Toughest Opening Tee Shots in Golf

[Scott Warren]

As someone who hits it right to left, the first tee shot at Pine Valley is a dream.

Aim left edge of RHS traps. If I yank it I'm in the left of the fairway. If I drill it I'm sweet.

Thinned 5i to 15ft - both the arsiest and easiest par I made there

[Mark McKeever]

I wish I had a picture of hole one at Phoenixville.  Its a demanding shot over a large ravine to a narrow uphill to the right fairway.  When I was a member there I would probably find the short grass half the time.

Mark

[JMEvensky]

Ballybunion--wide right is truly dead.

[Mark Chaplin]

In our match at Prestwick next week I have set the pairings so I hit the tee shot on the first in the afternoon rather than the morning. I figure after lunch the railway will get more action!

[Bruce Wellmon]

I think the opening shot at Secession should get some consideration. Marsh long, marsh right. Wish I had a picture.

[Kevin Pallier]

I would agree about Merion, and also mention Bethpage Black as a nervous tee shot. Most of the time, a lot of players are watching. You have just passed the warning sign on the fence, and you know that a bad shot will result in a loud groan from those playing behind you.

Keith

Is Bethpage really that tough though ?

I agree with the noms. of Hoyloke and Prestwick and would expect there aren't too many pars on the 1st at the Berkshire (Blue)

Patrick

I wouldn't have said the tee shot at NGLA is all that tough - the green = yes but not the drive ?

[Mark Saltzman]

I would agree about Merion, and also mention Bethpage Black as a nervous tee shot. Most of the time, a lot of players are watching. You have just passed the warning sign on the fence, and you know that a bad shot will result in a loud groan from those playing behind you.

Keith

Is Bethpage really that tough though ?

I agree with the noms. of Hoyloke and Prestwick and would expect there aren't too many pars on the 1st at the Berkshire (Blue)

Patrick

I wouldn't have said the tee shot at NGLA is all that tough - the green = yes but not the drive ?

Kevin, I agree with Keith, the tee shot at Bethpage is not tough, but it is a very nervous tee shot.  That is, at least I was nervous.  I just walked past the sign telling me how tough the course was, about 25 people were waiting behind the tee for their tee-time and I decided to play the back tees.  I figured if I hit a bad tee shot all these people would think "here's another out-of-town goofball coming to shoot 100 from the tips."  So, yep, I was nervous..(and I hit a pretty poor tee-shot).

[Chris Roselle]

Ballybunion--wide right is truly dead.

+1

[Dan Kelly]

Sutton Bay is the toughest I can remember at any good course.

[Matthew Petersen]

Years ago I worked at a course in Denver called Green valley ranch that had a puckering tee shot on #1. The back tee played completely over wetlands and you needed at least 200 yards to clear the trouble. The hole is a dogleg left so the carry was further the more left you played. The shot was also essentially blind as the reeds in the wetland obscured the fairway on the other side. You kind of had to pick a tree in the distance and hope.

Midway through the summer I worked there I broke my driver. Hitting 3 wood off that tee the next several weeks was all the first hole challenge you'll want!

[Ash Towe]

I agree with Steve Salmen, the first at Muirfield is very difficult. The rough can be very long and it is difficult to find your ball and there is the ever present wind to consider as well.

[Patrick_Mucci]

I would agree about Merion, and also mention Bethpage Black as a nervous tee shot. Most of the time, a lot of players are watching. You have just passed the warning sign on the fence, and you know that a bad shot will result in a loud groan from those playing behind you.

Keith

Is Bethpage really that tough though ?

I never viewed it as an overly difficult tee shot.

I agree with the noms. of Hoyloke and Prestwick and would expect there aren't too many pars on the 1st at the Berkshire (Blue)

Patrick

I wouldn't have said the tee shot at NGLA is all that tough - the green = yes but not the drive ?

In a medal play event, it becomes more difficult with the Out of Bounds, bunkers and need to get into the fairway and off to a good start.

I think early starting holes at match play are not as dicey as at medal play.
Being one down to an opponent after one hole isn't as bad as being three over par after the first hole in a qualifier.

[Wade Whitehead]

The first shot at Ballyhack isn't tough because people are watching.  If you're playing in a full group then all of three people will even see what you do.

Still, it presents quite a visual from the back tee.  While most people will (and should) never visit that yardage, it's perhaps the most intimidating first tee shot I've ever seen.  The scar bunker and hazard fronting it manifest as diagonal hazards opposite the hole's general feel.

