Do you have an arch nemesis hole?

clarkgriswold

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I have two, at least at the courses I have played a bunch.

One is the second hole at our local 9 hole muni. It’s a short Par 3 that has a green the size of a postage stamp, it’s an absurd size for a local course that would challenge anyone. It’s literally crested in the center, and the design is simply a factor of the amount of space on the course.

The other is a hole we play at our yearly scramble. It’s a long par 4 on the side of a hill, the left is tall grass, hit it there it’s gone. The right is essentially a cliff/hill tall grass there too and at the bottom is the fairway on the 17th. Top it off with raised middle of the fairway that makes it a blind shot off the tee.

Both get me every time.
 
Yes. 2 on the same course that I am hoping to bogey them both.
 
The Ocean Course at Hokuala (Kauai) always gives me fits. I have lost close to 10 balls over 4 rounds on this hole. It can play between 425-450 (Par 4) into some wind. If I have a path, I ALWAYS go for it in two and I have had my fair share of Tin Cup moments where I have plunked multiple balls into the water. Sure I could go ahead and drop up by the water after the first one but hey what would Roy McAvoy do?


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The 16th at my home course,. It's a shortish par 4 (350ish) with a slight dogleg left. Green is elevated (upside down bowl) and no easy putts.

I cannot figure it out. If I go driver I can get far enough up to leave an easy wedge in, but too straight or right and I'm dead.

Playing shorter if you leave it left side you get blocked out on the approach.

To top it off the trees both sides mean I often forget the wind and get my approach wrong.

I've made a few birdies but too many times I've wiped it for no reason other than numpty shots

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The Ocean Course at Hokuala (Kauai) always gives me fits. I have lost close to 10 balls over 4 rounds on this hole. It can play between 425-450 (Par 4) into some wind. If I have a path, I ALWAYS go for it in two and I have had my fair share of Tin Cup moments where I have plunked multiple balls into the water. Sure I could go ahead and drop up by the water after the first one but hey what would Roy McAvoy do?


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#8 on my home course is a Par 3 that can play from 175 to 210 depending on tee box and pin placement. bunkers on both sides of the green. I have a habit of hitting a snap hook off the tee.
 
At my home course I have between 16 and 18 nemesis holes.

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The next one.
 
The 5th at Apple Mountain, a pretty long double dogleg par-5 (Whites - 530 yds, Blues - 550 yds), and the only hole on the course that I've never made par. Tee shot is less than driver, out a chute, to a generous landing area (as long as you don't go through the fairway). Second shot cut as much of the corner on the right as you can, but a miss right puts you on a steep hillside above the fairway. Third shot is uphill to a small green. Even on my good days I'll either miss my approach with a money club in hand, or three putt for bogie. We won't talk about the bad days on this one.

The flyover video really doesn't do this one justice, as you don't get the feel of how steep the hillside is along the whole right side after the first dogleg, or how deep the grass is on that hillside.


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Par 5 - Hdcp 3 - 413-571 yds: A true three shot, double dogleg par 5. Tee shot of 180-200 yards
is ideal. Best to keep your second shot simple, a 200 yard shot played just to the right of the 150 pole
is preferred. Uphill shot to the green plays one club longer.


 
I have three in a row at maybe the toughest local course I play about once a month.

Holes 16, 17, and 18 wreck my rounds almost every time.

16 is a par 5 that forces me to lay up or else end up in a watery ditch. The second shot has water all down the left side with a fairway that funnels in that direction.

The green is surrounded by water on three sides, and is notoriously fast. Above it on the right are several bunkers. Very easy to roll into the water from one of these.

17 is a par short par three with water in front and a green that can just be ridiculous with certain pin placement.

18 is a short par 4 with an approach with water on 3 sides and again a slanted green with bunkers above.

This stretch is just above my current abilities.

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#11 at Morgan Creek is one where I just can't seem to find a good place off the tee 9 times out of 10. Even my good shots seem to find a bunker, a tree, or rough on a sidehill. Par is hard, bogey is likely.
 
