Your Top 10 Par 5s

[Garland Bayley]

Kalen,


#4 is a par 5


I preferred #13, and #18 as par 5s in the original course. I don't like them changing 1 to par 5, and 13 to par 4 in the current configuration, and I don't like Chamber's Basement on #18. So IMO the par 5s at Chambers are too degraded to make such a list as this thread wants.

[Jim Franklin]

Kalen

Any par 5 where you take an 11 in a match should and does make your list.
Also good that Chambers Bay 18 where you made 4 doesn't make your list.

Garland,

All the more to show just how objective I am!!     (I actually par'd Sage 16 in my previous round, it was in our match that I fubar'd it)

I did think about adding #4 at Chambers Bay, but isn't it a par 4 now?  Or was that just for the Open?

Jim,

That hole is one of the most unique holes I've every played, par 5 or anything else...

I am disappointed I forgot to include it. Definitely in my top 10.

[Ronald Montesano]

3 Prestwick - Who doesn't think of the cardinal bunker when daydreaming of getting back to Scotland?
6 Pebble Beach - A hole needing no designing. Golf as it was meant to be. Hey there's the Pacific Ocean!
9 Dismal River (White) - Just like riding Space Mountain. In the dark most of the way. Hang on!
14 St Andrews - See Prestwick (insert "hell" over "cardinal")
14 Friar's Head - I must've dreamt I played such a stunning hole.
16 Shinnecock Hills - It's really really hard if you don't avoid the trouble left (and everywhere else). Bogeys are surely white hats here!
16 Sand Hills - The grip it and rip it hole of holes. Sunsets and eagle putts with friends are the memories you want to carry with you.
16 Ballyneal - Angry sea of sand dunes. Got to get it in the right spot to have a go. One of my favorite holes anywhere.
17 Prairie Dunes -How does one make par? I do not know!
18 National Golf Links of America - Home. You're damn right. The huge bunker off the tee. The clubhouse. The climb. The sound. The finish here and at St. Andrews are my two favorites in golf.

Do you ever play anywhere other than munis?


#LivingOurDream
#FlyMeToTheMoon

[Sam Krume]

Garland


Perranporth 2, Saunton West 3, Formby 8, Beau Desert 15, Brancaster 8, Silloth 13, Worpy 12, Sunny New 6, Enniscrone 5, Westward Ho! 9 and Princes Dunes 6 make the HM list. 


Ciao

Perranporth 2nd hole, uphill all the way, double blind shots. What more can you ask for. Must also include the 12th at the Add.

[KBanks]

Some good par 5s:

Lawsonia 11
Seminole 3 (or 4 into the wind!)
Royal Aberdeen 2
Peachtree 2
Kilspindie 2
Mid Ocean 15
Muirfield 9
Cuscowilla 2
North Berwick 11
Renaissance 10[size=78%] (original routing)[/size]
[/size]

[Sean_A]

Garland


Perranporth 2, Saunton West 3, Formby 8, Beau Desert 15, Brancaster 8, Silloth 13, Worpy 12, Sunny New 6, Enniscrone 5, Westward Ho! 9 and Princes Dunes 6 make the HM list. 


Ciao

Perranporth 2nd hole, uphill all the way, double blind shots. What more can you ask for. Must also include the 12th at the Add.

I never realized the 12th was a par 5!


Ciao

[Kalen Braley]

I just remembered a course I played years ago, and while this may be a controversial pick for GCA, I stand by it...

#18 at Lakota Canyon.  It was one of the most out of the box and unique things I'd seen on a course, and thought it was a fantastic hole with tons of options to play it!

[Tom_Doak]

Must also include the 12th at the Add.

I never realized the 12th was a par 5!

Sean:


If I remember right [and I am getting old], when I first played The Addington in 1985 it was the only course in the UK that still listed "bogey" on the scorecard.  And the hole was a bogey 5.  But I'd swear it was a par 4 back then because I always thought of it that way.  Unfortunately, I didn't list par next to each hole when I published the first Confidential Guide so I can't check on it that way.

