[Tom_Doak]

Actually the tee shot on the 18th at Merion is one of the hardest shots in the world with no bail-out option.  If the markers are too far back for you, I guess you just have to chip down to the front tee.

[Brad Swanson]

My most favorite hard shot has to be 11 at Shinnecock.  Not very long, but into a fresh quartering breeze, pulling the right club for me was a game of eenie-meenie-miney-mo, after which making a good swing was a sphincter puckering experience.  Had I known how steep the drop-off behind the green was, I may still be deciding on a club.

Cheers,
Brad

[Dan Kelly]

Almost every memorably hard shot that comes to mind involves a significant forced carry -- sometimes with bail-out options, sometimes without. (I prefer the former.)

[Wayne Wiggins, Jr.]

I nominate the 2nd shot at Aronimink #10.  The pond looms large on the left.  If your tee shot remains at the crest of the hill, you most likely have a 4,5,6 iron in... easy to miss-hit those.  If your long enough off the tee you'll probably have a severe downhill stance for your approach (w/ an 8I, 9I or PW), and the probabilty is that shot goes to the right... mentally it's tough to compensate for that with water left.

And then the chipping areas surrounding the rest of green (right and back) offer a variety ways not to get close to the pin on what I think is the most difficult green on the course.

[Jason Topp]

A shot falls into this category if you think about it before you get there.  I like one or two "fear" shots in a round.  Not much more.

Our 9th hole tee shot is always a potential round wrecker and I fight thinking about it before getting to the tee in a stroke play situation.  420 yards, OB right, trees and a downslope left, 210 to get to the crest of the hill which is about 20-30 feet above the tee.  My poorly struck straight tee shot leaves 200 yards in, a good one catches a downslope over the hill and leaves 150.  The most common error is to hit the trees on the left about 50 yards off the tee due to fear of OB right.

Despite being a tough, penal hole I like it.  Perhaps because I get to hit it over a hill, which apparently has become an important "fun" factor for me.

[John Chilver-Stainer]

One of my favourites is Kilspindie’s 8th, 160 yards in East Lothian.
If the pin is right and the wind is coming in from the North East (thats from the right) – the shot is ,depending on the wind direction, a  low to  mid iron directed over the North Sea – that is away from the target over terminal danger.
The tantalising part is watching the ball rise high over the sea  and as it falls start "talking to the ball" to catch the wind and drift it into the green, which is guarded on the right by a vertical wall of wooden sleepers.
The foreground is natural dune waste land and beach.
Now that is fun - with a magnificent view across the Firth of Forth to Fife.

Not surprisingly it’s also one of Ran Morrisett’s favourites – from his review « the exhilarating 8th makes any list of Scotland's top short holes »

[SPDB]

Second shot on #5 at Merion.
Second shot on #6 at The Creek.

[D_Malley]

i agree that the drie on # 18 at merion is a very hard shot if you are playing a tee which you do not belong on.  but the second shot qualifies more as a hard and fun shot, because of the options it presents.  If you have enough length off the tee you can bail out and hit it right.

[Dan Kelly]

A shot falls into this category if you think about it before you get there.  I like one or two "fear" shots in a round.  Not much more.

Our 9th hole tee shot is always a potential round wrecker and I fight thinking about it before getting to the tee in a stroke play situation.  420 yards, OB right, trees and a downslope left, 210 to get to the crest of the hill which is about 20-30 feet above the tee.  My poorly struck straight tee shot leaves 200 yards in, a good one catches a downslope over the hill and leaves 150.  The most common error is to hit the trees on the left about 50 yards off the tee due to fear of OB right.

Despite being a tough, penal hole I like it.  Perhaps because I get to hit it over a hill, which apparently has become an important "fun" factor for me.

Jason --

I like that hole a LOT!

Nothing wrong with your description of it, except for me, I think I'd generally fear the second shot (and sometimes the third shot) more than the tee shot. During my one round at Oak Ridge, I didn't worry about the OB off the tee (maybe I should have); I worried about the double OB possibilities of the second shot -- to the right, and over the green. And then, having put my second into the bunker front-right, I *really* worried about the OB over the green.

Sorry if I've planted a new fear (or two) in your head!

Dan

[Glenn Spencer]

I have had it. I can take it no longer. What the hell is Jans National? Is it even a course, I have never heard of it?

[JSlonis]

Actually the tee shot on the 18th at Merion is one of the hardest shots in the world with no bail-out option.  If the markers are too far back for you, I guess you just have to chip down to the front tee.

Tom,

That is a great one.  That tee shot has everything a golfer would want in difficulty, and then some:

It's long...

uphill...

Blind...

favors a draw...

to a fairly narrow fairway...

that slopes right to left...

effectively making it more narrow than it already is...

and to cap it off...

you know on the tee, that if you hit it in the rough...

you're doomed!

Did I mention that the tee shot might be easier than the approach?  

Whoooo hooo, isn't golf fun!

[D_Malley]

no question that the tee shot on merion 18 can be harder than the approach.  i thought the thread was started with the premise that the shot must be as well as hard also fun.  that is why i mentioned the second shot as opposed to the drive on merion's 18th.

[D_Malley]

the 18th tee shot at merion is extremely hard and definitely memorable, but fun and enjoyable are not words i would use for that shot.  and by the way i would definitely prefer a fade to a draw off that tee all day long.

[Mike Hendren]

One of my favourites is Kilspindie’s 8th, 160 yards in East Lothian.

John,

How delightful would it be to live in that white cottage between the 8th green and 9th tee?

