What’s the best par 5 you’ve played? Why?

[Bart Bradley]

I think great par 5s are rare.  And I believe they offer a lot of diversity:  Long v Short, split fairways, etc.  [/size]They offer insight into the quality of the design that sometimes is revelatory.  So what’s the single best par 5 you’ve played and why?Bart

[Peter Pallotta]

I too think they're rare, Bart, but in my case that might be due mostly to my lack of playing experience/golf travel.

But as I've mentioned before, the only Par 5 I've ever really liked, let alone loved, is the 8th at Crystal Downs. Why?

Because from tee shot to final putt your work is never done, and yet none of the pieces of work/tasks is too onerous for the average golfer to manage (at least sometimes, on a good day).

Because the length seems just about perfect: not a 'short Par 5', and because of the angles a 3-shorter for most; but neither is it, for the same reason, a 'long Par 5', and is reachable with two very exemplary golf shots (but only if one is willing to risk missing a cool & well protected green).

Because each of those three shots is uniquely challenging and fun given the bend of the fairway and its natural contours & undulations/rumples, and even the short 3rd PW to that wonderful green has one getting sweaty and tense.

And because it feels (though I don't know if it's true) that they didn't leave, as many architects of Par 5s seem to do, the crappy & uninteresting parts of the site to be used up by a long hole but instead used a charming if understated (and maybe most well-suited) part of the site for the 8th at CD.

In short: neither afterthought nor contrivance, neither pandering to birdie-starved average golfers nor granting great advantage to better/longer hitters, neither a postcard of a pretty vista nor a disguise for boring grounds, and neither a too-wide 'modern' nor a too narrow/penal 'test' of golf.

Peter

[Tom_Doak]

Peter stole my favorite.


I'll quibble with his description of it, though.  I've seen it hit in two, once, but up until twenty years ago no one had ever done that . . . the second shot is long and uphill, and the green is tiny so it's hard to hold even if you can get there.


What I've always liked about the hole is the second shot.  There are no bunkers, but there is one particular spot to be, in the right half of the fairway, to give yourself a relatively level lie and not too uphill of an approach.  Miss it in the right rough, though, and you'll be lucky to get it on the green at all; and miss left, and you'll have to hit your short iron with the ball way above your feet.

[Thomas Dai]

Wasn’t the 17th at TOC once considered a ‘5’? With a decently rolled-back ball perhaps it might still be.

Atb

[Richard Fisher]

Three utterly unoriginal British seaside suggestions, and an inland one

The 8th at Brancaster, with a brilliant 'bite-off-as-much-as-you-dare' drive, a not dissimilar second, and (usually) a beguiling pitch in from the left. Famously described by both Darwin and the authors of The Confidential Guide.
The 9th at Westward Ho!, where Fowler's cunning pot bunker about 100 yards out absolutely determines the way to play the hole. See Doak and Morrissett on this (I recall that this hole was in Ran's 'dream eighteen').
Both of these are, of course, a drive and an 8-iron for most touring professionals nowadays, unless the wind is strongly in the opposing direction, but for most handicap golfers both holes provide interest and challenge for all three shots, as well as fun putting, which seems to me the test of a great par five.
The 14th on TOC, where again all three shots (and Hell Bunker the green) provide huge interest, and of course off the black tee even the longest hitters are challenged to know quite what to do. There are plenty of alternative lines in, which again makes the golfer think in ways s/he doesn't necessarily want to.
The inland British three-shotter which was perhaps the most respected at one time was the eleventh at Worplesdon, a double-dogleg about which (e.g.) Tom Simpson wrote with reverence as, again challenging the player both to think, and to hit properly, with every shot.

[Thomas Dai]

For ‘play long-and-hard’ in the modern day era, where at least three good wacks are probably needed by even some longer hitters to get near the pretty highly contoured greens, try the 1st and the 5th on the Kilmore-9 at Carne. Is there a harder, more challenging 9-holes than the Kilmore?
Atb

[Carl Rogers]

In no particular order:
11 @ Tobacco Road
2 @ Ballyhack
14 @ Riverfront
3 @ Pacific Dunes
2 @ Royal New Kent
3 @ Bandon Trails
5 @ The Cascades
17 @ Streamsong Blue
7 @ Streamsong Red
Why?...... Memorability Primarily

[archie_struthers]

 




 The 15th at Pine Valley deserves mention. In an age of almost unlimited firepower with the driver and weaponry developed by the manufacturers it remains a difficult par for the bombers. Yet its beauty is that the non expert, using his knowledge of what shot works has a good chance of achieving the 5!

[JMEvensky]

 The 15th at Pine Valley deserves mention. In an age of almost unlimited firepower with the driver and weaponry developed by the manufacturers it remains a difficult par for the bombers. Yet its beauty is that the non expert, using his knowledge of what shot works has a good chance of achieving the 5!

Sometimes a non-expert, if guided by the Sherpa-like Lurker, can make 4.

[Brad Tufts]

Here's my vote...#16 at Sand Hills.  It's like a three-act play.


Tee Shot...can you bite off the right amount, and then catch the slope for more yardage?


Second Shot...can you slide the second off an uneven lie to the right (or over) deep bunkers that jut into the fairway?


Third shot...the least interesting of the three, but this green is surrounded by subtle movement and lots of short grass.  For many, one of the first two shots goes haywire, so this green is good for long approaches too.


Three singular challenges that add up to a fantastic hole.  I'd compare #18 at Yale to it in terms of three distinct challenges presented one at a time.

