Your 12 Favorite Quirky Holes

[Mark Pearce]

Michael, don't you get a re-do when you hit the lighthouse?

Don't you get a re-do when you hit it in the trees?

[Ronald Montesano]

Nope, but when we hit power lines over here in the colonies, we get a re-do and a really cool zipping sound. Trees bow to no one.

[Mark Pearce]

Trees bow to no one.

Nor do lighthouses. 

I think the use of buildings as hazards is under-rated.  People rave about stone walls (13 NBWL, 6 at Muirfield, 8 at Renaissance, 17 TOC) so why not buildings?  There are some (1 at Balcomie, 7 at Pennard) but they don't tend to be as well known.

[Ronald Montesano]

Hah, good story here...When we played Mike Strantz's Stonehouse in Williamsburg, VA a few years back, we were under the impression that the actual stone house was on the course somewhere, in play. You can imagine how cantankerous we were as we trundled up 18.

[JNC Lyon]

What's quirky about 4 at St Enodoc, Sean?

Scott

I don't know that hole but I've been asking myself the same question on some of the Scottish holes already listed, for instance NB has a couple of quirky holes (IMO) but the first isn't one of them. Likewise, while Brora provides some nice golf, I can't think of any really quirky holes including the 18th.

Perhaps I just have a higher tolerance of quirk than JNC.

Niall

I like to think of myself as having a pretty high tolerance for quirk, but, of course, I'm an American golfer, so that could dilute my quirk threshold a bit.  Even so, I'd argue that 18 at Brora and 1 at North Berwick.  Bear in mind, I did point out that Brora is not a particularly quirky golf course (aside from the sheep fences), but I think that 18th hole is very wild.  I've never seen a par three quite like it, let alone a finishing hole.  The ball can hit 5-10 yards onto the front of the green and be rejected some 30 yards back down into a pit.  If there is another finishing hole like it, I'd love to see it.

1 at North Berwick?  That's plenty quirky as well.  The fairway is enormous, close to 100 yards wide I'm guessing, and the green runs away from the player while setting 30 feet above the player on the edge of the Firth of Forth.  Again, I've never seen a starting hole like this one (although maybe a couple stranger, like Prestwick's opener, but I didn't include that because it is so well-known and well-regarded already).

I think the main component of quirky holes is two-fold: 1) they have a feature or two that most holes do not have.  2) they have an illogical quality about them.  I think both of those holes at North Berwick and Brora have those two things.  All of that said, I'll try to dig a little deeper.  Not as easy as I thought it would be!

And Ron's correct, I'm not very opinionated.

[JNC Lyon]

JNC,

The 5th at TCC Brookline is an underrated hole, but do you really think it's that quirky? I can think of a few others (#2, #3 (!), #4, #7, #11 (!)) that might be even quirkier.

All of those are quirky (although you missed 10, which maybe quirkiest of all), but 5 is right up there too.  The huge rock pile in front of the tee is something I still haven't seen to this day.  The tee jutting into the 3rd fairway is all pretty wild.  Combine that with a green that would be too steep for Merion and some neighboring Americana, you get a pretty unusual, quirky, and dare I say great, golf hole.

[Niall C]

John

Thanks for responding.

Imagine if you will, the dip in front of the 18th at Brora filled up with water such that it was a pond, or maybe even scrub, would that make it more conventional and less quirky ? Perhaps what is quirky for you here is the use of a run off as a "hazard" where perhaps with more fast and firm conditions over here that type of idea isn't as novel. Granted you perhaps don't get as many big swales or depressions as the one fronting the 18th Brora but the idea isn't unique, its basically a plateau green like many you see at Dornoch (various), Silloth (13th and 16th), Muirfield (13th ?), Renaissance (par 4 uphill 12th ?) etc.   

Now the 1st at NB has perhaps two qualities that you touch upon that might be worth discussing as being quirky. The first is the width of the fairway, or to be more exact the width of the 1st and 18th fairways together. While not common this is not unique with TOC being the obvious example and if you ignore the bit of scruffy rough between the the two fairways you effectively have a double fairway at the 1st/18th at NB's other course, The Glen.

