Best holes with strategic OB

[Adam Lawrence]

Back in the day, when the penalty for going out of bounds was simply distance (ie one stroke, not two) architects often set up holes using the boundary line as a strategic hazard, which is to say where playing close to the OB gave a preferred angle of approach. Classic examples include the fourth at Woking, the first at Hoylake, Hogan's Alley at Carnoustie and the Road hole at St Andrews.


What are other good/great holes that use this feature?

[Philippe Binette]

9th at North Berwick west links... i feel it's better than Hogan's alley in carnoustie..
1- going right really feels it's a detour which tempt you to go left...
2- left fairway is wide enough
3- right is a real safety shot at NB. At carnoustie there's a burn on the right...


At carnoustie, i'd aim at the bunkers and hope i'm not good enough to hit it !!!

[Duncan Cheslett]

I started my golfing life at Reddish Vale, which has OB on 17 holes as the course skirts the property boundary and/or the River Tame thoughout its routing. I am therefore accustomed to OB playing an integral part in the strategy of golf holes.


At Reddish Vale MacKenzie utilised OB as a risk/reward feature on many holes, but the most obvious example is Braid's use of the river in his redesigned 16th from 1930.


2018-05-14 18.17.53 by Duncan Cheslett, on Flickr

There is a strong argument that the river should be a penalty area, but my researches suggest that it has always been treated as OB.

[Thomas Dai]

A slight tangent.
What about changes to OB lines over time?
Here's a photo of I believe James Braid (?) playing from the railway line at TOC. Apparently the railway wasn't OB at the time so I wonder if the railway sheds and yard on the 17th were always OB?
atb

[MCirba]

Merion East is pretty much the poster child for holes where a drive (or 2nd shot on a par five) daring to risk OB is met with an advantageous angle for the approach as seen on 2, 6, 7, 8, 14, and 15.

[Sean_A]

My answer is always 4 at St Enodoc.

8 at Seacroft is also excellent.

Ciao

[Adam Lawrence]

Follow up question: what’s the most recently built hole that deploys strategic OB?

[Pete Lavallee]

Although I haven’t played it, #2 at Talking Stick is held in high esteem. #2 at Rustic Canyon works well also, hugging the left side makes approaching the right to left tilted green, much easier.

[JR Potts]

Follow up question: what’s the most recently built hole that deploys strategic OB?

You're going to see it on the renovated Course #3 at Medinah on holes 5, 6 and 10.

[Ben Hollerbach]

Follow up question: what’s the most recently built hole that deploys strategic OB?

I believe the 2nd a Sweetens Cove does a good job of utilizing the OB fence along the left as a strategic hazard, especially in concert with the lone fairway bunker.

[Jeff Schley]

Strategic OB probably not, but if you hit short right, you are literally "dead".

[Michael Felton]

The 14th at RSG is one of my all-time favourite par 5s and has OB all the way down the right side. The further right you are on every shot, the better your situation.


I also think the 1st at Deal makes great use of OB. When you stand up on the first tee on a calm day, it feels like that OB is a long way right, but with wind into and off the left, suddenly it looms right there. Hard not to hit it in the left rough with that wind and then you've got the burn to contend with from a heavy lie with a mid to longish club.

[John Mayhugh]

My first thought was also the 4th at St. Enodoc, but Sean beat me to it.

How about the 11th at Saunton East? There actually is a double hazard, with a small drainage ditch (and accompanying red stakes) bordering the OB fence. The tee shot has to deal with the corner of a field that is OB. You can play away from that fence, but the further you play away the more your approach has to deal with a green that runs off towards the hazard. There's also a small bunker about 20 yards short of the green to harass a cautious approach (or aggressive tee shot).

https://www.sauntongolf.co.uk/east_11

[Ben Sims]

Although I haven’t played it, #2 at Talking Stick is held in high esteem. #2 at Rustic Canyon works well also, hugging the left side makes approaching the right to left tilted green, much easier.

Damn it, beat me to it. If I’ve said it once I’ve said it 100 times in various places over the years, Talking Stick North is like taking a Golf Architecture 101 class. You can use that course to explain a ton of simple principles that are lost on most golfers. #2 illustrates strategic OB more simply than any hole I can think of.

[Mark Pearce]

My answer is always 4 at St Enodoc.

8 at Seacroft is also excellent.

Ciao

St Enodoc was the example that immediately sprang to my mind, too. 


16 TOC in the good old days before rough.


Is it 3 at Hoylake with the new routing?


