Good uphill holes

[Tommy Williamsen]

It takes a skilled architect to design a good uphill hole. Some of the more controversial holes are uphill. C&C are building an alternate tenth hole at Point Hardy GC that is not so dramatically uphill.

It is hard to top the par five eighth hole at Crystal Downs. Three shots are uphill, but you don’t mind because it is so wonderfully designed.

At Kapalua, three, four, and nine are visually alluring and fun to play.

What favorites do you have?

[Matt Schoolfield]

My biggest criticism of my own golf architecture opinions is that I just do not like uphill par 4 holes much at all.

Pasatiempo #11 seems like the obvious choice, even if I think it over-indexes in penal qualities.

Some of the ones I find tolerable are:

Presidio: #5 & #14
Gleneagles SF: #18
Olympic Ocean: #6

Strangely, I don't mind uphill par 5 holes in the way that I can't stand their par 4 counterparts.

[Wade Whitehead]

I thought #18 at Cabot Citrus Karoo was a good uphill hole. It's climbs gradually, turning right to left, with a scar bunker running in the direction of the tee shot that gives it a bottle feel. A pot bunker guards the center of a green that slopes pretty severely back to front, so a player who clears the bunker (or plays around it) will probably end up on the putting surface.

Not my video, but a good look: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R8y9sUumWTk

Of course, uphill 18th holes are common, as they most often play towards elevated clubhouse sites. I remember the first at Conewango Valley, which is one of the nine original Ross holes there, playing long and uphill (with a nice centerline bunker). It's one of the only uphill starting holes (that begin near the clubhouse) that I can think of. As an add-on to Tommy's question, what good uphill FIRST holes are out there?

WW

[Ira Fishman]

Tom,


If you mean uphill from tee to green versus uphill just to the green, I found the holes you mention at Kapalua, particularly number 9, part of the reason I did not care a great deal for the course despite the setting. It felt like a slog even in a cart.


Primland 13 and Broadmoor West 8 are two that I think work. 16 at Royal Dornoch affirmatively does not.


Ira

[Stewart Abramson]

Ballyneal and Sedge Valley each have uphill holes that I really like. 


The third hole at my old home course, River Vale in NJ is  a good uphill hole.

[Joe Zucker]

I'll nominate the 15th at Canterbury.  The tee ball is fairly average in terms of challenge or interest, but it sets up one of the best approach shots on the course.   When you stand on the tee you can see what's ahead of you and as you go downhill off the tee, you know you'll have to go back up to the green, which sits at about the same level as the tee. 

[Tommy Williamsen]

I'll nominate the 15th at Canterbury.  The tee ball is fairly average in terms of challenge or interest, but it sets up one of the best approach shots on the course.   When you stand on the tee you can see what's ahead of you and as you go downhill off the tee, you know you'll have to go back up to the green, which sits at about the same level as the tee.

Joe, I remember that hole. It is really good. It has been twenty years, but as I recall, it is a tight tee shot and a great green.

[Chris Hughes]

#4 on the Black. 


#2 and #15 good as well.

[mike_beene]

The first at Pine Needles —though it was not the original first. Not necessarily a great hole, but it is uphill.

[Kevin_Reilly]

Olympic Ocean: #6

I worked as a volunteer at the 2007 US Am at Olympic, and the Ocean Course was used during qualifying.  It must have been a terrible hole for most to play, as the approach shot for a good percentage of players I saw spun back off the front of the green leaving a difficult third shot.  A few hit it OB to the right off the tee.  Just not a great hole to watch or play (which I did many times).  Weiskopf and Morrish had to fit a small hole into a tight area.  And since it was uphill, Weiskopf couldn't put one of his usual driveable par 4's into the spot.

[Mark Pearce]

The 13th at Muirfield is an excellent uphill par 3.  The 5th an excellent uphill par 5.


On the Eden at St Andrews, the 4th is a good short par 4.  The 2nd at Elie is an excellent short par 4.


I really like the 13th at Crail Balcomie.

[Tom_Doak]

Discussions like this are so strange to me, because if you like downhill holes, you're also going to have to deal with uphill holes.  They are the yin and yang of having topography.  Jack Nicklaus' old idea that you could have "18 downhill holes" [and 18 uphill walks or cart rides to the next tee] always struck me as bizarre.


Pine Valley has uphill holes.  There's the 2nd, the tee shot to the 4th, the 5th, the 11th and 12th, the tee shot to the 13th, the 15th, and the 17th.  We just had a whole thread about how all of those are great holes, although they were not the most commonly cited.


Augusta National has uphill holes:  1, 3, 5, 7, 8, the approach to 9, the all-world 13th, 14, 17, and 18.


The National has uphill holes:  2, 3, 8, 16, 18.


Royal Melbourne has uphill holes:  4 West, 7 West, 10 West.


Most links courses do not have much in the way of uphill or downhill, just a bunch of wrinkles, and I suspect that is one reason a lot of people like them.

[Phil Burr]

Then there must been, and still are, a large number of skilled architects.  My examples of really good uphill holes:


9, 11 & 18 at Shinnecock Hills.
3 of the four pars 3s at Prairie Dunes.
18 at Riviera.
10 & 12 at Taconic.  12 is amazing!
10 & 12 at Yale.
13 & 15 at The Kingsley Club.
10 at Davenport.
7 at Bay Harbor (Links).
6 & 14 at Pebble Beach.
4 at St. Enodoc.


I know TD doesn’t like to promote his own work here, but 10 at the original High Pointe was pretty audacious!