Mine is the third hole at a place I play quite a bit, since it's only five minutes from home. Also, the guy that runs the course often lets the local high school kids play for free, so my son and I can take a cart out for a quick 9 and it's only $18 total for the two of us. This hole just eats me alive. I'm just not accurate enough at all. I've played this hole well over a hundred times over the years and I don't think I've ever made par. Plenty of triples and worse though. One of these years I'll finally get smart and hit 9-iron 3 times in a row then hope to make the putt.

From their website:
Hole #3 420/360 yard Par4

This hole is and has been rated as one of the hardest holes in WNY!!! Play it once and you will not forget this place. The tee shot requires absolute precision w/ distance (and lots of time, LUCK!). Driver isn’t always the wisest play here, as you want to get the ball down the left center of the fairway to have any chance of an “easy” second shot to a green that’s rarely hit in regulation. Take your medicine on this hole and be proud of a bogey!

Overhead view:
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The 5th at Apple Mountain, a pretty long double dogleg par-5 (Whites - 530 yds, Blues - 550 yds), and the only hole on the course that I've never made par. Tee shot is less than driver, out a chute, to a generous landing area (as long as you don't go through the fairway). Second shot cut as much of the corner on the right as you can, but a miss right puts you on a steep hillside above the fairway. Third shot is uphill to a small green. Even on my good days I'll either miss my approach with a money club in hand, or three putt for bogie. We won't talk about the bad days on this one.

The flyover video really doesn't do this one justice, as you don't get the feel of how steep the hillside is along the whole right side after the first dogleg, or how deep the grass is on that hillside.


Par 5 - Hdcp 3 - 413-571 yds: A true three shot, double dogleg par 5. Tee shot of 180-200 yards
is ideal. Best to keep your second shot simple, a 200 yard shot played just to the right of the 150 pole
is preferred. Uphill shot to the green plays one club longer.




I might not come back to that course based on that hole alone. Otherwise, put me down for an ESC 7 and let's get on with our day.
 
Holes 1 and 3 at my home course always mess me up. I've let them get to me mentally and can't get over it. I'm such a mental case :banghead:.
 
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my answer to the thread topic is yes, and one exists on pretty much every course i play. but this one in particular has my number.

it’s long enough to require driver or a well-hit fairway wood. there is a big tree on the right, so you have to hit it perfectly straight or fade it. but about 70 yards ahead there is a big tree on the left. the street runs down the right, as well as some houses. to say there is a premium on accuracy is an understatement.

but as many fits as i have with the tee shot, the approach is just as bad. this is one of the bigger greens on the course, and there is very little trouble around it. long or right are dead. but for some reason, i have shanked and lost more balls ob right on this hole than any other i can remember. something about it is in my head, and i rarely ever hit a good approach shot.


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there are two on the course I play most often. They are respectively ranked the easiest and second easiest holes.

On #3, it is a 250 yard par 3, sand behind the green, houses down left and right, and trees in the left rough that extend about 150 yards off the tee. In other words, you have to be truly incompetent to find trouble on this hole. It has been a couple years since I pulled driver. I have almost been on the green with my 4i. I typically take a 7i or 8i off the tee. I also, for reasons that elude me, score higher on this hole than any other on the course.

On #8 it is a 290ish par 4. There is a single tree about 260 down the right side. road down left side, houses down right. I have driven it a few times through the years but these days I will tee off with, depending on my mood, anywhere from a 9i to a 4i, just to "keep it in the fairway". My miss is a fade to slice. I have hit the apartments on the left or the road about a thousand times because out of nowhere will come the dead pull or the hook or, knowing I will miss right, starting down the left side and getting a beautiful draw. Or, should I hit my tee shot right down the center, I will inexplicably yank the wedge 50 yards left of my target, inevitably hitting the cart path for extra suck, and watch the ball bounce down the road.


Both dead easy holes I don't try to do anything special on.
 
