Bunkerless GB&I par-3 holes (1-18)

[Thomas Dai]

    1-18 GB&I bunkerless par-3’s with no more than 1 hole taken from any individual course.


1^st at Huntercombe
2^nd at Berkhamsted*
3^rd at Montrose
4^th at County Sligo
5^th at Ballyliffin Old
6^th at Royal Portrush (Dunluce)
7^th at Narin & Portnoo
8^th at Channel Course, Burnham
9^th at Kington
10^th at Painswick
11^th at Royal Ashdown Forest (Old)*
12^th at Tenby
13^th at St David’s City
14^th at Burnham & Berrow (Championship)
15^th at Cruden Bay
16^th at Minchinhampton Old
17^th at Enniscrone
18^th at Church Stretton

There are many fine/great/famous bunkerless holes, such as Calamity Corner at Royal Portrush, the 4th at RCP/Deal, 3rd at Royal St Georges etc, that I have not included due to the 1 hole per course self imposed rule and to balance out with other hole numbers from other courses.


To fit in 18 correctly numbered proved to be quite a time consuming exercise and in the end I had to resort to cherrypick a couple of par-3’s (*) on courses I haven’t yet played.


Thoughts and other nominations welcome.


atb
 

[Ed Tilley]

Tralee 13th definitely should be in

Windermere 8th


- although you could also make a case for 2


10


Or 14


Also Castlegregory 2nd


Or 5th

[Ed Tilley]

16 at Perranporth is an absolute must.

[Thomas Dai]

    1-18 GB&I bunkerless par-3’s with no more than 1 hole taken from any individual course.


1^st at Huntercombe


2^nd at Berkhamsted*



3^rd at Montrose



4^th at County Sligo



5^th at Ballyliffin Old
to be posted later

6^th at Royal Portrush (Dunluce)
to be posted later

7^th at Narin & Portnoo



8^th at Channel Course, Burnham
to be posted later

9^th at Kington



10^th at Painswick



11^th at Royal Ashdown Forest (Old)*





12^th at Tenby





13^th at St David’s City



14^th at Burnham & Berrow (Championship)



15^th at Cruden Bay
Not many photos available


16^th at Minchinhampton Old





17^th at Enniscrone





18^th at Church Stretton


atb

[Thomas Dai]

Nice choices Ed. I've not been to Tralee or Castlegregory (yet) and must admit to forgetting Windermere, which I've played. I did consider the 16th at P'porth but it just didn't fit in when I had to fit in holes 1 to 18 by number. Damn fine hole though even more so when combined with the 4th and 6th there. Walk off with 6 stableford points or 3 nett pars on the card for playing the 3 par-3's at P'porth and you'll done pretty well.
Atb

[Frank Pont]

Cool, we need to build more of those on modern courses.....

[Adrian_Stiff]

Am building one at the moment just done the road from Huntercombe. 15th at Greys Green. It's about 240 yards though. Others I have done are;
Stranahan, which is a quirky/GCA inspired affair has 4; 1st, 6th, 8th, 18th.
Erlestoke; 2nd

[Ally Mcintosh]

I'd nominate the 7th on the Carne Kilmore course..... But then I would, wouldn't I.

Great list DT...

[Thomas Dai]

I'd nominate the 7th on the Carne Kilmore course..... But then I would, wouldn't I.
Great list DT...

I did consider the Kilmore 7th, which incidentally I am very much hoping to play next Sept, as the 16th on my listing when taken in combination with the front-9 of The original 18, if you get my drift.


I also thought about the 2nd hole on the Kilmore but reckoned the sand blow-outs, especially the one on the right, side could be deemed a bunkers.


Another Irish hole I considered was the par-3 7th-16th on the Scumore 9-hole course at Enniscrone, which is bunkerless, and was part of the main 18-hole course until Donald Steele revised it when the hole became part of the Scurmore-9. When I was at Enniscrone a few locals I spoke with suggested to me that the 7th-16th hole on the Scurmore is probably the best hole of the entire 27 holes available to play there. More food for thought for next Sept.


I also thought of including the 3rd hole on Steele's revised Enniscrone course, another bunkerless par-3.


Atb

[John Mayhugh]

5^th at Ballyliffin Old

Have you seen the 5th at Royal Worlington & Newmarket?

Thanks for the thread. Less can certainly be more. 

[Thomas Dai]

5^th at Ballyliffin Old

Have you seen the 5th at Royal Worlington & Newmarket?
Thanks for the thread. Less can certainly be more.

I've not been to RW&N John, but I'd certainly like too. The hole you mention looks to be an absolute cracker. For sure less can be more.

The 17th at Saint-Germain per your recent thread looks a right cracker too. Is it bunkerless (in one of your photos
there seems to be a sandy patch back right of the green)?
Atb

[Jon Wiggett]

I am going to throw one in that very few will know and that is the 9th a Dewsbury District GC. Short at about 130 yards. OOB tight to the left side. Played slightly uphill to a smallish green with lots of movement. Missing the green usually leaves you with a very tricky up and down. This is an unusual hole which is great fun.

Jon

[jeffwarne]

Third hole buncrana GC
240-over first green, to a bowl surrounded by playable rough-only left portion available for runup or runup fade

[Thomas Dai]

Jon, the Dewsbury hole looks fun/tricky. I see from the clubs website that the original course was an Old Tom Morris design. Would this be one of his holes or one from later on?


Jeff, when you posted about NWGC on your Donegal tour thread I looked up Ally's course phototour from a few years ago so I get an inkling of what you mean about this hole.


Just shows how many quality bunkerless par-3's there are around, and I guess we've just touched the surface with the holes selected and mentioned so far.


Atb

[Neil White]

Cleeve Cloud - 6th

[Jon Wiggett]

Jon, the Dewsbury hole looks fun/tricky. I see from the clubs website that the original course was an Old Tom Morris design. Would this be one of his holes or one from later on?

Thomas,

the ninth is a really fun hole to play and I spent many hours chipping and putting on and around it as a junior. I know it is one the original holes from the first 18 hole routing but am not sure if this was the one designed by OTM. Originally Dewsbury was a 9 hole layout with a clubhouse to the left side of the current 4th just behind the maintenance building. You can still see the remains of the old clubhouse in the woods.

Jon

[John Mayhugh]

The 17th at Saint-Germain per your recent thread looks a right cracker too. Is it bunkerless (in one of your photos
there seems to be a sandy patch back right of the green)?

I think there were two bunkers on the right.  Maybe this was originally intended as a single bunker, as I think Colt favored odd numbers.

[James Boon]

A few others to consider:


6th Painswick
13th The Island
17th Southerness


I can think off a few more, but perhaps nothing special architecturally.


I was surprised how many I thought of only to realise they actually had one or two bunkers. Does this make them unmemorable holes or bunkers that are redundant or could be removed?

[Thomas Dai]

So many classy bunkerless par-3's. Are bunkers overused on par-3's (indeed generally overused)?
Atb

[Jon Wiggett]

Thomas,

I have often had the same thought. I always think that if a slope, hollow or mound would have a similar effect on the strategy of a hole then a bunker is not needed. I think around the green bunkers are heavy over used. They are much more effective as a fairway hazard IMO.

Jon

[David_Tepper]

Never mind!