[archie_struthers]

I think great par 5s are rare.  And I believe they offer a lot of diversity:  Long v Short, split fairways, etc.  They offer insight into the quality of the design that sometimes is revelatory.  So what’s the single best par 5 you’ve played and why?Bart

[archie_struthers]

 




So now I’ve got my thinking cap on and remember my favorite five ever. I’m pretty sure it was number eighteen at a small golf course called Tall Pines that was a short fun course with lots of history and local lore.


A kid named Doug Beechler shot 58 there and it had nine holes lighted for a while. Quite a place definitely a muni, later became part of ex eagles QB Ron Jaworskis group of local courses he managed/ owned .


You had to lay your tee shot to the end of a fairway that got tighter as it reached a big drop off.  You were then left with a shot straight downhill to a green surrounded by trees rock and a moat/stream fronting same. The shot was about 240 yards from a perfectly placed tee shot but had no bail if you went for it, no bail long bad short water left/right dead


If you laid up it was a little flip but still a testy half wedge to the aforementioned green lots of quid exchanged on this one, Tried to recreate it with the tenth at Twisted Dune but couldn’t quite pull it off as well. Would like to try again now that I’m older and less knowledgeable

[Garland Bayley]

Wine Valley #7

Risk the corner of the dog leg left at the start for best position for the second. Hole doglegs right into a punch bowl green site. A long drive risking the corner of the first dog leg can position you to get into the punch bowl with a long second. Otherwise, it still gives you the best chance for setting up the third so you can get it close.

It may not be the best I have played, as memory serves a function in recalling what may be the best. As the link below shows, the hole is very memorable for me.

http://www.golfclubatlas.com/forum/index.php/topic,40942.msg865555.html#msg865555

[Matthew Petersen]

#6 at Pebble


Building it was audacious. It's still intimidating and I can't imagine what that hill was like with a hickory club.


There are many ways to play it. Even a non-elite player (like myself) can try to hit a big drive in the hope of getting home in two (or close), but to do so you're driving into a fairway that narrows progressively, with the ocean right and nasty bunkers left. Pull it off and you can get there, but the shot is blind an intimidating because there's a steep, giant hill in front of you, ocean to the right, and the green (like all greens at Pebble) is tiny.


You can lay back off the tee and the fairway is quite large. But lay too far back and you may struggle to get your second shot over the hill, so this is in fact a par 5 with second shot interest.


All in one of the most spectacular locations imaginable.

[Thomas Dai]

The 6th at Carnoustie would seem to still fit the bill even after all these decades and equipment changes ..... maybe that’s because it should have once been categorised a par-6! Gotta hit some quality shots and keep your wits about you all the way from the tee peg to the last putt, even more so when the pin is back-right on the diagonal green (and the winds against).
Atb

[J_ Crisham]

#1 at Spyglass is pretty darn good.
 
   
 Collectively the 4 Par 5's at Beverly may be the best set in the US

[Mike Wagner]

#3 Pacific Dunes


So many reasons why.  I've played it in about every condition possible (including blind in the fog). I've made 3 and I've made 8.  I've hit driver wedge, and I've hit driver / driver short. The setting goes without saying.  Perfectly perched green that, if you hit it in 2, you know you've hit it as planned.  One of the most treacherous bunkers on the course waits for the slightest mis hit. Amazingly wide fairway with a bunker that makes you think.  A hole you can play with a putter.  Brilliant.

[Kyle Harris]

I'm not being all that sarcastic, but the best 650-yard bunkerless Par 5 I've played is the 9th at Diamond Hill in Dover, Fl.

It makes the short list of best Par-5's I've played, too. Width, elevation, and a well-placed lake on the second shot.

"It's all golf." As the aforementioned lurker would say.

[James Brown]

Haven’t seen it mentioned too much here, but think 18 at Cabot Cliffs is a pretty great hole.  Played in winds from all four directions and it evokes all the emotions I expect from a par 5:  Fear, opportunity, decisionmaking, caution, self control, boldness. 

[Kevin Neary]

I always liked the set of 5s at Plainfield, specifically 12 and 16 which force a decision on the second shot.

[Joe Hancock]

I’m surprised no one has mentioned #9 at Kingsley yet.....

[mike_malone]

I will suggest an ideal par five rather than necessarily the best.


  #12 at Philadelphia Country Club


  The tee shot is slightly uphill with a fairway bunker left.  This stresses one to pick the right line off the tee.


The second shot has one of those typical Flynn layup area bunkers. “ I don’t have to worry about that” which often leads to a lazy second which ends up in the bunker.


The green has the run up option but that can be a problem with a front pin.


The test of a great par five is making three interesting shots for various levels of golfers.
This hole succeeds.

[Andy Shulman]

How about #4 at Bethpage Black?  It's certainly memorable and the blind shot into the green adds just a bit of doubt on the approach.  And, maybe the ultimate differentiator for a par-5 is that even a safe second shot has to be well placed.

[Tommy Williamsen]

I’m surprised no one has mentioned #9 at Kingsley yet.....

Clever but I have made many easy five on that hole.

[Tommy Williamsen]

I'll go with nine at Westward Ho! I hope the new rendition doesn't amend it too much. The fairway is miles wide but I always like to drive it down the right side. If I hit it well I can try to go for the green, but it don't really make much sense for me to do it. I'll either hit it into the bunker middle short of the green, or over the green into a mess at the back. The bunker isn't such a great spot because the green runs away from you and it is a difficult up and down. Short of the bunker is dead. It requires a flop shot from a very tight lie. My beast option is to try an hit it green high to the right where I get the best angle to the green.