[Thomas Dai]

Thought I'd wait a while before mentioning on this thread my most memorable par-5 ........the 1st at Royal Jersey. Worth travelling to the Channel Isles to play.
Atb

[Adam Lawrence]

Royal Jersey's opener is fascinating but it would be better if it were slightly longer. As it is you can pretty much lay up your way to the green and at least reduce the danger from the fort and the beach. Remains the most intimidating tee shot I know though, and I dread to think how scary it must be if you're a chronic slicer

[Thomas Dai]

Royal Jersey's opener is fascinating but it would be better if it were slightly longer. As it is you can pretty much lay up your way to the green and at least reduce the danger from the fort and the beach. Remains the most intimidating tee shot I know though, and I dread to think how scary it must be if you're a chronic slicer

The prevailing wind is from the left as well and that makes the beach even more daunting, chronic right handed slicer or not. And if you get too close to the olde fort or the newer gun emplacements and it's chip out sideways time.


At 480ish yds not the longest par-5 but it's certainly one that's likely to live long in the golfing memory bank.


Atb

[Criss Titschinger]

Letting my limited experience shine...

4 World Woods (Pine Barrens), by far my favorite.
15 The Quarry (Ohio) - Great elevation change, plenty of options to play safe or cut the dogleg.
11 The Fort (IN)
13 Atlantic City CC
2, 11, 16 Trophy Club (IN) - The best "set" of par 5's I've played to date. 2 and 11 are especially good.
16 Canterbury
9 WBYC - 16 might be a better hole, but 9 was so wild and memorable for me.
13 Sultan’s Run

Honorable mention: 5 at Harbor Links at Sagamore Resort (formerly Buck Point).

[Sam Krume]

Must also include the 12th at the Add.

I never realized the 12th was a par 5!

Sean:


If I remember right [and I am getting old], when I first played The Addington in 1985 it was the only course in the UK that still listed "bogey" on the scorecard.  And the hole was a bogey 5.  But I'd swear it was a par 4 back then because I always thought of it that way.  Unfortunately, I didn't list par next to each hole when I published the first Confidential Guide so I can't check on it that way.

I was sure that the 12th is a 5, just checked and it is listed on the card as a 5

[Mike Hendren]

Still working on my list, but delighted with some of the unconventional selections thus far.
 
Jason Way, glad to see both 18's at Talking Stick represented.  The 2nd at TS North is among the most strategic holes designed in the modern age.  Amazing what two greenside bunkers and a barbed wire fence can do.  More surprised to see you mention the 14th at TS South.  I thought I was alone in placing it among my top ten favorites.  Surprisingly strategic hole where it is critical to align the third shot down the length of the green, even it that means playing right of the barranco on the second.  36 holes at Talking Stick is perhaps the most underrated day in golf.
 
I must admit I was underwhelmed by the 16th at Walton Heath Old, a golf course I fell in love with.  Perhaps I played up too far (boy it feels good to type that) but I hit a low running drive, followed by a 6-iron and 3 putts from 20 yards short of the green for a 5. 
 
Props to John Kirk for mentioning the 9th at Bandon Trails - a hole that is generally panned.  I like how the fairway is pinched by the trees before opening up into a small meadow housing the fantastic nudged up green.
 
Props to Eric as well for mentioning the 18th at National Golf Links of America.  As I stood on the green I mentioned to the local dentist that I thought I had just finished the best 18th hole in America.  The experience and aesthetics dramatically elevate what is really a very good, but perhaps not great hole.
 
Lots of love for the 7th at Beverly but I really like the heaving fairway of the 11th and vertical spine in the green.
 
My only remaining outlier is the 16th at Tacoma Country & Golf Club, a nifty dogleg right with a dip in the fairway before climbing back up to a mild punchbowl green 75% hidden by a bunker in a bank on the right side.
 
Nice to see some mentions outside of the usual suspects, most of which are undeniably great.
 
