[Mike Hendren]

I say build up the front right side to create my fantasy hole - the Treedan.

Bogey

[Scott Warren]

John,

I'll have to defer to you on the subject of being too big for one's britches, both literally and figuratively

You can hit a train, a headstone, a car or two... let it not be said this hole doesn't offer the golfer options.

[Phil McDade]

What about this honey?



It's par 4 that basically forces you to hit 8-iron, 8-iron.  Space may have been tight, but of all the halfway interesting holes that could have been built, this is what we get.

I haven't played this hole since I was a sophomore in high school and I still remember its awfulness.

I resemble that hole!

Actually, it looks to be a lesser version of a neat one at Old Hickory CC, northeast of Madison, one of the originals from Tom Bendelow's initial 9-holer there.

It's a shortish hole, 316 yds from the tips, and a sharp dogleg to the right. This is the view looking back toward the tee, from where the fairway runs out, about 250 yards or so.



After the tee shot, the approach is a 90-degree turn to the right. Here's a look at the short approach shot, usually a wedge or 9-iron at most. The shot is not onerous, but the bunkers eat up the slight mis-hit, and the green is slanted quite severely from back to front; the player with a short iron in hand should be able to keep the ball below the pin, but if not, a three-putt on this sharply sloped green is a real possibility.



Here's a look at the hole, from about 100 yards out from the tee. The bold player, off an elevated tee, can take a whack at the green with a strong fade, but over-cooking the shot or mis-judging the length leads to a watery grave. The course has done a good job of thinning some of the older and taller trees here, so players can try to play over them for a shot at the green (the tee is elevated much more so than from this vantage point).



I like the hole, and think it's a good one, because the bold player can try the aggressive play, and have a shot at birdie and perhaps even eagle, but lots of trouble lurks in the form of water especially and the bunkers, along with the task of avoiding some trees by hitting over them. The more conservative player can safely play long-iron/utility off the tee, and be left with a simple wedge, but the green still holds a lot of interest and challenge because of its severe slope. A solid, short par 4 from a course that dates to 1920.

[George Pazin]

What about this honey?



It's par 4 that basically forces you to hit 8-iron, 8-iron.  Space may have been tight, but of all the halfway interesting holes that could have been built, this is what we get.

I haven't played this hole since I was a sophomore in high school and I still remember its awfulness.

Mike Cirba once described a hole (I believe it was on a course in central PA) that was more like forced 5 iron, 5 wood (think fairway running out around 180 or so, followed by 230 yard carry to green), so I think that would be more ridiculous than yours.

Scott, there was a little 9 hole mom and pop course near me that closed a few years ago; it was officially named Green Valley, but semi-affectionately called Death Valley by those who partook of its charms. Holes directly alongside major roads, common fairways where you took life in hand each time you strolled them...what a fun course! They appealed to one's ego by posting some of the worst yardages known to man. If the scorecard is to believed, I hit my 4 iron approx. 250 and can reach 510 yard par 5s with 2 well struck 5 irons - that's positively Matt Ward-ian!

[Kevin_Reilly]

Scott, there was a little 9 hole mom and pop course near me that closed a few years ago; it was officially named Green Valley, but semi-affectionately called Death Valley by those who partook of its charms. Holes directly alongside major roads, common fairways where you took life in hand each time you strolled them...what a fun course!

George, here was a hole posted by Mike C a couple of years ago...Mount Pocono...this is a par 3 where there are no barriers to the adjacent road or parking lot:

[George Pazin]

Thanks, Kevin.

If you look closely, you will see Mike's white car on the proper side of the building...

[Mike Cirba]

I thought I heard my name...my ears were burning.   

Kevin,

Thanks for posting that beautiful aerial of the par three 7th hole at Mount Pocono Golf Club.

If it isn't the worst golf hole in the world, I do believe it's the most dangerous.

I'm now going to go to Google Earth and see if I can't get a proper snap of a serious contender for worst golf hole, which is the one George mentioned.

Ironically, it's within 30 miles of this beauty. 

[JLahrman]

What about this honey?



It's par 4 that basically forces you to hit 8-iron, 8-iron.  Space may have been tight, but of all the halfway interesting holes that could have been built, this is what we get.

