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Jim Thornton

Re: Best Course that is a very difficult walk
« Reply #25 on: March 21, 2010, 11:56:17 AM »
Bayonne is one of the toughtest walking courses I've ever played - extremely hilly, several backward walks from green to tee, and elevated tee boxes that require you to be part billy goat to traverse.  The icing on the cake is the 18th hole, which plays straight up the hill. 

Matt Bosela

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: Best Course that is a very difficult walk
« Reply #26 on: March 21, 2010, 12:31:32 PM »
Sagebrush in British Columbia would be my pick for best course/very difficult walk.

A distant second would be Princeville (Prince) - not as good a course but near impossible to walk.

Evan Fleisher

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: Best Course that is a very difficult walk
« Reply #27 on: March 21, 2010, 12:47:32 PM »
A few years ago I asked to walk The Quarry down in East Canton, OH and was looked at very inquisitively.  Apparently I was only the second person to ever "attempt" it.  Personally, I did not think it that bad a hoof, but for me nothing is really all that bad.

Elevation changes within a golf hole are not really the problem in my book, rather it is the large green-to-tee walks that often makes things more unbearable.
Born Rochester, MN. Grew up Miami, FL. Live Cleveland, OH. Handicap 13.2. Have 26 & 23 year old girls and wife of 29 years. I'm a Senior Supply Chain Business Analyst for Vitamix. Diehard walker, but tolerate cart riders! Love to travel, always have my sticks with me. Mollydooker for life!

Jaeger Kovich

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: Best Course that is a very difficult walk
« Reply #28 on: March 21, 2010, 01:12:39 PM »
Has anyone walked the Ocean Course at Kiawah without takin the shuttle to the first tee and between 9-10?... If it weren't for that shuttle it would be a disaster! Plus walking through all that sand can be very hard.

Others I agree with: Yale, BPB and I'd say Bayonne is in, but boarderline.

Non 10-8's... RNK is in, but Stonehouse another Stranz in Williamsburg is even worse. RNK has 9 miles of cartpath, Stonehouse has 11

Richard Choi

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: Best Course that is a very difficult walk
« Reply #29 on: March 21, 2010, 01:28:35 PM »
I find Bethpage Black to be a quite a fine course for walking. It is certainly an easier walk than Ballyneal or Chambers. Kapalua is bad because of all the distance between green to tee on some holes.

From what I heard, Sagebrush is definitely not a good walk. I am looking forward to finding it out for myself this summer.

PCCraig

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: Best Course that is a very difficult walk
« Reply #30 on: March 21, 2010, 01:42:44 PM »
Whistling Straits (Straits) isn't a very easy walk, but it sure makes the afterround beers and brat sandwhich taste a whole lot better!  ;D

Lawsonia isn't an easy walk either, and from the looks of it most people take carts there.

Most of the courses here around Chicago are easy walks as real legit hills are few and far between.
H.P.S.

Tom_Doak

  • Karma: +2/-1
Re: Best Course that is a very difficult walk
« Reply #31 on: March 21, 2010, 03:34:02 PM »
Ed Oden:

There is not a really great course that isn't walkable.  When GOLF Magazine does the top 100 lists, they dont' say a thing to anybody about whether walkability is important, but there is not a single course (modern or classic) that has much support for the list that isn't walkable.  I think Augusta National is probably the toughest walk on the GOLF Magazine top 100.

I would second Kapalua and Stone Eagle as the best courses that aren't realistically walkable.  Rock Creek isn't so bad though it is a big hill.

P.S.  I walked and played Bethpage Black with my mom when she was 61 years old.  It wasn't an easy walk, but if a 60-year-old woman can walk it, it shouldn't be on this list.
« Last Edit: March 21, 2010, 03:35:33 PM by Tom_Doak »

Keith Buntrock

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: Best Course that is a very difficult walk
« Reply #32 on: March 21, 2010, 03:40:32 PM »
I've walked Erin Hills a bunch of times. I've done Whistling Straits once. Erin Hills is a much harder walk imo.

