The best set of _____ that you've played

[Jim Colton]

Fill in the blanks (no waffling or honorable mentions - whittle it down to 5 and rank em)

Par 3's
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.

Short (<400) par 4's
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.

Long (400+)  par 4's
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.

Par 5's
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.

[Tom_Doak]

Add one more:

Greens
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.

[Mark McKeever]

Great thread Jim!  These will be interesting to see.  Here is how my rankings shake out after making clear cuts at 5.

Par 3's
1. Kittansett
2. Pine Valley
3. Fishers Island
4. Boston Golf Club
5. Merion East

Short (<400) par 4's
1.  St. Georges
2.  Eastward Ho!
3.  Charles River
4.  Somerset Hills
5.  Morris County

Long (400+) par 4's
1.  Bethpage Black
2.  Olympia Fields North
3.  Merion East
4.  Aronimink
5.  Stonewall Old

Par 5's
1.  Yale
2.  Pine Valley
3.  Metedeconk National
4.  Gulph Mills
5.  Eastward Ho!

Greens
1. Pine Valley
2. Country Club of Scranton
3. Yale
4. Fishers Island
5. Somerset Hills

[Michael Wharton-Palmer]

Par 3's
1.Royal Birkdale
2.Merion East
3.Diamante
4.Pine Valley
5.Cypress Point        Honourable Mention..Texarakana CC

Short (<400) par 4's
1.Woodhall Spa
2.Pine Valley
3.Crystal Downs
4.Fishers Island
5.Ballyneal...or...Kingsley

Long (400+)  par 4's
1.Pacific Dunes
2.Sand Hills
3.Royal Birkdale
4.Merion East
5.Crytsal Downs

Par 5's
1.Pine Valley
2.Sand Hills
3.Ballyneal
4.The Old Course
5.still working on this one

Greens
1.Ballyneal
2.Pine Valley
3.Crystal Downs
4.Cypress Point
5.San Fransisco Golf Club

[J_ Crisham]

I would submit that Oakmont, Cypress Point, and Crystal Downs fulfill the best set of each parameter- they have no weaknesses-none.

[Bryan Lewis]

Add one more:

Greens
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.

I'll tackle this one.  The others take way too much thinking!

1. St. Andrews Old
2. Oakmont
3. Diamond Springs
4. Oakland Hills South
5. Lost Dunes

[David_Tepper]

The five par-3's at Golspie are as good a collection as I have seen.

[Alex Miller]

Par 3's
1. Cypress Point
2. Pacific Dunes
3. Pasatiempo
4. Valley Club
5. Wilshire CC

Short (<400) par 4's
1. St. George's
2. Ballyneal
3. Pacific Dunes
4. NGLA
5. Rustic Canyon

Long (400+)  par 4's
1. Pinehurst #2
2. Rustic Canyon
3. NGLA
4. Pasatiempo
5. Ballyneal

Par 5's
1. Rustic Canyon
2. Cypress Point
3. NGLA
4. Pacific Dunes
5. LACC

Greens
1. NGLA
2. Rustic Canyon
3. Pasatiempo
4. Cypress Point
5. Ballyneal


I realize it looks like I'm cherry picking certain courses, but my great golf encounters have been GREAT while playing golf in SoCal gives me little else to draw from.

[Matt Glore]

Feel free to shoot holes in this.

Par 3's
1. Whistling Straits
2. Ballyneal
3. Sand Hills
4. Erin Hills
5. Dunes Club Michigan

Short (<400) par 4's
1. Dismal River Nicklaus
2. Sand Hills
3. Ballyneal
4. Dunes Club Michigan
5. Erin Hills

Long (400+)  par 4's
1. Sand Hills
2. Whistling Straits
3. River Course at Black Wolf Run
4. Erin Hills
5. Ballyneal

Par 5's
1. Kingsley Club
2. Sand Hills
3. Pete Dye Course at French Lick
4. Arcadia Bluffs
5. Whistling Straits

Greens
1 Sand Hills
2 Harbor Shores
3 Erin Hills
4 River Course at Black Wolf Run
5 Pete Dye Course at French Lick

[Bill Brightly]

Mark,

Metedeconk's par 5's? I think they may be the most contrived, overdone par 5's I have ever played. They are nothing more than forced layups, IMO, with ridiculous risk/reward options if you should happen to hit your tee ball far enough to reach the greens in 2.

