Blind uphill 2nd shot par 5s

[JESII]

How about #2 at Merion?


Today's longer top players are likely getting up top, but even from there the next is blind or at least significantly obstructed.


There's a picture somewhere of Hogan in the flat at the bottom hitting his layup. Not a very interesting shot although fraught with problems if you screw it up...so maybe that's the interest.

[Mark Pritchett]

#5 at Champions Retreat (Bluff) in Augusta is a great par 5 with abrupt rise on the second shot.  Love it!


I agree with Bogey, #8 at ANGC is Exhibit “A” of a great 5 par. Let’s do that thread!




Stay safe everyone.

[Ian Andrew]

No shot quite like the 2nd at Perranporth.
Uphill over a giant dune ...

[Matthew Petersen]

Isn't there a par 5 on the front nine at Pete Dye Golf Club that's quite similar to #6 at Pebble?


I can think of a couple on Arizona courses designed by forum member Forrest Richardson. Curiously, I believe both are also the 6th hole at their respective courses. Arizona Grand in the south part of Phoenix, AZ has a par 5 where the second shot is played up a steep hill that makes the shot blind. To my memory, the hole plays quite a bit like Pebble's ... a downhill tee shot that you want to get as far up the fairway as possible, for the shorter player so that you can more easily summit the hill, for the longer player so that you may have a chance to reach the green in two. xcept at this course instead of Stillwater Cove to the right it's condos. Oh well.


The other is a course called Coyote Lake in Surprise, AZ. This one is somewhat different because on a 530 yard hole, the ridge comes at about 450 yards out. So for many players it's really a third shot obstacle. Also, it's a built hazard, not a huge hill, but probably 12-15 feet and banked with river rock so intimidating because a shot that doesn't clear it could go anywhere and may well be lost. Hit a good drive and you have to decide whether to attempt to clear the rock wall. If you're laying up, the question is how close you want to lay up to it.

[Mike Hendren]

Originally the 16th at Glens Falls would have qualified with tee well forward of today’s and the green across the road. Drives would have finished in a relatively deep valley that is now easily traversed with the second shot, totally wasting the elevation change.


Bogey

[MCirba]

Originally the 16th at Glens Falls would have qualified with tee well forward of today’s and the green across the road. Drives would have finished in a relatively deep valley that is now easily traversed with the second shot, totally wasting the elevation change.


Bogey

Michael H,


Is Glens Falls as good as I'm sensing?


Hope all is well,
Mike

[Matthew Rose]

#10 at Janesville (Wisconsin) Riverside, which was my home course until I was 21. This was always one of my favorite holes anywhere growing up, and I found that it was fun even as a beginner. It's not nearly as steep as #6 at Pebble but it is probably the most memorable feature on the course.

There aren't really any good photos I could find so I'm using one from the recreation I did in Perfect Golf   

The end of the first fairway leaves about a 150 yard shot which is blind; if you make it to the top in two, you had a clear view and a wedge. Getting it on top on your second shot was always a challenge even with a good drive, because you were usually playing from a downhill lie with a hook bias and the approach called for a fade.

[Mike Hendren]

Mike C, Glens Falls is worth the trip alone from your locale. Fascinating routing but for an awkward walk and walk back to start and end the round. I had the benefit of two pleasant GCA gents as companions. Perhaps they will weigh in.


Glens Falls[size=78%], Teugega, Yahnandasis (sp), CC of Troy and Onendaga made for a fantastic Erie Canal tour with Fenway for dessert.  [/size]

[size=78%]I slightly favored Teugega but am pretty sure the true expert in the group was smitten with GF.[/size]

[size=78%]Go.[/size]

[MCirba]

Thanks, Mike Hendren!

There is certainly a lot of great golf in the upstate NY region and I've had the pleasure of playing Yahundasis, Troy, Teugega, but never Glens Falls.   Of those, I'm probably partial to Yahundasis simply due to some wild greens and cool quirk, but all are top notch.

