What's the toughest single hole you've ever played?

[MizunoStriker]

My toughest hole:

I drove out to Central Kansas today for a tournament and on my way I stopped at the course I grew up on. It's located in Ellinwood, KS and is named Grove Park.

For all intensive purposes it requires no more than 4 clubs to be successful there; a putter, sand wedge, mid iron and long iron. However, Grove Park possesses the most difficult hole I've ever faced in golf. #2 is a 176 par 3 with a narrow fairway, an even smaller green, with OB right and hundred year old cottonwoods on the left. Check it out!

 

[lowfi]

That's crazy...

 

[wadesworld]

Hmm...#5 at Legendary Run was pretty stinking difficult.

But #10 at Westhaven in Franklin, TN gives me fits. It's a 444-yard par 4 from the blues. You have to hit a great drive and even so, you're still hitting a long iron into a green that is uphill, very skinny and a blind shot since the green has a huge hump right in the front.

 

[wadesworld]

#2 is a 176 par 3 with a narrow fairway, an even smaller green, with OB right and hundred year old cottonwoods on the left. Check it out!

That is definitely nuts. I'd be sorely tempted to just hit gap wedge, gap wedge and hope I could make the putt for par, but walk away happy with bogey.

 

[JLit]

Hells half acre, Myrtle Beach version. #16 at the Moorlands Course, Legends Resort. Pete Dye design, 270 yard Par 4. Green is severely raised and surrounded by traps and all-around evilness.

This picture actually makes it look playable.

 

[Brianbigoats]

I don't think it was that tough of a hole but Mauna Kea #3 is just intimidating 200+ carry over water (Pacific Ocean)P1000268 by Brianbigoats, on Flickr

 

[tahoebum]

I will second the 3rd hole at Mauna Kea. Certainly the toughest par 3 I've played. 272 yards from the back tees with a 225 yard carry. If you hit it in the left greenside bunker you feel like you are going to fall 20 feet down the cliff into the ocean. Played it 4 times and only made par once!

 

[kenh]

Without a doubt, the 9th hole at Yale University's course. The picture on the website shows the top view but doesn't show the crazy elevation change.

Also, the snack stop is at this hole so it tends to get backed up -- so you wind up with lots of time to think about your shot and then have to execute in front of an audience.

http://thecourseatyale.org/yardage_book.htm

 

[Lefty78]

Number 18 at Koolau on Oahu from the next to back tees. Begin with a forced carry of 200 off the tee, if you carry the rain forest in the ravine, you are rewarded with another forced carry across the same ravine to a green with no good place to miss. It was appropriate that there were two carries on the 18th for this course.

 

[PhillyV]

#7 at Grey Hawk in Lagrange, Ohio. It's a par 5 with an absolutely demanding and intimidating tee shot. The fairway is 20 paces wide until the dog leg left but that's 330 carry. Water on the left starting at the tee box and follows the rough all the way to the hole and there is out of bounds right starting at the tee box as well.

 

[thedue]

That would be #15 at PGA National for me, playing from the tips, it was all water carry with the wind blowing out into the lake.

Then there's #10 at Quarry Oaks in Nebraska. If lucky enough to carry the water off the tee and miss the creek on the left as well as the lake on the right, then you hope to miss the bottleneck ahead on shot number 2. From there its all up hill with ob, timber and a long narrow green. Extremely tough hole.

 

[JLit]

Number 18 at Koolau on Oahu from the next to back tees. Begin with a forced carry of 200 off the tee, if you carry the rain forest in the ravine, you are rewarded with another forced carry across the same ravine to a green with no good place to miss. It was appropriate that there were two carries on the 18th for this course.

Definitely a tough finisher, and double ravine carries on the last is certainly fitting. Loved that course though.

 

[hokiegolfer]

For me it is #17 at Thanksgiving Point. 250 yard par 3 from the tips, 213 from the gold and 187 from the blue. All carry, with three sides of the green surrounded by water- and the course is super super windy. Playing there again today...

 

[Bags]

Number 18 at Koolau on Oahu from the next to back tees. Begin with a forced carry of 200 off the tee, if you carry the rain forest in the ravine, you are rewarded with another forced carry across the same ravine to a green with no good place to miss. It was appropriate that there were two carries on the 18th for this course.

This was my toughest as well - but what a great course!

 

[Fourputt]

The par 5 7th hole (584 yards from the tips and 562 from the whites) on the Meadow 9 at Pole Creek Golf Course in Grand County CO. The Google Earth image looks fairly innocuous, but it plays very tough. OB all down the left side from the tee. The first 2 shots are downhill, while the 3rd is steeply uphill.

The drive needs to be about 265 yards, or more if you play farther left, flirting with the out of bounds and some very tall pines. It's a difficult task as once you clear the fairway bunker, the ball tends to roll through into the rough, or even through the rough into the real rubbish. Being in the fairway is a necessity to have any chance at par. The only way to really accomplish this is to play a draw which is running parallel to the fairway when it lands beyond the bunker. I don't have that shot.

The layup shot is only 155-160 yards, but still no guarantee, as this shot is often from a severe downhill lie. The ideal layup across the lake is to a patch of fairway no bigger than a large green, and it's surrounded by hazard. Difficult to judge this downhill shot from a downhill lie in the fairway, and even harder from the rough. I usually layup short of the lake but that makes reaching the green impossible because of the steep uphill slope. Even my 4 hybrid won't get to the putting surface from there, and I can't hit my 3W high enough to get up to the green.

The theoretical third shot (it's usually my 4th or 5th after knocking one into the hazard) is severely uphill, only about 110 yards, but it takes me an 8i or 9i to get there. I've never hit this green in less than 5 strokes. I usually consider par 5's as scoring holes, but this one I just want to take my bogey and run.