I haven't played this hole since I was a sophomore in high school and I still remember its awfulness.

Mike Cirba once described a hole (I believe it was on a course in central PA) that was more like forced 5 iron, 5 wood (think fairway running out around 180 or so, followed by 230 yard carry to green), so I think that would be more ridiculous than yours.

Scott, there was a little 9 hole mom and pop course near me that closed a few years ago; it was officially named Green Valley, but semi-affectionately called Death Valley by those who partook of its charms. Holes directly alongside major roads, common fairways where you took life in hand each time you strolled them...what a fun course! They appealed to one's ego by posting some of the worst yardages known to man. If the scorecard is to believed, I hit my 4 iron approx. 250 and can reach 510 yard par 5s with 2 well struck 5 irons - that's positively Matt Ward-ian!

I found the yardage...this hole plays at 238 from the back tees.  So it's probably 9 iron-wedge.  There are all sorts of fun things they could have done with 238 yards of space here, and they made a 9-iron-wedge par 4 hole.  I am not going to reveal the course in order to protect the guilty parties.  As I recall, the tree on the right side of the fairway is tall enough that it would require a superhuman slice to try to go for the green, which isn't worth the risk with the pond right up next to the green.

It's a truly wretched hole.

[Joe Grasty]

Back a few years when I was just learning the game, I used to play at Lake Park Executive, a nine-holer in Lewisville, TX.  An unusual course to be sure, with bent greens and 8 par-3 holes and 1 par-4 hole.  I can't say there are any bad holes here, just bad locations for holes.  For example, I was playing with another beginning golfer, and we're on #2, a very short par-3 hole.  It is the green on the top of the screenshot near the word "Hole".  We had only a dim idea of how far our clubs flew, so my friend takes out his pitching wedge, makes a mighty swing and the ball easily clears the road and bounces into the parking lot on the other side of the street.  Oops!

Next hole, #3, runs south along N Mill St.  I'm on the tee with probably a 7-iron.  I'm taking my usual huge overswing when some dork in a pick-up truck driving down the road yells "FORE!".  I hooked my tee shot into traffic.  Oops!

The other interesting "feature" is hole #5, which runs along the south side of the Army Corps of Engineers building.  This was at one time a short par-4, probably 280 yards or so.  Naturally, nearly everyone is trying to drive the green.  Well, some lady playing hole #6, along the railroad track, got hit by a slice and the hole was subsequently converted to a par-3.

[Norbert P]

    

Bel-Wood 7 modified. Heck, maybe it's worse.

[Duncan Cheslett]

I've not been there, but I saw this on the website of a new golf complex that has opened near me. It's the 7th hole;




Further travesties can be found here;

http://www.thenorthwestnational.co.uk/

[Joe Grasty]

I've not been there, but I saw this on the website of a new golf complex that has opened near me. It's the 7th hole;




Further travesties can be found here;

http://www.thenorthwestnational.co.uk/

Amazing!  That's the first time I've seen "pot ponds" and ponds sprinkled around like bunkers at Whistling Straits.

[Brad Kane]

I have not much to add other than this thread is absolutely hilarious 

For any Albertans out there, I would humbly submit the abominable #10 of Sirocco Golf Club in Calgary.

b.

[David_Elvins]

What about this honey?

Did you know that is a template hole.

Here is the 225 yard long reverse version but with strategic black plastic and aesthetic palm trees.  


Only a bad hole if you are an architecture snob.  Is actually a bit of fun.  

[JLahrman]

    

Bel-Wood 7 modified. Heck, maybe it's worse.

Damn, nothing gets past this board.  It's actually #6 but I will give you full credit.

[Kris Shreiner]

I nominate #8 at Nairn. The hole layout itself is not that bad, but the green, as it was in Fall '98, is the worst I've ever had the displeasure of playing. I hit a perfect 16 degree Raylor from the tee, downwind, to the green apron on this par four...and had virtually no shot to a middle pin, which was on this tiny corner of a plateau, fronted with the biggest mess of a contorted excuse for a putting surface ever created! Alas, I had no camera. Simply, it was awful. You couldn't putt it, run it, chip it, or lob it and have any chance of finishing anywhere near the hole...from perfect position to a middle pin. I still laugh every time I think of the miracle bogey I made on that wretched green!