Mike

[Matt MacIver]

#17 at The Ocean Course, I'm 0-3 and most of my playing companions shared similar fates.  Always into the wind, fade required, short/long/right no good.  

[Ron Farris]

Hard and memorable shot.  I post this for my dear friend Dr. Don Habbe.  The 4th at Pacific Dunes is a hard hole.  I know he will never forget this memorable birdie put that just happened to fall in the cup.

[Sam Sikes]

I have always though the tee shot on 9 at Winged Foot West is one of the hardest shots in golf.  No deception.  The shot is intimidating because the hole is so straight.  Master work in my opinion.  Also a wonderful vista.

[peter_p]

All these are architect inspired shots. Pooh. The hardest shots are often found after your prior shot went astray.

Mine is from the 5th tee to the 4th green at Tualatin, a forty yard shot over trees and shaggy rough to a green steeply sloping away, looking at a fifty yard run out.

[Josh Smith]

Peter,

     Loved the mental visual of that one.  I had that shot many times years ago.  H. Chandler Egan was the architect for those who know nothing of the course.  (they changed the junior guest policy because I went there with my friend who was a member way too often)
     I liked a lot of Jeff Foughts' changes as well years back.  I remember watching him driving his Jeep on the fairway of the old seventh wearing Jeans plotting out how to improve it.  I was probably in Eighth grade.  That was the first moment it hit me, People can be paid to design golf, can drive their cars on the course, and wear jeans at private clubs.  Cool.
     Do you remember the old 7, 8, 9.  The old ninth was one of the strangest and most interesting, memorable short par four holes I can ever recall.  

Josh

[David Sneddon]

Second shot on #14 Royal Dornoch, especially with the pin tucked behind the mound.

[Andy Troeger]

All these are architect inspired shots. Pooh. The hardest shots are often found after your prior shot went astray.

Mine is from the 5th tee to the 4th green at Tualatin, a forty yard shot over trees and shaggy rough to a green steeply sloping away, looking at a fifty yard run out.

I tend to agree with this...my most memorable is the 5th at the Dunes Club in Michigan. I hit in the left hay and had 160 all-carry over the water to the green with my only stance forcing the ball to be above my feet and just outside my back foot. I was hacking so I grabbed 6 iron, hit it about a mile in the air, and watched it come down 10 feet from the hole  

The problem with this being my most memorable hard shot is that I also remember 3 putting afterward!  

[JR Potts]

Many of the memorable hard shots are not something an architect can create. Why? Because it is the unmemorable previous shot that creates the memorable hard shots, i.e. recovery shots. One in particular I remember was hitting a half driver off of a steep upslope through a small hole in the tree branches onto the green 150 yards away. Others are shaping recovery shots around trees, driving the ball into embankments to get them to pop up and finish in region it would never be possible to have the ball finish otherwise, etc.

The randomness of nature and the lay of the land make possible shot requirements that would not otherwise be present. Perhaps that is why many of us prefer the minimalist style.

I don't think that could have been said much better.  My most memorable shot was on 18 at Riviera.  I shot 39 on the front and got my ass handed to me in our bet.  I starting drinking on the 8th due to the thumping I was getting.  On the 9th green, I announced to the group that I was going to shoot 34 on the back and win the bets.  

I birdied 10, eagled 11, birdied 12 and proceeded to give back a few..until the 18th.  I hit what I thought was a great drive.  However, my caddy correctly informed me that I hit it too far right.  I had to hit a cutting 6 iron to even have a chance at the green.  I took the club back, and hit it exactly like I envisioned it......it landed 10 feet from the hole....I missed the put and tapped in for a 34.

I've probably hit better shots...on harder holes, but there is no greater feeling than hitting a difficult shot exactly like you pictured it.

[JSlonis]

and by the way i would definitely prefer a fade to a draw off that tee all day long.

You've piqued my curiousity...I've played quite a few rounds at Merion, and you may be the first person that I've heard say this.

Why?  

To me, there is nothing about the tee shot that would fit my eye, and make me feel more comfortable hitting a fade compared to a draw off the tee.  There are a lot of trees all along the entire left side of the tee shot. There is a lot more room favoring a right to left shot off that tee.

Again, I'm just curious as to your reasoning.

[peter_p]

John,
I still miss those holes, equal to or better than the ones that replaced them. The 7th originally started at the rear of the driving range and had a harder dogleg, which made the green difficult to hold because of its orientation. The 8th was 175 yards of (t)error with its double level elevated green. The 9th was a driveable, elevated (at least three stories) 4 par where I went drive, swing -chain reaction violation of Rules 18-2, 14-4, 19-2, 27-1, pocket.

Garland,
Sorry, I speed-read the thread and missed your response.

[Adam Clayman]

Jans Nat'l is the former Evanston community golf course. Effectionately known as Canal Shores, the course sits on narrow strips of land that paralell the Chicago sanitary canal, starting from the shadows of Dyche Stadium, out to the Bahai Temple in Wilmette Il. It then traverses neighborhoods, elevated train tracks and is a tree lined poorly maintained bit of North Shore lore.
This past mild winter found the legal eagle and one other attempting to navigate the quirky course in reverse. With something like seven streets to navigate, the round was chronicled here on GCA and if i recall correctly was almost halted when one of the participants hit a cop car (or was it nearly hit a cop car?) Needful to say, The Jans is probably one of the hardest places in the world to shoot under par, let alone not lose a ball on one of the banks of the canal. There's a plethora of intereting pushed up features, which when fully appreciated, enlightens the golfer to the real Big World theory. Virtually guaranteeing potential snobby attitudes towrds the worlds finest venues will forever be extinguished.

How was that?

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