2024 Eclectic 18's

[Adam Uttley]

Interesting, as you say, Mark. I hadn’t given it a great deal of thought before but I think my top 6 would be: 2, 5, 9, 13, 14, 18.


On reflection I’ve taken 4 out as I was conflating the drive with that of 5, which is a much better version of a similar hole. Personally I found 8 and 12 to be solid but no more. I did like 18 and you’re right in that 2 is great and a better hole than 4 for sure. 13 is unique which is enough to have it in my top 6 on its own but I still don’t know if I think it’s a good hole or not. 9 was fun.


What I liked best about 14 was its ability to look like a hole that needed an aerial route, but against all the odds, was able to be conquered by Whitty playing the ground game all the way from the tee! 

[Alex_Hunter]

The 13th at Balcomie Links is fantastic. Great long par 3. I really enjoyed the back-to-back par 3's of 13 and 14 which present a great juxtaposition in their composure.

[Ben Malach]

2024 Eclectic 18


1- Carnoustie
Par 4
401


2- The Eden
Par 4
445


3- Poppy Ridge
par 3
165


4-Crail
par 4
455


5- The New
Par 3
172


6- Cruden Bay
Par 5
531


7-SFGC
par 3
187


8- Roosevelt
par 4
351


9- Musselburgh Old
par 4
367


Front 9
par 34
yardage 3074


10- Dunbar
par 3
202


11- Cal Club
par 4
407


12-  Elie
par 4
466


13- Lake Merced
par 3
149


14- North Berwick
par 4
375


15- Mill Valley
par 4
413


16- Royal Aberdeen
par 4
411


17- TOC
par 4
449


18- Olympic
349
par 4


back 9
par 34
yardage 3221


total yardage 6295
par 68

[Sean_A]

I started with a long list with great holes on every course I played. That included 4, 5 and 14 on the Balcomie and of course 13 on Elie. 

Interesting.  None of those holes at Balcomie make my top 6 holes on the course! (I *think* I'd say 2, 3, 8, 9, 11, 12, 13 and 18 are better, but can see 14 over 18.  Possibly.)

From memory I might go with just four holes…2, 8, 9 and 13. These strike me as the sweet spots of the course.   

Ciao

[Mark Pearce]

I started with a long list with great holes on every course I played. That included 4, 5 and 14 on the Balcomie and of course 13 on Elie. 

Interesting.  None of those holes at Balcomie make my top 6 holes on the course! (I *think* I'd say 2, 3, 8, 9, 11, 12, 13 and 18 are better, but can see 14 over 18.  Possibly.)

From memory I might go with just four holes…2, 8, 9 and 13. These strike me as the sweet spots of the course.   

Ciao

I can see that.  I do think 3 is a really good par 3, though, and the difficulty of the tee shot on 18 can obscure what is a really, really tricky green.  In my list 11 and 12 are certainly towards the back, though 12 has a really good green/green site

[Sean_A]

I started with a long list with great holes on every course I played. That included 4, 5 and 14 on the Balcomie and of course 13 on Elie. 

Interesting.  None of those holes at Balcomie make my top 6 holes on the course! (I *think* I'd say 2, 3, 8, 9, 11, 12, 13 and 18 are better, but can see 14 over 18.  Possibly.)

From memory I might go with just four holes…2, 8, 9 and 13. These strike me as the sweet spots of the course.   

Ciao

I can see that.  I do think 3 is a really good par 3, though, and the difficulty of the tee shot on 18 can obscure what is a really, really tricky green.  In my list 11 and 12 are certainly towards the back, though 12 has a really good green/green site

Yes, I can see 3 being touted. It’s an unusual hole. 18 is also good. The bigger surprise for me is my lack of love for 4 and 5. These holes fail to charge me up. 4 should be a winner all day, but I find it ugly.

Ciao

[Mark Pearce]

I started with a long list with great holes on every course I played. That included 4, 5 and 14 on the Balcomie and of course 13 on Elie. 

Interesting.  None of those holes at Balcomie make my top 6 holes on the course! (I *think* I'd say 2, 3, 8, 9, 11, 12, 13 and 18 are better, but can see 14 over 18.  Possibly.)

