Worst Course Ever?

[Will MacEwen]

Me too.

I've played it and I wouldn't call it the worst.  Some nice views of Howe Sound.  The par three into Howe Sound itself would exclude it from being the worst.

I think the holes on the low side of the highway are actually pretty decent, although I barely remember them.  Furry is goofy, but is pretty much billed as such.  I believe there is actually a giant target painted on a cliffside on one of the holes.

I think you can have some fun with Furry if you manage your expectations.  Almost like a guilty pleasure...

[Steve_Lovett]

Wayne Golf Course - Bothell, WA
Par 65 - 4,900 yds +/-
Hole 12 - 172 yards - Par 4

...

I'm intriuged by this....a 172 yard par 4?  By all means give us a basic sketch of the hole.  I drew up a short par 4 where one had the option to drive over the green with the tee shot.

I found a pdf of the layout on the web. The green is fronted by a river and a sand trap on the direct line. Presumably, you cannot hold the green from the tee, or perhaps there is OB right behind it or something. The layout forms a dogleg, so you could hit it across the river on the left and then pitch onto the green.

I can try to sketch something up later this evening if I have a moment.  If someone who knows how to post a picture can send a message with their email I'll send a sketch.

It's a weird little hole - and not in a good way.

The creek runs at a diagonal away from the tee, and your approach does play across it - as a dogleg right.  The green is very shallow - perhaps 8 paces deep, and is benched into a steep upslope beyond the creek.  I would guess the green surface is elevated some 20' above the fairway, which is level with the tee.

Large mature trees block a straight shot from the tee, but a wild left-to-right bender can get to the green from the tee.

For most - the play is a pitching wedge at most to the fairway, followed by a flip lob wedge up the hill to the green.

Playing across the creek and pitching up is not an option as the slope is too steep, unless they haven't mowed in a few months, in which case your ball may get hung up in the weeds on the hillside.

For years, this course has had rubber mat tees - not as alternatives, but as the only tee on many holes.  Winter rules are played on the first two holes year 'round as the drainage is non-existent.  In fact - at some times of the year it's impossible to avoid casual water anywhere on the first hole.

Wayne is also known as home to hundreds, if not thousands of canadian geese.  The 4th and 8th hole border the Sammamish River - and if you don't watch your step you will have evidence of the geese's existence all over your shoes...

I could go on - but it would feel like piling on...!

[Mike_Cirba]

an all-time favorite on this site - Country Club of the Poconos...miles of cart paths, many lost balls.......7 iron tee shot, 4 iron approach to the green....it is an all-time classic.

Bruce is right.  Although he should use the full, appropriately pretentious name, "THE Country Club of The Poconos at Big Ridge".

This is the all-time worst course ever built.

Oh, I know we can name a bunch of munis and low-budget farm courses and all sorts of sins created by amateur architects...

But, this is worse...much, much worse.

You have to factor in the reasons why...

It is on literally hundreds and hundreds of acres...probably over ONE THOUSAND.

It is rolling, wooded land.

It does not have a smothering housing component.

A well-regarded professional architect was involved.



Yet, despite those seeming advantages.

The course traverses 12 miles from first tee to 18th green.

Despite that distance, not only is there not a single good golf hole, there is not even one shot that is worth withdrawing a club from your bag!!!

It includes a hole where you drive with a 9-iron, and then hit a freaking 3-iron, blind, over 200+yards of cat o'nine-tails!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It is horrible, and if there is a Hell, I'm pretty sure this is where they play.

[John Kirk]

What's the worst golf course you have ever played (and why?)

My nominations are Summitpointe in Milpitas, CA for it's incredibly bad front nine routing on the side of a hill-from my somewhat faded memory it seemed like all the fairways sloped either left to right or right to left about 45%.  I can't say anything about the back because I never got that far.

My other nomination is Sunol-I've played there twice in my life, both in industry tournaments that took 6 hours, and just hated the routing and conditioning.  I don't think anyone actually chooses to play Sunol, they just go there for a tournament.

Mike has the south Bay Area perspective correct.  Similarly, I played the front nine at Summitpointe when it was called Tularcitos, and hated Sunol the day I played it in a tournament.

"But I had no idea that water hazard was there."

[Tom Huckaby]

JK - hey, neither of you live here, and I'm confident neither of you frequent these courses like I do.  I'm gonna say I have better knowledge on these.
 

And I say neither Summitpointe nor either Sunol course is really that bad.  In fact, in the patheon of bad courses in the greater San Jose area they don't even get that high (low) on the list.. I'd say each of these are far worse courses:

San Jose Muni - boring slog, little redeeming qualities
The Ranch - way too much said already, completely awful
Sunnyvale Muni - a slightly less boring version of San Jose
Hayward Skywest - difficult but not much else good to say

I suppose it is all relative. Neither Summitpointe nor either Sunol course is GOOD, that's for sure... but they are far from the worst courses in their region, not to mention the worst courses ever.