Paul Hundley's first photograph shows it well: http://thepaulhundleygallery.com/2/909b3, though his photo isn't taken quite from the teebox.  Move back and a bit right and you've got the true picture.

Played from the proper tee, it is both fair and a challenge, not because people are eating lunch nearby but because the shot calls for a well-executed plan.

I've also thought the opening tee shot at the Old White is a hard one, though it's more tame with the loss of the large tree on the right a couple of years back.

WW

[George Pazin]

In my opinion, the hardest opening tee shot is the first at Muirfield.  It's pretty narrow at 19 yds wide for a 445 yd hole. It  also kinks mildly to the right.  However, if you hit the fairway, you feel you could putt from 150 out due to the generous greenside entryway.

I watched about 15 pros hit multiple tee shots during the 2002 Open Sunday practice round.  Not one ball found the fairway.

This looks to be the very antithesis of the perched, see-all-the-trouble, tee shot so prevalent everywhere. Very cool, thanks, Steve.

Oakmont's opener is no tougher than the other 17 tee shots...

[David Whitmer]

An opening tee shot I always have had trouble with is NCR-South. It's a par 4 of about 450 yards, with trees down the left and OB right (due to the maintenance building being there). Nothing like having to hit a hard driver to start your round knowing you can't miss right, and missing left means a punch-out.

As far as tough due to setting and the tee's surroundings, it's not easy to pull it back on the first at Inverness. The pro shop is right there, and the putting green and 10th tee are right there too. You get there at the right time, and you may find a gallery of 20-30 guys watching you hit. I'm not a touring pro, so that's not easy for me to do.

[Mark Chaplin]

First a Deal not too tough, Nineteenth at Deal rough left and OOB right, tough, tough, tough!

[Jason Baran]

I agreed with Pat on NGLA - tee shot on #1 is indeed a tough one, particularly the first time playing there.  With all the bunkers and the OB, it's pretty tough to figure out where to hit it.  And if you make the mistake of eating THE LUNCH before playing, it's impossible to get the club past waist high

[Keith OHalloran]

Kevin,
I agree with Pat. The Bethpage tee shot isnot that technically hard (which is funny to say given the state of my game). I was more going wit the psychological aspect of the audience and the players that will be behind you, judging what their day will be like when they see your swing.

[Greg Stebbins]

I nominate #1 at The Tuxedo Club.

[Steve Wilson]

Unless they've changed it during the recent restoration work, the Old White at The Greenbrier has a pucker factor.  You stroll from the the pro shop directly onto the terrace from which you must launch your opening tee shot. 

But the most intimidating I've ever faced was the 1st at the Old Course.

[Wade Whitehead]

I haven't been to the Old Course.

The first shot, though, can be hit virtually anywhere and end up okay.  Only an awful miss to the right is in any trouble whatsoever.

What's tough about that?  Observers?  The realization that one is finally playing at the home of golf?  Jetlag?

WW

[Steve Wilson]

Wade,

Observers yes.
Jet lag, most certainly.
Being reunited with one's clubs bare minutes before departing the B & B toward the course was a factor.
Having Sir Malcolm Campbell in one's foursome may have contributed to the tension also.
And being invited to hit first in my foursome just after having witnessed two members of the previous group hit monumental slices that carried into if not over the bleachers  lining (this was May of 2000) the first fairway.
And I was hitting an iron off the tee since my driver and I were in the midst of a trial separation.

[Mark Pearce]

I also agree with Steve.  1 at Muirfield is a very, very tough tee shot.  When the senior Open was there a couple of years ago I watched 8 groups play that hole and no-one hit the fairway, into a strong (prevailing) wind. 

[Sam Morrow]

I need to throw out Southern Hills, you have that box way above the fairway and you think you can hit it forever. My first few times I thought that and quickly hit snappers. Last time I didn't hit it left but hit a giant block.

[Jeff_Brauer]

Wade,

Yes, my knees buckle at the first of TOC each time I play.

But, the tee shot on 18 (and others) there can be a real terror to slicers, too. I played with a fellow gca and slicer who was determined not to hit the hotel with a sliced tee shot on 18.  But his first shot flew OB, and his second did likewise.  On his third, he aimed even further left, and then double crossed it, hitting a big honking hook OB to the right of the first hole!

The caddy stays silent a while, and then says, "Well, I never saw that before, but I've only been working here for 42 years."

I didn't see it mentioned, but I found the first at Riv to be intimidating, mostly because of how crowded it is, and because I don't carry a handicap card anymore, so the starter decides which tee you get to play based on your first tee shot.