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What Makes a Golf Hole Great?

Thegeneral451

Thegeneral451

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So looking for some opinions here. What makes your favorite golf hole great? Is it a risk/reward factor? The natural lay of the land that challenges you? Hazards that are placed perfectly? Tight Fairways? Sloped Fairways? Difficult greens? Why do you love the great golf holes you play?
 
As long as the hole is memoriable.

To me, holes that are difficult for the sake of being difficult aren't great. the 17th at TPC Sawgrass, great. It isn't particularily hard, but it sticks out. 18 at Pebble. 12 at Augusta. All great holes, without being gimmicky.
 
blugold said:
As long as the hole is memoriable.

To me, holes that are difficult for the sake of being difficult aren't great. the 17th at TPC Sawgrass, great. It isn't particularily hard, but it sticks out. 18 at Pebble. 12 at Augusta. All great holes, without being gimmicky.
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What about a local gem? a hole on your "home" course? what makes you think a hole is great?
 
For me it has to combine risk/reward, set up to use a number of clubs/strategies to play it, and look pretty to the eye.
 
I personally like a golf hole that makes me pay for missing. Deeper roughs that drive me crazy, A bunker in the right spot. I like a simple design but a strategic golf hole.
 
Thegeneral451 said:
What about a local gem? a hole on your "home" course? what makes you think a hole is great?
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Check out this thread Pics From the Course

This is one my local favorites. Driver is not needed. 3wood or 3hybrid off of the tee leaves you with a short iron or wedge into a green. All that is need for a birdie are boring golf shots. Yet, I have never birdied the hole. That is why I think this is a great hole.

DSC01465.jpg
 
I think a hole that is scenic and will always stick in your mind is great. Elevated Tee boxes, water, etc.
 
I like holes that have a big risk/reward factor to them. There's a hole at a course in Baton Rouge (Santa Maria) that I really like. It's the 18th hole and a par 5. You can either lay up the second shot or carry a pond (200 - 220 yards if I remember correctly) all the way to the green. That's the type of hole that I like.
 
Usually any hole you tell your friends about over and over is a great golf hole if it is one you are speaking about in a positive view. Memorable and challenging are basic requirements.
 
I love par 3's that are nothing but a tee box, water, and a green.
 
yorkem said:
I love par 3's that are nothing but a tee box, water, and a green.
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Not me. Water = lost ball! :D

I like good looking holes. One's that yield birdies but are not overly easy. A good challenge.
 
A number of things can make a golf hole great.
1)Beauty
2)Difficulty
3)locking up 5 skins on one hole always makes it great
 
9-Iron Man said:
Not me. Water = lost ball! :D

I like good looking holes. One's that yield birdies but are not overly easy. A good challenge.
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Couldnt have said it better myself!


Tappin' for world peace!
 
DawgDaddy said:
Usually any hole you tell your friends about over and over is a great golf hole if it is one you are speaking about in a positive view. Memorable and challenging are basic requirements.
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Agreed, with both points, challenging to the point your heart rate goes up just a bit and especially it must be memorable. The 18th at Harbor Town comes to mind, I've only played it once but will never forget it. Or the Pine Barrens #15 at World Woods is another, the floating green at Coeur D'Alene or... so many more.
 
I tend to really like golf holes that stand out from the rest of the course, that be the scenery or the risk and reward factor. One that stands out for me is a short par 4 that plays downhill with a stream in front of the green, with a rather small and tricky green. This hole makes you think a bit since you really have to have a good approach shot, and then you will have to lay up on a distance you are comfortable with, but not to short because then you have to play from a sever downhill lie and not to long because then you are in the water. And it looks great as well.
 
I define a great hole as a golf hole that penalizes you for a bad shot, but rewards you for a good shot(s). I want to be challenged on a hole, but I don't want it to be difficult, just for the sake of being difficult by using gimmicks. And on the flip side, I don't want a hole that is easy and doesn't even make you think.