In any case I still have a hard time calling any of these courses "the worst" because each is cheap and serves it's purpose!  Man I still want to save this for the mega-expensive yet still awful Trump-types.  Doesn't that make better sense?

[Mike Benham]

By no means are the Muni's, Skywest, San Jose or Sunnyvale the worst courses, even Sunol ain't that bad.   Because the holes are not memorable does not make it a "worst" golf course.  The designs may be boring but for each of those, the conditions at least make them playable.

I nominate Spring Hills in Corralitos (aka Watsonville) as the worst, specifically for the front side.  Many holes are memorable for all the wrong reasons.  It is quirk to a tee with a difficult 90 degree dogleg right opener, a ski slope side hill fairway on a par-4 and front side closer, a downhill par-3 where the parking lot is only a few paces over the green.  The property is flat and hilly with a valley or two.  The clubhouse is a converted farm house which gives you an idea of the proper use of the land.


Ps:  But I usually play it once a year ...

[Kevin_Reilly]

LOL, reading this I was thinking Tularcitos, and had no idea that it was now Summitpointe (actually anything with a 'Pointe' or some other pretentious spelling is probably going to be bad).  I played it in high school golf in the early 1980's and even though any course was a good course to me back then, I thought it was terrible.

As far as courses I avoid playing deliberately, right now it is just The Bridges at Gale Ranch, Johnny Miller's tribute to Royal Dornoch.

[Tom Huckaby]

Kevin - great call re The Bridges.  That is far worse than any locals mentioned yet, with the exception of THE RANCH (of course), the standard by which all awful golf courses ought to be judged.  And hell yes it used to be Tularcitos... I still have a t-shirt somewhere they used to give you if you walked it.  It said "I walked Tularcitos" on it and had a picture of a mountain-climber.

Mike - come on, Spring Hills is darn fun.  I'd play that 10 times for every once at the local munis.  It's quirky as hell and has the greatest golf porch this side of Mullen NE or Southhampton, NY.  But yes, if quirk bothers you and/or you believe you have an inalienable right to hit driver off of every tee, Spring Hills would not be your cup of tea.
 

[Steve_Lovett]

Another might be Royal St. Augustine, Florida...

I've heard you need to walk single file between houses down some fairways...

[Garland Bayley]

Gotta love the new search functionality. I figured Steve was describing the hole Jordan did a thread on.

http://golfclubatlas.com/forum/index.php/topic,21440.msg388660/topicseen.html#msg388660

[Mike Golden]

JK - hey, neither of you live here, and I'm confident neither of you frequent these courses like I do.  I'm gonna say I have better knowledge on these.
 

And I say neither Summitpointe nor either Sunol course is really that bad.  In fact, in the patheon of bad courses in the greater San Jose area they don't even get that high (low) on the list.. I'd say each of these are far worse courses:

San Jose Muni - boring slog, little redeeming qualities
The Ranch - way too much said already, completely awful
Sunnyvale Muni - a slightly less boring version of San Jose
Hayward Skywest - difficult but not much else good to say

I suppose it is all relative. Neither Summitpointe nor either Sunol course is GOOD, that's for sure... but they are far from the worst courses in their region, not to mention the worst courses ever.

In any case I still have a hard time calling any of these courses "the worst" because each is cheap and serves it's purpose!  Man I still want to save this for the mega-expensive yet still awful Trump-types.  Doesn't that make better sense?

Huck,

I've only played San Jose Muni once, probably about 6 holes which took 2 1/2 hours and quit.  Sunnyvale Muni 2X (my office was almost around the corner, that's how little I wanted to play there).  I actually never played Summittpointe, I think it was still Tularcitos when I was there but still think it's the worst course ever.  And Sunol is just atrocious, IMO, but, as I said before, both rounds were for industry tournaments with two groups on each tee.  I think I actually played Sunol in 1970 also when it was a tour stop but only remember hitting a 7 iron short of #18 into the pond with the spray coming out of the middle and the ball hit a rock and bounced on the green.  That was truly great architecture

My candidate for worst upscale is PGA West Norman, played there with the departed Redanman, The Emperor and John VB about 8 years ago and we all universally hated it.  I just remember hitting a ball 5' off the fairway into the desert except there was ground cover and plants all over the desert so you had to take a drop and penalty.  That was our afternoon round after TPC-Stadium beat us up.  But dinner at Sullivan's was outstanding, as was the scenery at the bar (unfortunately this was in my final days of marriage...).