[Terry Lavin]

I would submit that Oakmont, Cypress Point, and Crystal Downs fulfill the best set of each parameter- they have no weaknesses-none.

If you include a weak finishing hole as a strength, then I would agree with Cypress Point.

[J_ Crisham]

Par 3's
1.Royal Birkdale
2.Merion East
3.Diamante
4.Pine Valley
5.Cypress Point        Honourable Mention..Texarakana CC

Short (<400) par 4's
1.Woodhall Spa
2.Pine Valley
3.Crystal Downs
4.Fishers Island
5.Ballyneal...or...Kingsley

Long (400+)  par 4's
1.Pacific Dunes
2.Sand Hills
3.Royal Birkdale
4.Merion East
5.Crytsal Downs

Par 5's
1.Pine Valley
2.Sand Hills
3.Ballyneal
4.The Old Course
5.still working on this one

Greens
1.Ballyneal
2.Pine Valley
3.Crystal Downs
4.Cypress Point
5.San Fransisco Golf Club

Mark, I hate to be piling on but the par 5 18th at Gulph Mills may be one of the worst I've ever seen with the rock wall fronting the green. What did I miss at Gulph Mills?

[J_ Crisham]

I would submit that Oakmont, Cypress Point, and Crystal Downs fulfill the best set of each parameter- they have no weaknesses-none.

If you include a weak finishing hole as a strength, then I would agree with Cypress Point.

Terry, you are correct- not sure what else they could have done given the available property, although eliminating some Cypress trees in the right rough and greenside would be a good start.

[Joe Bausch]

Mark, I hate to be piling on but the par 5 18th at Gulph Mills may be one of the worst I've ever seen with the rock wall fronting the green. What did I miss at Gulph Mills?

Did you have a couple of Pine Valley's afterwards at Gulph Mills, Jack?!  Or maybe a rock wall was there in the past.  But there is no wall on the 18th currently.

[Terry Lavin]

My golf resume is not deep enough for me to meaningfully contribute, but the golf course that has the best combination of these factors that I've played is Sand Hills.  Pacific Dunes is a close second for me.  The other courses that I"ve played that I think are Doak 10's would include LACC North, Riviera, Chicago Golf Club and Shoreacres.  They strike me, after multiple plays, as pretty darned perfect.  Cypress, of course, is just fabulous, but the 18th hole is a bit of a disappointment, not that I demand perfection in a game that I've never been perfect in.  But if pushed for a rhetorical exercise, I'd say it's just short of perfect.

[J_ Crisham]

Mark, I hate to be piling on but the par 5 18th at Gulph Mills may be one of the worst I've ever seen with the rock wall fronting the green. What did I miss at Gulph Mills?

Did you have a couple of Pine Valley's afterwards at Gulph Mills, Jack?!  Or maybe a rock wall was there in the past.  But there is no wall on the 18th currently.

Joe,    I did have some drinks afterwards with Wayne,TEP, etc but let me rephrase my answer from a rock wall to a "wall of rock" that repelled my playing partners 2 nd shot. We played 5 yrs ago at Gulph Mills- have they blasted it away since?

[Joe Bausch]

Mark, I hate to be piling on but the par 5 18th at Gulph Mills may be one of the worst I've ever seen with the rock wall fronting the green. What did I miss at Gulph Mills?

Did you have a couple of Pine Valley's afterwards at Gulph Mills, Jack?!  Or maybe a rock wall was there in the past.  But there is no wall on the 18th currently.

Joe,    I did have some drinks afterwards with Wayne,TEP, etc but let me rephrase my answer from a rock wall to a "wall of rock" that repelled my playing partners 2 nd shot. We played 5 yrs ago at Gulph Mills- have they blasted it away since?

Ah, I guess you mean this semi-exposed rock well short of the green?



Maybe it was been mostly grassed-over since you were there?

[Josh Tarble]

My golf course resume isn't nearly long enough to get a lot of variety if I went 5 deep, but here are a few of my favorites...interesting comparing mine to some of the "all world" type lists though.


