[archie_struthers]

 


Maybe we've done this before but don't remember it so: favorite 4,5 or 6 hole redo's or loops that you can play at your favorite or best course where you played 18 and just redo to save face or a couple quid.

[archie_struthers]

 


We've all done it many times. You finish playing, have a couple beers or beverage of choice and then somebody says. Anyone wanna play the loop?  Whether it be luck or a really thoughtful architect I'd like to hear some of your favorites for 1 club or just a little extra fun> have at it.

[Tom_Doak]

I played golf with someone a couple of years ago who was describing the six-hole loop he plays in the late afternoon at his home club.


Then I realized he was talking about the 1st hole at Cypress Point, and the last five!   


My favorite at Crystal Downs is 1-7-8-9 . . . long 4, short 4, par 5, par 3 . . . all of them awesome holes.

[archie_struthers]

 


The first four at Pine Valley was always a hoot. Three of my favorite holes just past the parking lot. When I was a caddie there my favorite loop was the warm up four and then back out for the 18 that counted. Easy day for me and typically got overpaid!


Five thru nine or five thru nine, ten and eighteen also worked well. Of course back in the  dark ages (pre Walker Cup) logistics were different and the short course didn't exist ....it does a nice job filling that niche today

[Daryl David]

Ballyneal:  10, 11, 12, then climb to the far back tee behind the 12th green and play down #9.

[Tom_Doak]

Ballyneal:  10, 11, 12, then climb to the far back tee behind the 12th green and play down #9.

I have done that one a few times.


With the Mulligan there are more possibilities now.

[Brett Wiesley]

Come on Tom.....You had to have some of these in mind when your Ballyneal routing came together.


Ballyneal:
10, #17 as par 3 from back tee of #11 (this is the easiest #17 will ever play), 18 home
10, 11, 12, then #13 tee into #9
10, hike up to #16 tee and play a flop into #15, then 16, 17, 18 home - or just 16-18 home
1-3, then 1/2 of #4 into the backside of #7, then home on 8,9

[Tommy Williamsen]

I will play 1, 6-9 at Ballyhack when I just want to play a few more holes. I get a par five, par three and four par fours.
At the course where I live I will drive my car to the barn off the 12th tee and play through 16 and then 11 where I finish back a 12 tee. I have done that literally a hundred times.

[Tim Martin]

1-4 at Yale

[Ronald Montesano]

When I was a kid, I would crawl under the barbed-wire fence surrounding Grover Cleveland golf course, just up the street from my home. I would play 3, 4, 2 incessantly, until the rangers chased me off. In the 1970s. not many people were playing golf, so the rangers tended to sleep more than chase.


When I coach, I try to anticipate weather and darkness. I'm always thinking of loops for the members of the team. Loops are fun, especially when holes are played out of order. Even more fun, is the creation of new holes, from there to here and here to there, instead of the established routing.

[JMEvensky]

Archie, were you on the property when that guy aced 5 to go 4(?) under, walked into the bar for a celebratory cocktail, and never went back to the golf course?

[Peter Pallotta]

Archie, were you on the property when that guy aced 5 to go 4(?) under, walked into the bar for a celebratory cocktail, and never went back to the golf course?

Archie has a book in him, that I hope one day he'll write! The term "confessions of" is too overused. Maybe "From Mayors to Movie Stars - A Golfing Life at Pine Valley". 

[David Wuthrich]

I'll go with 10 thru 13 at Shinnecock with a Southsider in hand!

[archie_struthers]

 


Nope, even I'm not that old. 


  J.Wood Platt ,  a celebrated amateur, played the loop 1 thru four in six under.   


 "Woody" as he was affectionately referred to begins his round 3/2/1/3    Birdies one, eagles two, hole in one three, birdie four!    This "loop" brings you back to the clubhouse, and the bar.

 He heads to bar as legend has it and starts thinking about how hard the 5th hole is, 225 yard uphill par three... death to the right, despair left and refused to leave his drink of choice.... later saying that he only could have screwed it up if he played on.


Man made a great choice , legendary story!


p.s.  Platt would go on to win the 1st U.S. Senior Am in 1955...and to this day has a wonderful caddie scholarship program named after him in Philly     

[Steve Burrows]

Riviera has a bunch of little loops that start near the clubhouse:

1-2
1,12-13,9
3-5,17-18 
3,15-18
10-13,9
10-11,2


And, when I used to work on the grounds staff, there were a couple of loops that I would play in the late afternoon/early evening (while I was checking the greens for wilt, of course) that started from the maintenance barn to avoid visibility from the Pro Shop.
11-13 (this one is definitely a ball-buster)
14-16,6-8

[Tommy Williamsen]

I remember a loop I played at Merion East. We had finished playing and my host took us over to the 14th tee and we played in from there.

