Club is selection is more than hard, it is a pure spin of the roulette wheel. As Ballyhack is, for me, about playing a course that is 100% unique, this is drop shot par 3 is the longest and has the most elevation change of any par 3 I have played anywhere.
Informal poll: is the hole the longest and most downhill par 3 you have ever played?
Carl,
To be honest, I'd never really thought of this as a "drop shot" hole, simply because of the size of the target. When I think of "drop-shot" holes, I usually envision a scenario where missing long or short is a significant risk because of a shallower depth (requiring more precision in distance control).
Depending on which sets of tees you use, you have anywhere from 35 to 50 yards of depth to play with, so if you aim for the middle of the green, you still have a decent amount of room for error (in terms of distance control). However, given how difficult it is to 2 putt from above the hole, maybe I should start thinking of it more in terms of a precision hole. From the 178 and less tees, I'll think precision, but from anywhere over 200, I'm just thinking on the green.
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As for your informal poll, Ballyhack's drop is roughly 35 feet from the middle 4 tees (168-215).
However, that wouldn't come close to the biggest drop shot of length.
Mill Creek (near Rochester) is situated on a drumlin and features a 180-200 yard par 3 with ~80 feet of drop. This is right after a 140 yard hole that rises ~55 feet. But that's still not the winner. Holiday Valley is a part time golf-course, part time ski resort in Ellicottville (about 40 miles S of Buffalo).
The 15th is a 200 yard hole with a 102 foot drop (1675 to 1573 per Google Earth). That one is much tougher than Ballyhack, because the slope of the hill obscures most of the green, which is only a 26 yard circle to begin with.
That isn't even the most severe elevation change on the course:
The 13th is a 446 yard par four which falls from 1,895 to 1,690 feet (205 drop). To give you perspective, the 15th at Ballyhack drops roughly 110 feet over the entire hole (from the uppermost Big Lick tees).
The 17th is a 459 yard Par 5 which is virtually unreachable in 2, as it climbs from 1,585 feet to 1,724 feet (+139 feet). Of course, the 429 yard 18th tumbles back from 1,700 feet to 1,585 feet.
If you're ever in the Western New York region, I'll take you around to a few of my formative courses, and you'll understand why elevation change like that found at Ballyhack isn't all that unusual for me.