The Wall

[Joe Bausch]

Roger Waters is here in Philly with his 3rd concert in a row tonight, the 30th anniversary of The Wall.  And I here Roger is a golfer.  Which got me thinking of golf holes with a wall in view, perhaps even coming into play.  What examples do you have (photos please!)?

Here in SE PA there are a couple that come to mind.

Stonewall North (Doak), #2 (a slightly uphill par 3 with a really neat green)

View from the tee:



View from just behind the green:



Stonewall North #8 (par 5).

View from the tee:



The wall makes a big turn and crosses back where it can be in play on the 2nd shot:



This view from over the green can be difficult to see how the hole runs.  This hole comes across the wall from near where the cart is, not up to the upper middle in the pic (this is the 3rd hole).



French Creek (Hanse) is coincidentally very close to Stonewall, and the par 5 11th hole has a stone wall short of the green.

From short of the green:



From over the green:



And back on the Old Course at Stonewall (the South layout), there is a wall behind the green on the par 4 4th:



And there are a couple of walls on the closing par 4 on the Old Course:

[George Pazin]

I seem to recall a wall at Applebrook that Gil called a ha-ha or something like that. I think it was only in view when looking back at it.

[Tim Gavrich]

The second hole at Shelter Harbor Golf Club has some old stacked stone walls lining the fairway.



George Pazin--

I believe that "haha" is a French term for a trench that somehow hides a wall on a battlefield, such that enemies fall into it.  Interesting that such a feature might show up on a golf course.

[Tom_Doak]

George Pazin--

I believe that "haha" is a French term for a trench that somehow hides a wall on a battlefield, such that enemies fall into it.  Interesting that such a feature might show up on a golf course.

Tim:

It's not French, it's English, and for the reason it sounds.  It was developed for the purpose of keeping grazing sheep from coming up to the manor hourse, without the people in the manor house having to look out at walls.

[Tom_Doak]

The best "wall" holes are the 13th at North Berwick West Links, and to a lesser extent the third hole there.

The Renaissance Club has a couple in play as well, on holes 8 and 18 [and possibly 11 if you miss wide of the green].

[Jud_T]

I sincerely hope all these walls are more inspiring than the concert was.....

[Joe Bausch]

I forgot about the 14th hole, a par 4, at the Pete Dye Golf Club (George, your post jogged my brain to remember this one!).

[JMEvensky]

The best "wall" holes are the 13th at North Berwick West Links, and to a lesser extent the third hole there.

Better than the Road Hole?

[J Sadowsky]

This one immediately came to mind.









EDIT:  I see while I was collecting photos someone beat me to the punch.

[Mark Arata]

Isnt there a wall behind the 14th green at Kingsley Club? I could have sworn someone banked one off of it to a back pin when we played there.....

[Matthew Sander]

This is a shot of the 18th green at Kearney Hill Golf Links in Lexington, KY. This wall sits to the left of the green and fairway and isn't really in play unless you're wild left. You'll see many of these old stone walls along the rural roads in KY...

[Joe Bausch]

A image search on Google gives up this for the 13th at North Berwick:

[Mark Pearce]

Matfen Hall in Northumberland has a Ha-Ha in play on at least two holes.  

Hanse's Craighead course at Crail has a wall in play on the 6th, 8th (just about), 10th, 11th, 13th, 14th, 15th and 16th.  On some of these it would be really un usual for the wall to really be in play (it's a 6o yard carry off the tee on 14, for instance) but on others it's a real consideration (it's crosses the fairway 230 yards from the tee on 11, it crosses the fairway about 400 yards down the fairway on the par 5 15th).

Dunstanburgh Castle in Northumberland has a short par 3 with the green almost entirely surrounded by a wall.

[Bill_McBride]

George Pazin--

I believe that "haha" is a French term for a trench that somehow hides a wall on a battlefield, such that enemies fall into it.  Interesting that such a feature might show up on a golf course.

Tim:

It's not French, it's English, and for the reason it sounds.  It was developed for the purpose of keeping grazing sheep from coming up to the manor hourse, without the people in the manor house having to look out at walls.

One of the most famous is across the front of the Royal Crescent in Bath, England (see line below).  You can't see it from the homes but it's about 4' high and keeps the livestock off the front lawn.

[Jamie Barber]

Newburgh on Ythan (an old links between Aberdeen and Cruden Bay) has the remains of a Drovers house in the middle of the 4th fairway (hecne the name). The front 9 are newer holes. Alas no picture but the club website shows the layout:
http://www.newburghgolfclub.co.uk/hole4.htm

[Jud_T]

There is a boundary wall on Kingsley #14...

[Mark Pearce]

There is also a wall in play on the 6th at Muirfield.

Another aspect of a ha-ha, by the way, is that it should not be visible from the house at the centre of the estate.  The turf on the estate side would be level with the top of the wall and the turf on the far side at the bottom of the wall.  That way the Lord of the Manor could overlook his land without seeing the wall that emphasised that that land had limits!

[Kyle Harris]

Buried walls are an often overlooked feature of many golf courses, including those at Glen Ridge. I forget which holes specifically, but I recall the right side of the 3rd hole (left side of the 5th) having bunkers integrated with said wall.

There's one in the woods behind the 11th tee at Huntingdon Valley, as well.

[JSlonis]

There are a couple that immediately came to mind...

The wall that borders the left side of the par 5 9th hole at Muirfield and the huge wall that runs through and borders the entire length of Dunbar Golf Club.  Seen below

[Dan Boerger]

A course that gets little attention around these parts, and one I really enjoy playing, is Fieldstone in Delaware. It has some fine examples of stone walls, not to mention the stone ruin between the 12th and 14th holes.

[Sean_A]

The most walled course I know of is Broadway - the bloody things are everywhere.  The club has an obligation to repair the walls as they are protected as heritage crap left over from the Cotswolds' heyday of sheep raising/selling. 

A few pix

Yes, they do come in play and no, there are no free drops - #1


#3 from the tee


In the background, along the right of the 4th


The 4th after the drive


7th, yes, a bank shot works here - don't ask how I know


13th - great use of the wall here


There are more at Broadway, but you get the idea.

Ciao

[Matthew Petersen]

I recall that the Wailea Gold course in Maui has a volcanic rock wall that acts as the course boundary and the wall is potentially in play on several holes. Unfortunately, I don't have any photos from that trip.

[Joe Bausch]

I sincerely hope all these walls are more inspiring than the concert was.....

The Inky music critic apparently loved it.

http://www.philly.com/philly/entertainment/20101109_Waters_Wall_stands_test_of_time.html

[Mike Benham]

[TEPaul]

"Roger Waters is here in Philly with his 3rd concert in a row tonight, the 30th anniversary of The Wall.  And I here Roger is a golfer."


Joe:

He sure is and he apparently does like golf (he belongs to Shinnecock and NGLA, BTW). About a month or more ago some mutual friends got in touch with me to see if I could set him up to play Merion East yesterday. And so I did. His host was to be this great guy who I occassionally refer to as "The Consummate Pissboy" who often doubles as one of the greatest golf architecture historians in the Universe. The tee time was something like 9am on Tuesday. On Monday I heard through those mutual friend that Roger Waters had decided he would prefer to remain in his bathrobe and pink socks in his hotel room until about 4pm when he needed to go to the concert.

If he and those mutual friends call again to get me to set up a round at Merion East for him I'm gonna tell them to tell the aging Pink Floyd rock star prima dona to just stay in his hotel room in his bathrobe and pink socks and maybe around 6pm we could all meet at Merion East and have a few drinks and then just call it a day so he can proceed to his concert!!  

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