[Phil Benedict]

I think I've played four courses where the holes are named based on their architectural template - Yale, Fox Chapel, Mid-Ocean, Old White.  These are all CBM/Raynor courses.  Do NGLA and Camargo and the other great CBM/Raynor courses name the holes?  Do other architects have courses where the holes have names?

[John Shimp]

Most old courses that I have played that date pre-1920 seemed to have named holes.  Didn't think of it by architect.

[Powell Arms]

Aronimink has holes named after American Indian tribes.  The story is that Ross did the naming.

Somerset Hills has names supposed given by Tillinghast.  I'm not sure if he did that on other courses.

[Tom_Doak]

Lots of courses named their holes in the old days.

Tillinghast named the holes at Shawnee; I believe at Winged Foot, too.

Shinnecock's holes are named, but I suppose that tradition may have started with Macdonald and they filled in the blanks after Flynn's redesign.

[PThomas]

don't most/all? of Pete Dye's holes have names?

[Jason Connor]

Raynor's Moutain Lake in Florida also has named holes (Draw, Fade, Redan, Biarritz, Alps, Short, etc).

I've also played many newer courses that have names on the card. But they're just trying to be stylish.  I don't know why they bother, it's lot like anyone calls them by their name.

The course I played as a teenager, The Mountain Club in western MD (now Fore Sisters) did, too.  Including, the only one I remember, "Dolly's Mounds". I think there was also "Turn Left" and "Turn Right" since there were 2 90 degree dogleg holes.

[Jeff_Mingay]

Stanley Thompson is notorious for naming his holes. Cape Breton Highlands Links immediately comes to mind. See column at right, here: http://www.mingaygolf.com/mountains_ocean.html

I had fun naming the holes at Blackhawk Golf Club when we finished construction there (though a couple weren't accepted by the owner, and changed!). For the fun of it, check out the names of holes at Blackhawk, here:
http://www.mingaygolf.com/blackhawk_gc.html

Rod Whitman's holes at Wolf Creek, in Alberta, are named as well.

[Phil Benedict]

Jeff,

My favorite is Escarpment.  Was that inspired by the Tarzan movies?  He lived on something called the Mutara (sp) Escarpment, which was a very tough place to get to.

[Mike Benham]

Spyglass has names for the holes, from Treasure Island to Blind Pew to Black Dog.  All these names are characters in the Robert Lewis Stevenson 1863 classic "Treasure Island".

I'm not sure if this was a RTJ Sr. idea or not ...

[Jeff_Mingay]

Phil,

Escarpment wasn't inspired by Tarzan, but thanks, I'm using that story from now on  

The "Black Dog" hole at Spyglass must borrow from the great Led Zeppelin song of the same name, I presume!

[wsmorrison]

The only Flynn courses with names that come immediately to mind are:

Cascades
Outward Bound      
The Dip                  
Shelf                      
Carry On              
Marathon              
The Wedge          
Seventh Heaven    
Cemetery Ridge    
The Take Off        
Slippery Hollow
Lucky Strike
The Vale
Swift Run
The Mews
Vanity Fair
The Hemlocks
Cress Lake
Taps

Shinnecock Hills As Tom Doak said, most names are holdovers from Macdonald's design
Westward Ho (name of Macdonald's 1st, first 2/3 in same location as Flynn's 1st)
Plateau
Peconic (name of Macdonald's 13th in same location as Flynn's 3rd)
Pump House
Montauk (name of Macdonald's 2nd in another location)
Pond
Redan (name of Macdonald's 14th in same location as Flynn's 7th)
Lowlands (name of Macdonald's 10th in another location near RR tracks)
Ben Nevis (name of Macdonald's 8th in another location next to RR tracks)
Eastward Ho (name of Macdonald's 4th in another location)
Hill Head
Tuckahoe
Road Side
Thom's Elbow
Sebonac (name of Macdonald's 16th in another location)
Shinnecock (name of Macdonald's 5th in another location next to RR tracks)
Eden (name of Macdonald's 11th in another location near St. Andrews Road)
Home (name of Macdonald's 18th in same location as Flynn 9)

The Country Club, Brookline  All holdovers from pre-existing design
Polo Field
Cottage
Pond
Hospital
Newton
Bakers
Plateau
Corner
Paddock
Maiden
Himalayas
Redan
Stockton
Quarry
Liverpool
Clyde
Elbow
Home

[gookin]

Phil,

Fox Chapel went for decades without names for the holes. There is no clear evidence that the names existed when the course was built. We actually added names to the scorecard in 2003 as a way to raise the profile of Raynor and his signature features with the general membership. I agree the names can be a bit goofy, but they fit our purpose quite well.

[Bill_McBride]

Phil,

Fox Chapel went for decades without names for the holes. There is no clear evidence that the names existed when the course was built. We actually added names to the scorecard in 2003 as a way to raise the profile of Raynor and his signature features with the general membership. I agree the names can be a bit goofy, but they fit our purpose quite well.

David, did you name the holes after the Macdonald/Raynor templates a la NGLA?

