best dogleg holes

[PThomas]

what are some of the best dogleg holes you played...and why??

[Rick Shefchik]

My first thought was Pebble Beach #18. Maybe not a classically defined dogleg, but the fairway bends, so I'll count it.

As with all good doglegs, the challenge on the tee is paramount. Once you have your tee shot safely in place on a dogleg hole, it then becomes a standard golf hole. I've played PB #18 twice, and both times I failed to hit the fairway off the tee. My natural tee shot is a draw, and both times I pulled it too far left. The hole should fit my eye, but the cluster of trees in the center of the fairway is disconcerting (it's the perfect line -- do you want to hit right at an obstacle, and then find your second shot obstructed?), the safe route to the right leaves you miles from the green and brings out of bounds into play, and the route down the left side is dangerous, to say the least. I found it hard to make a good, slow, confident swing.

The epic setting certainly adds to the challenge, and the thrill. Oh, and PB #8 is a pretty good dogleg, too.

[Ronald Montesano]

isn't this splitting hairs?  won't the thread go on forever?  pick a great course and you have 5-10 you could discuss, sometimes including par threes!!

[PCCraig]

How about the 17th at TCC. What makes the hole are the bunkers on the inside of the right to left dogleg (which the hole plays on a natural right to left ridge) and the green which is tiny, in two tiers, and angled toward those left bunkers for the best approach. When there is no rough you can pretty much knock your tee ball over the bunkers and leave a soft wedge shot, but if there is rough, it's a three-wood / short iron.

Great hole.

[PThomas]

isn't this splitting hairs?  won't the thread go on forever?  pick a great course and you have 5-10 you could discuss, sometimes including par threes!!

lets talk about the VERY best ones, and pls explain why they are

an example:  the 7th at Butler, when you can be in the fairway for your first AND second shots...and not have a straightforward shot due to trees

[Don Hyslop]

My favourite is the second hole at Highland Links. This 447 yd hole called Tam O'Shanter has a dogleg right and to me is one of the top par 4s in the world. This description aptly sums up my feelings about the hole:

"The second is a 447-yard par four that sweeps downhill and turns to the right; it is one the best two-shot holes in Canada, and certainly on a short list of the country's best bunkerless holes. The tee shot should favour the right side of the fairway, setting up a downhill second into a green framed by an ocean inlet. The approach from the hillside offers pause to take in the scenery, but the shot itself warrants your full attention; a large swale short protects the wildly undulating green."

Take a look:

http://www.highlandslinksgolf.com/holes.asp?hole=2

[mike_malone]

 I love #15 at Rolling Green because it brings the dogleg so much into play. At only 350 yards and an elevated tee one can just lay something out there and have a straightforward up hill second shot. However, you can try to hit it over the trees that form the dogleg on the left. This can leave a blind wedge shot.Also. you can try to hug the trees on the left with a low shot bringing the trees into play with a mishit. But, if you take more club but go straight or right you end up in a creek on the right. It is a easier shot to come in from the right side but longer. The approach is challenging to an uphill green with a ridge running through it.

   It is my favorite hole on the course and it's probably because it is a dogleg.

       

[Mac Plumart]

18 at Cascata is a lot of fun.

You can hit the normal straight forward tee shot or try to hit a blind tee shot over a hill/mounatin to try to cut the corner.  If you pull this blind shot off, you are staring  down an eagle...if not double bogey at least.

Of course the normal tee shot requires you to miss the stream that runs the length of the fairway and after the hole doglegs you can choose to challenge the green which is guarded by a pond...or take the easy lay up approach shot.

It is a double risk reward par 5 hole. 

And oh yeah...it is stunningly beautiful!!

[Jack Davis]

To really appreciate a great dogleg, I need to the play hole many times. Through my internships via the Penn State PGM program I have gotten the chance to spend my summers at some fantastic golf courses. Each summer a few key doglegs have stood out in my mind.

