Shortest par-3's on a full-size 18-hole courses

[Jason Topp]

I have always had an untested theory that such holes do not exist too often on modern courses because they tend to bring down the yardage of the course overall and make a course seem to play more difficult than the yardage on the card.  It seems as if so many otherwise short resort courses feature a bunch of long par threes which would have the opposite effect. 

How long is the third at Ventana Canyon Mountain?  It is not a great hole but it is such a cool place that I always love playing it. 

Pat's hole at T&CC is very good.  The uphill nature of the hole increases difficulty and makes it difficult to judge the wind.  The slopes on the green create plenty of challenge and some strategic interest because you really do not want to have a downhill putt. 

[Matthew Petersen]

I have always had an untested theory that such holes do not exist too often on modern courses because they tend to bring down the yardage of the course overall and make a course seem to play more difficult than the yardage on the card.  It seems as if so many otherwise short resort courses feature a bunch of long par threes which would have the opposite effect. 

How long is the third at Ventana Canyon Mountain?  It is not a great hole but it is such a cool place that I always love playing it. 

Pat's hole at T&CC is very good.  The uphill nature of the hole increases difficulty and makes it difficult to judge the wind.  The slopes on the green create plenty of challenge and some strategic interest because you really do not want to have a downhill putt.

#3 at Ventana Canyon (Mountain) is officially 107 from tips. It's an all or nothing shot and just downhill enough that it makes you second guess the yardage.

[Chris Roselle]

The 4th hole at Lu Lu CC (Donald Ross' first course in PA) plays 95 yards over an old quarry.

[Michael Goldstein]

I think the shortest I have played is the 15th at LACC.  The pin was at the front it can't have been more than 100 yards.
I think I made a 5.

[Jon Cavalier]

Former leader for me was the 94-yard "Two or Twenty" hole at Engineers ... a terrific hole though it is only an alternate in today's routing.

That's a lovely hole indeed, Tom:

[Sean Ogle]

While certainly not the shortest ever, can't have a thread like this and not mention the Postage Stamp

[Joe Zucker]

One of my favorite short par 3s is the 16th at Shaker Heights Country Club in Cleveland.  It's about 115 yards from the tips and it plays uphill, so the the green is blind and the player can only see part of the flag stick.  I wish I could find a picture because it is a very interesting hole and the green has a lot of slope.  There is a large hill to the right of the green that balls can bounce off of (similar to #10 at Town & CC) and another steep slope just left of the green that takes any ball that misses in the left side.  It's a very penal hole! As most wedge par 3s seem to be.

[Richard Fisher]

A once-well-regarded London course that I don't recall featuring overmuch recently on GCA is Sandy Lodge, which was included in both editions of Frank Pennink's Golfers' Companion, and the uphill 8th hole at which is the second of two consecutive short holes, at c95 yards considerably less than half the length of its predecessor. 'The Lodge' is a course very much of fives and threes (of which there are six) and seems to have featured rather more prominently in the mid-century period  than it does today. I may, of course, have missed pages of previous GCA correspondence on this theme!

[Mark Chaplin]

I hit 5 iron on the Postage Stamp on a breezy day and just carried the front bunker.

[Thomas Dai]

To me wind is particularly significant when playing a tiddler type short par-3.


Usually the shorter the iron the higher the shot and thus the greater the opportunity for the wind to do something unforeseen/unpleasant to the ball whilst in the air. Also the greater opportunity for a shot coming down from a great height but missing the green to bury itself into the sand or grass and the resulting effect that can have on the players score.


To watch a really skilled, smart player however, take a longer club and flight down a shot, maybe turning the ball into the wind in order for it to land extra soft, is a real delight. Watching a true craftsman at work, even more so if they leave themselves an uphill putt!


Atb

[Paul Jones]

7th Hole at Pebble Beach?  I don't remember the exact yardage, but I did hit a lob wedge.

[Wade Whitehead]

Is there any example of a ~100 yard hole that allows a running shot?

All of them appear to only permit a high approach.

WW

[Thomas Dai]

Is there any example of a ~100 yard hole that allows a running shot?
All of them appear to only permit a high approach.
WW

Interesting point. Not many obvious low approach candidates posted and quite a few mentioned are drop-shot holes.


