Your Concrete Frogs

[Jason Thurman]

I once was looking over a wedding registry trying to buy a last minute gift on the way to the ceremony. On the list was a heinous concrete frog. Upon seeing it, I knew these two people were meant to be, as no one else I've ever met would ever approve something so ugly in their house.

What golf holes are your Concrete Frogs? Holes don't appeal to everyone but which you love.

For me, the third at Pebble Beach comes to mind. On a course full of stunners, it's not hard for me to understand why many don't think it's a standout. But I love it because it's the rare hole that rewards my most reliable shot - a snap hook that bends anywhere from 10 to 30 yards. I'm confident you could wake me up at 2 AM and hand me a 3 wood and I could turn one around the corner into the fairway with just a quick practice swing.

I also love the fourth at Lawsonia, for the same reason. It seems to be a well-liked hole, but not one of those most frequently raved about on the course and perhaps even the fourth most-heralded of that fantastic set of par 3s.

[Jason Topp]

I love the concept. 

There used to be a hole at Kino Springs in Nogales that was just stupid.  It was about 280 yards downhill with a big wash that crossed the fairway about 100 yards short of the green, wrapped around to the right and then behind the green.  A row of christmas trees was to the left of the green making a bailout that direction not an option.  Your choice on the tee was to lay up by hitting it about 120 yards to a severe downhill lie or to try and drive the green.  I would stand on the tee and think that going for it was stupid but that laying up was equally stupid.  I went for it every time.

I looked at the aerial and it looks like they now have converted the hole to a par three. I doubt it is as much fun to play.

[Phil McDade]

Jason:

I don't know that I'd characterize the 4th at Lawsonia as a concrete frog ( and I love the notion of this!). That's a very solid, Redan-esque par 3 that's just a good, hard, uphill par 3 with a putting surface largely unseen from the tees. I'm not sure it's as good as the 10th, but as a hole, I think it's a better piece of architecture than the more famous boxcar 7th.

The 4th for my tastes has some fundamentally sound and tested architectural principles at work -- deep fronting bunker, trouble long that you can't see, a somewhat blind target, and a large, wide green that allows for multiple pin positions to tempt the golfer.

I think the 17th may be closer to the concrete frog concept -- a hole that doesn't get much notice, but one of strategic interest on one of the flattest portions of the course.

[Jason Thurman]

Phil, I agree with everything you say about the fourth at Lawsonia. To me, it's the start of one of the best 7 hole runs anywhere. I just don't know that it gets the widespread attention that 10 (rightfully) and 7 (regrettably) get.

I have one for you.

I love the 1st at University Ridge. Despite being a routing nightmare for the way it uses the "line of charm" to lead bad players into the native grass on the first tee, I love that it even uses "line of charm" at all and also that it's such a simple hole if you just know where to hit.

[Dan Kelly]

Here's a hole, from a very good course, that hardly anyone will talk about afterwards as being one of his favorites. (That's my guess, anyway. I've played it only four or five times.)

It's the short par-4 17th at Minikahda.

It's a really easy hole ... until you make a mistake (left fairway bunker; bunker short of green; over the green), at which point it becomes a really hard hole.

(I really liked both PBeach 3 and Lawsonia 4, though I very rarely hit any sort of hook.)

[Greg Tallman]

I once was looking over a wedding registry trying to buy a last minute gift on the way to the ceremony. On the list was a heinous concrete frog. Upon seeing it, I knew these two people were meant to be, as no one else I've ever met would ever approve something so ugly in their house.

What golf holes are your Concrete Frogs? Holes don't appeal to everyone but which you love.

For me, the third at Pebble Beach comes to mind. On a course full of stunners, it's not hard for me to understand why many don't think it's a standout. But I love it because it's the rare hole that rewards my most reliable shot - a snap hook that bends anywhere from 10 to 30 yards. I'm confident you could wake me up at 2 AM and hand me a 3 wood and I could turn one around the corner into the fairway with just a quick practice swing.

I also love the fourth at Lawsonia, for the same reason. It seems to be a well-liked hole, but not one of those most frequently raved about on the course and perhaps even the fourth most-heralded of that fantastic set of par 3s.

Jim Furyk and Rory McIlroy both chuckle at your definition of a snap hook.

[Phil McDade]

Phil, I agree with everything you say about the fourth at Lawsonia. To me, it's the start of one of the best 7 hole runs anywhere. I just don't know that it gets the widespread attention that 10 (rightfully) and 7 (regrettably) get.

I have one for you.

I love the 1st at University Ridge. Despite being a routing nightmare for the way it uses the "line of charm" to lead bad players into the native grass on the first tee, I love that it even uses "line of charm" at all and also that it's such a simple hole if you just know where to hit.

Jason:

That's an interesting hole -- really deceptive, as you suggest, because it's all out there in front of you, and yet I think it's a tough hole to figure out, and lots of folks butcher it -- a tough hole out of the gate. I've watched a bunch of very good HS players at the state golf tournament there just have fits with it.

[Mike_Trenham]

#11 at Carne can be polarizing, I have a picture of it in my office.  For me it's a fade tee ball and draw into the green.  Others in the group thought it the least good hole on the back nine.

[Mike Hendren]

I think the 17th at Pebble Beach is one of the world's great one-shotters. 

FWIW, its antithesis is the redan at Shinnecock Hills - totally out of character with the balance of the course and dysfunctional.

Bogey

[Jeff_Brauer]

Not quite what you are seeking, but twice in my career I have been at a club and told only one thing was untouchable.  This first turned out to be a 6" deep concrete pond that looked out of place on a minauture golf course, but was installed by an influential member.  It stayed in the Master Plan.

The other was a cottonwood tree, said to be sacred to the club for some reason.  It was on the SE side of the 4th green, shading it, and so close to the green that putts were affected by the tree roots sticking up out of the green.  After seeing it, I was asked if I would save it, and I said, "yes, just tell me where to stack the logs."  Kieth Foster got that job.......