John Sabino

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: Best Course that is a very difficult walk
« Reply #33 on: March 21, 2010, 04:55:55 PM »
Michael - New South Wales for sure is one of the most difficult courses I walked. Doesn't help to have flown for 24 hours before playing  :P

Barnbougle isn't a particularly easy walk either. I would add in Wentworth just for sheer length and Naruo in Japan because of the hills.

john
Author: How to Play the World's Most Exclusive Golf Clubs and Golf's Iron Horse - The Astonishing, Record-Breaking Life of Ralph Kennedy

http://www.top100golf.blogspot.com/

Ben Sims

  • Karma: +1/-0
Re: Best Course that is a very difficult walk
« Reply #34 on: March 21, 2010, 05:00:16 PM »
If I were a member at Stone Eagle, I would walk it one time in ten.  It remains the toughest walk I've ever encountered for 18 holes.

However, I would imagine that Carmel Valley Ranch--had I walked it--would easily have taken the cake. 

Kalen Braley

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: Best Course that is a very difficult walk
« Reply #35 on: March 21, 2010, 07:41:10 PM »
I could see RCCC being included in this list.

As its saving grace though, at least you spend the 1st 6 holes to the 7th tee walking up the hill/mountain side and the remainder of the round more or less walking back down it.  If the last 7 holes were uphill, it would make for finishing the round a bit tougher.

Dan Boerger

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: Best Course that is a very difficult walk
« Reply #36 on: March 22, 2010, 03:08:17 PM »
Add another for Bethpage Black --- I've done it 3x, all in pretty bad heat, all after spending the overnight in a parking lot ... the 15th is one tough climb!
"Man should practice moderation in all things, including moderation."  Mark Twain

Garland Bayley

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: Best Course that is a very difficult walk
« Reply #37 on: March 22, 2010, 03:30:32 PM »
...
P.S.  I walked and played Bethpage Black with my mom when she was 61 years old.  It wasn't an easy walk, but if a 60-year-old woman can walk it, it shouldn't be on this list.

Matt Ward,

Put that in your cigar and smoke it.  :P
 ;D
"I enjoy a course where the challenges are contained WITHIN it, and recovery is part of the game  not a course where the challenge is to stay ON it." Jeff Warne

Chris Wirthwein

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: Best Course that is a very difficult walk
« Reply #38 on: March 22, 2010, 10:31:17 PM »
I say Crystal Downs...lots of hills. Makes me wonder how they built that beauty so long ago. And where did they find caddies!

Bill_McBride

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: Best Course that is a very difficult walk
« Reply #39 on: March 22, 2010, 10:35:56 PM »
I say Crystal Downs...lots of hills. Makes me wonder how they built that beauty so long ago. And where did they find caddies!

Really?  Except for the hike up 8 and the trek from 11 green to 12 tee, I thought CD was a wonderful walk. 

Chris Wirthwein

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: Best Course that is a very difficult walk
« Reply #40 on: March 22, 2010, 10:44:15 PM »
It's those two long hikes I'm remembering (from my one round several years back).

I recall at the time wondering to myself how folks managed at the time the course opened. (I'm seeing in my mind a President Taft type physique.) Maybe it wasn't just the overweight, out of shape priveleged class who played the course -- but if it was, they surely struggled on those two climbs -- with or without a caddie.

River Course at Kohler is probably a more challenging overall walk.

Sean_A

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: Best Course that is a very difficult walk
« Reply #41 on: March 23, 2010, 04:11:25 AM »
I don't know about very difficult, that is a sliding scale depending on the person.  The worst walk I have experienced on a very good course is Tobacco Road.  Carne and Enniscrone weren't great walking courses - a by-product of huge dunes.  That said, Ballybunion has huge dunes and it is a good walk. 

