I often play a modest public course from the 1960s that I like for what it is - an easily walkable course that's 6400 yards long built (and gently built up) from a relatively flat farmer's field with a good mix of lengths and directions and shapes of holes. The course manifests - again, in a modest/understated way -- the principles and decisions of basic strategic architecture: a touch of risk-reward here, a smart run-up shot there, a bit of visual deception here and there, and optiions off the tee (length and direction) most times. BUT - everything is quite straightforward, everything is right out in front of you. And in that context/setting, I find that my two favourite holes on the course are the two hardest ones (hard both in the playing, and on the scordcard/ranking) -- because in this context/setting they happen to be the most interesting holes on the course. They are holes 3 and 4 - the 3rd being a very long Par 4 dogleg-left, with the inside corner protected by a large and deep bunker and the outside corner protected by rough and a pond. It took me a while to realize -- counter-intuitively -- that I score best on the hole when I play a 3 wood (instead of driver) off the tee, and then follow that up with a 5 wood or 3 or 4 iron that comes in low and bounces up the fairway and onto the green (one that is open at the front except for a bunker front right). The 4th is a modest length Par 3 that is totally over water -- and into the (gentle) prevailing wind -- except for a bail-out area of closely-cut fairway short and right, with a bowl-shaped green that slopes sharply in front down to the water and equally sharply down towards the back, with tall grass and a fence hard behind it. Again, it took me a while to realize that, if the tees where back, the bail-out area is really the only place from which to make par (for me at least); while if the tees were up, I had a short enough club in my hand that I could and should fire for the back of the green, knowing that I'd never go over it but that the shot would be coming in high enough to land and stay on the top of the bowl.
Again, for me these are flat-out hard golf holes - but I find that amidst a sea of unspectacular "strategic" holes they stand out as the most fun and interesting.
Do folks have similar experiences?
Peer