The 10th at Turnberry Ailsa.
Unlike the tee shots of Ailsa 9 and Pebble 8, both of which I found mildly disappointing, the 10th is fully blooded and bluidy braw. The angle off the tee conspires with the visible green and outright length of the hole to tempt one down the dangerous left side.
Two centerline bunkers narrow this left-side tiger route the farther one drives, but the payoff for a successful drive is an easier second shot: a reverse Woking 4 strategy.
Even if you've succeed down the left, there's still plenty that can go wrong: even from the left, the second shot is "fun," in the Presbyterian sense.
The fundamental choice, then, in either match or medal, is to risk the left side on both shots for a great score, or take the higher road to the right. I imagine more than one golfer has claimed the hole with a 5. Or 6.
What makes the hole my favorite, though, goes well beyond the architecture. The setting alone is godsmacking beautiful, a testament as good as any to whatever, wherever, whoever you believe in. Natural (Ailsa Craig, sea, coast) and manmade (golf holes, lighthouse).
And then -- best of all perhaps -- the history! Here is history every way you could want it. There's Robert the Bruce, hero to the Scottish people. Duel in the Sun in '77 and Watson waking the echoes in '09.
Lastly, as you walk up 10 you notice the monument on the hill to the right. And if you climb that hill you will find it's a memorial, to those who died on this land while training to be pilots in war.
So there's great golf on this hole and at the same time there's so much more going on. Take it all in: when you walk the 10th, you'll never walk alone.
PS, did I mention the brook laddie?
http://www.bruichladdich-collection.com/2011/04/23/bruichladdich-links-series-four-turnberry-10th/