[Kevin_Reilly]

Orinda Country Club near SF (Willie Watson) has named holes:

#1   - Inspiration
#2   - Bonita
#3   - Orchard
#4   - Meteor
#5   - Mouse Trap
#6   - Long Tom
#7   - Sobrante
#8   - Dead Horse
#9   - Horseshoe
#10 - Ed’s Delight
#11 - Graveyard
#12 - Willie Watson
#13 - Mokelumne
#14 - San Pablo
#15 - Despair
#16 - Gibraltar
#17 - Rincon
#18 - Cascade

The derivation of each name is described in this  Course Tour

[Stan Dodd]

Pacific Grove's holes are all named though I have never heard anyone refer to a hole by name.

[Mike Policano]

Ridgewood by Tillie has names for all 27 holes. I am under the impression that Tillie named them.

Curiously, I played there Thanksgiving morning and I was wondering about the names. For example, I noticed that 2 West is called Moab's Vineyard. I googled it and found a Moab's Vineyard in Utah. I don't think that's what it is named after.

[Michael_Stachowicz]

Phil,

Fox Chapel went for decades without names for the holes. There is no clear evidence that the names existed when the course was built. We actually added names to the scorecard in 2003 as a way to raise the profile of Raynor and his signature features with the general membership. I agree the names can be a bit goofy, but they fit our purpose quite well.

We did the same thing at Dedham a few years ago.  This wasn't the pretentious attempt to be something special, this was merely for educational purposes as the holes were named after the template holes they represented.

[Mike Policano]

Some of the interesting hole names at Ridgewood:

Tipperary
Gabriel's Horn
Stockton's Lair
Gypsy's Curse
Scoonie
Possum
Inspiration

[Phil_the_Author]

As Tom said, Tilly named the holes at a number of courses that he designed. In fact, he wrote several articles about the practice of naming golf holes. It can be found in The Course beautiful in the section Giving Individuality To Golf Holes.

Among some of his thoughts:

"In the last few years the naming of holes is becoming general, and certainly the return of the old custom is welcome."

"Let every hole be worthy of a name."Many committeess are returning to the old custom of naming the holes of their courses. To me this was always pleasing and when the practice disappeared generally, I was very loath to see it pass."

[Tom_Doak]

I didn't mention it the first time through because I thought the thread might be short-lived, but we did name the holes at High Pointe and The Legends (Heathland) when I was starting out in the business, and also at Stonewall (Old).  

After that I decided to stop because it seemed like we would always wind up with 9-12 good names and a handful that were just too much of a stretch, and I didn't want it to sound like a marketing guy had come up with the names.  The names of holes at any Pete Dye courses were made up by some p.r. guy at Landmark or Kohler, and not by Pete Dye, and some of those were cringe-worthy.

We named quite a few bunkers at Pacific Dunes and those may see the light of day whenever my book does.  Best name for a bunker there:  The Velodrome, which is in front of the second tee.  (The first time we saw it, there were four-wheeler tracks running around the bowl 3/4 of the way up, as for an Olympic bike race.)

We were asked to suggest names for the holes at The Renaissance Club in Scotland (where named holes are common) and we have tried our best there, but I'm not sure how many of our suggestions will make the final cut.

[Joe Bausch]

TomD:  didn't you also name the holes at Beechtree?  Or was that the owner's doing?

[RichMacafee]

Has there ever been a designer that has named a hole after themselves? This has happened at Sandhurst, south of Melbourne, with their Champions Course. Each hole is named after a past Australian PGA champion.

Course is designed by Thomson and Perrett, and yes, hole 12 is named Peter Thomson.

http://www.sandhurst.com/golf_scorecard_champions.html

[M. Shea Sweeney]

Fishers Island
1. Raynor's Start
2. Redan
3. Plateau
4. Punch Bowl
5. Biarritz
6. Olinda
7. Latimer
8. Road Hole
9. Double Plateau

10. Knoll
11. Eden
12. Winthrop
13. Waterloo
14. Cape
15. Long
16. Short
17. Coast Gaurd
18. Home


National Golf Links
1. Valley
2. Sahara
3. Alps
4. Redan
5. Hog's Back
6. Short
7. St. Andrews
8. Bottle
9. Long

10. Shinnecock
11. Plateau
12. Sebonac
13. Eden
14. Cape
15. Narrows
16. Punchbowl
17. Peconic
18. Home

[Dean Paolucci]

Glen Ridge (Willie Park, Jr.) Founded 1894

# 1  Easy
# 2  Hill
# 3  Long Tom
# 4  Brookside
# 5  Elbow
# 6  Overbrook
# 7  Two Shot
# 8  Pond
# 9  Old Home
# 10 Ridgewood
# 11 Broad
# 12 Lone Tree   
# 13 Narrow
# 14 Ravine   
# 15 Raceway
# 16 Homeward
# 17 Terrace
# 18 Home

[Kevin_Reilly]

Has there ever been a designer that has named a hole after themselves? This has happened at Sandhurst, south of Melbourne, with their Champions Course. Each hole is named after a past Australian PGA champion.

Course is designed by Thomson and Perrett, and yes, hole 12 is named Peter Thomson.

From the Orinda course tour above, this note about the 12th there:

Following another tradition from Scotland, the twelfth hole was named to honor the course architect, Willie Watson.

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