Favorite Hole of the Year

[Kenny Lee Puckett]

It's getting to be a very reflective time as the leaves are falling here in the Northeast.  With almost 50 days until old St. Nick comes down our chimney, what were the favorite
hole(s) that you actually played in 2004?  Any special circumstances? (Hole in one, magical sunsets, etc.).

My favorite in no particular order:

#14 at Tuxedo - 2 Iron Eagle
#9 at Myopia - It really was that thin
#7 at Fairfield - as well as #6, #8, #9, #17
#1 at Winged Foot West - "Today, we test ourselves"
#17 at Woodway at sundown
#18 at Pacific Dunes from the ubertips at sundown
#4 at Bandon as the 1st out as a single
#3 at Preston Trails with a new friend.
#17 at Harbour Town into a 9 club wind (4-5 for those who have normal ball flight)

What architectural gems made your year?

JWK

[cary lichtenstein]

Black Mesa, Paa Ko Ridge, Lakota Canyon, Sanctuary, Black Rock, Dallas National, Arcadia Bluffs, Kingsley Club, Victoria Hills

[John Goodman]

# 17 Royal Ashdown Forest
# 4 RSG
#9 and 10 Yale
# 6 at Samuel Ryder's course, Verulam, where I skulled a wedge from 100 yards into the bank fronting the green resulting in an unintended but strategic-looking 2.

[Lance Rieber]

Homestead (Utah) My wife and I's only round of the year but boy did she hit a beauty on # 2 par 3 uphill five wood, to about fifteen feet.  Great scenery and the best company.
Lance

[Sean Leary]

Pine Valley (all holes)
The Old Course  (all holes except for #17)
Pebble Beach (8 and 18)
Spyglass (4)
Pasatiempo (11, 16)
North Berwick (Pit, Redan, and 16)
Royal Dornoch  (2,6,14)
Aldarra (17)
Seattle GC (11)
Wilmington South (18)
Stonewall (4,8,18)
Predator Ridge (1)

 

[Jfaspen]

18 at caledonia with the sun setting over the water to the left (looking back)
12 at the smith course at tree tops (signature) (or whatever the par 3 is there), i came 1 roll from an ace.
#4 at the Reserve in South Myrtle Beach, beautiful par 5, awesome hole to play at a great little Norman gem.


Those are prob the top 3...  Decent year for golf.. Nothing to make the jawdrop, but I played a lot of courses that I hadn't seen yet

[Sam Sikes]

Pine Valley #2,3,4,5,6,11,13,14,16,17,18
National #4,7,8,9,10,11,12,14,16,17,18
Honors Course #17 (just love that hole for some reason)
Kinloch #3,4,5,8,10,12,16,17
Fenway Golf Club #1,9,15
Shoal Creek #13
Winged Foot (W) #2,3,9,10,15,16,18
Winged Foot (E) #2,7,9,11,13!!!,17
Sharks Tooth #12,13
The Ledges (Huntsville, AL) #2,11,14,15,17
Turtle Point (Florence,AL, surprised I couldn't find discussion in past threads about this one) #3,5,6,9,10,12
Pete Dye GC #8,10 (except for the waterfall),14
C.C. of Birmingham West #16,18 (beautiful finish into the clubhouse)
Hermitage C.C. Sabot Course(Richmond, VA) #13
Philly Cricket #9
Old Memorial #14,15,18
Pinehurst #8 Oh wait, not a single standout hole there.
Whistling Straits #8,13,17
Blackwolf Run #16
C.C. Virginia (Westhampton) #8 One great hole 17 quirky ones.

Sorry to list so many holes, but I was hoping that some one might like to respond to a couple of holes that I picked, most notably some of the more obscure ones.  

 

[ian]

Didn't it say favourite hole, as in one hole?



The Creek Club 6th hole, unlike anything I had seen before, except possibly the 1st on the Banks nine at Montclair.

Great strategy of a draw tee shot followed by a fade approach, beautiful view over the best terrain on the property, a view of the ocean, wonderful rolling fairway contour, a great fall-away green, a punch bowl green site, and plenty of difficulty.

A hole that I wish I had the imagination to create.

[Bill Gayne]

#9 at County Down

[Patrick_Mucci]

Ian Andrew,

Is not the stretch of # 1, 2, 3, and 4 on the 4th nine at Montclair, incorporating a par 5, par 3 and two par 4's one of the great stretches of starting holes in all of golf ?

As a kid, it was great for golf and tobaganing, unfortunately, when we toboganed, we had to pull our tobogans back uphill, whereas with golf, we played our way back.  Toboganing from # 7 tee was great, as was the ride down # 6 on the 1st nine.