The second point you make is the truncated nature of the drive, which as you say is similar to Prestwick. I've never played with you but I saw you play a few shots at Dornoch and you've clearly got a very good swing, a very nice striker of the ball and someone no doubt used to playing from the middle of the fairway. Personally I prefer, or rather am required, to guddle my way round the course and am not adverse to playing from the rough which sometimes is the better option not only for the line in but because the ball sometimes sits up better in the rough. Having played NB about half a dozen times I've come to the conclusion I'm better off hitting long at that hole and playing my second from the gulley or side of the bank (or even the beach) rather than 50 yards further back down the fairway. In that sense, I simply don't see the hole the way you do. I'd be interested to hear from Simon as to how the members commonly play this hole. I suspect the better players probably play it the way you do while us mere mortals go the other way.

Niall 

[Jay Cox]

A lot of the posts so far have been about holes at Yale and Merion and North Berwick and The Country Club and other great courses.  And I agree that that a lot of those holes are great and quirky.  But my really favorite quirky holes are at low-key courses that you'd never got out of your way to play.  (Several of them apparently were too quirky for the average clientele, too detrimental to pace of play, or deemed too dangerous, and no longer exist in their quirk-filled glory.)

10th at Juniper Hills Riverside, Northborough, MA, 450 yards, Par 5:  The fairway goes out straight in front of you for about 180 yards down the left side and 200 yards down the right.  Then it ends in a pond, and you can't see any of the rest of the hole from the tee.  So the smart play -- which I never made, not even once -- is to hit a mid-iron and play the hole as a three shotter.

After the pond, the hole turns left about 45 degrees.  The nearest point of fairway on the other side is about a 225 yard carry, but for every yard the shot is off line in either direction the carry gets a yard or two longer.  To the right, the carry is over the pond.  To the left, the carry is over a public road that's out of bounds.  Oh, and the shortest-carry line requires you to hit it directly over a bend in the road -- the aiming point is a telephone pole on the far side of the bend - and a bunch of big shrubs separating the course from the road.

Perhaps unsurpisingly, the hole no longer exists in this form.  It's now a straightaway 400 yard par 4 with a mandatory 180 yard carry off the tee, and probably the worst hole on the course.

2nd at Stowaway, Stow, MA, 270 yards, Par 4:  Stowaway is a nine-hole family-built affair with greens that are considerably shaggier than the fairways at most of the courses dicussed on the board.  Five of the holes are pretty dull; the other four are all candidates for this list, but the second took the cake (again, until it was changed to remove the key element of quirk).

From the first green, you look to the left and see a stretch of fairway heading back in the direction from which you had just played.  But that is not where you go to tee off.  Instead, you walk forward from the green through about 50 yards of forest and up a bit of a hill.  The first time you do it -- heck, the first few times you do it! -- you have no idea how you will possibly get to a point that can be used for playing golf, because the trees are thick and uninterrputed on all sides.  Finally, you come to a tiny lledge with grass on it - and you still have no idea how it could possibly be a tee.  Only when you stand on that tiny patch of grass and face about 135 degrees left from the direction in which you came do you see any sign of a golf hole.

What you see is the crest of a hill about 220 yards away, and the top of a flagstick down below on the other side of the hillcrest.  Before that, all you see is trees in front of you - but the slope into the valley in front of the tee is steep enough thaty you're level with the tops of the trees.  The goal is to make the 220-yard carry across the valley to hill crest, and to hit it straight enough that the ball with then bound down onto the shelf of green rather than the deep swales on either side of it (from which you could easily ping-pong the ball back and forth if you get a bad lie).

Again, this hole no longer exists in relevant form.  They cut down all the trees in front of the tee, so now it's just a guardian variety down-then-up-then-down short par 4 without drama.  I never went back to the course after the round where I first saw the hole denuded.

I'll edit this post to add a few more shortly.

[Ronald Montesano]

Stow Away...http://www.pasturegolf.com/courses/stowaway.htm

[JNC Lyon]

My last four holes:

12 at Addington This is probably the most lauded of the holes on my list, though it is far from conventional.  The blind tee shot, the weird manmade plateau at 210 from the green, the ring of heather in the middle of the fairway, the patch of heather in the middle of the ideal layup area, and the funky green set into the hillside all conspire to make this a wild ride.  It is a true battle of man vs. nature.  I remember cranking a drive on this hole the first time I played it, but I never saw it again.  After two more plays, I absolutely love this par five, and it remains one of my holes I've seen.  Addington needed a hole on this list, and the 12th certainly has enough quirk to be up there.

