Worst Course Ever?

[Kalen Braley]

For you south bay guys, I played Pruneridge once with a friend and it was an absolute swamp.  It was tight, cramped, and it seemed like any ball not in the fairway was in someones back yard.  Not the worst ever, but seeing how we are piling on South Bay golf, I thought I would join in.

I've never seen any affordable quality options in that area. Sure there was Cinnabar, but that was pricy for the wages I was making back then. My clubs and my money usually went to the outer reaches of the North and East Bay.

[Bill_McBride]

The Bridges in San Ramon is a great example of taking a bad piece of land and being told to put a golf course on it. Not much Miller could do. 

Interesting marketing of The Bridges it is called a course with attitude. I would add bad attitude

Furry Creek was the same kind of deal, built for real estate development and not much consideration given to playability.  I suspect there are many more of those out there than we suspect.

Bill,

Are we heading up to Furry Creek when you are up this way this summer? Maybe surf and turf with Capilano

I would suggest skipping the "surf" - while Capilano is one of my all time favorites.

Not sure I'll be golfing up your way, although we are doing an Orcas / Victoria / VCR non golfing trip in early August. 

[Tom Huckaby]

Holey moley, this is a tour of south SF Bay Area public golf!  You guys are mentioning all the "greats" that fill up my regular golf life.

Mike G - Boulder Creek is decent fun - I can't put it in this list either.  Par 65 or something, and yes if it was crowded, then skip it... but get it on an uncrowded day and there's a lot to like there, I think.

John K. - very cool you've seen many of these - so do you still put Summitpointe and Sunol at the bottom?  I don't.

Mike B. - I'll take the land Spring Hills is on over any of the other courses mentioned - I honestly and truly do think it's a quite fun golf course - and it's always had conditions as good as any others mentioned when I've played it as well.  But you're not alone in disliking it.  In any case I couldn't resist the dig and got a kick out of my own language, that's all.   

Kalen - hell, Pruneridge is a 9 hole par 30, so what can really be expected?  They have re-done it recently, and conditions are decent.  It's main purpose is for practice and for beginners to learn the game.  I have a real hard time putting it in this conversation.  But you are right that affordable good courses basically don't exist in our area.  Even the glorious Santa Teresa is $60+ on weekends.  I guess that qualifies as affordable here... Then the higher-end places are all three figures.  Such is our golf world.

TH

[John Keenan]

On swampy courses there is a very short 9 hole course in Oakland called Montclair. It is build into a hillside and all rain water drains down onto the course and stays there.  There are no real tee box as usual rather a piece of astro turf and a rubber tee the same as you would find at a driving range.

I have great memories of playing there with my son when he was quite young.Given that  it could never rate as the worst of anything.

I am coming to the realization that I enjoy being on a golf course be PB, Cypress or Montclair.

[Tom Huckaby]

John Keenan:

I believe you and I think quite the same about this.  I've played Montclair par three course (my wife used to work near there, killed time waiting for her a few times playing this course); and I rather enjoyed it.  Can't put this on any "worst"list either.

Once again for me the worst courses are those that are obscenely designed and obscenely expensive.  No course around here meets that standard except THE RANCH.

And I have to say I've had fun on each of my rounds there.

I do love this game.

TH

[John Keenan]

TH

I have stayed away from The Ranch due to its slope, cost and the comments from you and others on this site. 

Playing golf (even badly) on a poor course is for me better than not playing. Not all agre with this but thats ok.  Yes if worse came to worse and buddies wanted to play the Ranch I would give it a go. 

 

[Kalen Braley]

Ahhhh brother, don't even get me started on Santa Teresa!!!   

So Tom, How much is Santa Clara a.k.a Stars and Stripes going for these days?  I used to play it back in the day as it was in the $30-35 range.  I suspect its a bit more than that now....

[S. Huffstutler]

The Heathlands of Onekama...Onekama, Mi.


A boomerang par 4 and the worst finishing hole in Michigan...overhead power line over the tee, blind second shot into a lake you can't see.


awful.





