[Yannick Pilon]

This thread is inspired by the GCA meeting we had in Toronto last friday where Ian Andrew asked everybody which was their favorite hole, or the hole where thay had the most fun.

So here's mine.  The fifteenth at Prestwick.  This hole is extremely narrow from the tee.  Two scary bunkers protect the fairway that almost appears to be non-existant, and the green is directly behind a huge mound that also hosts two deep pot bunkers....  Oh did I mentionned that the green slopes severely away from you on the approach?

I am still asking myself what I could have done to hold that green with my approach shot.  It sure was a thrill to play.

Here is a view of the hole taken from behind the fairway bunker located on the right side of the fairway.



So what would be your hole? Pictures would be appreciated...

[Patrick_Mucci]

Yannick,

Sorry I can't add pictures, but a number of holes at NGLA would be on my list, starting with # 1 and ending with # 18.

Amongst them would be # 3, #, 4, # 6, # 7, # 8, # 11, # 14, # 15, # 16, # 17.

And, if pressed, I'd add # 2, # 5, # 9, # 10, # 12, and # 13.

When you view the holes individually and collectively, with or without wind, it's one of the most, if not the most fun golf course I've ever played.

[Tiger_Bernhardt]

lol good one Pat. I like 8 at Pebble, 11 at TOC and 9 and 15 at Cypress.

[Jim Adkisson]

As being recently back from Bandon, I found the blind-drive holes on the Trails to be great fun...#4, 6 and especially 18.  Knowing that you ripped one where they tell you to go, but not seeing the result until you get over the crest brings all sorts of anxiety and anticipation into play for your walk off the tee....great fun!

[Chris Moore]

Yannick:  From what I understand about the 15th at Prestwick, that green was part of an earlier (original?) routing accepting shots coming from the opposite direction.  You aren't supposed to be able to hold that green!  

[Jeff_Mingay]

Yannick,

I'll never forget an experience I had at the Eden hole, the 11th at St. Andrews, back in April.

It was a cold, windy day. I headed down to the 1st tee at the Old Course and was paired up with a nice gentleman from Dundee.

We went out as a twosome, into a very, very strong wind. Very strong.

We get to the Eden hole... and, I'm first up. I take out a 3-iron, swing too hard into the wind, and hook my ball left of Hill bunker. Not good!

My companion tees up a DRIVER and hits one of the most beautiful shots I've ever seen... a hard cut, into the wind, that bends right, heading straight at the flag. His ball pitches just short of the putting surface, and hops up to about two feet from the cup!

We had a nice celebration on the tee, along with his young son, who was carrying for dad.  

I managed to hit a very good pitch, played to the high side of the green that trickled down to the front of the putting surface. My next shot was an uphill putt! Mission accomplished.

It was so windy on the green though, we were seriously having trouble standing steady. I missed my par putt, but was happy with four.

My partner stands over his two foot birdie attempt - this is shaping up to be the best birdie I've ever seen... but he's swaying in teh wind, big time! He lips out, and the ball rolls at least 8-10 feet down the green!

He misses the next, then taps in for four!

That was fun! Even for him... playing in a violent, unforgettable wind at St. Andrews!

[Ian Andrew]

The hole I choose was "Foxy" because I couldn't figure out how to attack the hole from the tee (and still can't). Proof that a clever green alone can be the most important architectural feature in golf.


The 5th at Crystal Downs also comes to mind for a different reason. Where do you aim on the tee shot. I still have no clue. A wonderful short hole that is like a jigsaw puzzle to me. It tells me to have a go (a poor choice), the lay-up is unclear (because of the crown and grassing lines), the options are confusing (I'm assuming their are logical options I'm too dumb to get), and after playing it I'm baffled (because the green sloope did not seem to favour a play.

At 335 this is a perfect hole (to me).

[Lloyd_Cole]

Royal County Down 1-13
Dornoch 14
Ganton 14
Crumpin Fox 16 (MA) (least fun, also often)
TOC 17
Pebble 18

[Lloyd_Cole]

The hole I choose was "Foxy" because I couldn't figure out how to attack the hole from the tee (and still can't). Proof that a clever green alone can be the most important architectural feature in golf.