5 at Tumblebrook Very few GCAers have seen this one, but Redanboy and I ventured out there last spring.  It's very bare bones, but it does have a couple of neat holes, and the 5th really stands out.  It's a short par four playing along a hillside.  There is out of bounds hard right, and a very steep drop to the left.  Left of the green appears to be absolute death from the tee.  However, the green is very steep from right to left, meaning a shot hit 20 yards left (where I hit it) has a better chance of a three than one missed to the right (where Mark hit it).  Weird hole, weird little course, but a ton of fun.

18 at Hanover These New England courses seem to yield quirk in spades.  A few of the moderns have it for sure, with some of it good (Canterbury Woods, Kettle Brook), some of it bad (Cyprian Keyes).  Of course, they can't compete with the old-timers, and the Dartmouth golf course might take the cake.  Back to back par threes, back to back par fives, a double fairway, back to back short fours, abandoned ski jumps, and a cross in the routing make this a zany one.  18 combines two of those features (the cross and the back-to-back fives) with a killer diagonal tee shot across a canyon and a ridgeline approach to a wild green.  Love it or hate it, Hanover sure is different.

18 at Yale We'll go back to where we started, with a pretty obvious choice.  Rock cliffs on the tee shot, an Alps option and ski jump on the second, and a giant green make this one an adventurous and phenomenal finish to a great golf course, as well as my quirky 12.

[Bill Gayne]

Road hole on the Old Course

[Chris DeNigris]

How about some Strantz quirk-

1, 5  & 13 at Tobacco Road

3, 5, 12 & 14 at Royal New Kent

14 at Stonehouse (many have used other adjectives)

Haven't yet playedTot Hill but I think there's some serious quirk there.

[Wade Whitehead]

Chris:

Tot Hill is the quirkiest of them all.

WW

[Sam Morrow]

I nominate about half the holes at Glen Mills.

[Jay Flemma]

How about 17 at Crystal Downs?  Where it looks like there is little room to miss the fairway, but it's an optical illusion.  The wide rolls in the fairway are hidden.  (16 at Black Mesa uses the same illusion to great effect...)

Chris, is 5 at Tobacco Road really that quirky?  Maybe 1 at RNK instead?

How about a few holes at Ballyneal like 1, 3, 4 and 15?

[Michael Goldstein]

Ronald,  you don't get to hit again if you hit the lighthouse at Bondi (unlike the rules on many courses in NZ when you hit power lines).

JNC, here is one of my favourite quirky holes. I'm shocked it hasn't yet been mentioned on this thread.  One of many quirky holes at Cruden Bay.

[Bill Gayne]

This thread shows to me that it's a thin line between quirk and bad architecture and that old often gets a pass as quirky.

[Adrian_Stiff]

Quirky to me means unusual. So I have looked at holes that have adapted from unusual land forms or situations.

My 12 though they only come from 8 courses.

13th @ North Berwick, 16th @ North Berwick, the wall at 13 is just perfect and the green at 16 defies law.
17th @ TOC, I think 1, 11,12 and 18 could be considered for their unusual charms also.
1st @ Painswick,  5th @ Painswick 6th, 7th, 10th and 16th came close too!
13th @ Prestwick, 17th @ Prestwick. 15 was considered though I think the green is 'too far gone'
8th @ Troon a unique ledge guarded by those traps and a sliver of a green.
5th @ Saunton East the toughest 110 yarder you might find
6th @ Hunstanton the raised green creates a frightening hazard from 100 yards out.
18th @ Ilfracoombe blind green in a quarry, 4th @ Ifracoombe at just 88 yards over a quarry to a shelf.

[Scott Weersing]

Quirky is neither good nor bad. But it is a fine line between a hole being quirky and needed to be bulldozed or rerouted.

I have played many holes that require a 4 iron and a 4 iron. Or even one that was a 9 iron of the tee followed by a 7 iron, for example, no. 9 at Steward Creek in Canmore, Alberta, CA. These would be poor quirky holes.