Bogey

[George Pazin]

6. 5 Pete Dye GC - The one downside to Pete Dye's par 5s is that it's downright depressing to layup and miss the excitement of his high-risk high-reward second shot. This might be the most thrilling par 5 I know of to take a rip at reaching in two.

Why?

[Sean_A]

Still working on my list, but delighted with some of the unconventional selections thus far.
 
Jason Way, glad to see both 18's at Talking Stick represented.  The 2nd at TS North is among the most strategic holes designed in the modern age.  Amazing what two greenside bunkers and a barbed wire fence can do.  More surprised to see you mention the 14th at TS South.  I thought I was alone in placing it among my top ten favorites.  Surprisingly strategic hole where it is critical to align the third shot down the length of the green, even it that means playing right of the barranco on the second.  36 holes at Talking Stick is perhaps the most underrated day in golf.
 
I must admit I was underwhelmed by the 16th at Walton Heath Old, a golf course I fell in love with.  Perhaps I played up too far (boy it feels good to type that) but I hit a low running drive, followed by a 6-iron and 3 putts from 20 yards short of the green for a 5. 
 
Props to John Kirk for mentioning the 9th at Bandon Trails - a hole that is generally panned.  I like how the fairway is pinched by the trees before opening up into a small meadow housing the fantastic nudged up green.
 
Props to Eric as well for mentioning the 18th at National Golf Links of America.  As I stood on the green I mentioned to the local dentist that I thought I had just finished the best 18th hole in America.  The experience and aesthetics dramatically elevate what is really a very good, but perhaps not great hole.
 
Lots of love for the 7th at Beverly but I really like the heaving fairway of the 11th and vertical spine in the green.
 
My only remaining outlier is the 16th at Tacoma Country & Golf Club, a nifty dogleg right with a dip in the fairway before climbing back up to a mild punchbowl green 75% hidden by a bunker in a bank on the right side.
 
Nice to see some mentions outside of the usual suspects, most of which are undeniably great.
 
Bogey

Yes, sometimes playing a hole only once doesn't offer its true worth...besides..what is wrong with a good birdie opportunity of a par 5?  Some days the hole will be hard to reach in 3!  The features, being the fairway bunker, trees left, slope of the fairway left and raised green with sand right work wonderfully in unison, but very discretely. 


Ciao 

[Jason Thurman]

6. 5 Pete Dye GC - The one downside to Pete Dye's par 5s is that it's downright depressing to layup and miss the excitement of his high-risk high-reward second shot. This might be the most thrilling par 5 I know of to take a rip at reaching in two.

Why?

Just take a look at this view from the landing area:





Dye consistently builds swashbuckling par 5s around gentle bends in rivers, giving the player a chance to go at it in two if he's willing to hang the ball out over the water a bit. For me, a good drive on this hole puts me somewhere between 200 and 250 yards out depending on tees played and how I'm hitting it that day. On a shot of that distance, with that severe a penalty for failing to make the carry, I'm a whole lot more comfortable drawing the ball than cutting it - a cut feels more likely to come up short to me. The shot called for, then, is a ball that hangs out over the river toward a blind surface with just a flag and a rock wall visible. Make the carry and it's pure elation followed by the suspense of walking up to see the ball's final resting place. For me, those elements equal pure excitement.


There are similar design elements in play on some of the par 5s at Blackwolf Run's River Course, which might be my favorite collection of par 5s. But the part that puts 5 at Pete Dye Golf Club over the top for me when it comes to second shot drama is the uphill, do-or-die nature of the shot for someone who takes it on. It's just a little more dramatic and frightening than the downhill shot to 16 at the River Course, for instance.

[Bill Brightly]

Does anyone else see a resemblance between Streamsong Blue#17 and Pebble Beach # 6? (Please don't remind me that there is an ocean of the right side of PB... I am aware of that )

I'm talking about the slightly uphill,  left-to right, partially blind landing area for second shot. On both holes the tendency is to play too far left. And if you've hit a less than ideal drive, you have to decide if you can carry the hazard with your second shot. 

