The Best Seventeen Hole Course

[mps]

Most of the great British links courses would move up in the rankings if you eliminated their 18th holes.  The vast majority of those finishing holes simply get you back to the clubhouse.  Off the top of my head, the only great links courses that have really strong finishing holes are Muirfield & Carnoustie.
Thoughts?

[TEPaul]

MPS:

No way, just a couple of the Irish courses I played this summer have excellent finishing holes--Portrush and County Down!

Portrush's #18 is a very strong par 4 albeit on flattish ground and RCD's #18, although recently redesigned with the inclusion of many more flanking bunkers (very much in the theme of the rest of the course) is an awesome closing par 5, in strategy, intensity and scoring spectrum and has the recent pro tournament to very much show that fact!

As for #17 RCD being a weak hole I really don't buy that either! I admit that thing in the middle of the fairway (by no means a lake and actually a fairly disgusting little pond) could have a better feature alternated into its place but the green and green-end of #17 is excellent!

[mps]

TEPaul - Its been a while since I've played RCD & RP - a situation that I plan to remedy this summer - but as I recall, Portrush wouldn't lose a thing without its 18th.  I agree that its a good hole but based on the absolute greatness of the preceding holes, Portrush would climb in the rankings as a 17 holer.  In other words, the 18th is below average FOR PORTRUSH.

Maybe my terminology was misleading - when I said "really strong finishing holes" I meant holes that were above average for that course.  Since I think the 18th at Portrush is below average FOR PORTRUSH - it certainly fails that criteria.

I'll give you County Down - you wouldn't want to take away the 18th there - but I'm still not sure it's ABOVE average for RCD, so is it a "strong finishing hole?"  Along the same lines, you wouldn't want to take away the 18th at TOC.  But is the 18th at TOC in the same class as the Road Hole?  They are both worthy holes but they aren't the fantastic finishing holes you'd hope for.

I was just singling out Carnoustie & Muirfield as the unusual links courses that have finishing holes that are as good, if not better, than the other 17 on the course.  

[Stan Dodd]

Royal Aberdeen has a strong finish,though pale in comparision to the front nine, but a step above some of the back nine
In reference to another thread... Royal Aberdeen is a great members course.

[Paul_Turner]

Other links courses with strong finishing holes:

Rye
St Enodoc
Royal Porthcawl
Hunstanton
Deal
Portmarnock
Lytham
Burnham and Berrow
Pennard
Saunton
Wallasey(?)
Sandwich (subtle)
Lossiemouth

[TEPaul]

mps:

I guess everything is in the terminology used but the finishing holes on TOC, RCD and Portrush are all very good finishing holes, in my opinion. If one uses your terminology I guess it would mean they would have to be the most difficult hole on the course to do something, make birdie, save par, not screw up or whatever.

I think they all have their own kind of function though as a finishing hole and like any other offer golfers various temptations and risks/rewards if they're good and not if they're not good.

TOC's does that for birdie and can nip you in certain ways for sure! The others are somewhere in the middle ground probably of hard birdie, reasonable par and very much ready to hand you an other if you don't pay attention and execute. I don't think there's anything weak or uninteresting about any of them though for what they were designed to do!

[ChipOat]

George Pazin said earlier in this thread he liked #18 at Olympic.
Sorry George, but I'm reminded by the current Olympic Club thread that I should have nominated it along with Inverness, Bethpage and TOC as one of my favorite 17 hole courses (in addition to CPC which started the thread).

#18 isn't a bad hole, per se - I just think it's a weak finisher and better suited to be elsewhere on the course.