Most "Outside the Box" Hole You've Ever Played?

[Tom_Doak]

For sure...our golf imaginations have become homogenized and codified by the golf architecture profession. The idea that these old funky holes really weren't funky at all...just good golf from a different era....was one of the best things Melvyn Morrow came up with. The best of golf design doesn't change...opinions do.  These days, archies think they are clever and thinking outsode the box if they build bunkers which can be putted 

You blame architects, but all those architects who are timid with their designs are only responding to golfers who term anything out of the ordinary as "unfair" or "silly" ... such as a bunker you can putt out of      

[Jaeger Kovich]

Did the Curley-Schmidt Fantasy Course in Haikou ever get built?

They only built 1 hole, the panda. They built it out of lava rocks. The tees were the paws. I'm glad I saw it.


I think they realized it was too expensive to follow on the entire thing, as it was going to be a renovation of one of the existing courses converted into the fantasy theme.

[Garland Bayley]

4th at Tenby may not be the MOTB, but I thought it was pretty unique from my limited experience.

[Phil McDade]

4th at Tenby may not be the MOTB, but I thought it was pretty unique from my limited experience.

Doesn't Astoria in toto by itself qualify for this?

[David Harshbarger]

Did the Curley-Schmidt Fantasy Course in Haikou ever get built?

They only built 1 hole, the panda. They built it out of lava rocks. The tees were the paws. I'm glad I saw it.


I think they realized it was too expensive to follow on the entire thing, as it was going to be a renovation of one of the existing courses converted into the fantasy theme.

That's a shame, as I thought it could be very interesting.  However, I can see that maintenance would have been off the charts.


Did the Panda "work", as in you could tell it was a Panda?

[Jon Wiggett]

For sure...our golf imaginations have become homogenized and codified by the golf architecture profession. The idea that these old funky holes really weren't funky at all...just good golf from a different era....was one of the best things Melvyn Morrow came up with. The best of golf design doesn't change...opinions do.  These days, archies think they are clever and thinking outsode the box if they build bunkers which can be putted 

You blame architects, but all those architects who are timid with their designs are only responding to golfers who term anything out of the ordinary as "unfair" or "silly" ... such as a bunker you can putt out of      

Tom,

is that your motivation?

[Doug Siebert]

It seems a high percentage of the responses so far have cited holes that are:

a) In the UK
b) Old

Which makes me ask:

Are those holes really outside the box, or did something bad happen to our imaginations as golf was brought across the pond? Did fairness win the battle over creativity?

No, lawyers won the battle over common sense.

[Sean_A]

For sure...our golf imaginations have become homogenized and codified by the golf architecture profession. The idea that these old funky holes really weren't funky at all...just good golf from a different era....was one of the best things Melvyn Morrow came up with. The best of golf design doesn't change...opinions do.  These days, archies think they are clever and thinking outsode the box if they build bunkers which can be putted 

You blame architects, but all those architects who are timid with their designs are only responding to golfers who term anything out of the ordinary as "unfair" or "silly" ... such as a bunker you can putt out of      

Point taken.  We all must serve a master....which makes it puzzling how in the heck Strantz got away with some of his work.  Yes, Tobacco Road is polarizing, but there is more chatter about that course than many ranked higher.  In time I think the TR haters will be pushed aside and the course will be seen for the seminal design it is...if people can keep their hands off and not increase yardage.


Ciao 

[David_Moorhead]

For a hole that is outside the box that I dislike on an otherwise solid course, the 18th at Village Links of Glen Ellyn outside Chicago has a pond in the middle of the fairway, and that's on top of having water all along the right side from tee to green.  The "fairway pond" is in play for reasonably long drives.

[Mike_Trenham]

I am surprised there is nothing mentioned from Running Deer in S. Jersey.  I only played it once but I seem to remember a par 5 with a sharp 130 degree dogleg for the third shot.  Looking at GoogleEarth I don't see this hole any longer.

[Bill Crane]

Most O T B Hole – Municipal Division / Massachusetts

18th at Cranberry Valley – Harwich, Cape Cod, Mass;   This is boomerang  shaped longish par 5, not quite U shaped.  Drive is ill defined, second shot is blind over bunker at the top of a slope. Third shot can’t get to the green if too far right or back.   Despite the hole turning right, if you fade/slice too much you can’t get around two corners.  Woods on the right get a lot of visitations.

Multiple O T B Holes – Multiple Holes on One Course Division / Private

The Course at Yale,  New Haven, CT:  Holes # 9 and #18.    #9 - Biarritz: 235 yard long Par 3, 190 yard carry entirely over water, a 65 yard green with an 8 foot trench in the middle.  Built during Hickory Golf Shaft Days (!!???!!).   Not to mention three large bunkers.     #18  621 yard semi – blind drive UPHILL to two plateaus – don’t hit it low like they did with Hickories.  Second shot over hill blind to split fairway if long enough - down about 50 feet to the green, or 3rd shot from downhill lie to downhill green. 
 
Bill