Best/worst holes

[Matthew Petersen]

Apart from the above, one of the worst holes I've ever seen is 14 at Trump National Los Angeles. The back nine there is actually pretty decent but that hole is just an awful mess.


The drive is sort of uphill and many players can't hit driver due to some cross bunkers that push in from the right. There's a huge flat area of rough to the right of those bunkers that's semi blind from the tee but once you know it's there you understand it's actually the preferred place to be off the tee. However, it's blind and there's a condo and parking immediately right of it so obviously it's not somewhere they want you trying to hit it.


If you hit a drive in the fairway, you're left with a significantly uphill shot that must carry a ravine and it's a much longer and harder carry than it seems. It's also very narrow with the OB pushing in from the right and trouble left. (That OB to the right is a public parking lot that they hid with a hedge, which means anyone over there in the line of fire has no warning that they may be under fire because the golfers have no idea their ball is headed toward a parking lot.) If you can't carry the ravine, then you're third is straight uphill and you probably will not be able to reach the green. If you made the carry, then your third is shorter but still straight uphill and blind to a small tabletop green that falls off severely to the left side.


On the plus side, it gets you fro the 13th hole, which is lovely, to the 15th hole, which is also quite nice. So there's that.

[Edward Glidewell]

So that's basically a par-five with the third shot being the 17th at Sawgrass. Who's idea was THAT?

The lay-up is basically the 17th at Sawgrass too! A little shorter, but it's not a very big target. And it's very easy to find the water off the tee as well.

[Edward Glidewell]

I used to play a college tournament at this track. I agree, the rest of the course was fun (if really disjointed and a brutal walk). But this hole always stood out as utterly ridiculous. Each shot could either end up on a tiny island of fairway/green, in the water, or out of bounds. It felt like playing the 17th at Sawgrass three times in a row. I remember once hitting 4 iron off the tee, P wedge lay up, and 8 iron on.

I'll probably play there again, just because it was in great shape and is a perfect place to play on a Sunday morning in the Atlanta area (I assume everyone that lives up there goes to church on Sundays, because it appears to be booked solid on Saturdays and wide open every Sunday morning -- we teed off at 10 AM on Sunday in absolutely wonderful weather and didn't see another player the entire day).


I've been trying to figure out how to play that hole if I do. I think your strategy is probably the best, considering I drove it through the fairway into the water last time, and even a perfectly placed tee shot requires a really long shot to that island green.

[Matthew Rose]

This is the first thing I thought of when I saw that hole.

[Matthew Rose]

In Denver, these are my worst five:

Aurora Hills #10
Kennedy (Babe Lind) #6
Legacy Ridge #6
Legacy Ridge #18
Thorncreek #16 (thankfully this one is being renovated)

Interestingly enough, they are all par-fives except the Kennedy one.

Man, that hole at Kennedy is BAD.


The Aurora Hill one is more just goofy. It's dumb, but not unplayable. Just crazy that the only realistic way to play it is, like 7-iron / 5-iron / wedge.


I recall the badness of Legacy Ridge 6, but I don't remember anything being wrong with 18. Did they do something to it?

The fairway is about 10 feet wide for pretty much the entire length.


I also forgot one..... #18 at Hyland Hills Gold. That might actually be worse than the others.

[Jeff Schley]

This is the first thing I thought of when I saw that hole.

blast from the past!