Personal disclaimer: I used to work there. Whether I got fired or quit depends on who you are talking to.

s

[Tom Huckaby]

John Keenan - now of course I still don't think one ought to seek out THE RANCH, but like you say, if someone has a teetime, the buddies want to go, and especially if you get one of the many green fee specials they offer, then heck yeah, in the end, it's golf!

Kalen:  re Santa Teresa, just remember, I can give it crap, it's my home course.  But if others start, well then it's my home course and I get defensive.  I do love the place, warts and all.  As for Santa Clara Muni, it's $29 weekdays, $45 weekends for non-residents.  So not too much increase... And for these parts, a pretty good deal still.  That's a pretty decent golf course.

TH

[Chris Cupit]

There was some course that hosted the ACC Championship in 1990/91 near Greensboro, NC.  Maybe Northranch?  Of course, we called it goatranch.

Out of bounds right and left on 18 consecutive holes--OB was so close as to be in play on virtually every hole.

10th hole about 420 dogleg right.  OB right and left.  Lake at about 200 off the tee.

You could lay up on the very downhill tee shot with a five iron and have a three or four iron for your uphill secnd shot or you could try and carry a drive about 250 up over the trees and over the OB AND cut it to land on the other side of the lake.  

Of course, through the fairway was OB and given the fact that there was absolutely not a blade of green grass, running through the fairway, across the ever present cart paths and OB wasn't  out of the question!

Oh, and it was a club that had previously lost the ability to host the ACC because they would not let black golfers play as late as the 1980's.  Nice.

[Gary Daughters]

I used to play in a foursome that included a fairly well known news anchor, who has never lived down the course he took us to in Austell, Georgia.  In his defense he had only heard about it.

By the third or fourth hole we had taken to calling our outing the "Love Canal Open" in honor of the drainage ditch that stretched the length of the hole and was filled with something that looked like battery acid.  This was after slogging through ankle-deep mud and hideous brush to reach what purported to be the back tee but was really just a semi-dry bare spot.

The next hole or perhaps the hole after that was perched above a trailer park, and not a nice one.  The tee had one of those wooden mailbox posts that's supposed to support a diagram of the hole, but that part was gone.  So it looked like a cross, which prompted one of the 2 black members of the group to theorize that it had failed to light.

I've never laughed so much on a golf course.

I'm tempted to say that on the worst ever list it ranks just above the Carnegie Links at Skibo Castle.  But no, I won't say that.

[Richard Choi]

Bear Mountain Ranch, Chelan WA.

Every hole consistently disappoints. 

Have played in on our annual guys weekend trip the past two years.  Tough site, stunning views, perhaps 2 better than-average holes, 4 average holes, 9 worse than average holes, and 3 ridiculously awful holes...

I generally agree that it's far from what it could be.

A PRIME example of why you should hire a PROFESSIONAL golf course architect.

I remember the owner being quoted as saying something like "Every architect we interviewed said the land was so incredible for golf, it will almost build itself. So I figured, why pay high fees to hire a big name?"

So Don Barth (owner of Alta Lake golf course), landscape designer Robert Yount, and the owner ended up designing the course.

The word amaturish comes to mind. Too bad, the land is indeed dramatic, but it goes to show even when the land has good terrain, you need a good architect to make it sing.

[Andrew Balakshin]

If you were delighted by Furry Creek may I recommend some other essential experiences in the near vicinity?

Iron Mountain (re-named “18 Pastures” because “Iron Mountain” was just a little too intense)
   I really wish I had some pictures of this beauty. We’re talking huge mature trees pinching in the fairways lines and a genius routing that maximizes the number of times you go up (and back down) the side of the mountain. The fact that the golf carts are painted black and white like cows just adds to this magnificent experience.

The Falls
   This course also maximizes you time in the golf cart. It features 750 feet in elevation change and allows you to test your confidence on the golf cart. There is no shame about accidentally driving off a cliff here, everybody’s done it. Think about that. 750 feet of elevation change. Need I say more? No, but I will. It also has mandatory elevated tees of various dizzying heights and a routing so confusing you need to have a housing development map just to find your way to the next hole. Don’t forget to have your picture taken in front of the beautiful (and fake of course) waterfall built into the mountain on the 18th hole. Just make sure you get a gas cart, even an electric with full juice will have difficulty finishing this little gem of a course.