Plainfield - Holes 17 and 18

Not many courses I have played end with two consecutive dogleg par 4's. The 17th and 18th holes at Plainfield force the golfer to make very firm decisions off the tee in order to get the ideal shot into the green. Both holes are so severe in nature that missing your line not only means a longer shot in, but often no shot at all. The 17th bends right against an out of bounds road and a tall tree on the inside of the dogleg pushes most tee shots wide left. Those who bail out left off the tee are left with an extremely difficult shot up the hill to a blind green. Just a great and demanding dogleg. The 18th hole is a little less daunting but nonetheless requires some skilled shots. Anything from a long iron to a driver works off the tee depending on the skill of the golfer. A small pond and tall trees guard the inside of the dogleg while out of bounds looms on the right. Similar to the 17th, 18 works towards an elevated green containing some fast downhill putts in the direction of the false front. Even while the great tree removal and restoration work by Hanse has given the golfer more room and options throughout the course, 17 and 18 demand the golfer to pick a line and execute off the tee and hit a quality iron to get onto the heavily guarded and raised greens.

Spyglass Hill - Holes 4, 8, 14, 16, and 17

I have not played any golf course that uses doglegs so frequently and so effectively. Not getting into too much detail about each hole, but RTJ is a master of the dogleg. Getting the chance to play at Spy all summer really gave me the opportunity to appreciate these fantastic holes. It seems that I used every club in my bag on these beauties, especially the short 4th and 17th. What makes these two holes so impressive is that even after say 30 rounds on the course I still stood on the tee boxes with 3 clubs in my hand. Anything from a long iron to 3 wood works with some shots with a driver for extra fun. The double dogleg 14th also makes you think on every shot, especially the on the layup. Spy is perhaps king of the dogleg?

Shinnecock Hills - Holes 1 and 18

While both great doglegs, each challenges the golfer very differently. 1 is a relatively easy opener compared to the rest of the course but that tee shot from high on hill is pretty exciting. I can't tell you how many times I thought my shot was heading on a great line when either bunkers or fescue swallowed up my opening ball. This hole begs you to cut off as much as you can but the prudent play on this hole is definitely the conservative one. The 18th on the other hand is a brute. From the tee you can see the pin taunting you way off to the left but the large bunker guarding the inside of the dogleg makes sure your drive is on a straight line towards the iconic clubhouse. Long hitters can carry this trap leaving themselves a mid iron. Most of the time I pushed my tee ball right trying to avoid this bunker and left myself with a long iron or hybrid into a very well protected green. After the fun stretch of 15 through 17 any golfer must hit four exceptional shots to walk off the 18th with a par.

[J_ Crisham]

The 4th hole at Lancaster is as fun a dogleg you will ever play. A 220 yard tee shot will leave you a wedge in but what a daunting shot  to an elevated green with a large creek in front. The green has some good slope to it so a shot can easily be spun off the green. Probably as sporty a short dogleg as you will ever see. Par is a good number here.
                                                                                                          Jack

[Tom_Doak]

One of my favorite dogleg par-4's that I've ever seen is the tenth hole at Highlands CC in the mountains of North Carolina.

It's a delayed dogleg right with a stream hard up along the right side of the fairway in the landing area, after which it makes a wiggle and crosses the fairway short of the green.  You really can't bite off any of the dogleg from the tee ... but the closer you can play to the stream on the right, the shorter you make the uphill approach to this long par-4.  And if you bail out too far to the left, just carrying the wiggle of the creek with your second shot is challenging enough that a handicap player might be better off laying up short of it in two, and playing the hole as a three-shotter.

[Ed Oden]

Tom, would you consider Ballyneal #7 a dogleg?  If so, then it has my vote.  Its in the running for best hole period.

Ed

[Mac Plumart]

Ed...please elaborate on 7 at Ballyneal.

[Ben Sims]

I'm gonna throw the 16th at Pasa in this fight.  Why?

1) Semi-blind tee shot that is much more forgiving than it appears.
2) Fear inducing view upon seeing what's required on approach.
3) Freakin' crazy waterfall green.  Get above the hole, your dead.
4) It was Doc Mac's fave.  

[Ed Oden]

Mac, its probably among the most discussed holes on this website.  Here is the view from the tee...