Some of my favorite quirky holes:

No. 12 at Rustic Canyon (it seems so straight forward but the green is unlike any other)
No. 2 at La Purisima (a blind tee shot from up on a hill, with water right and left)
No. 6 at Pacific Dunes (a hole that is just as easy to make a double bogey as it is to birdie)
No. 16 at Bandon Trails (one of the strangest fairways I have ever played followed by a wild green)
No. 8 at Royal New Kent (one of the few holes with a blind approach to the green from the fairway)

[Garland Bayley]

Old MacDonald #3, #16. (Can't believe these were not mentioned before, and that #7 would be mentioned before them.)
Astoria Country Club #3, #10, #14, #15, #16, might even sneak in #2 as more quirky than a lot mentioned here.
Chambers Bay #12
Sagebrush #2, #16
Hideout #13 (UT) Forrest says he originally routed as a standard length, rather average par 4. Used typical heuristic of shortening to make better.

[Mark McKeever]

5 at Tumblebrook Very few GCAers have seen this one, but Redanboy and I ventured out there last spring.  It's very bare bones, but it does have a couple of neat holes, and the 5th really stands out.  It's a short par four playing along a hillside.  There is out of bounds hard right, and a very steep drop to the left.  Left of the green appears to be absolute death from the tee.  However, the green is very steep from right to left, meaning a shot hit 20 yards left (where I hit it) has a better chance of a three than one missed to the right (where Mark hit it).  Weird hole, weird little course, but a ton of fun.

Great one John!  I was actually out there yesterday and hounded the place with my camera.

Mark 

[Wade Schueneman]

13 and 16 at North Berwick (West)
9 Rivermont
14 Lane Creek
7 The Machrie
1 Aiken
1 NGLA
Lahinch 4,5,6
RCD 7
TOC 17
9 and 13 at Kingsley

Mac explained 9 at Rivermont, and most of the others are get a lot of press, but I will explain 1 at Aiken and 14 at Lance Creek.

Both are short par 4s with wild greens.  1 at Aiken also has a fall off into the railroad tracks as OB all the way along the left side so the smart play is to lay way out to the right with an iron, but then comes a 140 yard shot into a fantasticly contoured green.

14 at Lane Creek (credit to Mike Young) may be the best example of how bold contours can make average paced greens incredibly fun and versitile.  The hole is only 300 yards down hill with a wide fairway, but the green falls 5-6 feet from left to right.  The top left shelf is essentially bisected by a ridge running in from the left and there is a small shelf in the back middle of the green.  Two weeks ago I hit a putt from the top left of this green to the bottom right and made it.  It was about a 60 foot putt that took over ten seconds to go in.  My playing companions thought that my ball had stopped twice on different ledges and kept telling me that I needed to hit it a little harder.  My response each time was "wait for it".  Options, strategy, and lots of FUN. Well done, MIke, for creating a versitile and strategic drivable short hole that produces way more bogeys than birdies without water hazards and even when stimped at 8.

I will have to post some pictures (when I get around to taking some).

[JNC Lyon]

5 at Tumblebrook Very few GCAers have seen this one, but Redanboy and I ventured out there last spring.  It's very bare bones, but it does have a couple of neat holes, and the 5th really stands out.  It's a short par four playing along a hillside.  There is out of bounds hard right, and a very steep drop to the left.  Left of the green appears to be absolute death from the tee.  However, the green is very steep from right to left, meaning a shot hit 20 yards left (where I hit it) has a better chance of a three than one missed to the right (where Mark hit it).  Weird hole, weird little course, but a ton of fun.

Great one John!  I was actually out there yesterday and hounded the place with my camera.

Mark 

I think someone has to be a serious GCA geek (which, of course, I am) to see a lot in Tumblebrook.  Even so, that Volcano green at 4 and the shelf green at 5 are freakin' cool.

[James Boon]

Quirky is very much a personal perspective. Growing up in Derbyshire, there are plenty of blind shots over hills, or shots over dry stone walls, or approaches to tiny greens. Then travelling further afield, to some of the UK’s older courses, there are again many features that someone used to modern “by the numbers” architecture, would certainly consider quirky, that for me are just great use of the existing features of the site, often forcing you to hit a shot differently than you would otherwise do so, or take more unusual strategic decisions.

