The Best Extra Holes in Golf? (w/pictures)

[Benjamin Litman]

Some courses are so good, so blessed with great architecture, that they can't make room for a brilliant little par-3 on their main 18-hole routing. But, thankfully, they don't discard the holes altogether, instead keeping them either as "bye" (or bet-settling) holes or, especially in Australia, as maintenance breathers for the main course. (Question for Aussies in the know: Were the extra holes on the Sandbelt courses built with maintenance in mind, or was maintenance simply a fortuitous byproduct of their retention?) Whatever the correct nomenclature, they are what I call the best extra holes in golf.

My nominations, obviously limited by the courses I've played, are below. (I also remember fondly the extra hole at Metropolitan Golf Club, routed between the 5th and 6th holes, but we played through another group on that hole, so I unfortunately have no pictures of it.) Please share yours, preferably with a picture if you have one. Happy Sunday.

Cruden Bay's 19th (routed between the 12th and 13th holes)


Kingston Heath's 19th (routed between the 1st and 2nd holes)


Barnbougle Lost Farm's 19th (routed between the 13th and 14th holes; note that Lost Farm also has a 20th hole, which comes after the 18th on the way to the clubhouse)


Barnbougle Lost Farm's 19th (front-right tee)


Royal Melbourne Composite's 19th (just as the Composite Course itself isn't legitimate as a standalone entity, neither is this hole, as it's the 16th hole--i.e., not an extra--of the club's East Course, but it is rotated with the East's 4th hole in serving as the 16th hole for the Composite Course, so I figured including it on this list had some merit; if it were a legitimate "extra" hole, I'd place it at the top of this list, it's so good)

[Tim Leahy]

Stone Eagle had a nice one. Maybe someone has a picture.

[Ally Mcintosh]

I like both the extra holes at The European Club, especially the one between 7 & 8 with its severely sloping green.

[Jim Nugent]

Are all of them par 3s?

[Benjamin Litman]

Are all of them par 3s?

The ones I nominated are; I can't speak for the others.

But when I was drafting the post, I did wonder whether extra holes are ever not par-3s. I doubt it, but if anyone can prove me wrong, it's my fellow GCAers.

[John Percival]

The restored, old Fowler 17th at LACC North.
See the pic on the course review from last year.
Stunning in its location, design and beauty.
"Thank you, Gil Hanse, for restoring it."

[Thomas Dai]

Sutton Coldfield has a couple of extra holes, par-3's I believe, and tweaks the order of play in the winter.

Worcester, which apart from a valley that floods, is laid out on a sandy ridge. In the winter the club converts to a shorter 'high' course (avoiding the valley that floods) by having several extra par-3's that are maintained to the same standard as the rest of the course and can be brought into play at short notice. They even convert the large putting green next to the cubhouse into a 135 yd par-3. A clever way of maintaining an 18-hole course. There's a more detailed expalnation here - http://www.golfclubatlas.com/forum/index.php/topic,49998.0.html

atb

[Greg Taylor]

Sutton Coldfield has a couple of extra holes, par-3's I believe, and tweaks the order of play in the winter.

atb

Yup it does, they are passable... and they double up as practice greens in the summer.

Sean has name checked the relief 9th being better than the actual, but I'm not wholly convinced.

[Michael Felton]

Walton Heath has an extra hole. They can turn one par four (12 Old) into a par five and a par four and they use them when a hole is out of play for working on. Generally in the winter. I don't have any pictures and I don't much like the holes. They're a bit of an afterthought and the par four that gets skipped is one of the best holes on the complex.

[K. Krahenbuhl]

Kinloch GC



Streamsong


LA North

[Chris DeToro]

Forest Dunes in Michigan has a fun little extra hole too.  Hopefully someone has a picture of this one.  I unfortunately don't...

[Andrew Bernstein]

The Hog Hole at Forest Creek South has to win for best 19th hole tee markers.

[Michael Wharton-Palmer]

benjamin.
Are the ones at Kingston Heath and in Tasmania all playable as a part of the regular round?

[Benjamin Litman]

MWP: The ones at Barnbougle Lost Farm are both playable as part of the regular round, which is therefore 20 holes! But the ones at Kingston Heath and Metropolitan are used only if one of the regular par-3s on the course is out of play for maintenance. For example, when I played Kingston, the famed 15th was out of play, so we played the extra par-3 after the 1st hole.

Andrew: Best tee markers AND best name. Classic.

Michael: That's very interesting about Walton Heath. I wonder if that's the only course where the extra holes aren't par-3s.

K.: I considered including the "bye" hole at Streamsong, but I think the three I nominated are all better. I've heard amazing things about the extra hole at LACC, so thanks for the picture. As for the one at Kinloch, that's an extra hole?! Wow.

[Tom Ferrell]

Old Sandwich has a nice one...

[Tom_Doak]

The hole at Stone Eagle came about because I was unable to convince them to use a par-3 as the first hole of the round, or the eighteenth.  It is the first thing you come to when you get up the hill, so that's the only place it fit into the sequence.

The bye hole at Sebonack was more of an afterthought, a way to use a cool little corner of the property that was too dangerous to use for the first green.  I think that's one of the best 19th holes I've seen, but a lot of people don't even notice it.

[Jason Way]

Forest Dunes in Michigan has a fun little extra hole too.  Hopefully someone has a picture of this one.  I unfortunately don't...

Here's the pic, with the bunker in the center of the green.