Stay well!

[Mike Hendren]

Mike, how about the Par 3 5th at Yahundasis? Green and surrounds are off the hook. My pics are no good but hopefully someone can post one. Not 1 but 2 punch bowls on the back.  a lot to like plus a cool totem to boot.


Mike

[Matt Kardash]

Isn't there a par 5 on the front nine at Pete Dye Golf Club that's quite similar to #6 at Pebble?

Yes, the 5th hole. Here is the blind second shot.

[Ira Fishman]

Number 8 at Broadmoor West is a fun one. Short enough that you can get home in two and get to discover how close for an eagle try.


Stay safe.


Ira

[Scott Weersing]

There is one here in Virginia at Royal New Kent by Mike Strantz.  The 5th hole.


The fairway ends into a hill, but the second part of the fairway slopes down to the green, which then runs from front to back.



Here is a view from the 5th tee.


https://photos.app.goo.gl/SBxctn3HLxnwP3FW6

[MCirba]

Really good hole, Scott.

[Kyle Casella]

There are two at The Country Club in the Championship routing. The 14th on both the Champ and the Main course routings is partially blind. You can see where the pin is but can't see the surface.


The 8th from the Primrose course which is the 12th in the Championship routing is an excellent par 5. It plays ~490 for members in the Primrose setup but there is a Champ tee box at 600+ yards. There is a small pond on the right of the fairway that plays a bit like the ocean on the 6th at Pebble, although it is not in play for most from the 600 yard box. The second shot (completely blind) can either be played short of a massive hill, which is probably 30-40 feet, and leaves around 160-170 (still blind) to the green or up to the plateau / to the green on top of the hill.


It will be a very interesting hole to watch in the US Open!

[Michael Goldstein]

Surprised nobody has mentioned the 4th at Lahinch!


Sure it's downhill overall but only once you get over the dune.


Ah to be playing links golf...

[Kalen Braley]

The 18th hole at Indian Canyon has a blind 2nd shot if you can't hit your drive to the upper fairway from the tee....which was the case for most golfers.

[Stewart Abramson]

As mentioned above the 4th at BP Black and 14th at Quaker Ridge can be tough for lesser players in part because of the large crossing bunkers. I like the 12th at River Vale where a higher handicap player has a good chance of competing with better players. The second shot is a blind uphill shot but over the crest of the hill the fairway runs down hill toward the green. There is a center bunker about 20 yards before the green that makes it a challenge for those long hitters who think they can go for the green in two. Shorter hitters end up with a short or mid iron third shot.


[url=https://flic.kr/p/vcAAhh]
River Vale CC #12 from front tee tee par 5



River Vale CC #12  par 5 uphill second shot carries rock 


River Vale CC #12 par 5 rock in middle of fairway at crest of hill


River Vale #12 pitch to green 

[Greg Chambers]

Getting up a steep hill in the routing is a dilemma.  I try to do it on the tee shot where I can, but if you can't, the second shot on a par five [which is often a throwaway shot on flat terrain] is not a bad way to go.  If you're not going to see the target, having it in a situation where you don't really need to see the target is a plus.


I can't think of many holes like this I have built.  The one really good one that comes to mind is the 4th at Tumble Creek.  We did build up the fairway in the first landing area to try to make the second shot not so steep.


The other one, not as much of a favorite, is the 18th at CommonGround.


I also had a hole like this in the early routings of Pacific Dunes -- playing backwards up the 12th, toward what's now #5 green.  Mr. Keiser was not a fan of it, and really none of us were, once the gorse burned off and we could see what it looked like.  The hill wasn't nearly as big for the second shot there, and this is a rare instance where I think having a BIGGER hill actually makes the shot more appealing, because it gives you something big to do, instead of just being annoyingly blind.

The eighteenth at Commonground was already there.  Had to get up the hill somehow.

