Golf Club Atlas
GolfClubAtlas.com => Golf Course Architecture Discussion Group => Topic started by: Adrian_Stiff on September 24, 2021, 12:40:20 PM
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GCA can make better lists. So what are the best par 3 holes you have played this side of the pond. Purely subjective but name some in no order.
6th Painswick
8th Troon
11th TOC
13th Sunningdale Old
5th Burnham and Berrow
3rd Boat of Garten
4th North Berwick
17th Manor House
3rd Shiskine
17th Castle Course
11th Castle Stuart
6th St Georges
3rd Bovey Castle
5th Anstruther
5th Westward Ho
7th Hunstanton
14th Calamity Portrush ??
2nd Prestwick
6th ?? Royal County Down
11th Turnberry
17th JCB
9th Silloth
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Some further suggestions:
13th Muirfield
!3th Crail Balcomie
17th Crail Craighead
5th, 8th Eden
2nd, 6th Royal Dornoch
15th Cavendish
10th Moortown
5th Sacred 9
11th Alwoodley
15th Goswick
1st Huntercombe
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Two I mentioned in the other list and a few others:
9 at Brancepeth Castle
13 at Effingham
8 at St George's Hill
4 at Deal
11 on WHO
2 on WHN
All four at RSG - 3, 6, 11 and 16
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Avoiding those that did make it onto the Today’s Golfer list:
13th Hollinwell
9th St Andrews New
8th St Andrews Eden
5th Gleneagles Kings
8th Royal Aberdeen
2nd Worlington
15th Cavendish
5th Covesea
3rd and 16th Montrose
3rd Braemar
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FWIW in my opinion the best par three at Sunningdale is the fifth on the New.
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16 at Golspie
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16 at Golspie
Good shout.
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9th at Durness
9th at Dunfanaghy
Every par 3 at St. Patrick's(especially due to cool corners of greens)
6th at Cruit
16th at Northwest
7th at Northwest
6th at Greencastle
6th(now) at Narin and Portnoo(the way they're going it will be #2 soon)
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#6 & #18 at Brora are very good.
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12th and 17th Oxford ( Southfield)
16th Cleeve Hill
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12a European Club
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The original Redan NB
The Dell Lahinch
15th Ballybunion
13 Old Head
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Some others not I believe yet mentioned -
8th and 16th at Minchinhampton Old
8th at Channel Course, Burnham & Berrow
4th and 6th at Perranporth
17th at St Enodoc
14th at Royal Porthcawl
11th at Pennard
17th at Royal Aberdeen
2nd and 7th Kilmore-9 at Carne
8th at Mulranny
17th at Enniscrone
4th at County Sligo.
15th at Portmarnock
9th and 11th at Blackwell
3rd, 8th, 14th and 17th at Welshpool (old hole numbering)
18th at Rolls of Monmouth
…that’ll do ..
Atb
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Ganton 17, wait is that actually a par 3??? ;D Tough as nuts.
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12th at Tenby
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9th at Durness
9th at Dunfanaghy
Every par 3 at St. Patrick's(especially due to cool corners of greens)
6th at Cruit
16th at Northwest
7th at Northwest
6th at Greencastle
6th(now) at Narin and Portnoo(the way they're going it will be #2 soon)
7th at Northwest is a great hole. But is a par-4… and I’m not sure the 8th would get close to this list. 16th is magnificent though.
Bit of a cop-out on St. Patrick’s!… I think 17 is the stand-out par-3 although 3 is certainly a lovely hole and 5 is fantastic because of the slopes that can feed a shot in to the guarded back-left pin position.
I saw 6th at Cruit for the first time two weeks ago. What an unbelievable setting. They really need to knock that rear berm off and shape in a collection area. Although I understand why they think they need it.
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To make this even more interesting, how about choosing holes that are not on Top 100 courses. I think we all have a tendency to think of the top courses when asked to pick the best holes, yet if we think about it often lesser courses have some cracking individual holes that would more than hold their own on top courses.
Some candidates;
1st & 2nd at Aberdour
12th Bonnyton
5th & 9th Covesea
9th St Olafs
13th The Glen
Royal Tarlair (not sure of number)
7th Ballindalloch Castle
6th Dalmunzie
3rd St Medan
7th Wee Course, Blairgowrie
I make no apologies for including a number of holes on 9 hole courses. Some great holes.
Niall
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9th at Durness
9th at Dunfanaghy
Every par 3 at St. Patrick's(especially due to cool corners of greens)
6th at Cruit
16th at Northwest
7th at Northwest
6th at Greencastle
6th(now) at Narin and Portnoo(the way they're going it will be #2 soon)
7th at Northwest is a great hole. But is a par-4… and I’m not sure the 8th would get close to this list. 16th is magnificent though.
Bit of a cop-out on St. Patrick’s!… I think 17 is the stand-out par-3 although 3 is certainly a lovely hole and 5 is fantastic because of the slopes that can feed a shot in to the guarded back-left pin position.
I saw 6th at Cruit for the first time two weeks ago. What an unbelievable setting. They really need to knock that rear berm off and shape in a collection area. Although I understand why they think they need it.
8th(that turn around confuses me) at Northwest is an elevated postage stamp, falling off on all sides.
Sure a poor setting with the net and road, but a really, really cool green.
Besides, I aced it years ago-low punch fade 7 iron to hold a strong right to left wind.
Hit a very similar shot 2 weeks ago, and it just trickled off leaving an incredibly difficult bump and run just to get on the green.