 

[wadesworld]

I will second the 3rd hole at Mauna Kea. Certainly the toughest par 3 I've played. 272 yards from the back tees with a 225 yard carry. If you hit it in the left greenside bunker you feel like you are going to fall 20 feet down the cliff into the ocean. Played it 4 times and only made par once!

Sure, rub it in.

 

[oiler3535]

I haven't played a ton of courses, but the par 3 12th at Highland Links would have to be mine. http://www.highlandslinksgolf.com/golf/proto/highlandslinksgolf/hole12/hole12.htm
240 yard par 3. Hit the small green or come up straight short and you're okay to avoid double. Hit left, right, or long, and you'll be lucky to get double. The one time I played there (hoping to go this summer again!) I hit it right onto the side of the ravine, but got a lucky bounce back down to where I could chip on. Then I 2 putt for bogey and was happy to get it. Just a very intimidating tee shot, and while often holes look worse than they are, this hole had big trouble everywhere but close to the green and short. Every Stanley Thompson course has a long par 3 with a small green, but this might be the worst.

 

[wadesworld]

I haven't played a ton of courses, but the par 3 12th at Highland Links would have to be mine. http://www.highlandslinksgolf.com/golf/proto/highlandslinksgolf/hole12/hole12.htm
240 yard par 3. Hit the small green or come up straight short and you're okay to avoid double. Hit left, right, or long, and you'll be lucky to get double. The one time I played there (hoping to go this summer again!) I hit it right onto the side of the ravine, but got a lucky bounce back down to where I could chip on. Then I 2 putt for bogey and was happy to get it. Just a very intimidating tee shot, and while often holes look worse than they are, this hole had big trouble everywhere but close to the green and short. Every Stanley Thompson course has a long par 3 with a small green, but this might be the worst.

240 yard par 3 is ridiculous in my opinion. I'd be ok with that from championship tees, but not white or blues. White and Blues are designed for normal golfers. And no par 3 should be over about 210 for a normal golfer. Sure, there will be single-digit handicaps that play it and have no problem with it, but the majority of golfers will find it too difficult, and that shouldn't happen IMO.

 

[oiler3535]

240 yard par 3 is ridiculous in my opinion. I'd be ok with that from championship tees, but not white or blues. White and Blues are designed for normal golfers. And no par 3 should be over about 210 for a normal golfer. Sure, there will be single-digit handicaps that play it and have no problem with it, but the majority of golfers will find it too difficult, and that shouldn't happen IMO.

It's 240 from the tips. Only 3 tee boxes. The middle ones are 205 for that hole. Most S.Thompson courses were built nearly 100 years ago, so aren't overly long (Highland Links is ~6600/6200/5200), but one of his signatures was back-to-back par 5s, and a wide variety of par 3s, including almost always 1 over 230. I just shudder thinking of hitting it that far 100 years ago. Even today it's rated 73.3/141 from the tips at only 6600 yards! http://www.highlandslinksgolf.com/course/

 

[RoundersRob]

#4 at Spyglass. Probably one of the finest golf holes in all of California, and one of the most mind boggling.

 

[Bullitt5339]

I spent this entire hole in the sand at Long Bay. Tee shot hit the fairway, but it's sloped off of both sides, so in the waste bunker. 2nd shot was short, in the waste bunker, 3rd shot was fat, still in the waste bunker, 4th shot ended up in the greenside bunker, and then I finally saw grass. I'm not great at side hill lies, and I don't think there was many flat spots on the entire course. The undulation made the entire round very difficult for me, and I have the scorecard still as the worst score I've ever had during a round of golf. It was a 127.....

 

[wadesworld]

I spent this entire hole in the sand at Long Bay. Tee shot hit the fairway, but it's sloped off of both sides, so in the waste bunker. 2nd shot was short, in the waste bunker, 3rd shot was fat, still in the waste bunker, 4th shot ended up in the greenside bunker, and then I finally saw grass. I'm not great at side hill lies, and I don't think there was many flat spots on the entire course. The undulation made the entire round very difficult for me, and I have the scorecard still as the worst score I've ever had during a round of golf. It was a 127.....

How do you think you'd have done on that hole had you played 5-iron, 7-iron?

 

[Bullitt5339]

How do you think you'd have done on that hole had you played 5-iron, 7-iron?

I would have done a lot better, I'm sure. But I was on vacation and wanted an adventure, I guess.

 

[TripleBogieTim]

It's tough to say really....but #8 at TangleRidge where we played the Texas Invitational was pretty damn tough into a 30+ MPH wind

575 Yard Par 5, tee shot is from a highly elevated tee and the fairway has a huge slope that funnels everything either OOB on the left or towards the hazard. Trees force you to hit your 2nd shot well right which is bordered by OOB as well. 3rd shot goes severely back up hill over a deep ravine and water hazard to an elevated green with a false front.,...if you don't carry the false front the ball will roll some 50 yards back down the slope and into the hazard(believe me, I know). Then the green is huge with several large ridges to make putting difficult. People were actually happy to make double or triple on this hole that weekend.

 

[niteowl03]

It's tough to say really....but #8 at TangleRidge where we played the Texas Invitational was pretty damn tough into a 30+ MPH wind

575 Yard Par 5, tee shot is from a highly elevated tee and the fairway has a huge slope that funnels everything either OOB on the left or towards the hazard. Trees force you to hit your 2nd shot well right which is bordered by OOB as well. 3rd shot goes severely back up hill over a deep ravine and water hazard to an elevated green with a false front.,...if you don't carry the false front the ball will roll some 50 yards back down the slope and into the hazard(believe me, I know). Then the green is huge with several large ridges to make putting difficult. People were actually happy to make double or triple on this hole that weekend.

I second this...I think there were only 2 6s that day but numerous 8-10s