Holes that have your number

[David_Tepper]

Foxy, #14 at Royal Dornoch, is my white whale. In the 400+ times I have played it, I have made 4 there just twice.

[archie_struthers]

 


18th Stone Harbor. New Jersey USA

When you don't drive it great there isn't much worse than water left and right , then if you find the fairway it's a mid iron to a green surrounded by water on three sides. I'm not the only one who when they happen to find the short grass in a tournament just rifles it twenty yards over the green on purpose. Five is a whole lot better than 6 or 7.


Toughie for sure and particularly for me..

[Kalen Braley]

17 at Carnoustie haunts my dreams.  Maybe a dozen rounds and I'd be surprised if I've had more than one par.

This is one of the scariest holes on the planet for me. The drive has gotten into my head. I just play it as a three shot hole.

I've looked at this hole quite a bit in pics over the years, because it always looked like "where do I hit it".  Perhaps the safest play is way right where its only a 165 yard carry over the burn, (a head wind would suck but that's true anytime on this hole).  Took this screen shot on Google Earth.

[Tom_Doak]

Foxy, #14 at Royal Dornoch, is my white whale. In the 400+ times I have played it, I have made 4 there just twice.

That's crazy.


What's your handicap?  What is your common position for your third shot?

[David_Tepper]

"What's your handicap?  What is your common position for your third shot?"

Tom -

I am a mid-teen handicap. If I hit a really good drive, I some times attempt to hit my 2nd shot on to the green, usually with a 5-wood or hybrid. I have come close, but I don't think I have been on the green in two.

Usually I aim my 2nd shot down the left side of the fairway, almost towards the 15th tee box. I try to stay away from the ridges and hollows down the right side of the fairway.

That often leaves me with a 30-60 yard third shot on to the green. Some times I hit a running chip up the slope on to the green. If I am further back, I some times hit a pitch shot on to the green. I rarely get that 3rd shot within 15-20 feet of the pin. Holing putts on the 14th green is not easy as that green has a number of subtle slopes and breaks.

To play golf is to live in hope!

DT

P.S The not so funny thing is I have hosted a few visiting golfers of comparable ability there. After telling them on the 14th tee how tough Foxy is, they parred the hole on their very first try. I offered my congratulations thru clenched teeth. 

[Ira Fishman]

DT,


On my one play, I hit my second shot into the ridges and struggled for a 6. The guy playing with us (very good player) hit a perfect drive, great iron, and made an 18 footer. When I told him that he had just birdied one of most famous holes in Gca, he looked at me with surprise and a “Really? I had no idea”. Ah, to be talented.


Ira

[David_Tepper]

 “Really? I had no idea”

Ira -

As they say, "ignorance is bliss."

DT

[Wayne_Kozun]

Cabot Cliffs #7
Cabot Cliffs #17 - On this hole I may as well go directly to the (cheater) drop zone at the top of the hill and play my 3rd shot from there and hope for a two-putt from 100 yards for a double bogey 5.

[Tommy Williamsen]

Actually, I forgot about one hole. In the early 70s I was a member at Hobbits Glen GC in Columbia Maryland. My memory could be fuzzy. I have played there in 45 years. But this is how I re,Ebert the hole. The thirteenth (14 maybe?)hole is a dogleg left some 430 yards long. The drive is uphill and the second shot downhill. If I kept the ball out of the woods I’d have some kind of long iron to the green. I probably bogeyed the hole 90% of the time. One year I was in the finals of the club championship. I was one up going into 13 but made such a mess of the hole that it started a three hole losing streak and I lost the match.


A couple of years later I played in the Middle Atlantic Open. It was staged there and its sister course, All View. I got paired with Jim Thorpe, who later played on the TOUR. We got there and I hit a great drive and had a five iron left. Thorpe hit it air during the corner and have a wedge. I made par and felt on top of the world. Thorpe made a tap in three. Different world.

[David Amarnek]

#5 at Merion East
I’ve had plenty of attempts at par and even a few for birdie, but have yet to walk away with anything but bogey or more.  Oh well, I’m in good company.

[Joe Bausch]

#2 at Cobb’s Creek.  My close golfing buds know I started to play it better when I considered it a par 6!


The 2nd shot into this par 4 requires precision but isn’t that hard.  But it is for me.

[Mark Fedeli]

Not the entire hole, but the drive on 16 at Bethpage Black has my number.


I’ve played Black near 100 times and I’ve probably made birdie on 15 more times than I’ve hit the fairway on 16.

[Wade Whitehead]

I manage to find a different way to make bogey or worse on #18 at Tobacco Road every time.

I have no idea where to aim the tee shot.

I've never taken the time to figure it out, either.

It's got my number and it's at least half my fault.

WW

[Tim Martin]

The 485 yard par five 3rd hole at the Orchards in Western Massachusetts has baffled me despite no shortage of attempts. I struggle with the third shot consistently which is a half wedge if I drive it straight. The green is pushed up with a false front and it wreaks havoc on my depth perception despite knowing the yardage. Regardless of the miss being short, long, right or left I also struggle to get it up and in.

(Fast forward to afternoon)
Pins went in today. Knocked down a nine iron to the back of the green and three putted to a front pin.

[Ben Malach]

Mine is the 3rd at Cabot Links. The hole is just plain hard. This hole lives in my mind. I honestly should just write an 8 on the card when I peg my ball on the tee.

[Wayne_Kozun]

No way Ben - it is an easy hole.  Just groove a 3W to the pimples in the fairway.

[JESII]

Who would believe that my scoring average on #13 at Merion East is significantly higher than #6 over the last 10 rounds?


#13 would likely rate as one of the 3 easiest holes and #6 as one of the 4 or 5 most difficult.


Once it's in there, it's tough to get it out...

[Tommy Williamsen]

Who would believe that my scoring average on #13 at Merion East is significantly higher than #6 over the last 10 rounds?


#13 would likely rate as one of the 3 easiest holes and #6 as one of the 4 or 5 most difficult.


Once it's in there, it's tough to get it out...

I’ve only played there a few times but it is a pretty scary 115 yards.

[Brett Meyer]

The par 4 sixteenth at Swinley Forest. The visibility off the drive is just poor enough, the trees are just close enough on the right, and the heather comes in subtly on the left to make even hitting an iron off the tee uncomfortable. And if I hit an iron, it's a least a 180 yard second shot to a narrow green with a 4 ft. tier in the middle of it. I'd take 5 every time on this hole.