AS far as St. Patrick's, I'm normally(it seems like) biased AGAINST modern courses, but as I reflected on all the cool pins on each of those holes, I realized the four of them could hold their own.
I think I liked 5 the best, and yes we got that cool back left pin the day you played behind us, but the other day I played it had an entirely different pin and feel.Looks like all the par 3's had that varied pin feature to really change the hole.
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Good point on 8 Northwest. Struggling to quite recall all the detail and maybe getting swayed by road and net. I just remember how much cooler I considered 16.
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I loved the par 3s at Carne, especially the 7th (I think it’s the 7th?) on the Kilmore 9.
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The par threes at Westward Ho! to be exceptional as a group.
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Having seen the Top 50 list, it seemed surprising that not one hole from St. Anne's or Rye was listed, nor any of the above mentions. It is quite possible that Rye has the strongest par 3's in the British Isles. St. Anne's might not be close to the elite links, but it's par 3's are really special.
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Robert
Having played Rye a couple of times at BUDA, I agree they are good overall particularly the two located on top of the dune ridge however I think it a stretch to say they are even in the conversation for best set of par 3's on a GB&I course. The two other par 3's are OK but nothing special IMHO.
Niall
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Robert
Having played Rye a couple of times at BUDA, I agree they are good overall particularly the two located on top of the dune ridge however I think it a stretch to say they are even in the conversation for best set of par 3's on a GB&I course. The two other par 3's are OK but nothing special IMHO.
Niall
Agreed. The 7th isn't a good hole, just notable. Rye's a wonderful course but for me, on my few visits, the par 3s aren't its strength.
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The 9th at St. Anne’s Old is a cracker!
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I have not played enough courses to compare and contrast the best, but I am surprised none of the Par 3s at Swinley Forest have been mentioned.
I also thought number 17 at Waterville was outstanding as was Number 13 at The Island Club. Number 8 at Kilspindie and Number 3 at Elie both awfully good too.
Someone mentioned 16 at Golspie, but I think 17 may be better.
Finally, although controversial, I am surprised 2 at RD has not been mentioned.
Ira
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The 10th Red at The Berkshire is one of the best par 3s I've ever played.
The difference in short holes between the sandbelt and the heathlands is Melbourne does better short to mid-length par 3s and the heathlands do much better long ones.
I suspect it's because the sandbelt is generally flatter and long, flat 3s are harder to make interesting with severe greens and surrounding bunkers (the hallmark of the great 3s in Melbourne) than the holes between 130 and 175y.
Many of the great long 3s on the heathlands are made on really interesting land.
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"Someone mentioned 16 at Golspie, but I think 17 may be better."
#2, #7 and #10 at Golspie are very good par-3's as well. #2 and #6 have very interesting greens.
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The 10th Red at The Berkshire is one of the best par 3s I've ever played.
+1 It is one of my favorites. This hangs in my office.
(https://live.staticflickr.com/3866/15241522105_ae034f40ca_c.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/pdQMvT)
Berkshire Red #10 200 yard par 3
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I tried not to do any repeats.
1 Berks Blue
15 Appleby
7 Beau Desert
9 Castlerock Bann
5 Kings
8 Princes Dunes
7 Princes Himalayas
9 & 12 Kington
9 Laytown & Bettystown
3 Leckford Old
7 Baltray
5 Nefyn
10 Painswick
5 & 13 Pennard
6 Pulborough
15 Seahouses
16 Stratford
2 Welshpool
7 WHO
12 Yelverton
4 Aldeburgh
Ciao
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Given that Ireland usually takes up about 25% of all GB&I lists, here are my Top-26 or 27 par-3’s in Ireland. No particular order:
Cairndhu 2nd
Carlow 17th
Westport 14th
St Patricks 17th
Rosapenna OTM 14th
Portsalon 15th
North West 16th
Portrush Dunluce 16th
Baltray 7th
Island 13th
Portmarnock 15th
The European 7a
Cork 9th
Ballybunion 15th
Lahinch 5th
Connemara 13th
Carne Wild Atlantic Dunes 10th & 14th
Enniscrone 11th
Mulranny 8th
Cruit Island 6th
Carton House O’Meara 14th
Rosses Point 4th
Murvagh 5th
Killarney Mahony’s Point 18th
Mullingar 2nd
Narin & Portnoo 6th
Royal Curragh 4th
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Given that Ireland usually takes up about 25% of all GB&I lists, here are my Top-26 or 27 par-3’s in Ireland. No particular order:
Cairndhu 2nd
Carlow 17th
Westport 14th
St Patricks 17th
Rosapenna OTM 14th
Portsalon 15th
North West 16th
Portrush Dunluce 16th
Baltray 7th
Island 13th
Portmarnock 15th
The European 7a
Cork 9th
Ballybunion 15th
Lahinch 5th
Connemara 13th
Carne Wild Atlantic Dunes 10th & 14th
Enniscrone 11th
Mulranny 8th
Cruit Island 6th
Carton House O’Meara 14th
Rosses Point 4th
Murvagh 5th
Killarney Mahony’s Point 18th
Mullingar 2nd
Narin & Portnoo 6th
Royal Curragh 4th
I left you Bally Old 3 and 8. No love?
Ciao
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I just gravitated to 15, Sean… but now you mention it, 8 is world class and 3 is seriously underrated…. I may have to change.
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Nice call on 15 at Portsalon.
I thought of that one too.
An ordinary setting playing away from the ocean, but what fantastic green