From memory I might go with just four holes…2, 8, 9 and 13. These strike me as the sweet spots of the course.   

Ciao

I can see that.  I do think 3 is a really good par 3, though, and the difficulty of the tee shot on 18 can obscure what is a really, really tricky green.  In my list 11 and 12 are certainly towards the back, though 12 has a really good green/green site

Yes, I can see 3 being touted. It’s an unusual hole. 18 is also good. The bigger surprise for me is my lack of love for 4 and 5. These holes fail to charge me up. 4 should be a winner all day, but I find it ugly.

Ciao

I'm with you on 4 and 5.  I can see why I should like them (particularly 4, where bravery off the tee substantially reduces the approach shot distance) but I don't.

[Mark Pearce]

4-Crail
par 4
455

Is that the Craighead, rather than the Balcomie?

[Ally Mcintosh]

I started with a long list with great holes on every course I played. That included 4, 5 and 14 on the Balcomie and of course 13 on Elie. 

Interesting.  None of those holes at Balcomie make my top 6 holes on the course! (I *think* I'd say 2, 3, 8, 9, 11, 12, 13 and 18 are better, but can see 14 over 18.  Possibly.)

From memory I might go with just four holes…2, 8, 9 and 13. These strike me as the sweet spots of the course.   

Ciao

I can see that.  I do think 3 is a really good par 3, though, and the difficulty of the tee shot on 18 can obscure what is a really, really tricky green.  In my list 11 and 12 are certainly towards the back, though 12 has a really good green/green site

Yes, I can see 3 being touted. It’s an unusual hole. 18 is also good. The bigger surprise for me is my lack of love for 4 and 5. These holes fail to charge me up. 4 should be a winner all day, but I find it ugly.

Ciao

I'm with you on 4 and 5.  I can see why I should like them (particularly 4, where bravery off the tee substantially reduces the approach shot distance) but I don't.

Completely aligned with both of you. Also believe 2,8,9 & 13 are the four best holes on the course. The others Mark mentioned are next. 14 & 16 pretty good. Quite like 1 actually. 4 better than 5 & 6, both of which are new holes (90’s) that could have been much better. 7 a bit of fun.

[Ira Fishman]

I started with a long list with great holes on every course I played. That included 4, 5 and 14 on the Balcomie and of course 13 on Elie. 

Interesting.  None of those holes at Balcomie make my top 6 holes on the course! (I *think* I'd say 2, 3, 8, 9, 11, 12, 13 and 18 are better, but can see 14 over 18.  Possibly.)

From memory I might go with just four holes…2, 8, 9 and 13. These strike me as the sweet spots of the course.   

Ciao

I can see that.  I do think 3 is a really good par 3, though, and the difficulty of the tee shot on 18 can obscure what is a really, really tricky green.  In my list 11 and 12 are certainly towards the back, though 12 has a really good green/green site

Yes, I can see 3 being touted. It’s an unusual hole. 18 is also good. The bigger surprise for me is my lack of love for 4 and 5. These holes fail to charge me up. 4 should be a winner all day, but I find it ugly.

Ciao

I'm with you on 4 and 5.  I can see why I should like them (particularly 4, where bravery off the tee substantially reduces the approach shot distance) but I don't.

Completely aligned with both of you. Also believe 2,8,9 & 13 are the four best holes on the course. The others Mark mentioned are next. 14 & 16 pretty good. Quite like 1 actually. 4 better than 5 & 6, both of which are new holes (90’s) that could have been much better. 7 a bit of fun.

I have played Balcomie only twice. 8 is a really wonderful hole playing up what seems to be a spine to a challenging green. An underrated hole generally in my view. Balcomie properly is lauded for its setting, but the fact that people offer so many holes as good ones evidences the quality of the architecture.

[Ben Malach]

Sorry for the confusion it is the 4th at Balcomie. I really appreciated the golf hole and it fit my routing well. My goal was sub 7k and sub 70. I wanted to highlight some more 9 hole options as well this year. As I didn't get to see as much golf this year as I would like. I guess building 18 holes in 5 months does that to a man.