Ciao
New plays planned for 2024: Nothing

Gary Slatter

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: Best Course that is a very difficult walk
« Reply #42 on: March 23, 2010, 12:28:53 PM »
Royal County Down is a wonderful walk but is there a course with more steps anywhere in the world?
Gary Slatter
gary.slatter@raffles.com

Chris Pike

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: Best Course that is a very difficult walk
« Reply #43 on: March 23, 2010, 02:36:43 PM »
I'm surprised that nobody has mentioned Highlands Links in Nova Scotia.  Some of those green-to-the next tee box walks are legendary.
"Golf is a game in which you yell Fore, shoot six and write down five."  -Paul Harvey

Scott_Burroughs

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: Best Course that is a very difficult walk
« Reply #44 on: March 23, 2010, 02:42:40 PM »
The best course I've played that would be a tough walk day in-day out is TPC Wakefield Plantation. Its got some real big hills on the course and some long walks from green to tee in a good number of spots. I'd say Wakefield is a 4.5-5.

An ardent walker would have to be nuts to join that place.  

Now the toughest walk I've ever had was at Tobacco Road. That place has a fair number of hills and a couple of long walks. However, the day I played it, the temp was hovering around 100, with no wind and near breathtaking humidity. Heat index was probably 115 or better. The Pit tends to have mad high temps as well. I'd give TR a 5.5-6, and say that if played in the summer months, its probably the toughest walk I've ever had.

I've never understood the complaints about walking TR (granted I've always done it in the winter - I'll give you that), but the walk itself (provided you're carrying your bag - using a trolley is not recommended) isn't that bad.   Um, to me.  I know I have an extremely high threshold.

Same goes more for Bethpage (Black), and moreso.  No big deal on that walk.

Royal New Kent comes to mind.  Certainly not walkable

Done it.  Stonehouse, too.  Each round was the 2nd round of the day for me.

I'm surprised that nobody has mentioned Highlands Links in Nova Scotia.  Some of those green-to-the next tee box walks are legendary.

It was mentioned above.


My vote goes to Kapalua - Planation, as well.  I did the "Mercedes walk", riding from 5-6, 8 tee to green & 9 green to 10 tee....although for the life of me, I don't know why they cart it from 8 tee to green.  That walk isn't as bad as going from #4 tee to fairway LZ or the same on #10.

Bart Bradley

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: Best Course that is a very difficult walk
« Reply #45 on: March 23, 2010, 03:04:04 PM »
Guys...any old course is walkable...every person who ever played them before carts existed managed to walk.  Everyone who ever played Bandon Trails walked.  These don't count!  They cannot be that tough.

What courses which are basically unwalkable are the best?  And what Doak ranking would you give it?

Is a Doak 7 the highest one of these courses has ever achieved?  Can anyone name a course they give a Doak 8 that is basically unwalkable?


Bart

Mike Hamilton

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: Best Course that is a very difficult walk
« Reply #46 on: March 23, 2010, 03:07:39 PM »
Royal New Kent comes to mind.  Certainly not walkable


Done it.  Stonehouse, too.  Each round was the 2nd round of the day for me.

At Stonehouse, I think by cartpath it is 1 mile from the ninth green to the 10th tee.  I had to call Triple A for directions.

Will MacEwen

Re: Best Course that is a very difficult walk
« Reply #47 on: March 23, 2010, 03:09:05 PM »
Guys...any old course is walkable...every person who ever played them before carts existed managed to walk.  Everyone who ever played Bandon Trails walked.  These don't count!  They cannot be that tough.

What courses which are basically unwalkable are the best?  And what Doak ranking would you give it?

Is a Doak 7 the highest one of these courses has ever achieved?  Can anyone name a course they give a Doak 8 that is basically unwalkable?


Bart


Sagebrush would be in contention.  The course probably hasn't received enough accolades, but those will come.  I would put it at a Doak 8 but this is my first time using the scale and it will probably explode in my face.

It would be a very daunting walk, especially in the summer heat.
« Last Edit: March 23, 2010, 03:14:08 PM by Will MacEwen »

Jud_T

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: Best Course that is a very difficult walk
« Reply #48 on: March 23, 2010, 03:11:36 PM »
Kapalua is a Doak 8 and I'd assume Stone Eagle is pretty darn close to that as well...
Golf is a game. We play it. Somewhere along the way we took the fun out of it and charged a premium to be punished.- - Ron Sirak

archie_struthers

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: Best Course that is a very difficult walk
« Reply #49 on: March 23, 2010, 03:17:27 PM »
 :P :P :P

how about Tanglewood in the summer heat    yikes

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