The meat of the fairway goes to the right of the bunker and then bends left toward the green (you can see the flag beyond the ridge on the left).  So it looks like a dogleg.  But there are an infinite number of lines you can take off the tee that are much more direct (and a lot more fun).  Regardless of how you play from the tee, you have to contend with one of the great greensites anywhere...



Ed

[PThomas]

the tough  par 5 2nd at The Ocean Course....dogleg left, trouble down both sides and i believe a hazard to be negotiated on the third shot

[Mac Plumart]

Two quick things...

Ed...thanks for posting pictures and verbage on 7 at Ballyneal.  All I can say is that is brings a big smile to my face.  The tee shot looks super cool and the green...WOW!!!!

Paul...2 at Kiawah...Truly an excellent hole!!!!

[Lenny Polakoff]

WFW has a great collection of dog leg holes as you have to hit the ball both ways. 
Especially 8, 16, 17, and 18.

[Kalen Braley]

Ed,

Do you really think BN #7 is a dogleg?  I know it has that massive bunker on the ideal line off the tee thats gives the illusion of a dog leg, but one can actually go left of that bunker and still find fairway, even though it is a blind approach.

I'm not a long hitter by anyones wild stretch of the imagination and I hit my 3w over that fairway bunker for a wedge approach.

[Rick Shefchik]

Spyglass Hill - Holes 4, 8, 14, 16, and 17

I have not played any golf course that uses doglegs so frequently and so effectively. Not getting into too much detail about each hole, but RTJ is a master of the dogleg. Getting the chance to play at Spy all summer really gave me the opportunity to appreciate these fantastic holes. It seems that I used every club in my bag on these beauties, especially the short 4th and 17th. What makes these two holes so impressive is that even after say 30 rounds on the course I still stood on the tee boxes with 3 clubs in my hand. Anything from a long iron to 3 wood works with some shots with a driver for extra fun. The double dogleg 14th also makes you think on every shot, especially the on the layup. Spy is perhaps king of the dogleg?

Jack, it's interesting to me that Spyglass is held in such high regard, and not just for its ocean holes, considering RTJ's use of doglegs (you left out #1, but maybe you were only mentioning the doglegs you liked).

When RTJ designed Hazeltine, it was excoriated because there were so many doglegs. The fairways bent on 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 7, 9, 10, 11, 17 and 18 -- and I thought each one of them was, on its own, a good golf hole (17 was unpopular, but i enjoyed it.) Had it been a resort course near an ocean, Hazeltine's doglegs might have been more acceptable.

[Rory Connaughton]

15 at MGC
15 at Lancaster

Both holes dogleg right and  provide a terrific range of options off the tee
and require very precise approach shots to demanding greens. Failure to execute on the approach will almost certainly result in bogey or worse

[Jim Thornton]

Par 5 16th hole at Olympic Lake.

[Ed Oden]

Ed,

Do you really think BN #7 is a dogleg?  I know it has that massive bunker on the ideal line off the tee thats gives the illusion of a dog leg, but one can actually go left of that bunker and still find fairway, even though it is a blind approach.

I'm not a long hitter by anyones wild stretch of the imagination and I hit my 3w over that fairway bunker for a wedge approach.

Kalen, that is pretty much my point.  It looks like a dogleg, but doesn't really play like one (except, presumably, into the wind).  So I was interested in whether Tom Doak considers it a dogleg.

While there is a sliver of fairway left of the bunker, I can't imagine anyone would intentionally play there.  So I don't see that sliver as particularly relevant to the playing characteristics of the hole.

Question:  How is #7 any different from any other dogleg where you can cut the corner?

Ed

 

[Kalen Braley]

Thanks for clarfiying Ed...we are pretty much in agreeance then!

To me I would classify it as a mostly straight hole where missing left is dead...unless you got enough juice to carry that last bunker and run it on to the green via the hill left of the green.

[Sean Leary]

I'm gonna throw the 16th at Pasa in this fight.  Why?

1) Semi-blind tee shot that is much more forgiving than it appears.
2) Fear inducing view upon seeing what's required on approach.
3) Freakin' crazy waterfall green.  Get above the hole, your dead.
4) It was Doc Mac's fave.  

As good as 16 is, I think 10 is better.