I wish I had an image that I could share of the new 3rd at Poppy Hills. That par 3 is insane and it's maybe the best hole. That I have ever built. The green is almost 80 y long with the back half being a punch bowl that transitions to a central part of the green that feels like a box at a skate park, with the front of the green being a cool subtle pocketed plane ensconced by bunkers. There hole not only is visually striking from the tee but provides the visual backdrop for the second hole as well. It's very unique. I can't wait for more people to experience it this spring/early summer.

[Mark Pearce]

Sorry for the confusion it is the 4th at Balcomie. I really appreciated the golf hole and it fit my routing well. My goal was sub 7k and sub 70. I wanted to highlight some more 9 hole options as well this year. As I didn't get to see as much golf this year as I would like. I guess building 18 holes in 5 months does that to a man.

4 at Balcomie is a short par 4 (~330 yards, I guess without looking).  Do you mean the 5th?

[Andrew Harvie]

I put mine into an article:


2024 Eclectic 18


I also selected a second team. The main course is a beefy par 73 at roughly 7,500 yards (yikes!), whereas the bench squad is a par 69, 6800 yards---weird.

[Michael Felton]

I put mine into an article:


2024 Eclectic 18


I also selected a second team. The main course is a beefy par 73 at roughly 7,500 yards (yikes!), whereas the bench squad is a par 69, 6800 yards---weird.

Funnily enough, the 6,800 yards par 69 is longer per shot than the 7,500 par 73 (assuming 36 putts, which is generally how we think of par).

[Andrew Harvie]

I put mine into an article:


2024 Eclectic 18


I also selected a second team. The main course is a beefy par 73 at roughly 7,500 yards (yikes!), whereas the bench squad is a par 69, 6800 yards---weird.

Funnily enough, the 6,800 yards par 69 is longer per shot than the 7,500 par 73 (assuming 36 putts, which is generally how we think of par).

Which is the weird part!

[Sean_A]

Compromises, compromises, compromises.
As ever compromises galore as soo many cracking holes, sensational holes, epic holes, memorable holes at soo many different courses happen too have the same hole number. And then there are twice-around 9-hole courses to consider as well.
Plus there’s the self improved rule of only one hole from one course and the desire to include a hole or two from an under the radar favourite course even if the hole in question may not be the brightest shining star. Without these restrictions they’d be a few courses herein with multiple inclusions.
Drum roll time …………



1st Cape Wickham, KI, Tasmania, Aus
2nd Peninsula Kingswood North, Vic, Aus
3rd Morfontaine (Valliere 3rd/12th), France
4th Portmarnock (4th/13th Yellow-9), Dublin, RoI
5th Royal Melbourne West, Vic, Aus
6th Morfontaine (Parcours), France
7th Barnbougle Dunes, Tas, Aus
8th Machynlleth (8th/17th), Wales
9th Kington, England
10th Kingston Heath, Vic, Aus
11th Ocean Dunes, KI, Tas, Aus
12th Gunnamatta (The National), Vic, Aus
13th The Island, Dublin, RoI
14th Lost Farm, Tas, Aus
15th Victoria, Vic, Aus
16th Minchinhampton Old, England
17th Knighton, Wales (8th/17th)
18th Royal Dublin, Dublin, RoI


Atb


PS Don’t be surprised if the odd edit should occur in due course!

You had a very fine year WW. But jeepers, 17 Knighton. I gotta call foul on this. 15 yard penalty for pretending a 9 holer has 18 holes.


BTW…I ran into Isaac of your parish the other day at Cleeve Hill. He seemed content.


Ciao

[Thomas Dai]

You had a very fine year WW. But jeepers, 17 Knighton. I gotta call foul on this. 15 yard penalty for pretending a 9 holer has 18 holes.

A rather fine year indeed.
As memorability features in my eclectic I couldn’t resist leaving out the 17th/8th at Knighton, a place where the vision of you slaloming Franz Klammer like down the steepest of fairway slopes has remained in my memory ever since!
I wasn’t able to include it as the 8th however. A hole from Machynneth was required so another featuring you was included, this time the memory is of you chatting with the railwayman member who as a volunteer greenkeeper was clearing out a deep, muddy ditch.
Volunteer courses like those at Knighton and Machynneth are the essence of golf and long may they continue.
Atb