It is a predilection of mine to fill the odd spare afternoon by visiting a golf course I have never heard of before and playing a solo round - usually at a bargain green fee. Rarely am I not rewarded with at least a couple of holes of interest - even on the most mundane tree-lined parkland track.
Now and again however, a pleasant enough but routine round is interrupted by a hole or even stretch of holes of utter magnificence. This to me is one of the great joys of golf - to be stopped in your tracks by the sight of an unexpectedly superb or even just a bizarre hole in the middle of an otherwise uneventful round.
This week I visited Stand Golf Club, an unassuming and rarely mentioned course in the north Manchester suburb of Whitefield. I paid all of £18 ($23).
The first three holes play on the clubhouse side of a busy road which is crossed to access holes 4-11. It is immediately apparent that the ground here is of significantly better quality and would have been open moorland when the course was built in 1904. Unfortunately a couple of appealing looking holes were out of action due to maintenance and replaced with shortened versions but it was a lovely crisp winters day and I was rather enjoying getting out for a knock.
Nothing could prepare me however, for the sight awaiting me as I stepped off the 7th green.
Hole 8 by Duncan Cheslett, on FlickrBeing winter, the daily tee was well forward revealing this view of the hole in all its glory. The regular tees are 50 yards further back and to the left - a blind drive thus necessitating the marker post on the right of the pic. The carry over the top of the ridge sloping down from the right is 230 yards from the forward tee - 290 yards from the back. The hole is 392 yards at full length.
The rest of the course was okay without being spectacular, but this hole immediately leaps into my all-time favourites!
Any other examples of memorable holes on otherwise forgettable courses?