Blind Par 3’s

[Thomas Dai]

Once upon a time it wasn’t uncommon for a course to have flagsticks of different heights on certain holes. It probably still occurs in some places.
Atb

[Adam Lawrence]

Blind par threes are (mostly) a survival from nineteenth century golf. Colt and his ilk removed the overwhelming majority of them in the first three decades of the twentieth century. And there were a lot -- most pre-1900 links seem to have had one at some point. That surprised me at first, but then I thought about it for a while, and it all became pretty obvious.

Golf in the nineteenth century was overwhelmingly played by men, and men were in those days broadly the same as they are nowadays. It is, when you think about it, entirely unsurprising that, if you're strolling through a patch of sand dunes looking for golf holes, and you have equipment -- hickories and gutties -- that makes getting the ball airborne difficult, someone will look at the tallest dune on the property and say 'I bet I can hit my ball over that and you can't'. And that's why the famous blind par threes came into existence.

[Mark Pearce]

11th at Elie is blind to an extent… always good to check pin position on the way over the hill at the 10th.

I wonder what proportion of blind approaches are "less blind" because the player gets a look at the green earlier in the round, if smart enough?  The number of times I have stood on the 11th tee at Elie and cursed that I have forgotten to look going over the hill on 10 (or have hit so far left off the tee on 10 that I didn't get the view of 11).

[Joe_Tucholski]

Most examples are really just obscured greens or at least allow sight of the flag.
Jim Engh has a modern and completely blind par 3 at 4 Mile Ranch (14th hole).  You get to the tee and aside from a striped pole that tells you the line to the center of the green you feel like you are hitting into scrub brush and can't really imagine how there is even a green.

[Ira Fishman]

We recently played with a woman who has 22 holes in one. I could see why she would want to see the hole. But she strikes me as in a smallish category of golfers where it really matters.


Of course, I might be in the smallish category of golfers who never met a blind shot that he didn't like.


Ira

[Tim Martin]

Of course, I might be in the smallish category of golfers who never met a blind shot that he didn't like.


Ira

Ira-I confess to being a blind shot lover as well.

[Matt Kardash]

13th hole at Whistling Straits (Irish) is totally blind except for a tiny amount of the front left. The green is enormous. I read it is 14 000 square feet.
From teeView of green

[Andrew Carr]

While not completely blind, the 10th at Friar's Head can certainly play blind to the majority of pins behind the ant hill.

[Matt Schoolfield]

Blind par threes are (mostly) a survival from nineteenth century golf. Colt and his ilk removed the overwhelming majority of them in the first three decades of the twentieth century. And there were a lot -- most pre-1900 links seem to have had one at some point. That surprised me at first, but then I thought about it for a while, and it all became pretty obvious.

Golf in the nineteenth century was overwhelmingly played by men, and men were in those days broadly the same as they are nowadays. It is, when you think about it, entirely unsurprising that, if you're strolling through a patch of sand dunes looking for golf holes, and you have equipment -- hickories and gutties -- that makes getting the ball airborne difficult, someone will look at the tallest dune on the property and say 'I bet I can hit my ball over that and you can't'. And that's why the famous blind par threes came into existence.

I think the gambling aspect of the game has a lot to do with it as well. The blind par 3 is the ultimate gambler's hole: high-luck and high-skill. It's simply the skill of knowing how hard to hit the shot, and what landmark to hit it to... leaving everything else to chance.

[Jonathan Mallard]

15 and 16 at Cruden Bay.


The top half of the flagstick is always visible on 16.

[Marty Bonnar]

IIRC, there’s at least THREE blind par-3’s at Shiskine. Given there’s only twelve holes is 25% a record?!
 
F.

[D_Malley]

The third hole at Pocono Manor is a totally blind par three. From the tee at 190 yards you can not see any of the green or any of the flag stick. The hole goes striaght out and at about 150 yards tumbles downhill  right to left to the green that sits about 20 feet below the fw. There is a white rock that serves as an aiming point right before the drop off, if you land your shot there it will roll down onto the green. After several plays I would pretty much know if my shot was on the green based on the landing spot. I do have pictures, but I am inept at posting them. One of the most unique holes I have ever played.

flyover here:
https://m.facebook.com/PoconoManorGolfCourse/videos/10159295313284110/?_rdr

[mike_malone]

The third hole at Pocono Manor is a totally blind par three. From the tee at 190 yards you can not see any of the green or any of the flag stick. The hole goes striaght out and at about 150 yards tumbles downhill  right to left to the green that sits about 20 feet below the fw. There is a white rock that serves as an aiming point right before the drop off, if you land your shot there it will roll down onto the green. After several plays I would pretty much know if my shot was on the green based on the landing spot. I do have pictures, but I am inept at posting them. One of the most unique holes I have ever played.

flyover here:
https://m.facebook.com/PoconoManorGolfCourse/videos/10159295313284110/?_rdr

Dan,


That’s high on my list also.

[Tim Gavrich]

The 9-hole Grand Beach (Mich.) Golf Course finishes with back-to-back blind par 3s. Tom Bendelow, 1912. One of the most underrated places I've been in golf.

[Brian Finn]

IIRC, there’s at least THREE blind par-3’s at Shiskine. Given there’s only twelve holes is 25% a record?!
 
F.

Three really good holes, too!  So different from eachother, despite sharing this one similarity.

3rd - Crow's Nest 122
7th - Himalayas 162
11th - The Hollows 196

Tough to say which is the best...

[Ira Fishman]

15 and 16 at Cruden Bay.


The top half of the flagstick is always visible on 16.

Preceded by a blind Par 5 and blind Par 4. What a great stretch!

[Mark Pearce]

15 and 16 at Cruden Bay.


The top half of the flagstick is always visible on 16.

Preceded by a blind Par 5 and blind Par 4. What a great stretch!

I'm not convinced.  14's quirky, for sure, but not a great hole.  15's also quirky but simply a bad hole.  I do think 16's a good hole.

[Ira Fishman]

Mark,


US lovers of quirk tend to get to see it only when we visit the UK&I so we may "over value" quirky holes and strerches of them. Having said that CB 13 and 16 are each very good holes, and 14 is so unusual that it scores well with me. On its own, 15 might be weak from a design perspective, but as part of an epic stretch of quirk, it works for me.


Ira

[Ben Hollerbach]

I'm surprised that I have not seen the King hole at Sweetens Cove mentioned yet.

The 6th hole on the B routing of the new Crossroads course at Palmetto Bluff will also play mostly blind.

[Tim_Weiman]

Blind where you can't see people on the green - or blind where you can't see the green?


Bob Harrison and Greg Norman did a blind one at The National on the Mornington Peninsula - green but not golfers.
We redid one at Bonnie Doon in Sydney - again - the green but not people.

Mike,


I never thought about seeing people but not the green itself.


There is kind of a similar concept but something actually different, though it applies to the approach on a par 4 rather than a tee shot on a par 3.


I’m referring to the 18th hole at Ballybunion. Despite some tinkering with the Sahara bunker over the years, the green is not visible and usually people aren’t either. However the tall dunes around the green are visible, so with a well placed tee shot one just needs to aim between the dunes and hit the right club, of course!

[Ben Hollerbach]

Found another one. The 5th at O'Donnell Golf Club in Palm Springs, built in 1929.

[Mike Hendren]

Every 5th hole at Painswick - nos. 5, 10 and 15.  This year the course made my top ten, easily.

[Wayne_Kozun]

#6 at Cabot Cliffs is partially blind.