Par 3's
1. Streamsong Blue
2. Cape Kidnappers

Short (<400) par 4's
1. Harbor Town
2. Brickyard Crossing

Long (400+)  par 4's
1. Streamsong Red
2. Erin Hills

Par 5's
1. Crooked Stick
2. Trophy Club

Greens
1. Broadmoor CC
2. French Lick - Donald Ross

[Mark McKeever]

Mark, I hate to be piling on but the par 5 18th at Gulph Mills may be one of the worst I've ever seen with the rock wall fronting the green. What did I miss at Gulph Mills?

Did you have a couple of Pine Valley's afterwards at Gulph Mills, Jack?!  Or maybe a rock wall was there in the past.  But there is no wall on the 18th currently.

Joe,    I did have some drinks afterwards with Wayne,TEP, etc but let me rephrase my answer from a rock wall to a "wall of rock" that repelled my playing partners 2 nd shot. We played 5 yrs ago at Gulph Mills- have they blasted it away since?

No offense, but did your playing partner hit a quality shot if it struck the rock?  I think the rock/bunker create options for the second shot for those looking for a simpler third shot to the green.  Its definitely not in play for those going after it in two.

Mark

[Mark McKeever]

Mark,

Metedeconk's par 5's? I think they may be the most contrived, overdone par 5's I have ever played. They are nothing more than forced layups, IMO, with ridiculous risk/reward options if you should happen to hit your tee ball far enough to reach the greens in 2.

Bill,
I found the par 5's at Metedeconk to be the strength of the course personally.  I even checked back in some notes that I took down when I played out there.  A lot of the holes at MNGC are "contrived" as you put it, but I think that they ended up with a lot of quality golf holes.   If playing the correct tees there were options on the second and third shots which each player can attempt.  And the greens of the par 5's were complex enough that hitting the greens didnt guaruntee a two putt birdie.  I was trying not to be repetitive and add another Top 50 golf course, and honestly I'm glad it's brought about some good discussion.  Maybe theyre a number 5 and not a number 3, but I thought they were pretty good.

Sort of my "wildcard" if you will.

Mark

[Michael Wharton-Palmer]

Dont know how I got connected with Gulph Mills and why I was quoted on that one....but I have played there and #18 wouldnt fit my best of..good course though

[J_ Crisham]

Mark, I hate to be piling on but the par 5 18th at Gulph Mills may be one of the worst I've ever seen with the rock wall fronting the green. What did I miss at Gulph Mills?

Did you have a couple of Pine Valley's afterwards at Gulph Mills, Jack?!  Or maybe a rock wall was there in the past.  But there is no wall on the 18th currently.

Joe,    I did have some drinks afterwards with Wayne,TEP, etc but let me rephrase my answer from a rock wall to a "wall of rock" that repelled my playing partners 2 nd shot. We played 5 yrs ago at Gulph Mills- have they blasted it away since?

Ah, I guess you mean this semi-exposed rock well short of the green?



Maybe it was been mostly grassed-over since you were there?

Joe, As you probably know the wall of rock was significantly covered since my visit to soften the hole- still a pretty lame finisher to an otherwise solid course.

[Josh Bills]

Par 3's
1. Pacific Dunes (the corner of the course with 5, 10 and 11 is just amazing)
2. Waterville (loved 17, 12 and 4)
3. Pebble Beach (7 and 17)
4. Tralee (13 stands out as amazing in my mind still and 16)
5. Pasatiempo (15 and 8 especially)

Short (<400) par 4's
1. Mid Pines
2. Tobacco Road
3. Bandon Dunes
4. Ballybunion Cashen Course (though they feel long)
5. Urbana Country Club (Ohio)

Long (400+)  par 4's
1. Bethpage Black
2. The Judge at Capitol Hill
3. Bayonne Golf Club
4. Kiawah Island Ocean Course
5. Scioto Country Club

Par 5's
1. Ballybunion Old
2. Old Head
3. Bethpage Black
4. Pebble Beach
5. Muirfield Village

Greens
1. Tobacco Road
2. Bandon Dunes
3. Pasatiempo
4. Urbana Country Club (Ohio)
5. Moonbrook CC (fast as lightening)

[Sean_A]

Par 3s

Kington
Painswick
Rye
Swinley Forest

Short (<325) par 4s

Painswick
Perranporth

Long (425+) par 4s


Par 5s

Cruden Bay
Pennard

Ciao

[Lenny Polakoff]

I would have to give this some thought but a clear winner for me would be the set of par 3's at Shinnecock.  Surprised they are not on anyone's list thus far.