How much would you spend to play one hole?

[Kyle Harris]

Any one hole, anywhere...

[JESII]

What's the green fee at TPC Sawgrass?

How many rounds per year there?

[Kyle Harris]

What's the green fee at TPC Sawgrass?

How many rounds per year there?

Heh.

I think Jim is keenly aware of where I am going with this one.

$35.00 to play the 9th hole at Raven's Claw... hmmm

[Joel_Stewart]

I don't get it?   Spend say $100 to go to Cypress Point and hit 1 shot on the 16th hole.

I wouldn't pay anything to do that???

[Kyle Harris]

I don't get it?   Spend say $100 to go to Cypress Point and hit 1 shot on the 16th hole.

I wouldn't pay anything to do that???

Joel, perhaps not at Cypress...

But at a Doak 4 course where there is only one or two holes worth seeing, isn't that what one is essentially doing?

[Ronald Montesano]

I don't think so.  Unless someone is that finicky, one should be there to play the whole course, to determine why the one or two select holes are awarded so much more merit than the others.

[cary lichtenstein]

Some guys will spend half their life's earning to "play one hole"

So me, if you're going to do it in golf, the 16th at Cypress is the hole.

Now, what comes 2nd and 3rd?

2nd: eight a Pebble

3rd: 12 at Augusta

4th:  9 at Yale

[PCCraig]

I'm not sure I would pay just to play one hole. To me a golf course is like a roller coaster with lulls and flips. You can't fully enjoy the first couple flips and screws before the slow opening incline and the anticipation that comes with it.

That being said part of what makes a hole like the 16th at Cypress or 12th at Augusta or 7th at Pebble or 17th at Sawgrass so neat are the holes leading up to it. Being able to fully digest the shots needed to far in the round and then a special hole appears at just the right moment of the round (which is a big reason it would be considered special).

As for the one or two good holes on a Doak 4 I wouldn't pay just to play one or two holes, even if the other suck, just because its no fun just playing one hole and leaving.

[Joe Hancock]

I don't get it?   Spend say $100 to go to Cypress Point and hit 1 shot on the 16th hole.

I wouldn't pay anything to do that???

Joel, perhaps not at Cypress...

But at a Doak 4 course where there is only one or two holes worth seeing, isn't that what one is essentially doing?

Sounds to me like someone that I wouldn't enjoy golfing with. Golf is way more than an analytical endeavor to dissect the qualities of every hole individually while actually trying to be engaged in the sport. Go get a $10 Nassau going with a good friend and enjoy the damn game already....

Joe

[Kyle Harris]

I don't get it?   Spend say $100 to go to Cypress Point and hit 1 shot on the 16th hole.

I wouldn't pay anything to do that???

Joel, perhaps not at Cypress...

But at a Doak 4 course where there is only one or two holes worth seeing, isn't that what one is essentially doing?

Sounds to me like someone that I wouldn't enjoy golfing with. Golf is way more than an analytical endeavor to dissect the qualities of every hole individually while actually trying to be engaged in the sport. Go get a $10 Nassau going with a good friend and enjoy the damn game already....

Joe

Nor is it simply slapping a ball around a field. If so, save me the expense and just mow some short grass in a field.

I accept the Big World Theory, but I'm curious about the Opportunity Cost corollary.

[Joe Hancock]

Kyle,

What's the best hole you've ever played?

How much did you pay to play there?

Is there a hole somewhere that you believe to be better than anything you've played, to date?

That should get you close to your Opportunity Cost Corollary....I think.


This is quite interesting to think about...."The 17th at Sawgrass is the best course I've ever played...".

Joe

[Kyle Harris]

Kyle,

What's the best hole you've ever played?

How much did you pay to play there?

Is there a hole somewhere that you believe to be better than anything you've played, to date?

That should get you close to your Opportunity Cost Corollary....I think.


This is quite interesting to think about...."The 17th at Sawgrass is the best course I've ever played...".

Joe

Joe,

It's not so much the 17th at Sawgrass being the best course you've ever played. It's also the prior 16 holes before that. How many island greens exist in the world? How many have the holes before them or after them like at Sawgrass?

The case which brought my line of thinking to fruition is the 9th hole at Raven's Claw that Joe Bausch started a thread on last week. The 8 holes leading to it are nothing really noteworthy, and the holes after it aren't noteworthy either, except for the 18th.

Does the quality of the 9th at Raven's Claw makes up for the lacking nature of the other holes? Is it worth $35.00?

[Jed Peters]

I'd pay 500 bucks to play the 12th at Augusta.

[Joel Zuckerman]

In these recessionary times, I think that, no matter how much one chooses to pay for a single hole of golf, that this hole is the obvious choice:


http://thelongestlistofthelongeststuffatthelongestdomainnameatlonglast.com/long58.html

[Chip Gaskins]

i would love to give Shinnecock #7 a go...

and Cherry Hills #1

and Riviera #10

and Loch Lomond #14

[Mike Bowline]

$500 to play #1 at Augusta, then, since I'm out there already, I'll just keep goin'.

[Mike Nuzzo]

At least when you play that Africa hole you get a free helicopter ride...

[Kyle Henderson]

I'd pay 500 bucks to play the 12th at Augusta.

I'll build a perfect replica if you agree  to play it 18 times per day at that rate.

[Shane Wright]

I don't know that I would pay a whole lot to play one hole on any course, but I would be willing to pay to walk 2 or 3 different courses without playing them....Cypress being one of them.

[JESII]

Kyle,

I don't think many of us understand what you're driving at...my first response was sincere in that I bet the vast majority of people paying for their first round at Sawgrass have one hole in mind while they are doing so and will remember one hole 12 months later...not that Sawgrass is anything short of a really good or great golf course...

Add in the fact that Sawgrass is accessible, and expensive and it should be the winner...if only it addressed your question, which it does not seem to do...

[Sean Leary]

Coeur d 'Alene would be the Sawgrass of the west coast, for the novelty of playing the floating green.

[Ed Tilley]

I heard a story about 'Calamity Corner' - the 14th at Royal Portrush.

Basically, an 'American visitor' came into the pro shop, paid his green fee, and then immediately went past the first tee and disappeared into the dunes. On returning to the clubhouse 45 minutes later, the pro asked him what he'd been doing. The American said that he had seen a magazine article with 'the best 18 holes in the world' and he wanted to play them all - he had therefore walked straight to the 14th at RP, played it twice, made a 3 and a 4 and walked off.

Leaving aside the fact that this story may not be entirely true, and that surely he should have paid two green fees, this illustrates what's wrong with these type of rankings. Take the 9th at RCD for example - I have a book of 'The world's greatest holes' which includes this in the best 18. Playing it in isolation would miss the point entirely - its greatness lies in the fact that it is a wonderful climax to an incomparable stretch of golf.

[Shane Wright]

Ed - I couldn't agree with your statement more.  #9 at RCD is one of the best in the world but only because of playing the holes leading up to it with the anticipation you are getting ready to play one of the world's greatest.  Coming off of the 8th green at RCD knowing what you are getting ready to take on is one of golf's priceless experiences. 

Paying whatever many pounds in the clubhouse to walk out with your Driver/hybrid/wedge/putter to the 9th teebox and then playing it once would a travesty.

[Scott Warren]

I'd pay 500 bucks to play the 12th at Augusta.

I'll build a perfect replica if you agree  to play it 18 times per day at that rate.

There is a replica at Northwick Park here in London.

[Drew Standley]

I wouldn't spend a dime to play one hole.  Give me the whole course or nothing at all.