1 at Prestwick


In a strong westerly, for the longer hitters, the OOB behind the green and around the clubhouse is a serious consideration off the tee on 18 at Elie.

[Mark Pearce]

Follow up question: what’s the most recently built hole that deploys strategic OB?

Probably not the most recent but 2 on Crail Craighead has OOB which really makes you think on your approach.

[David Kelly]

#17 at Colt's Bath Golf Club.  There is a stone wall all the way down the right side that denotes OB, the center of the fairway is only 25 yards from the wall and the right side of the green is only about 20 ft from the OB. And at 300 yards, it's drivable.


I concur with #14 at Royal St. George's. 


Most ridiculous OB is #18 at Royal Dublin.

[Adam Lawrence]

Oddly I really like the eighteenth at Royal Dublin. It's a weird hole for sure, but I like it because there is a strong reward for anyone brave enough to lay their tee shot down close to the OB. The first time I played there, my partner (accidentally to be fair) put his drive about ten feet from the OB line and then responded by hitting a career four iron over the marsh to within six feet of the cup. Sadly he missed the putt for a three, but it remains one of the best golf shots I've ever seen.

[David Kelly]

Oddly I really like the eighteenth at Royal Dublin. It's a weird hole for sure, but I like it because there is a strong reward for anyone brave enough to lay their tee shot down close to the OB. The first time I played there, my partner (accidentally to be fair) put his drive about ten feet from the OB line and then responded by hitting a career four iron over the marsh to within six feet of the cup. Sadly he missed the putt for a three, but it remains one of the best golf shots I've ever seen.

I wasn't enamored by the hole it but I'm using the word ridiculous less as a pejorative and more to denote how crazy it is.  I am biased because 1) it's so completely out of character with the rest of the course, 2) when I have played it the marsh has been bone dry and totally playable so it seemed strange for that whole area to be off limits and, 3) the second time I played it I was a single and caught up to the world's slowest foursome and I had to watch them take 25 minutes to tack around the OB and eventually finish the hole.

[Adam Lawrence]

Yeah, that would prejudice anyone against a hole...

[James Bennett]

An old and a 'new'


Alwoodley #10, the dog leg left with out of bounds tight on the left.  Similar style with different land to Augusta #13.


Rustic Canyon #12, short par 4.  The green is set on the left boundary, and the green design penalises any tee shot played to the right away from the boundary because of the mound in the right side of the green.


There are two recent holes In Australia which would qualify as well - The National Gunnamatta Course #2, short 4 with boundary on the left, green set on boundary and narrow, rewarding a shot played to the left with the best line in.


Also Lonsdale Links (Bellarine Peninsula) which has a green literally set on boundary.


Note that all of these holes do not have residential or commercial development on the boundary (I assume Lonsdale Links is the same, not sure though).


James B

[Tom_Doak]

There are two recent holes In Australia which would qualify as well - The National Gunnamatta Course #2, short 4 with boundary on the left, green set on boundary and narrow, rewarding a shot played to the left with the best line in.

Also Lonsdale Links (Bellarine Peninsula) which has a green literally set on boundary.

The other side of the boundary fence at The National is actually a National Park, I believe.  Shows you what kind of sites I work with! 

[Jim_Coleman]

   If all this topic is looking for are holes where hitting a shot close to an out of bounds makes his next shot easier, isn’t that pretty much true of every hole with an out of bounds? The closer one is to an out of bounds, the more he will be able to hit away from the out of bounds on his next shot. I’m sure I must be missing something.

[Michael Felton]

   If all this topic is looking for are holes where hitting a shot close to an out of bounds makes his next shot easier, isn’t that pretty much true of every hole with an out of bounds? The closer one is to an out of bounds, the more he will be able to hit away from the out of bounds on his next shot. I’m sure I must be missing something.

Plenty of holes where OB only impacts one shot. The 1st at RCP for example, the OB is right there with your drive, but to hit your second shot out of bounds would take a pretty impressive shank. It's 30 yards from the center of the fairway to the out of bounds, but it's about 90 yards from the center of the green to the out of bounds. 14 at RSG is pretty much exactly as you describe, although it's ever present even from the right side (20 yards at drive, 30 yards at layup and 20 yards at green).

[Mike_Trenham]

In a different way George Thomas who had a hook built his first course Whitemarsh Valley just outside Philadelphia on his family’s property with all the OB on the right. 


One very good player there said to me “because Thomas had a hook now all the members going forward do/did too”.