Holes with Names !

[Stephen Brown]

Gents-

What are your favorite "named" holes in golf ?  If possible please provide thier origin, unless it is reasonably obvious.  After the recent "Flask" post, I would not be surprised to hear the "19th".

Stephen Brown

[Dan Herrmann]

I really liked Le Portage Golf Course in Cheticamp, NS (Canada) in this regard.

They named each hole after a significant local historical event.  Cheticamp is a small, pretty remote French-speaking community, and the hole names are all in French.

If you ever want to play Highland Links, I strongly suggest staying in Cheticamp.  Great people, great scenery, and super culture.

Here's an example from http://leportagegolfclub.com:
LES JERSIAIS
 
 Les "Jersiais", venus à Chéticamp en 1767 où ils installèrent un poste de pêche, venaient des Îles anglo-normandes, Jersey et Guernesey, dans la Manche. Leur compagnie, la deuxième plus vieille au Canada après la cie de la Baie d'Hudson, fut d'abord connue sous le nom de Phillippe Robin et Cie. Les Robin, Jones and Whitman Co. Inc. sont aujourd'hui les propriétaires du magasin Robin au coeur du village. Les Acadiens déportés en France et en Angleterre trouvèrent chez les "Jersiais" francophones un moyen de revenir s'installer en Acadie, leur véritable patrie.



 The "Jerseys" were French speaking merchants from the Jersey and Guernesey islands in the English Channel. They arrived in Chéticamp in 1767 where they established their summer fishing counter on the South-west point of the island. The first name of their company was "Philippe Robin et Cie" which is the second oldest company in Canada after the Hudson Bay Company. The Acadians deported in Europe found in these francophone merchants a way to come back to Acadia, their true homeland. Today, the Robin, Jones and Whitman Co. Inc. own the Robin store in Cheticamp.
 

[Tom_Doak]

The problem with naming holes is that it's pretty much impossible to come up with memorable and fitting names for all eighteen straight out of the box.  A few may suggest themselves, but in trying to stretch the concept most people ruin it.

(For example, the South America hole at Carnoustie was not named right off the bat; it got its name when a good story happened.)

We've got two named holes at Barnbougle so far:

the 13th, with its wild green, named Sitwell Park after MacKenzie's long-lost wild one, and

the 7th, named Little Devil [with proper credit to Tim Weiman for suggesting a name, even though he has never seen it], which is 120 yards of sheer trouble to a pinhead green.  [My apologies to those who want me to build a hole of less than 100 yards ... maybe next time!]

However, I very much hope they do NOT try to name the other 16 holes soon.  They need a life of their own first.

[laddy]

I guess I wouldn't go as low as to say 19th hole.  That is pretty original!

The hole point of this is why would you question a name of a golf hole???  Just play it!  You made the statement and I am asking the question?

I am just trying to figure you guys out.  The guys that can't play golf but have to pick on every little detail to make there games look half way decent.  

[LKoonce]

I think the name "temptation" is a great name for a golf hole!  How many times a round are we tempted to hit a shot that requires absolute perfection?  I speak for myself when I say UNCOUNTABLE.  I would never forget a hole like that, and by the sounds of it you won't forget it either!  So, my friend I think "Temptation" will always be in the back of your head.  

I think you just proved my point.  If there are "uncountable" holes where we are tempted, the name "Temptation" doesn't really add much to the experience of playing it.  I may well remember the hole itself, but the only the reason the name stuck was because I thought it was a bit obvious.  To be fair, though, all of the holes on that course were named either after local geological features, or given very simple descriptive names (Boomerang (#5), Valley (#10), Tablelands (#13)).  If you have to name the holes at all initially, that's a good way of doing it, and has a long tradition (think "Ailsa Craig" at Turnberry, or "Spectacles" at Carnoustie).


"The problem with naming holes is that it's pretty much impossible to come up with memorable and fitting names for all eighteen straight out of the box.  A few may suggest themselves, but in trying to stretch the concept most people ruin it."

Amen.  And "Little Devil" for a tough par 3 on a Tasmanian course seems pretty hard to top.

[skivail]

Love the named holes. Some of the best.

coffin
fairydell
azalea


cheers.

[A_Clay_Man]

Tom Doak- I'd agree that hiring a marketing firm or forcing names on holes, is probably not a good idea. I can't remember all 18's name anyway. If the hole can't be naturally or simply named, like "redan", and nothing clever comes to mind, like 'Hell's half acre', why not leave it open for interpretation and almost make a quest out of the proper guessing or naming. I guess the ego's get in the way, but perhaps someday there will be a project where the principle would embrace a non-standardized approach recognizing the reality of a courses evolvution.

One of my all time favorite names is the 3rd hole on the River@BWR, "gottcha". It always made par or birdie, that much more, since it was Pete egging me on to the challenge. Most of the names on that course are very appropriate. Heevens door, Hell's gate, Sand Pit, Snake, Cathedral Spires, Unter der Linden and Mercy, just to name a few.

Spanish Bay's "Left be gone" is both descriptive and memorable (especially if you go left)

Heather Glen used some Scottish vernacular which I always
liked and one, I often use and nobody gets is "fin me oot".

[LKoonce]

Heather Glen used some Scottish verncular which I always
liked and one, I often use and nobody gets is "fin me oot".

Which I believe took its name in turn from Turnberry's fifth?

The Ailsa course has several others like that, such as #2 - "Mak Siccar" ("Make certain") and #3 - "Blaw wearie" ("Out of breath")

[W.H. Cosgrove]

A golf pal and I were playing with names for our home course, We had run out of other things to talk about.....

#17 and #18 are a tough finish so we went literary......#17 is "Crime" and #18 is "Punishment".  

The names have yet to stick but I still like the concept.