There is a short par 3 that is at my course. The tee box sits up on a hill, at probably the highest point on the course. You are hitting south so the wind is usually directly at you or coming off the right. The small green is two-tiered and sits probably 50-70 feet below the tee boxes, with water along the front and all the way down the left. A bunker sits on the right-front of the green and all along the right side is a steep slope with rough; very hard to play from. There is a variety of tee boxes to play from ranging from about 125 to 90 yards. I've hit anything from a SW to an 8-iron, depending on tee box and wind. Distance control and accuracy is a must. Over the years I have found that it isn't about club selection at all, it is how you hit the club you select that makes all the difference. It is just as easy to make 2 as it is to make 5. Some people hate it, but I think it is a great hole. It rewards you for a good shot, and can bite you if you hit a bad shot.
 
Aesthetically it has to be pleasing, I like a little dog leg left with trees on the left blocking a pulled shot and severe bunkers or rough on the right foe an errant shot right, a long or mid iron in to an elevated green that slopes from back to front. I also like a nice false front that feeds a short ball back to the fairway leaving a 20 yd uphill chip. Bunkers on the right of the green and a downward sloping hill on the left with long rough. A birdie is earned, a par is a gift, and a bogey is respected.
 
For me it's got to be risk - reward. Nothing like I told you so seeing someone trying to carry a 3 wood 220+yds over water on a short par 5 into a smalll green and their ball goes into the middle of the pond.
 
I like lots of trees. I like to look out from the tee box and have to think about what club I should hit. My second shot should also have me thinking which club I should hit. Risk/reward is a must if the hole is going to be memorable
 
It has to be scenic. There was this one hole in Falcon's Fire here in Orlando that G4L and I played and it was a par 5 with a lake all the way down the right side. Fairway sloped towards the lake so even a miss right on the fairway could land you into trouble. Not too difficult but not a walk in the park either. When you go down towards the green you can see a couple of holes across the lake with folks playing as well as the previous holes you played. Real gorgeous.
 
Thegeneral451 said:
What about a local gem? a hole on your "home" course? what makes you think a hole is great?
Click to expand...

Number 8 is a short par 4 but the number 1 handicap hole. It is not the hardest hole on the course but it is very demanding. There is a pond in front of the tee box that only requires a 150 carry and cuts into the fairway leaving a strip about 20 yards wide down the right side of the hole. it turns into a stream down the left side of the landing area before forming another pond which cuts back into about 2/3 of the fairway. The right side of the hole is large mature trees all the way to the green. The second pond squeezes back into a stream that runs by the left side of the green. The first challenge is to hit the landing area, at least 150 yards, but 240 yards is in the second pond. The left side of FW is good just avoid the creek. The right side may leave you with trees blocking your second shot. If you manage to miss both ponds, the creek and the trees you are ready for the second challenge, a narrow sloping two level green with a stream on the left and sand on the right. If you hit just left of the green your ball will kick in the water, if you hit in the sand right you have to hit a sand shot to the skinny green again sloping away toward the water. Finally, if you hit the green you better be below the flag or three putt or worse will probably be your fate.

I played the hole 178 times in 2010 and averaged 4.66 with only 9 birdies and 36 double bogies or worse.

My partner and I in a two man scramble a few years ago made 8 on the hole. When we turned the card in the pro was laughing and asked how in the world we made an 8, the answer was simple, we missed the 20 foot putt for 7. :D
 
I look for the hole to challenge me, whether it be a short par 4 or a long par three. I want to walk away thinking I gave it my all. There are a few must...fast greens, slight dog legs and tight landing area or just on the tip of reachable if you lace a drive just right.


Tapatalk'n from my iPad
 
I love holes with lots of options. Holes that will requre very different shots depending on the route chosen and shot quality. This is what makes Bandon so great. You could play the 16th at Bandon Dunes 10 times and never have the same shots twice. So many courses are so punitive there is only 1 way to get there.

There are some great scenic holes that you remember if you play a course once but play the same every time. I want a hole I can make a new memory on every time I play it.
 
I think a hole has to first of all fit my eye, which of course is purely subjective.

But in terms of the way it plays, I think there should be a definite risk / reward component as well as a variety of ways to get to the green. I don't like holes that are just long for the sake of being long or only playable by hitting only perfect shots. I think a hole should present risk in a variety of ways that rises as the reward (or temptation) rises but that are not so penal as to only be able to be played perfectly by a Tour Pro.
 
I would say something that is scenic so like water and bunkers, but also makes the play think about thire shots.
 
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