Ian

We were posting at the same time.. Most of my enjoyment of great holes has been of the comic and/or tragic variety, but I did manage the prescribed drawn drive and faded second to Foxy and was just able to hold the back of the green.. very long putt and very happy with par.

[Dan King]

Thinking about it, it is amazing to me the number of times the most fun I had on a golf hole was on a blind hole.

I remember one year having a ball on the eighth hole at Machrihanish (I believe it was the eighth, my notes are missing.) I was there a week, played the course two or three times every day and loved coming to the eighth with it's blind tee shot. I kept trying to play to a spot that would give your drive a turbo boost toward the green. I hit that spot five or six times, and remember how much fun it was coming over the dunes.


(I believe this is the eighth, but their Web site still isn't up.)

I went back a few years later and the turbo boost was gone, but still it was fun, just not as much. But then I went over to The Machrie and played there a half dozen times and loved every minute of it. I can't imagine an entire course more fun than The Machrie.

I also had a stretch of about half a dozen rounds at Pebble wear I managed to par the eighth hole every time I played it, each one completely different.

Hey, maybe there is something about eighth holes?

Dan King

Trouble is bad to get into but fun to get out of. If you're in trouble, eighty percent of the time there's a way out. If you can see the ball, you can probably hit it; and if you can hit it, you can move it; and if you can move it, you might be able to knock it in the hole. At least it's fun to try.
 --Arnold Palmer

[Philippe Binette]

Ian: about the 5th at Crystal Downs... in my match there, I played the tee shot perfect, Just by the bunkers on the high left side, had 85 yards left.... sculled the next one...

Hole where I had the most fun: 17th at Crystal Downs hitting driver, finding the ball in the trees on the right, playing a bump and run below the branches onto the green, 2-putt par...

Any hole at Royal Melbourne

[Jeff_Brauer]

Tom Paul had an interesting story here once about some "fun" he had trying to get it in the hole at some golf course or another late one night in his youth......

If we limit our selves to fun golf shots, certainly dramatic holes like 16CPC, 8PB, 10 at Riv and 9 Turnberry stand out.  I might not call it fun, but the thrill of my first tee shot at the Old Course still sticks out in my mind.  Hard to play when your knees are almost bucking.  Oh yeah, add the Road Hole tee shot to the first list.  Or the second......

[John Pflum]

The hole I probably have the most fun on is Crystal Downs #7.  

http://www.rsgcincinnati.com/Crystaldowns/crystaldowns7.html

There is some strategery for the shot off the tee -- you can try and bomb one down to the flat spot of the fairway and have a short iron/wedge in your hand, or take the more conservative play off the tee and have a mid iron into the green.

Things really get fun once you get on the green, especially if you are on the wrong side of the green from the pin.  The green is shaped a bit like an hourglass bent at 30 or 45 degrees.  The narrow areas of of the hourglass are severely sloped, and of course the entire green is like kung-fu fighting (you know, those guys are "fast as lightning").  Trying to pick out a line and speed on your putt is a blast.  

Probably the most fun I've had getting my butt kicked.  

[Gene Greco]

#3 NGLA
#8 Sand Hills

[Bill_McBride]

#16 North Berwick (fooling around hitting putts into, from and through the swale -- my caddy told me if your ball is in front and the cup behind, or vice versa, hit the putt straight at the hole, the swale will throw it both directions but evenly!) and #14 Old Course (where I was Dr. MacKenzie's player A -- drove over to the left of the Beardies, played left of Hell, bump and run onto the green from 125 yards, two putt par).

#11 Eden - what's the big deal?  I hit 6 iron from 160 to 15' right of the hole, which was cut right behind Strath, and routine 2 putt.  Just kidding, that was my one and only go at the Old Course, first group out, no wind.  Can't wait till the next round.  

[Matthew MacKay]

7th at Highlands Links.

A roller coaster from start to finish.

[TEPaul]

"Tom Paul had an interesting story here once about some "fun" he had trying to get it in the hole at some golf course or another late one night in his youth......"

Jeff:

That was on the Everglades in Florida. I don't even remember now what hole that was. I do know I didn't get around to playing the other 17 holes for maybe another couple of years. I should've called the super up to congratulate him on set-up though because whatever hole that was it's the only one I've ever been on that played soft and receptive and firm and fast at the same time.

