Let's discuss opening holes - what are the best and are they important?

[Jerry Kluger]

I think that opening holes are too often simply looked at a means to start a round but not much thought is put into their significance.  There are so many that are simple and straight forward which is good because you really don't want to beat up the player on the very first hole but so many really add very little to the round.  There are some really solid opening holes such as at NGLA and Shinnecock but to me the most dramatic I have seen is number one at Sand Hills - immediately you are challenged with an angular tee shot followed by play down the fairway or up to a hidden pin which sits inside a huge dune. I was fortunate to play 3 rounds at Yeamans Hall a few years ago in an amateur division of the Carolinas Senior PGA with 3 other players and they went nuts when we came to the double plateau first green - my comment to them was you better enjoy it because you ain't seen nothing yet. 


So how do you feel about opening holes and what are some examples of really good ones, and perhaps some really bad ones.   

[Tal Oz]

Riviera is my immediate first course I think of when it comes to opening holes. Short par 5 with plenty of width off the tee where 5 is not impossibly out of reach even if you bunt a few around, but it's also the best scoring chance of the round so the good player is aiming for birdie or better. The boomerang green provides plenty of strategy both for those going for it and those laying up. The tee shot up at the clubhouse is mere feet away from the proshop and bonus points for the nerve-wracking announcement of your name and hometown from the starter. A+

[Tommy Williamsen]

Oakmont's is a gentle slap in the face and precursor of what is to come. Two is a great companion.
Baltusrol Lower gives everyone the chance to begin with a par 5 or birdie 4.

[Steve Kohler]

My favorite first holes set the tone for what is to come - they don't need to be world-beaters on their own, but they should build anticipation and begin revealing the character of the course you're playing.  I typically appreciate courses that build to a crescendo rather than hit you with the shock and awe from the first shot (Tobacco Road might be a notable exception).


Yeamans is a good example given by OP.  The intimate transition from warmup area to first tee sets the tone, and then it just keeps getting better as you go.


Inverness Club has a strong opener which lets you know you're in for a stern test and builds toward a huge payoff at the all-world 6th and 7th holes (never mind some less-inspiring holes coming after that).



Other favorite first holes include:
Moraine CC
Pittsburgh Field Club

[Cal Seifert]

My personal favorite opening hole I have played is at Hooper. I usually don’t care too much for downhill tee shots but the fairway’s right to left movement, the view, and the extreme green all make for a great first shot. I also like when the pro shop / clubhouse is just steps away.

[Michael Felton]

Interesting question. I know a lot of people talk about gentle handshake to get started and I can see the appeal of that, but the ones I like are generally not that easy. Since I was just playing them both, I would pitch the 1st at Royal St George's and at Royal Cinque Ports. Played RSG in a howling gale in the Hewitt a couple of weeks ago (solid 45-50mph wind). Drove it past the fairway bunker (never done that before) and my partner couldn't hold the green from 75 yards away straight down the wind. Conversely if you play into the wind, it's a good drive to get over the kitchen and then you've got a mid to long iron to a green hidden behind a bank of bunkers. The nice thing about this hole, at least in the conditions I typically play it is you can hit it virtually anywhere and you'll find it and have a shot.


RCP is a lot more fun to watch others playing than it is to play. With the wind into and off the left, the clubhouse looms very large. I've seen plenty of people closer to the 18th green than the 1st fairway as a result. Then if you miss the fairway you've got the "do I don't I" decision to make.


This side of the pond, close to me in the not gentle handshake is Bethpage Red. 470 yards with a semi blind approach up a hill. Extremely hard four. It's going to be extremely hard whether it's the 1st or somewhere else in the round, so I don't think it loses much in that regard. It's a 4.5 hole, so whether it's got a 4 or a 5 in the par box on the card shouldn't affect your opinion of how to play it.


One thing all of these have in common is no OOB close by. I'm not a big fan of an opening hole with out of bounds in play. I want to know which way it's going before I have to contend with holes like that.

[Mark_Fine]

Tommy,
Might call Oakmont’s a hard slap in the face     It is one of the toughest starting holes in golf. 