[Sean_A]

No shot quite like the 2nd at Perranporth.
Uphill over a giant dune ...

Plus, unless you know the course, choosing a line is very difficult. Most blind holes have clues of where to go, not so much on Perranporth's

Pennard has the 17th. A very blind shot over a ridge and because its uphill the carry is longer than one imagines. The kicker is the visible layup looks very unappealing so the temptation is to blast over the top 😎

Ciao

[Jason Thurman]

Some great examples have been listed here. 18 at CommonGround, yes! 4 and 6 at Town & Country, most definitely! 5 at Pete Dye GC might be the coolest... I love that the layup is blind, but the stronger player still gets tempted by the sight of a flagstick peeking over the river's edge.


I played another one over the weekend during my first away round of the year. As a former resident of Lexington, KY, I've missed the local municipal courses ever since I left town. Sorry Mike. I went down to see a few family members for a foam-lined round on Sunday, and revisited Tates Creek Golf Course for the first time in 12 years or so. It's a short old no-frills course designed by Buck Blankenship, who designed most of the short old no-frills courses in Kentucky.


Buck never moved much dirt and never appeared to have a budget to move it with even if he'd wanted to. But I cut my teeth playing his courses, and I've come to believe he had a good eye for routing holes using natural features to create interest. His greens and bunker schemes tend to be dull as hell, and he really loved 375-ish yard par 4s. But he's great at incorporating streams, ponds, and especially slopes to create tee-to-green interest.


The 3rd at Tates Creek is a very short par 5, maybe 470 yards or so at most. The tee shot plays downhill. Starting about 200 yards from the green, we head straight up. The player laying up needs to get well inside 100 yards for a clear view of the whole putting surface. The final 120 yards or so is basically a hog's back fairway with balls funneling away from center. The player who lays up to the 70 yard mark and dead center will have a much more comfortable approach than the player who's 110 yards out and funneled right off the fairway side slope, who can only see the top of the flag with the ball well below his feet.


Going at the green in two? A telephone pole behind the green shows the way, and you'd better hit it straight or you'll be funneled further from center. I finally know the feeling of hitting a good shot over the crest of the hill and toward the pole. It's thrilling! I probably played the course 40 times when I lived in Lexington, but I don't think I ever had an eagle putt there until Sunday. I missed it.


Neither here nor there, but the 4th is a pretty cool blind par 3 with just the top of the flag visible from the tee. Buck might not have been real creative with his greens, but you can't just dismiss him as a good player who sacrificed fun for fairness.

[Jordan Standefer]

The 6th at Pebble has always been one of my favorites, but outside of that I never was a fan of uphill par 5s, until I played on Long Island.

15 at Huntington CC
4 at Engineers CC
18 at NGLA (I recall the green being blind from most of the fairway)

[William_G]

16 Trails

[David Davis]

At first thought I could come up with a single one but then all of a sudden they started popping into my mind, so without reading any of the responses here's a few examples I can think of:


#4 at Royal Hague #10 at Royal Hague with a good drive.
#4 at Bethpage Black
#8 at Augusta
#4 at Lahinch
#2 at Noordwijkse and #14 at Noordwijkse
#11 at Utrecht de Pan for most drives
#2 and #5 at Perranporth if you don't hit your drive over the hill
#8 at Barnbougle - doesn't the second shot on this hole into the prevailing wind play blind most of the time. As far as I remember it does.
#5 at Durban CC for most drives (could be wrong on this one)
#11 at Valderrama

[Tom_Doak]

#8 at Barnbougle - doesn't the second shot on this hole into the prevailing wind play blind most of the time. As far as I remember it does.

The 8th at Barnbougle is actually a par-4, because it plays downwind 75% of the time.


One reason I don't worry too much about how well-traveled guys rate my courses is that they don't necessarily remember them very well.


To be fair, I can't remember those par-5 holes at Noordwijk too well, either.  Every one of them seemed to require a blind second shot up [and/or over] a bluff.