I agree with Ian, certainly one of the most fun holes I've played is Crystal Downs's #5. #7 on that course with the pin in the back is a lot of fun too.

[TEPaul]

Another one I'd pick for fun is #14 at Sand Hills and the fun is pretty much all on the second half of the hole.

[Kenny Lee Puckett]

#8 PVGC - Fun to watch the group deportment
#15 Tobacco Road - Watching the ball roll
#9 Yale - For the thrillseeker.

Interesting sidebar:  All of these holes are downhill.  The suspense of waiting for the result definitely is an added delight to the "Fun" element.

JWK

[John Pflum]

The 5th at Crystal Downs also comes to mind for a different reason. Where do you aim on the tee shot. I still have no clue. A wonderful short hole that is like a jigsaw puzzle to me. It tells me to have a go (a poor choice), the lay-up is unclear (because of the crown and grassing lines), the options are confusing (I'm assuming their are logical options I'm too dumb to get), and after playing it I'm baffled (because the green sloope did not seem to favour a play.

At 335 this is a perfect hole (to me).

It's one of my favorites as well.

http://www.rsgcincinnati.com/Crystaldowns/crystaldowns5.html

[TEPaul]

Ian and John Pflum:

The normal play on Crystal Downs's #5 is with a long iron or 3 wood taking it just to the left of that big tree in the middle. That's the conservative play. The aggressive play is with a driver at the green but there's a lot to carry in bad rough on a diagonal on the left. Go in there and you can be screwed (or lost).

I've always felt that most players get a bit too concerned with where to aim with the conservative play. Basically there's a lot more room than most think to the right and also striaght out over the ideal line . All of that area is in light rough though. From that light rough on the right I've never thought it was a bad play at all to the green.

I'm a little ambivalent about this but I've always felt they should try fairway in that area all along the right that's now in light rough. The reason I say that is it's got some pretty good slope in there and if in fairway the tee shot would continue to roll-out a whole lot more taking the ball much farther right and down and perhaps into some real trouble versus getting held up in light rough in there as it always has.

That's a hole where no matter what you do fairway width-wise it's going to be great anyway. There's just so much truly cool topography on that hole it could hardly be otherwise.

The interesting thing about Crystal's #5 is like a lot of the really great and memorable old holes of this world I doubt there would be that many architects today who'd actually dare use a landform like that if they found it.Thankfully Mike DeVries is not one who shies away from using a landform that radical. Interestingly Mike belongs to Crystal Downs, as does Tom Doak.

[Jason Topp]

I apparently enjoy goofy shots:

1. Dell Hole - Lahinch

I hit my tee shot on the back left of the green.  The pin was on the back right, meaning that there was a big sandhill between my ball and the hole.  After considering pitching over or putting up and down the sideslope, we came up with a double bank shot off the dune fronting the green that bounced off and then caught a slope off the dune to right of the green to wind up within ten feet of the hole.  Unfortunately, I missed it.  My best guess is that this picture from the club website is from the front left of the green with the back right portion obscured by shade.



2.  #5 - Prestwick

It looked impossible, but really wasn't, at least in calm conditions.  From the website.



3.  13 - N. Berwick.  From Carlyle Rood's web site:  http://www.golfarch.com

[John Pflum]

TEPaul,

I agree with you on the line off the tee.  Though, to "go for it" and carry all that trouble on the left side is REALLY a long way.  

Re: Putting more fairway on the right at CD5...

I don't remember exactly what's over there but if you put more fairway over there wouldn't it really change the line off the tee?  You could aim directly over the tree and let your ball run off to the right.  From there, I think you'd have a pretty much straight uphill shot to a green that slopes towards you.  Granted, you'd have to deal with those greenside bunkers but I think it would likely take a lot of quality/strategy out of the second shot.  

BTW -- there's not THAT much room on the right.  My brother put one on the road that leads up to the clubhouse from the tee.  

[ForkaB]

Jason

I used to love the 13th at North Berwick too--until I came onto this website and was indoctrinated into the cult of the primacy of the "ground game"...........

[JESII]

I see a couple of openings there Rich, you can run a hook through one door and a slice through the other.

Do you think this ground game thing is supposed to be played with wild abandon, control that ball man!

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