I personally don’t care for short par fives as starting holes as they hold up pace of play.  All you need is one player who thinks they can reach in two and everything backs up.  Similar to a drivable par four as a starting hole.  It leads to pace of play issues or an occasional safety concern for the player who doesn’t think they can reach and hits anyway and lands the ball on the green.  If you have 15 minutes between starting times it probably doesn’t matter. 


Few golfers like a brutal starting hole but sometimes it happens as that is what the routing dictates.  The first on the Red course at Streamsong is a beast!  What were C&C thinking 🤔

[Tommy Williamsen]

Tommy,
Might call Oakmont’s a hard slap in the face     It is one of the toughest starting holes in golf. 


I personally don’t care for short par fives as starting holes as they hold up pace of play.  All you need is one player who thinks they can reach in two and everything backs up.  Similar to a drivable par four as a starting hole.  It leads to pace of play issues or an occasional safety concern for the player who doesn’t think they can reach and hits anyway and lands the ball on the green.  If you have 15 minutes between starting times it probably doesn’t matter. 


Few golfers like a brutal starting hole but sometimes it happens as that is what the routing dictates.  The first on the Red course at Streamsong is a beast!  What were C&C thinking 🤔

Baltusrol has 15 minute tee times. No hold up there.

[Mark Pritchett]

Cuscowilla
Long Cove
Peachtree

[Thomas Dai]

For elite level tournament play where the participants ought to have or will have warmed-up then a proper hard test, something severe that tests an elite players game and also tests their mental capacity to recover for the rest of the round/tournament should they have a poor start.
For average amateurs likely playing straight out of the car something modest, nothing penal and nothing likely to be dangerous or slow down play and cause a back-up on the first tee. A modest length relatively easy par-3 par has merits.
Atb

[Jerry Kluger]

Tommy:I haven't played Oakmont but I have played Plainfield and you talk about a slap in the face, that first green is certainly a slap in the face but I don't have a problem with it as it is not going to ruin your whole round if you happen to three putt.

[Richard Fisher]

The Old Course continues to set the standard. Loads of space for the nervous opening drive, but a testing second over the burn to get you properly on your mettle, and introduce you to the OC greens (albeit a single one, in the case of the 1st hole).

[Dan_Callahan]

In terms of setting the tone for what's to come, the first hole at Tobacco Road takes the cake for me.

[Ira Fishman]

My favorite first holes set the tone for what is to come - they don't need to be world-beaters on their own, but they should build anticipation and begin revealing the character of the course you're playing.  I typically appreciate courses that build to a crescendo rather than hit you with the shock and awe from the first shot (Tobacco Road might be a notable exception).


Yeamans is a good example given by OP.  The intimate transition from warmup area to first tee sets the tone, and then it just keeps getting better as you go.


Inverness Club has a strong opener which lets you know you're in for a stern test and builds toward a huge payoff at the all-world 6th and 7th holes (never mind some less-inspiring holes coming after that).



Other favorite first holes include:
Moraine CC
Pittsburgh Field Club

This post is spot on in terms of assessing opening holes. Very good ones in setting the tone:


Ballyneal
PH2
Kilspindie (even as a Par 3)
Mid Pines
St. George’s Hill


I have not played an excellent course with a bad first hole although I thought Friar’s Head was a bit forced and awkward compared to the next 17.


Unfortunately, my home course may have the worst opening hole I have ever played.


Ira

[Dan_Callahan]

I have not played an excellent course with a bad first hole although I thought Friar’s Head was a bit forced and awkward compared to the next 17.


Unfortunately, my home course may have the worst opening hole I have ever played.

I don't think the first hole at Kittansett is very good, yet it's one of my favorite courses. I also didn't like the opening hole at Pebble, and it too is a personal favorite. And the first hole at the Country Club is kind of blah.

[Tommy Williamsen]

Tommy:I haven't played Oakmont but I have played Plainfield and you talk about a slap in the face, that first green is certainly a slap in the face but I don't have a problem with it as it is not going to ruin your whole round if you happen to three putt.

Jerry, the thing I remember most about the first hole at Plainfield was the tee shot. With all the folks about it was intimidating. The bunker short and right of the green is mean place to be.