[Tim Gavrich]

The course I grew up playing, Hop Meadow CC, had all kinds of possibilities due to Geoffrey Cornish's routing, which put the 2nd, 9th, 16th and 18th greens all within a short walk from the clubhouse. Loops I remember playing as a kid:


- 1-2 (the first holes of golf I ever played)
- 17-18
- 1-2-17-18 (the latter three being three of the course's four par 5s)
- 3 through 9
- 10 through 16
- 10-16-17-18
- 1 through 6, 9


At Pawleys Plantation, I walked the loop of 15-16-13-14 (three of the course's noted marsh holes) more times than I can count.


I've always thought the ability to play a handful of holes more or less ad hoc was a top advantage to being a member of a club.

[Buck Wolter]

From the cabins at Kingsley 18 tee to 11 green, lower 12 tee to 13green, 16 tee to 17 green -- gives some diversity and minimizes walks. Could do 11, 12, 13, 16 and 17 for a more traditional loop.

[Tom_Doak]

Come on Tom.....You had to have some of these in mind when your Ballyneal routing came together.


Ballyneal:
10, #17 as par 3 from back tee of #11 (this is the easiest #17 will ever play), 18 home
10, 11, 12, then #13 tee into #9
10, hike up to #16 tee and play a flop into #15, then 16, 17, 18 home - or just 16-18 home
1-3, then 1/2 of #4 into the backside of #7, then home on 8,9

Honestly, no, I rarely think of such things when I am putting a routing together.  As proof, I have just finished the book about routing my first 18 courses, and little loops like this were not something I thought of to discuss.  On interesting property they tend to fall together naturally.


I WAS conscious of having the 7th hole come back to the 4th, and of seeing the other holes from #4 as you start to play that stretch; I liked the idea of seeing a golf hole in the background after nothing but open dunes for background on the opening holes.  But I wasn't really thinking about playing the short-cut loop.

[Brian Finn]

Carolina GC has near endless possibilities.  Those I do most often are below.  I'm sure Matthew or Ed could give you a bunch more and possibly better...

4 holes:

• 3-4, 15-16
• 3, 16-18
• 17, 14-16

5 holes:

• 3-5, 8-9
• 10-13, 18

6 holes:

• 3-4, 15-18
• 17, 14-18

7 holes:

• 10-16
• 1-2, 10-13, 18

[Will Spivey]

Old Town Club provides a few options:


1 - 3
4 - 9
10, 11, 18


I live on the 16th fairway, so a good loop for me is 17, 12 - 16, OR 7, 8, 12 - 16 OR 14 - 16.


I love the "quick loop."

[Carl Rogers]

Riverfront, for a course with many long walks, has an easy one .... holes 1, 2, 3 & 9.  Good variety of holes.

[Tom_Doak]

Riverfront, for a course with many long walks, has an easy one .... holes 1, 2, 3 & 9.  Good variety of holes.

That's the sort of thing I was talking about, where it happens naturally.  In that case, we wanted to use the same bridge to get across the marsh from 3-4 and back from 8-9.  So, 1-2-3-9 is a loop.  If you had a house on the other peninsula, you'd play 6-7-8-4-5 from some starting point over there.


Holes are also likely to come together when there's a coastline, or a ridge you don't want to play blind over, or a feature you want to keep coming back to, or anywhere you make a crossover in the routing so that the feature that had been on the left gets to be on the right for a while.

[Michael Wolf]

Shoal Creek has a nice coincidence of the 3rd tee being right next to the 1st tee of the 9 hole short course. If I go off as a single or 2 ball and can tell that we're quickly gaining on a group ahead, I'll jump over and play a few of the shorties while I let the group ahead build a gap. You can also play the championship 1&2, then all 9 short holes, and then right back down the championship ninth that finishes behind the clubhouse. I find that route provides a nice mix of 3 drivers, 1 or 2 long irons, chances to work on wedges from 70-130 and then almost a normal rounds worth of putting and short game practice. All in about 1:30, which is just about perfect for the early evenings of Alabama summertime.


Michael

[archie_struthers]

 


Michael great strategy get more holes in, keep your place and take pressure off group ahead. Know the drill! So much better for all involved also.

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