Honorable mentions: I recommend the Furber Trail featuring such classics as Hyde Mountain, Balfour, Northlands, and the legendary Silvertip.

[J_ Crisham]

The East course at Westgate in Palos can be a candidate for worst ever. Mercifully it was plowed under 15 yrs ago and is now a high end subdivision. My hope is that the Chicago guys will chime in and second my nomination! No bunkers, few trees and lots of guys without shirts on without the physique to do this.

[PThomas]

Jack is correct about that course at Westgate ...i played it once...and never went back

[Brad Tufts]

Massachusetts Division:

Cedar Glen (or Seedless Glen, depending on who you ask)...recently I found out this was a Stiles course...but its flat, short, boring, has a 210 yard par three with OB on both sides in the middle of the course.  Last time I played there in HS, I witnessed a pickup truck behind me driving down the center of the fairways picking up the pins at the end of the day.

Bradford Country Club...yikes...target, not well-kept, many blind shots, ridiculous holes that are way too narrow...and its supposed to be upscale public...ugh

Kelly Greens in Nahant...on the site of a former Stiles 9, there is now an "executive" length nine.  The fairways alternate b/t rock hard and underwater, as the place is built over an old marsh.  The two good aspects are that it's open all year, and the clubhouse, the former Tony C's, has good pub food.

Ponkapoag #1...the worst-conditioned course I've ever played...there is a good Ross-related layout under there...during my several rounds there, I encountered potholes in each fairway, one hole that was cut short from 420 to 280 due to a marsh basically eating the first half of the hole, and I watched a worker get a sand pro stuck in a bunker and literally destroy the bunker to get it out as we watched.  Horrific.

[Scott Whitley]

Kilkee, County Clare, regrettably.

[Gerry B]

18 pastures - I was wondering when someone woud bring up that cow pasture. a severe piece of property where you end up with the most ridiculous lies if you manage not to lose your ball.

Furry Creek - again some stunning views but some of the holes require one to hit clubs out of sequence due to where they put the forced carries. The old Moe Norman story where hit driver wedge on a hole -ie hit wedge and then driver would hold true here.

English Turn - a mediocre course that was perhaps in the the worst condition of any golf course I have ever played. Never saw the back nine as i quit after 9.

[michael j fay]

The Golf Platz, Kitbuhel, Austria-luckily open only about three months of the year. Definately the most highly elevated bad golf course at 8,000 feet.

[John Kirk]

Back to NoCal golf, how about that original Chardonnay course in Napa?  They may have renovated or rebuilt it by now, but it was difficult in the least likable way; long approach to long, narrow greens.  I played it once and hated it.

[Kalen Braley]

JK,

I played it last about 10 years ago and it seemed OK, not too tough.  But yes many of the greens were either long and skinny or shallow and deep.  One of the nicer courses I've played in the bay area.

[mike_beene]

Mountain Air.Great views but the most severe elevation changes.A  few astroturf tees,and some cart drives through neighborhoods.230 yard par 3 plays 160 it is so far down.I bought 6 balls before I teed off.Had to play 9 conservatively and buy 6 more at the turn.

[Tim Book]

Wow.  Never in my wildest dreams would I imagine a GCA thread discussing the merits of Sunol.  As a teenager my parents would drop me and my buddies at Sunol so we could play until dark.  All the golf you could play for $1.

I would play Sunol seven days out of seven before I would play the Bridges in San Ramon again.  If you are going to dig deep into the depths of East Bay golf how about Springtown in Livermore.  If I remember it plays thru a trailer park.

I would add Elkins Ranch or Chula Vista Muni in So. Cal to the list.

[Brock Peyer]

Brick Landing in Shallotte, NC.   I haven't played it in 12 or 13 years but I couldn't stand it at the time.

[Sam Morrow]

Heron Lakes in Houston.

http://heronlakesgc.com/golf/proto/heronlakesgc/