[jeffwarne]

For elite level tournament play where the participants ought to have or will have warmed-up then a proper hard test, something severe that tests an elite players game and also tests their mental capacity to recover for the rest of the round/tournament should they have a poor start.
For average amateurs likely playing straight out of the car something modest, nothing penal and nothing likely to be dangerous or slow down play and cause a back-up on the first tee. A modest length relatively easy par-3 par has merits.
Atb

While that sounds like a good theory re: elite players and warmup, the reality is such a hole is a disaster as a starting hole in competition-re: real golf where provisionals, unplayables and walk backs   are all part of the equation. These guys get nervous too and often make less than perfect swings off the first tee-especially in a full field event where not all are sporting their "A" game.


Obviously the same issues exist for amateurs-the people who are playing the hole the rest of the time when the "elites" aren't, so such a hole simply doesn't work well at all as a starter-for anyone.

[JMEvensky]

Merion--good hole, great setting.

[Jay Mickle]

In terms of setting the tone for what's to come, the first hole at Tobacco Road takes the cake for me.

Could not agree more. This is not your father's golf course.

[Thomas Dai]

Jeff,
I can appreciate where your coming from. There’s a Bobby Locke story however. He was asked what tournament he was most proud of winning. His apparent reply was that the tournament he was most proud of wasn’t one he’d won. Instead it was an event where he started his first few holes of his first round something awful like triple, bogey, double, etc. A lot of players would have mentally crumbled. What Locke said he was most proud of was that he didn’t crumble instead he just ground it out for the rest of the round, made the cut and ultimately finished third in the tournament.
At elite level in cricket and rugby matches have long been referred to as ‘Test Matches’. The ‘test’ not just being about playing at the elite level but about the test between the ears and how the participants cope with it.
Atb

[Marty Bonnar]

Has nobody mentioned Machrihanish yet? A proper big-boy, sphincter-puckerer of an opening hole. Do or die, hero or zero, risk-reward in all its glory. It's a doozy, hun.
F.

[John Emerson]

Put me down for Kilspindie’s opener!! What a backdrop

[Bernie Bell]

The opener at Ardglass is memorable.  Irish Sea hard by on the left; second shot semi-blind uphill to a green nestled among some crags. 

https://youtu.be/XEZioGlc7HA

[jeffwarne]

Jeff,
I can appreciate where your coming from. There’s a Bobby Locke story however. He was asked what tournament he was most proud of winning. His apparent reply was that the tournament he was most proud of wasn’t one he’d won. Instead it was an event where he started his first few holes of his first round something awful like triple, bogey, double, etc. A lot of players would have mentally crumbled. What Locke said he was most proud of was that he didn’t crumble instead he just ground it out for the rest of the round, made the cut and ultimately finished third in the tournament.
At elite level in cricket and rugby matches have long been referred to as ‘Test Matches’. The ‘test’ not just being about playing at the elite level but about the test between the ears and how the participants cope with it.
Atb

I guess I'd rather have the opinion of the two players who finished ahead of him
and it sounds like holes 2 and 3 were no picnic either
But no club is open only to elite competition, and 99.9% of the rounds aren't played by elites so while that may well be a consideration, it's one I wouldn't do intentionally, unless that's the only way it maximized the routing. Even then, I wouldn't want a high lost ball/penalty likelihood for an opener in "elite" competition, especially from a tournament management standpoint.
They can prove their mental worth on the other 17 once they're out of the gate.


There are plenty of courses that fit your description.


In my experience often the best players are NOT identified at bowling alleys.
St. Andrews comes to mind as the ideal.

[Mike Wagner]

Jeff,
I can appreciate where your coming from. There’s a Bobby Locke story however. He was asked what tournament he was most proud of winning. His apparent reply was that the tournament he was most proud of wasn’t one he’d won. Instead it was an event where he started his first few holes of his first round something awful like triple, bogey, double, etc. A lot of players would have mentally crumbled. What Locke said he was most proud of was that he didn’t crumble instead he just ground it out for the rest of the round, made the cut and ultimately finished third in the tournament.
At elite level in cricket and rugby matches have long been referred to as ‘Test Matches’. The ‘test’ not just being about playing at the elite level but about the test between the ears and how the participants cope with it.
Atb

No idea why you would think this "test" is limited to the elite level?  I would think most golfers can identify with gutting it out after a shitty start.


I'll take Bandon Trails #1 as my favorite opener.