[Mark_Rowlinson]

There seem to be very few dead straight par 4s.  Which are the world class ones?

Almost every par 4 has some lateral movement, making it a dog-leg of one kind or another.  What makes the great ones great?

[Tom Huckaby]

Mark - isn't the Alps at Prestwick dead straight?

What makes it great is... the alps!

 

That was meant to be humorous... but it does bring up a serious point... what would make a straight par 4 great is something in the way, something to give pause.  This can be water, sand dunes, interesting bunkering...

That being said, I am not coming up with many great examples.

TH

[Tom_Doak]

Mark:

The 3rd hole at Durban Country Club is a straight-down-the-barrel par five, and always recognized as a great hole.

There are lots of great par-4's where you can hit straight toward the green from the tee, with the fairway making a lot of twists and turns in between.  But if you are talking about having a fairway running straight down the line from tee to green, there are fewer.  There are a few of them at St. Andrews, the 2nd and 12th and 16th come to mind.

[Tony_Muldoon]

Only played it once, the 10th at Sunningdale. In my memory it was dead straight.  From the high tee it's all in front of you.  After taking in the magnificent view, you can work out where the pin is, see the bunkers to avoid, what could possibly go wrong?

[Mark_F]

The 6th at Kingston Heath. Good green, great view from the top of the hill back towards the clubhouse.

8th on the Gunnamatta course at The Golf Club St Andrews Beach - a great shortish par four over a series of waves, beautifully bunkered, with a small, firm, bunkerless and very tricky green.

6th at Barnbougle - a unique hole that plays straight if the wind is behind and/or you are a big enough hitter to get it over the sandhill on the right hand side of the fairway, then a second from a fantastically bumpy fairway.

[D_Malley]

phila cricket by tillinghast has several straight par 4's which are excellent holes.  #2, #9, #11.  i think there are also a couple of pretty good ones by tilly at quaker ridge, don't remember the hole numbers.  

[Mark_F]

The 18th at Royal Porthcawl is also a fantastic hole - terrific view from the tee to a blind fairway, then a great second over broken ground to an away sloping green.

[Tommy Williamsen]

Mark, actually the first three holes at Oakmont are pretty straight.  But they all have things going on that make the holes interesting.
Number six at RND is sstraight but the bunker in the fairway make you feel as if the hole doglegs.
  I'm not susre that a hole has to dogleg to be great.  They just give the architect more ways to make the hole interesting.

[ward peyronnin]

Mark

Hello and i am enjoying your Cd. Thanks.

I think the ninth at Maidstone and 14 th Shinnecock are wonderful dead staright two shotters on LI. While a line of charm does contribute greatly framing and placement of hazard can overcome laco of that

Hey
Ward

[Jim Nugent]

11th at Ballybunion Old.  I believe it runs straight along the ocean.  

[Matt_Cohn]

I think there are holes like #18 at TOC and #3 at Talking Stick, that are straight but clearly push you towards one side of the fairway, either enhancing the straightness or creating a sort of dogleg.

There are other holes like #1 at Baltusrol Lower and #18 at Olympic that are straight and the whole idea is to hit it directly down the middle.

While I think GCA'ers gravitate towards the first kind of straight hole, it's worth noting that there are these two different types.

[Mark_Rowlinson]

Matt, Thanks for reminding me of 18th at TOC.  Of course, it's dead straight, yet the line is on the starter's hut by the 1st tee and the approach played across the slope.  And how many competitors did we see in the 05 Open going straight for the pin and getting nowhere near it?  For that matter, many who drove safely to the left had some difficulty in getting down in 4, let alone the expected birdie.

[Bill_McBride]

Matt, Thanks for reminding me of 18th at TOC.  Of course, it's dead straight, yet the line is on the starter's hut by the 1st tee and the approach played across the slope.  And how many competitors did we see in the 05 Open going straight for the pin and getting nowhere near it?  For that matter, many who drove safely to the left had some difficulty in getting down in 4, let alone the expected birdie.

The SAFE line is at the starter's hut, or at least the right edge of the R&A clubhouse.

The RISK/REWARD line is tight along the OB right, as there is a downhill there that propels the tee shot toward the green, and even if short, keeps the ball to the right of the Valley of Sin.

Of course, as George Peper writes in his book, "Two Years in St. Andrews," the lucky few who live in those townhouses down the right side have plexiglass shields over their windows and worry about their cars parked on the road - many "risky" tee shots pepper those properties!

The SAFE line rewards the prudent with a pitch through the Valley of Sin but virtually eliminates the double bogey.  

[Matthew Hunt]

#3,8 and 9 at RCD are all world class straight holes(Note I left out #17

[Philippe Binette]

Tom Doak quote:
There are a few of them at St. Andrews, the 2nd and 12th and 16th come to mind.

The 12th on the Old Course is straight, the fairway is straight away in front of you and so is the green

the only thing is that you can't play in that fairway, it's a suicide

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