The Most Weather Exposed Courses List

[Sven Nilsen]

Name the courses with the most consistently extreme weather. 

I'll start with:

The Plantation Course
Bandon
Barnbougle/Lost Farms
Anything on the West Coast of Ireland

[Ross Tuddenham]

I am not sure why it would be the case but at Kilspindie the wind seems to play havoc more often than at the other courses in East Lothian.  On the 160/170 yard 8th hole I have had to hit driver while playing into the wind to ensure the ball is not blown into the forth.  I discovered the driver might be the option to go for after a slightly faded 2 hybrid ended up somewhere at sea.

[Tom_Doak]

Cape Kidnappers is not as windy as Barnbougle or Bandon on the average day, but when a storm comes in, you had better take cover.

The Rawls Course in Lubbock is very exposed, because Lubbock is the start of Tornado Alley.

Old Head was fun, too.  We were trying to use a tape measure to check distances and the tape kept snapping in the wind.  New definition of a 3-knot wind!

[J_ Crisham]

My top 3 are Prairie Dunes, Waterville , and Carne

[Anthony Butler]

National Golf Club on the Mornington Peninsula can get nasty esp. in the Winter Months... Howls off the Southern Ocean. Only tried that once.

I have probably walked off NSW during a competition about 5-6 times due to high winds...

From all the people I know who've been there, Old Head sounds like it's borderline unplayable about 100 days a year.  

[Sven Nilsen]

I've got one more for the list - Rawlins Ranch in Wyoming, which I believe is located in the windiest area of the country.

[Jon Wiggett]

Ogden, Saddleworth and Crossland Heath

[Brad Tufts]

Kittansett, holes 1-4, 16-18.

Haven't played it, but Nefyn & District looks ridiculously exposed out on its peninsula.

Fisher's Island

[Sam Morrow]

Northshore Country Club in Portland (just outside of Corpus Christi) is right on the bay and the wind blows like crazy. I've been there during the summer where when it's windier than usual they will sometimes go several days without mowing the greens.

Padre Isles CC is also down there and is about a mile from the beach, it's the kind of place where the wind blows so hard you just go out and hit shots, don't worry about a score. Newport Dunes is close so I'd be curious to see hoe exposed it is down there on Mustang Island.

[Joel_Stewart]

After 11am in the morning, Bandon seems like it's always blowing.

I've played Sand Hills in some nasty wind.  Add in 100 degree heat and it was not comfortable.

[Greg Chambers]

The course in Colorado where I was the super was unbelievably windy...would give anything in Wyoming a run for its money.  You always knew when lunchtime was, because the wind would start howling 20mph+.  The canyon just west of the course was called the Windy Gap, for good reason.  I still remember laying out the irrigation heads on one of the fairways in a driving snowstorm...in JUNE!

[Greg Gilson]

Personal experience:

(1)New South Wales , Sydney . Played there one day when the full sand bucket blew off my bag and UP a 45 degree hill never to be seen again

(2)Old Course at The National (Mornington Peninsula, near Melbourne). My home course where it's not unusual to talk about "5 club wind"

(3)New Course at St Andrews. Probably not obvious but just happened to play there in a gale one day when some players had taken pull trollies that you would not stay still no matter which way you faced them. Best option was to lie them down on their side with the bag still attached when taking a shot

[Pat Burke]

Played a tournament at North Shore in Corpus Christi  (Hogan Tour event 1991)

When I checked in to my hotel, the had the National Kite Flying and wind surfing museum there.
Knew we were in for a long week!

[Sam Morrow]

Played a tournament at North Shore in Corpus Christi  (Hogan Tour event 1991)

When I checked in to my hotel, the had the National Kite Flying and wind surfing museum there.
Knew we were in for a long week!

Corpus is the windiest city in America for a reason.

[Joe Leenheer]

Ocean Course?

any course in Ohio...we are not know for sunny days.

[Paul Jones]

I wonder how long the rounds are at the courses listed above?

[John Chilver-Stainer]

Freshwater Bay Golf Club on the Isle of Wight

A cliff top course about 300 feet above sea level.  The views are magnificent.
When a strong prevailing South Westerly comes  straight down the Channel from the Atlantic it can lift you off your feet.

One learns the choked driver daisy cutter shot pretty quickly to keep the ball in play. The course has never been closed.

As you come off the course on a windy day your head is still echoing from the gusts whistling through your ears. 

[Adam Lawrence]

Second Jon's suggestion of Ogden (Halifax GC) in Yorkshire, especially the holes on top of the hill. In the same area, Marsden and Outlane get big winds. But nothing I've played matches Askernish!

[Dónal Ó Ceallaigh]

I think Belmullet (Carne) and Malin Head (Ballyliffin) are the weather stations in Ireland that report the highest recorded wind speeds. You could safely say that any course on the NW, W and SW coasts of Ireland is pretty windy.

[rjsimper]

Desert Dunes in CA surely must be considered on any lit of inland courses.

[Tim Martin]

Fishers Island is certainly at the mercy of the weather gods as is Mid Ocean Club.

[jeffwarne]

The Bridge
240 feet above the Peconic

[Yancey_Beamer]

Agree with Desert Dunes. Situated at the "window"of the mountains outside Palm Springs where all the wind turbines are located.
They are there for that reason.

[Tim Gavrich]

I'll throw Newport Country Club out there. Coldest and wettest two hours of my life were spent on the first eight holes of that golf course in a junior tournament one April.

[Sean Leary]

Old Head by a landslide for me. One of the most exposed PLACES on earth I would think, never mind courses...