One of the best natural wells with a continuous running waterfountain, ran 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, right behind the 3rd green.

Montclair was a great test for all 36 holes before the tennis courts ruined the 1st nine (1, 2, 8 and 9) and some of the greens on all but the 4th nine were softened due to the need for speed.

If you could play well at Montclair, you could play well anywhere.

[Bill_McBride]

Sean Leary, #16 North Berwick is the Gate hole.  What a green!

[nandoal]

Played Oakmont for the 1st time yesterday.  #17 was my fav hole of the year.

[Pete Lavallee]

Cleopatra, #9 at Jasper Park was the best hole of the year; highlights included receiving operating instructions from Golf's Most Beloved Figure, an up and down from right greenside bunker that was at least 20 feet deep, two more solid pars and coaching a Canadian into just how to bounce his ball onto the green and get his only birdie of the day!

[Steve Lapper]

Favorite Hole to see:

#9 at Myopia Hunt Club....America's Postage Stamp

Favorite Hole to play:

#8 at Sand Hills.....1 eagle, 3 birdies.

Favorite Hole to avoid:

#8 at Merion........1 par, multiple bogeys and doubles

[Joel_Stewart]

Many of the holes at the new Mike Strantz course at Monterey Peninsula CC are very good.  From a scenic point, #11 is very good.

[Brian_Gracely]

Favorite Hole(s): #8 & #9 at Cypress Point
Favorite Par3: #14 MPCC (Dunes)
Favorite Par5: #6 Holston Hills
Favorite Green: #3 at Lost Dunes
Favorite Tee-Shot: #9 at Turnberry Ailsa
Favorite Approach: #5 at Western Gailes

Honorable Mention: #4 Southern Pines; #13 Prestwick; #11 Rustic Canyon; #16 Pasatiempo; #11 & #16 Warren Course; #10 Royal Troon; #5 Lost Dunes; #3 Pacific Grove; #4 Lincoln Hills

[Lloyd_Cole]

The Island 14th.
http://www.theislandgolfclub.com/course/14.asp

[ForkaB]

#6 at Painswick.

[Matthew Mollica]

Barnbougle Dunes #4. Without Question.

A host of Runner Up holes including-

Barnbougle Dunes #3, #7,#9, #10, #12, #13, #14, and #17
 
Paraparaumu Beach #5 and #16.

Played them all for the first time.

MM

[Cory Lewis]

I will preface my favorite holes for this year by saying so far because my Cuscowilla/South Carolina trip hasn't taken place yet.

Overall favorite hole would probably be the 11th at Beechtree only because I holed out for eagle there three times this year, each time from at least 70 yards.  Other favorite holes:
Par 3's
#5 at Camargo
#2 at Garden City
#11 at Philadelphia CC
#4 at Hollywood

Par 4's
#1 at Oakmont
#9 at Shinnecock
#12 at Rolling Green
#15 at Fenway

Par 5's
#16 at Shinnecock
#1 at Quaker Ridge
#8 at Forsgate(Banks)
#8 at Beechtree

[James Edwards]

Four on a recent trip to SW Ireland with the EIGCA.

#13, #14 and #15 at Doonbeg
#12 BallyBunion

[John Foley]

For first time plays:

#13 @ Oak Hill East

Close runner-ups
#15 @ French Creek. I personally love the driveable par 4 and this may be One of the best.

#8 @ Rustic Canyon. Love the short par 3 and this is a great one.

[Jeff_Mingay]

I'll say, #5 at University of Michigan Golf Course. It's a neat par 3 that plays over a dip in the land, to a tiny, tiny green that slopes away from the tee at the back.

[ian]

Patrick,

"Is not the stretch of # 1, 2, 3, and 4 on the 4th nine at Montclair, incorporating a par 5, par 3 and two par 4's one of the great stretches of starting holes in all of golf ?"

Absolutely, a wonderful start to a great nine holes. I was blown away by the first and the Redan in particular. It was great fun to play, but really hard to score on. This was my first taste of CBM, Raynor or Banks. It was a great start to a slowly building obsession. Bahto's Book, The Creek Club and NLGA have cemented my desire to see as much as I can.

[Dan_Callahan]

I saw two very good par 5s this year that couldn't be more different:

#7 at Ekwanok (VT), a perfectly natural hole with a blind second shot over a huge hill (at almost 600 yards, the second shot is only a layup).

#1 at the Ranch (MA), a beautiful hole that wraps around a pond to the left and is framed by massive bunkers on the right.