JNC and Niall’s discussion of the 18th at Brora is a good example. A great finishing hole, and for someone like JNC who seems to love the quirky nature of UK courses, it certainly fits the bill, however to Niall or myself, its probably less quirky as we will have come across similar examples more often?

Anyway, I’d say 1 and 13 at North Berwick certainly fit the bill, but have been mentioned plenty (I’m with JNC in thinking the 1st at NB is a great start to the round), then there is the cops out of bounds on the 1st at Royal Liverpool. But below is my list of a dozen quirky holes, some are great architecture, some or bordering on the insane, but all are quirky to one degree or other…

3 at St Enodoc
The 420 odd yards on the card don’t give any clue to what you will actually encounter. A blind downhill drive. At the far end of the landing area is a track and also a ditch with a copse before the hole doglegs to the left slightly.

13 at Burnham & Berrow
Never really managed to get my head around this hole but I still like it. The old tee was better with its tricky semi blind shot, but the drive is still probably best as a fairway wood as a sandy track to the beach crosses the hole and theres no relief from it. Then a slight dogleg left, terrain gets interesting and narrow for the semi blind layup, then the green itself is almost 50 yards long and very narrow with a wicked hollow off to the right.

17 at Painswick
Certainly the quirkiest hole on the course. Anywhere else and I’d think it was nuts, but it just about works at Painswick? A blind drive to a narrow landing area with a crossroads and out of bounds to the left!

17 at Pennard
Never managed to get my head around this one at Buda, in fact I cant remember even finishing the hole!

9 at Royal West Norfolk
This is actually a very good hole but what makes it quirky for me is the approach over a tidal marsh. Not your standard links feature, and pics when its flooded, with the railway sleepers across the front of the green, look great, but not your typical links.

17 at Alwoodley
A drive over a public road to a pretty flat fairway, but then the blind approach is to a green set at the bottom of a slope. The aggressive line must take on the gorse bushes at the top of the slope.

4 at Lindrick
A short par 5 that doglegs to the right with the fairway running away from you a little. However the approach is to a totally blind green sitting down at the bottom of a slope, with a stream running around the back.

2 at Blairgowrie Wee
The approach to this shortish par 4 must get past 2 large pine trees standing guard at the front of the green. Probably too high to get a shot over them, the best bet is an aggressive drive cutting the corner to get down the slope close to the green, which will just leave a short bump and run beneath their branches.

3 at Gleneagles Kings
The uphill drive is to a pretty undulating fairway, but the approach is over a rather large hill, with the green on the far side.

15 at Boat of Garten
Only a short par 4, but a drive would end up at the bottom of a deep and narrow hollow, with heather al around. Best bet is to play it as something like two 7 irons, but you will not realise that from the tee as its semi blind and the hollow cant be seen.

16 at Askernish
Probably one of the maddest greens I’ve ever seen, but I loved it! It’s a very narrow front upper tier, that sits high up above the fairway, then a drop off behind.

8 at Chevin, Derbyshire
I decided to add one from my home county of Derbyshire, and there were plenty to choose from. “Tribulation” at Chevin is just under 400 yards but the drive is over a drystone wall, uphill to a hogsback fairway with a drystone wall left, out of bounds over, and a steep drop off right. The approach is then steeply uphill also. Many locals play a short iron to the start of the fairway to avoid a drive which if slightly off line will kick off the fairway either left or right into trouble. Pretty crazy, but its been there for 118 years, and is as much fun to play now as it was when I was a kid!
http://www.chevingolf.co.uk/pages.php/course_hole.html/054d3b28-67e8-11df-808c-001ec9b331b2/8.html

Cheers,

James

[James Boon]

This thread shows to me that it's a thin line between quirk and bad architecture and that old often gets a pass as quirky.

Bill,

At times yes, quirky can be bad architecture, but for me it can also be very good architecture, and some of the holes I've listed above are very good indeed.

As for "old often getting a pass" I'd say its for two reasons. Firstly, whatever the quirky nature of the hole is, its been like that for years and so as so many people have played it, they've got used to it. Secondly, a course laid out lets say 80 to 120 years ago, wouldn't have had the numbers of players on the course, and certainly not that many unaccompanied visitors or societies that will be playing it today, so any potential safety issues that would stop an architect creating such holes today, wouldn't have been an issue back then.

Cheers,

James