[Tom_Doak]

Does anyone else see a resemblance between Streamsong Blue#17 and Pebble Beach # 6? (Please don't remind me that there is an ocean of the right side of PB... I am aware of that )

I'm talking about the slightly uphill,  left-to right, partially blind landing area for second shot. On both holes the tendency is to play too far left. And if you've hit a less than ideal drive, you have to decide if you can carry the hazard with your second shot.

Bill:


I certainly never thought of #6 at Pebble when we were building Streamsong.  Part of the resemblance in your brain may be due to the fact that both holes play downhill to the landing area and back up to the green, although the elevation change at Pebble is probably 3-5 times as much.


The holes that we DID think of on 17 Blue were the various Tillinghast par-5's with the Hell's Half Acre carry feature on the second shot.  The sharp bank that was the foundation of the cross bunkers was just close enough to the green site that you can lay up and still get home in three, but you have to lay up close and then hit a very good third shot.


None of those Tillinghast holes have a green as cool as the one Eric Iverson built on 17 Blue, though.

[Rob Marshall]

Does anyone else see a resemblance between Streamsong Blue#17 and Pebble Beach # 6? (Please don't remind me that there is an ocean of the right side of PB... I am aware of that )

I'm talking about the slightly uphill,  left-to right, partially blind landing area for second shot. On both holes the tendency is to play too far left. And if you've hit a less than ideal drive, you have to decide if you can carry the hazard with your second shot.

Bill:


I certainly never thought of #6 at Pebble when we were building Streamsong.  Part of the resemblance in your brain may be due to the fact that both holes play downhill to the landing area and back up to the green, although the elevation change at Pebble is probably 3-5 times as much.


The holes that we DID think of on 17 Blue were the various Tillinghast par-5's with the Hell's Half Acre carry feature on the second shot.  The sharp bank that was the foundation of the cross bunkers was just close enough to the green site that you can lay up and still get home in three, but you have to lay up close and then hit a very good third shot.


None of those Tillinghast holes have a green as cool as the one Eric Iverson built on 17 Blue, though.

Tom,
I was going to say when you mentioned the 4th at Bethpage as a great par 5 that the cross bunkers on 17 on the Blue bear at canny resemblance.

[Carl Rogers]

and in my limited sphere of play in no particular order ............

#14 Riverfront
#3 Bandon Trails
#2 Ballyhack
#5 Cascades
#3 Pete Dye's River Course
#3 Pacific Dunes
#1 Tobacco Road
#11 Tobacco Road
#16 Golden Horseshoe
#2 Royal New Kent

[Michael Whitaker]

A list of Par 5's that have had a major impact on me:

Sandhills #1 - the beginning of a dream come true!

Royal Cinque Ports GC #16 - yes, it is still a five!!! Well, it will always be a 5 to me.

St Enodoc #1 - one of the great "Wow!" moments

New South Wales GC #5 - another great "Wow" moment

Ballyhack #2 - beautiful nearly-freeform golf

Cabot Links #2 - maybe my favorite "brute" par 5. Simply magnificent.

Levin Links #18 - I don't care what the card says!!!    Make a four there and I'll pay for your round.

Dismal River White #18 - it's probably the least difficult of the 5's, but it's the scene of my 2013 5th Major victory! 

Black Mesa #16 - stunning challenge!

National Golf Links #18 - the perfect ending to a perfect day 

[Tim Rooney]

Why has no one suggested TGC #14?Though,somewhat,manufactured a true (3) shot par 5, to a small green.

[Frank M]

Michael, #2 at Cabot Links is now #11 since the reconfiguration. Still a pretty awesome, fun hole...killer too.

I won't name 10, but I'd like to add #15 at Cabot Cliffs to the list, pretty awesome. Maybe one of my favs on the course really.

[Stewart Abramson]

So many great holes named so far. I'm surprised we are on page 3 and no one has mentioned Western Gailes #6.