I have one hole at a nearby course I frequent that just always seems to get the best of me. Hole #3 at The Woodlands, in Windsor Mill, MD. It's about 525 from the white, and 550 from the blues, straight hole with woods OB on the left, and a hill on the right with never mowed grass. Another hole runs parallel on the right, so a REALLY bad slice and you can actually land in the fairway and have an open shot back over the trees for a decent ~150 3rd shot. I get nervous everytime I approach the hole, since I really can't remember if I ever parred or, or even gotten bogey. I've had great drives before and then messed up the 2nd and 3rd.

Last time I played the hole, I did slice it into the other hole's fairway, and tried to just hit a 7-9 iron over the trees, but thinned it and went through the trees, leaving me 200 in the rough. Hybrid from there got me about 20 yards away, and a chip left me with a 20 footers for par. Proceed to drain the putt and officially checked the hole off my nemesis list! Wasn't pretty, and not the way I would have wanted to get par, but I considered it a mental breakthrough.

Looking forward to crossing off my nemesis holes this year.
 
Pretty much any long Par 5
 
Oddly its been an evolving situation for me. The back 9 is tougher at my home course. #17 is a 170 par 3 with big drop off down the entire left side, no real landing area short of the green and a ridge/cart path on the right side. I can either hit the best shots there or some of my worst. Lately its about 50-50.

The evolving part is on the front 9 where I've struggled on #2, 4, 5 & 9 lately. #2 has two creek crossing and a creek down the right side also guarded by sycamores that love knocking balls out of the air. Its more of a damage control hole. Par 4 but a bogey is good score.

#4 is regular par 5, right at 500 yards downhill but usually into the wind. Really wide fairway but somehow I always manage to be everywhere but... from the fairway its not bad a couple bunkers guard the green so its tough to hit but its more of a "this is a birdie hole!" "why am I putting for 7!"

However, the next hole has evolved into my newest nemesis. Mid-length par 3, about 155 with a creek down the entire right side. Its a beautiful design because a straight shot to the deep but narrow green has to travel over the left edge of the creek. If you draw irons like me you have to aim down the center of the creek and hope the ball does as it should. I've lost more balls on that hole than any other par 3 I've ever played. I used to hit more of straight/fade shot and it wasn't as bad. Now I usually aim a little right of the green and hook it a mile left leaving a wedge over a bunker to the narrow green with the creek looming in the background. Its really go in my head lately.
 
I might not come back to that course based on that hole alone. Otherwise, put me down for an ESC 7 and let's get on with our day.

It is a beautiful mountain course, a lot of target golf, and some great elevation changes. Most people love the place, but some hate it. One of my regular playing partners will not play there, he's a bit wild off the tee, and that can cost you a lot of balls, and he gets mad when he does hit a fairway and ends up with a difficult lie (it's mountain golf, a lot of slope on the fairways). It is one of my favorite places to play, and just 10 minutes from my house. Par 70 course with six good par threes.
 
Hole 9 Bloomingdale Golfers Club.

Par 5 510. If you hit a slice you're going in water, any tee shot right you are fliting with water. If you pull it you flirt with OB white stakes and tree trouble.

2nd shot is a layup typically. But if you go for it you have water in front of the green. If you lay up make sure it's decent. Usually will leave you a wedge/short iron but that water always messes with me.

Never Parred this hole. Plenty of doubles, triples, and golf balls in the drink.
 
#15 at my home club. Uphill (50+ feet) 210-220 Par 3, with a ravine on the way and a fairly tight window to put the ball through. I'm happy with a 4 on that hole.
 
As of this past weekend, #7 at Firestone is on my list :)

I do have a few on my normal courses that seem to eat me up every time. And the thing is they aren't necessarily hard holes, I just tend to hit bad shots or make dumb choices.
 
This hole - generally gives me the most fits

It’s the tee shot that gets men

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I’ve definitely got one - double dog leg par five. Tee shot calls for a fade with a heavily bunkered landing area and OB right. Second shot calls for a draw if you found the fairway or going over trees if you missed left. False front, tilted forward green with deep bunkers on your third.

If you have your swing going, it can be a birdie without much issue. If your swing is a bit off, look for the snowman.
 
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