What are you a sucker for?

[SPDB]

***
***#1 (a 280 yard par 4) #6 (a 235 yard par 3) and #15 (a 290 yard par 4) are some of the rare saving graces for me regarding Tillinghast's Fenway design.  The skyline second shot on #2 is nice, the par 3 4th is amusing, and the uphill 5th is a fair and frank long two-shot hole There's variety in the appearance of the downhill 16th .  The rest of it?  I don't want to play there.  Fenway has - for a Tillinghast course - some of the most god awful unfun holes there could ever be, the stretch from 11 - 14 is putrid...scawling up, down and around the same unfriendly slope, blind greens of fierce contours encircled by bunkers.  It's terrible golfing ground and only when you get to 15 and 16 does Tillinghast use the poor ground to any good effect.  7, 8 and 9 don't make me excited either but my recollection is that those have seen significant alteration including the digging of an irrigation pond and tree plantings

cheers

vk

This seems gratuitous...and sacriligous.  There are many words to describe Fenway, but "putrid", "unfun (sic)", "awful"* should never be used in any description of Fenway.

*Adverb form may be used in conjunction with Fenway, e.g. "Fenway is an awfully good course."

On topic, however, I am a sucker for #8 at Pine Valley and any hole that resembles it in strategy. I card more "x's" than birdies or par, but the allure of the hole is irresistable. Hit anything from a 4 iron to a driver off the tee and have anywhere from an 8 iron to a flip wedge. The short game options are multifarious and require extreme precision. There is no other hole that I have played where I so often have 60-70 yards in on my second shot and routinely walk away with bogey, double, triple or X.  It is maddening, but intensely enjoyable.

[Bill Brightly]

Cross bunkers. Sadly, so few are built any more thanks to cart traffic...

[Sean_A]

Bill

I too like cross bunkers especially of a particular type which hassle only flat bellies from the tee, but also cause concern on the second for those lesser of abilites who hit a poor drive.  This rewqrds good driving without banging q guy on the head with drive zone bunkers or any other such stuff we see far too often.

Ciao  

[Greg Tallman]

Ground game
Very short par 3's
Greens where 4 putt is in play more often than not
Visual aesthetics (ocean, dunes, mountains... etc)

Any hole that offers a shot just outside my comfort zone so that I curse myself the length of the hole for either taking the easy way out or failing to pull off a shot I know I can hit - then that every so once in a while pulling it off feeling.

[Carl Johnson]

Lots of humps and bumps, both in the fairway and around the green, with firm and fast conditions.

[Mike Hendren]

Eye-brow bunkers.
Trench bunkers.
Low profile tees.
Abrupt but modest horizontal fairway elevation changes.
Tiny greens.
Biarritz greens.
Short green to tee walks.
Perfectly straight lines.
Skyline greens.
Backstops.

[Chip Gaskins]

Eye-brow bunkers.
Trench bunkers.
Low profile tees.
Abrupt but modest horizontal fairway elevation changes.
Tiny greens.
Biarritz greens.
Short green to tee walks.
Perfectly straight lines.
Skyline greens.
Backstops.

So you like Blue Mound do you

[Roger Wolfe]

I am a sucker for topography and visibility.  I love any hole where I can see the entire hole in front of me.  I love elevated tees where I can map out each hazard and all of my shots until I get to the green.  I can't stand low tee boxes to high fairways where you drive your ball into the void then try to find it.

[Patrick_Mucci]

SKYLINE GREENS

[RJ_Daley]

JNC Lyon has a great list.

I like a few bunkerless holes among the 18, with lots of contours tee through green on those holes as well.

I like green complexes with short grass surrounds extended way out, with run-away areas humps and hollows.

I like courses with a few greens with the double Maxwell rolls at various angles.

I like courses with a few greens with bunkers cut into the bowels of the green.

I love bunkers maintained in the steep sharp edged look we see often in Australia.

I love bunkers that roll like green waves, like Riviera.  If not budget for those elaborate Riv bunkers, designs with a few well placed around greens, lippy snarly little bunkers with a wave of turf rollover.

I'm a sucker for an unpretentious club house and grill room atmosphere at the 18th hole, and it better have great pub and grub menu items.

I'm a sucker for the under $50 a round nice little sporty golf facility owned by a local who has pride to offer the best he can for the money.

[Cristian]

I am surprised some features have hardly/not been mentioned:

- Diagonal, bite of as much as you dare tee shots (or fairways, whichever way you look at it)
- Diagonal Greens
- Truly asymmetric bunkering (especially with a smaller green one will do)
- Fairways with a high and a low (blind) side
- half blind greens (ie blind from the left, open from the right)
- mounds around greens on f&f courses
- greens sloping front to back
- Great bunkerless holes
- Fairways which are wider than they appear from the tee

already mentioned, but I agree strongly:
- center line bunkering
- Lot's of short grass around greens

[John Shimp]

The feel of an old golf course.  The humps and bumps and shadows that exist in old courses are awesome.

[Jon Spaulding]

Mayhugh

[Mike Hendren]

I gotta ask:  Did anyone else think of Melanie Griffith's line from Joe Versus The Volcano?

Bogey

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