[Tom Huckaby]

Mike:  understood.  Just note that little at the course in Milpitas has changed in many years, except the name.  So we are talking about the same golf course.  And I stand by my comments - no way is that the worst course ever, nor worst course in its area.  Neither are either at Sunol.  But none are really any good either, so it's just a matter of degrees and relativity.   

I do recall the hatred for that Norman course... since then many have echoed it.  Yikes.

[Mike Golden]

Mike:  understood.  Just note that little at the course in Milpitas has changed in many years, except the name.  So we are talking about the same golf course.  And I stand by my comments - no way is that the worst course ever, nor worst course in its area.  Neither are either at Sunol.  But none are really any good either, so it's just a matter of degrees and relativity.   

I do recall the hatred for that Norman course... since then many have echoed it.  Yikes.

Huck, my list of golf courses is smaller than many on this site, I would put Boulder Creek on there as well but, once again, played only 6 holes once which took well over 2 hours and decided it wasn't worth it.  My list of courses never to be played again is fairly long but more for the 'no walking allowed' aspect than horrible layout-I'm honestly trying to think of courses I just hated in other areas of the country-just thought of one-Skylinks in Long Beach, what a horror story, at least the front nine, never saw the back (if the front nine isn't worth it I never see the back).

[Steve_Lovett]

Gotta love the new search functionality. I figured Steve was describing the hole Jordan did a thread on.

http://golfclubatlas.com/forum/index.php/topic,21440.msg388660/topicseen.html#msg388660

Yes, Garland...  I thought I remembered the discussion, but didn't have time to go looking for it.

I'll be back in Seattle in mid-May, and for the heck-of-it I may play out there again to remind myself why I haven't in many years!

The 9-holer, Wellington Hills in nearby Woodinville isn't much, if any, better... 

[Bill_McBride]

Good calls on Furry Creek  and Massanuten, which I'd forgotten.

Furry Creek should never have been built, the land is too steep, the fairways are like terraced vineyards on the Ligurian Coast of Italy.  Someone told me once that Robert Muir Graves took on the project for purely financial reasons.  The marvelous scenery notwithstanding, it is a terrible golf course.  I did see a really cool black bear there.

Massanutten is one of those ski resort golf courses, and in a marginal ski area for starters.  The doglegs are all the wrong length, you are forever blocked from the target lines, either long or short.

I have played a lot of submarginal courses - including a nine holer in Walla Walla Wash that was a meadow with mowed out greens - that were fun to play, but the two above nominees were more painful than fun.

[John Keenan]

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

[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.

[Daryl David]

Bear Mountain Ranch, Chelan WA.

Every hole consistently disappoints. 

[Sean Leary]

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

[Steve_Lovett]

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.

[Will MacEwen]

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

Let me know if anyone makes it over the Vancouver Island ...

[Mike Benham]

 But yes, if quirk bothers you and/or you believe you have an inalienable right to hit driver off of every tee, Spring Hills would not be your cup of tea.
 

Don't tip-toe around your opinion, I'm sure you are directing it at someone ...


Mr. Golden has selected a few courses based on the slow play and I suggest Spring Hills for the conditioning and piece of land it was built on ... in some regards, it is not that much different then Summitpointe/Tularcitos ...

And as I noted, I do play it annually which is more then I can say for DeLaveaga ...

[Chris_Blakely]

Lido Beach GC, NY  Played here three times, every time horrible conditions (and I am not a conditions guy) all three rounds were over 7 hours and once I left with 3 holes to play.

Fallen Timbers GC, OH

[Kalen Braley]

Gotta love the new search functionality. I figured Steve was describing the hole Jordan did a thread on.

http://golfclubatlas.com/forum/index.php/topic,21440.msg388660/topicseen.html#msg388660

Thanks for the link,

I checked it out on google maps and it looks like the green sits in front of the creek now...but couldn't be sure.  Either way, its not a great satellite shot due to shadows and its hard to tell exactly what is going on.  It doesn't help that the pdf file shows the water hazard being much larger than it actually is.

[John Kirk]

It seems a few of us have upgraded our golf lives in the last 20 years.  I lived in Sunnyvale for many years and never played Sunnyvale Muni.  I played it once or twice when I was really young, maybe 10-12 years old, before I really started golfing.  It would have just opened then.

I played many of these courses in a Ford Aerospace intramural golf league, which traveled to a different venue every month.  Franklin Canyon, Tilden Park, all the biggies.

Speaking of Ridgemark, have you guys noticed how many kids wear "cool" shirts with "Hollister" printed on the front?  I can't help shaking my head, as I find it hard to understand how the city of Hollister became cool.

Please note the highlight of the golf season was the trip to Santa Teresa.  I also played in a summer 9-hole league at Palo Alto Municipal, which I kind of like.