Best course with a weak set of par 3's

[Kevin Pallier]

Bethpage Black

I agree with that

Turnberry's aren't that memorable for mine

[Andy Troeger]

I can't agree with Muirfield Village or Pebble Beach.

First, both have at least one very good or great hole in the set. #12 at MV and #7 at PB.

Judging from previous posts they both have at least one undervalued hole IMO. #8 at MV and #5 at PB.

The 8th at MV is a good one because of the shape of the green--its not a long shot but a rather intimidating one because of the narrow target. I rather liked the 4th too, but its nothing that special compared to the rest of the course.

Never having played the old version, I like the 5th at Pebble Beach a lot. Its a great setting and a good hole. I prefer it to #17.

[David Stamm]

Colonial doesn't exactly have a great set of par 3's.

[Sean Leary]

KP,

Turnberry popped into my head as well.

[Adam Clayman]

Andy, your comments are not surprising. Save for maybe preferring 5 to 17. But each their own.

 If a chain is only as strong as it's weakest link? What constitutes a weak set? All poor? Half?

On the strength of the 7th hole alone, Pebble's one shotter's are not weak. My throwing them under the bus was closer to what I've read others write about the course, than my own thinking.  Perhaps I read more into the question, or tried too hard to come up with an answer. Maybe, if the question was of the top 50 courses in the world, which has the weakest set??? But, I wouldn't know that either, having only sampled a few of the truly greats.

[Duncan Betts]

Despite recent renovations (read: vandalism), I think Royal Adelaide here in Australia is a fantastic course with a very weak bunch of boring Par 3's.

If they continue to let Peter Thomson work on the 4's and 5's, the 3's will soon be the strength unfortunately.

[Tony_Chapman]

I'll throw Pebble Beach under the bus. The new fifth is NOT an improvement from the old hole. So that leaves 7 and 17 as the only two worthy of debating whether they are great. While I like the 12th better than most, and roll my eyes at those who are disappointed by the 17th, the course could be the best with the weakest par 3's in many people's eyes.

Adam -- Of the "greats" I've played (which I'll admit isn't many), I'd say Pebble has the weakest par-3s. That, like you said, certainly doesn't mean they are terrible. Five, to me, seemed a bit out of place. Seven is a great picture. 12 is underwhelming and I couldn't believe how "football field flat" the 17th was when I first laid eyes on her. Still, Pebble didn't disappoint. 

[Ed Oden]

For me, Oak Hill East and Baltusrol Lower would have to be in the discussion.  I liked #3 at Oak Hill but 6, 11 and 15 could be anywhere.  And I can barely remember the par 3s at Baltusrol other than #4, which is just not my cup of tea.  Then again, I would be hard pressed to consider Baltusrol Lower a great course.

Ed

[Joel_Stewart]

I'll throw Pebble Beach under the bus. The new fifth is NOT an improvement from the old hole. So that leaves 7 and 17 as the only two worthy of debating whether they are great. While I like the 12th better than most, and roll my eyes at those who are disappointed by the 17th, the course could be the best with the weakest par 3's in many people's eyes.

Adam my brother:  It's a pretty big stretch to put Pebble in this category.  To me #5 is not great but it is along the ocean and to me #7 and #17 are fairly exceptional holes.

What about Olympic Club.  #3 is pretty good but comes early in the round but the other 3 are completely forgettable.

[Chip Gaskins]

Joel-

I totally agree with you,  but I didn't want to upset you and Gib.

#3 at OC is really good, but from there in is utterly forgettable.

I also totally forgot Baltusrol.  I hit three 3 irons and a 5 iron.  Blah!

So, I am on the record with Pebble, Crystal Downs, Baltusrol, and Olympic.

Chip

[Sean Leary]

I'll throw Pebble Beach under the bus. The new fifth is NOT an improvement from the old hole. So that leaves 7 and 17 as the only two worthy of debating whether they are great. While I like the 12th better than most, and roll my eyes at those who are disappointed by the 17th, the course could be the best with the weakest par 3's in many people's eyes.

Adam my brother:  It's a pretty big stretch to put Pebble in this category.  To me #5 is not great but it is along the ocean and to me #7 and #17 are fairly exceptional holes.

What about Olympic Club.  #3 is pretty good but comes early in the round but the other 3 are completely forgettable.

What about the new #8?

[Sean_A]

Any course with one great par 3 can't be considered to have weak par 3s.  That throws out Turnberry (not sure what the problem with the 3s is there), Muirfield and TOC (very bad call when one of the two short holes is world class).  I also don't think the 3s are the weal link at Kiawah.  All are very different though none are really great.  IMO, the par 4s are the weak link - too many blah holes.

Ciao

[Simon Holt]

Bethpage Black of the courses I have played probably.

I will jump to the defence of some of my favourites!

TOC - 8 is very underated in comparison to 11 which is GREAT

Muirfield- surprised at this one but reading later threads on the lack of coverage they receive then I understand. 13 is possibly my favourite par 3 in the world!  I think 4 and 7 are pretty good too.  16 is still good but no world beater in MHO

Renaissance- 2 is not my favourite hole on the course but 9 is one of the best newly built par 3s I have played. 
147 off the very back, small target, lots of undulation, deep riveted bunkers on the right and a bunker you can putt out off on the left???  13 I like (hole in one!!) and 17 has a killer green with a fun backstop of a hill just past the green.  The fun thing here is that if your ball is on the lower level you can putt well off the green up the hill to let the ball feed back down to a pin on the upper level.

[Ian Andrew]

I agree with Sean's assesment that if one of them is great - you can't argue a weak set.

BTW - the set of par threes at Muirfield (UK) is outstanding.

[Andy Troeger]

Adam,
I don't have any great substitutes to add to this list--I can't think of a great course with a weak set of par threes. You can always pick a "worst," but even those are probably pretty good. Crystal Downs' short holes probably aren't as good as the rest of the course, but that's because of the quality of the rest of the course and not the lack of quality of the par threes. They are all good holes, although perhaps none stand out from the rest.

I admittedly haven't played a good percentage of the courses being mentioned.