game.

[JLahrman]

I don't know that it's that weird but there have to be courses that have electric transmission or distribution lines in play. Hickory Woods outside Cincinnati has a transmission tower in play on the fifth hole if you push your tee shot.