[Michael Felton]

Discussions like this are so strange to me, because if you like downhill holes, you're also going to have to deal with uphill holes.  They are the yin and yang of having topography.  Jack Nicklaus' old idea that you could have "18 downhill holes" [and 18 uphill walks or cart rides to the next tee] always struck me as bizarre.


Pine Valley has uphill holes.  There's the 2nd, the tee shot to the 4th, the 5th, the 11th and 12th, the tee shot to the 13th, the 15th, and the 17th.  We just had a whole thread about how all of those are great holes, although they were not the most commonly cited.


Augusta National has uphill holes:  1, 3, 5, 7, 8, the approach to 9, the all-world 13th, 14, 17, and 18.


The National has uphill holes:  2, 3, 8, 16, 18.


Royal Melbourne has uphill holes:  4 West, 7 West, 10 West.


Most links courses do not have much in the way of uphill or downhill, just a bunch of wrinkles, and I suspect that is one reason a lot of people like them.

Pine Valley was what popped into my head. I agree with you about links courses, although 10 at RSG is uphill and that's a pretty good hole. I wasn't sure if you would count 2 at NGLA as uphill or not. Tee shot is definitely uphill, but then it's pretty downhill if my memory is not playing tricks.


On your other note about 18 downhill holes, it probably isn't actually like this, but Glen Arbor in Westchester feels like that. Every hole you walk up a steep bank to the tee to the next one and then play down to the fairway. I don't think it's a good idea though.


The other thing I would say is you can have a course like Brancepeth Castle, where the whole course is kind of on a slight slope. You play quite a few downhill holes and quite a few uphill holes and not many flat ones. The incline is relatively slight though, so it doesn't feel like much. Thinking about it, Walton Heath is a bit like that although the slopes are not so consistent. But there are holes that are uphill like 6 and 8 on the Old, neither of which is steep, but both are uphill. Compare that with a hole like 15 at Bethpage Black. That's way more uphill.


Friar's Head also has a few pretty good uphill holes. I might get them mixed up, but 1, 8, 13, and 14 are all reasonably uphill holes and are all pretty good too.

[Bernie Bell]

#6 (among others) at New South Wales

[Ira Fishman]

A few more from NZ/AUS:


Royal Melbourne East 4 (one of the best Par 3s I have played)
Te Arai South 11 (incredibly clever discovery of a hole to get back to the sea)
Te Arai North 10 (may not be uphill all of the way but approach shot is terrific)
Royal Melbourne West 18 (risk reward defined off of the tee)
Arrowtown 5 (rock cropping framing the hole)
Paraparaumu 13 (the green site needs to be seen)
Cape Kidnappers 4 and 17 (two really strong holes)


Ira

[Ryan Book]

I've always appreciated uphill holes where the architect perches the green in such a way as to create an infinity concept, with the sky as the background. Nos. 3 and 14 at Rhode Island CC immediately come to mind and I'm sure if I walk through the other Rosses in my life, I would find more examples (assuming trees behind the green are removed). Such holes would not be possible without some nice uphill movement.


Old Macdonald is the only full course at Bandon that I've yet to play, but I reckon No. 7 at that course has the same appeal.

[archie_struthers]

 


Since we were talking Pine Valley earlier today how about 4 really good ones on one golf course...Numbers:  2, 5, 15 and 17 all are really good holes. Which brings us back to the question Mark Fine asked earlier today!

[Ben Sims]

The 7th, 12th, and 15th (!) holes at Waverley are really nice. They aren’t included in the best hopes on the course but I think they are the most important holes in the property. I sort of took in the 15th on all three occasions we played it as thought it was one of the top handful of holes I’d seen in 2024.


The 7th and 13th holes at Dunbar play on a slight uphill. But more than that, the up and immediately down nature of the approach shots makes the player perceive it as an uphill hole.


11 at Pasatiempo gets a lot of love but I wasn’t enamored with it.

[Jim Sherma]

County Sligo's 17th. Not a single bunker and full of interest with the fairway narrowing with a slight kink until it runs out. Followed by the uphill shot to a green that settles nicely into it's surrounds.


Mention for a really solid uphill first, also by Ross, Steel Club's original 1st. It played as the first on the Hill 9 for years. I always liked the hole better than the current first that was the original 10th.

[Jim Lipstate]

The uphill hole that sticks in my mind is the 16th at Black Mesa. It is a par five up the mountain also known as the “Stairway to Seven”. A beautiful hole designed by Baxter Spann. True to its name I usually record my double and move on but enjoy the experience anyway.

[Kalen Braley]

Indian Canyon in Spokane, WA has a few good ones IMO.

#5, 7, 14, 17, and 18.  17 being the standout as a short par 4 where anything from 3-6 is easily doable.

[Jim_Coleman]

Jack Nicklaus' old idea that you could have "18 downhill holes" [and 18 uphill walks or cart rides to the next tee] always struck me as bizarre.

   I attended a presentation at The Greenbrier given by Trevino, Player and Nicklaus about a new US Open quality course they had designed for Jim Justice. It has not been built.
   Nicklaus stated that the course would have a 3,000 ft. elevation change with only one uphill shot. I didn’t have the courage to ask him how such a course would be walkable. Seems like 3,000 feet of climbing between greens and tees.

[Ira Fishman]

Some really good ones mentioned.


A couple of others that popped into mind:


Baltray 3
Pine Needles 4
Bandon Dunes 10
Bandon Trails 4 (might not quite count)
Hope Valley 6


Does Mulrunny 9 qualify as a good hole?

[Scott Szabo]

The par 5 16th at Ballyneal and the par 4 15th at Sand Hills are great uphill holes.