[Ashley Clinch]

Worst hole I have played is at Patterson River CC in Melbourne Victoria. Redesign of the whole course by Phil Ryan I believe. The 5th hole is about 395 metre par four. You have to hit a 5 iron off the tee otherwise it will run intak a lake that runs down the left on the drive then cuts across the fairway. From there you are left with a 190 to 200 metre shot up hill to a green guarded on the right by bunkers.

The drive though is what is appalling, no choice!!

The redesign of this course is what irks me the most. They had a substantial amount of money to do something creative and worthwhile given that the course had sand once you got past the layer of peet but they stuffed it up big time. Now its a pseudo resort course that charges a fortune and thinks that money well spent is resurfacing the car park!!

[Mike_Clayton]

Ashley,

That hole is a shocker.We played a lot of golf there at juniors and it was a pretty decent course in the 1970s.

[Dieter Jones]

David, you win. That is the funniest thing I have seen in ages. This looks like a Trump hole if the Donald had taken a bath in the GFC. Perhaps we could add a soaker hose along the top of the black plastic behind the green to get Donalds waterfall in. I do like the way they managed to make the palm tree blend with it surroudings and the whole green site reminds me of 13 at Augusta with Rays creek.

Magnificent

[Doug Ralston]

I might go with #18 at 'Fox Run' in Covington, KY. Hills course that is very good for 17 holes, then has a most mysterious and confusing finish. Don't have a picture of you might tell me how to play it.

Doug

[Mike Cirba]

Recently I went to see George Bahto's work at Knoll West only to have missed a shotgun start.

I ended up playing the neighboring course, Knoll East, which I found to be joyfully awful in terms of architectural madness,

If time permits thus weekend, I think some of you would enjoy reveling in the horridness that is undeniable at this Hal Purdy gem from the 1970s.

[Mark Arata]

I've not been there, but I saw this on the website of a new golf complex that has opened near me. It's the 7th hole;




Further travesties can be found here;

http://www.thenorthwestnational.co.uk/

Amazing!  That's the first time I've seen "pot ponds" and ponds sprinkled around like bunkers at Whistling Straits.


That is the same hole as the 7th hole at Key Biscayne, and the 18th at Bloomingdale Golfers Club in the tampa area... Florida courses love these sort of holes for some reason..... I can remember seeing quite a few of these at different courses down there.

[David_Elvins]

David, you win. That is the funniest thing I have seen in ages. This looks like a Trump hole if the Donald had taken a bath in the GFC.

You are not far wrong, it is a "Mom and Pop" course measuring 2000 metres but it is HEAVIlY influenced by US desgin (I you cross water on 8 out of 9 holes).  I am reticent to criticise the course because it is completetely unpretencious, built by an amateur and yearly membership is $150.  The course is unique, interesting, challenging and picturesque.  But from a snobbish architecture point of view, it is riddled with ridiculousness (or quirk). eg, On how many courses can you experience the gorse of dornoch, the pines of Augusta and the palms of Kapalua on the same hole? 




 anyway it is great fun and great value for money.  I would highly recomend playing it.  I will write a review of it soon, because it is a truly unique course, but it is really hard to express the way I feel about it.  I don't want to get stuck into it because it is great fun but there is so much stuff on it that is out of the ordinary. 

Perhaps we could add a soaker hose along the top of the black plastic behind the green to get Donalds waterfall in.

You are close to the mark here too.  the irrigation hose and plant on top of the embankment led to a difficult recovery shot. 

[Kevin Pallier]

One I can recall from my "local" when I was in England - one of the worst uses of trees that I can recall.

The P4 17th at Stockwood Vales GC. Uphill from the tee one is presented with OOB and trees left, a row of bushes/trees right and a lone tall tree smack bang in the middle of the fairway. The google earth picture shows it with not many leaves but the second pic shows it in all its glory. There is usually relatively long grass right and left past the stright line of trees to only add to the holes issues.

Overview


Approach

[Chris Cupit]

Unfortunately my home state of Georgia has the dubious distinction of two holes in Tom Doak's "Worst 18 Holes in America" list

While certainly deserving of their place in his book, maybe these holes can give those two a run for their money

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