Not just height of teeing ground vrs height of green but also wind, angle and length of green would be factors - long thin green pin at the back, flight it low annd run it up the green maybe. Pin at the front unlikely, unless a putt from behind the pin is okay. Land it short and trickle it on, pretty unlikely.


Atb

[Adrian_Stiff]

I think the sub 100 yarder or perhaps anything under 120 probably evolves out of a difficult land parcel.


You might have a cute piece of land that fits for a very pretty hole, perhaps with a dramatic height change or over land that is not easy or desirable to grass.


In that respect one that could be played via the ground route would be unlikely and the need for defence would usually include frontal bunkering.


I don't think an architect would 'insert' a 100 yarder if he could make it 140 yards. Of course with forward tees and ladies many courses have sub 100 yarders from the very front pegs. Strangely the ladies sub 100 yarder is a product of modern design rather that courses 60 years old or more.

[BCrosby]

In his 1923(?) notes on Pebble Beach, Herb Fowler said that no professional architect would have built the 7th hole.


Bob

[Pete Lavallee]

I hit 5 iron on the Postage Stamp on a breezy day and just carried the front bunker.

The wife and I watched the entire field play the Postage Stamp from directly behind the tee in the final round of the 1989 Open. It was an 8 or 9 iron shot. The best shot of the day was unquestionably from Eduardo Romero who flighted a low 8 iron right by the flag. Greg Norman threw up a high 9 iron which was blown into the left hand bunker for his only bogey of the day, after birdieing the first 6 holes; that shot would have kept him out of a playoff with Grady and Calcavechia!

[Mark Kiely]

According to a photo tour here on GCA, the 15th at Lakeside Golf Club (Toluca Lake, CA) is 86 yards. (I don't think anyone mentioned it yet.)


Here's a link to the tour I'm referencing: http://www.golfclubatlas.com/forum/index.php/topic,58372.0.html

[mike_beene]

And slightly down hill although it has been a while since I played it.

[Chris DeNigris]

C&C seem to like them...the 9th at Wekopa is right at 100 I think and their shorty at SS Red - can't remember the exact hole but I think it's 8 or 9- is only about 105.  TD might have mentioned his own 5th at SS Blue for this category.

[Joe Bausch]

Thomas,
 
INWOOD
 
Shortest par 3 is U.S. Open history.
 
Cute little hole,
 
Great Hidden Gem golf course.

http://xchem.villanova.edu/~bausch/images/albums/inwood/pages/page_54.html?

[Joe Bausch]

The Pocono Manor hole was closed when I played the course last summer. They have an old par three (behind the first green and the second tee) that they put into play, in such cases. That green is so protected by tree cover and so subject to damage from incoming pellets from on high that it must get the sh!t kicked out of it. I'm surprised it's ever open for play.

http://xchem.villanova.edu/~bausch/images/albums/poconomanor/pages/page_37.html?

[Joe Bausch]

12th at Dormie ... must be less than 100 yards

http://www80.homepage.villanova.edu/joseph.bausch/images/albums/DormieClub/pages/page_56.html

[Joe Bausch]

The 4th hole at Lu Lu CC (Donald Ross' first course in PA) plays 95 yards over an old quarry.

http://www80.homepage.villanova.edu/joseph.bausch/images/albums/LuLu/pages/page_20.html?

[Steve_ Shaffer]

The 8th at Commonwealth National GC(Palmer) in Horsham, PA, my former club:


http://myphillygolf.com/uploads/bausch/Commonwealth/pages/page_43.html?   et seq


Courtesy of the Bausch Collection.

[Patrick Scanlan]

I'm pleased for this to be my first post. Hello everyone.


The "two and twenty" is the hole that immediately came to my mind. From the tee, the green appears to be almost cantilevered on a slope that's falling away from you. I distinctly remember having a very difficult round at Engineers that day, much to the chagrin of my old boss who'd invited me on the basis of office whispers of my having played in college. My punch wedge and subsequent 2 there allowed me to save some face, so it's a hole I remember fondly. That job? Not as much.


While it's out of bounds of the thread, I don't think I've ever played a hole that felt shorter than the third at Hay Harbor. The internet tells me it's 92 yards, but I distinctly remember standing on that tee mystified that half lob wedges weren't even catching the back edge. It's a bit downhill and probably played something like 60 yards. There may have been wind, but there were certainly drinks (perhaps explaining my poor recollection)!