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Are there hole designs that mess with your head.

My old home course has several of the ones I hate....
Doglegs with trees in your line if you try to swing the ball around the corner. Yep, big ol' trees at like 200 right where I'm aiming to draw/fade it around the corner. How the h3ll am I suppose to hit the fairway with a shot you evidently intended for me to make with trees in the line?
 
A forced fade off the tee with a massive tree blocking the inside right corner.

Yes #3 at The Ridge, I'm talking about you.
 
JMN57 said:
Par 3's built into the side of a hill like Glen Mills #7. It's 208 to the middle (215 if the pin is back) from the blues and 221/228 from the tips. If it's back, can't really see the green where the pin is. Hill slopes left to right. Above it's banked with rough, below are bunkers that are way below. The pic below doesn't really give a sense of how steep it is left-to-right. Green is long and relatively narrow. One can draw it in but you have to aim at bunkers/creek. Fading is also a small window. The window to hit a good shot is really small and that really puts the pressure on - particularly if the wind is blowing. Honestly, hitting to just in front of the green and then hitting a chip or pitch isn't the worst idea.

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Quite simply, that hole looks about as hard as you can make a par 3. Front left seems to be the only bail out spot, as I assume long is dead too.
I enjoy the challenge of difficult holes like this, but also believe the architect should balance it by including "easier" holes in the routing. What's fun is to pair a hole like this, with a short drivable par 4 immediately after. It allows the golfer to psychologically recover, and perhaps get too confident and take driver when its not the smart play.
 
Misalligned Tee Boxes is a big one. But the one that messes with me most is a par 3 over 180 yards with no room to play safe or bail out short and try and chip and putt for a par.
 
ArmyGolf said:
A forced fade off the tee with a massive tree blocking the inside right corner.

Yes #3 at The Ridge, I'm talking about you.
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Exact same for me! I have a hard enough time hitting it straight off the tee, let alone fading a shot where I need it to be.
 
Sowega said:
Quite simply, that hole looks about as hard as you can make a par 3. Front left seems to be the only bail out spot, as I assume long is dead too.
I enjoy the challenge of difficult holes like this, but also believe the architect should balance it by including "easier" holes in the routing. What's fun is to pair a hole like this, with a short drivable par 4 immediately after. It allows the golfer to psychologically recover, and perhaps get too confident and take driver when its not the smart play.
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Glen Mills is a really nice/tough Bobby Weed course that is probably one of the toughest publics in PA - Philly area. You'd be happy to know that in fact #8 (the next hole) is a shortish "drivable" par 4. It is ~310 from white/blues and 325 from the tips. The drive is blind though and there is a severe false front on the green so it is a pretty tough to get it in the green. Personally, I've come to the conclusion that it's better to hit a 200 yard tee shot and leave myself a full gap or sand wedge in than have to chip up that false front.
 
Long holes with an up hill approach. I've gotten better since gaining some distance thanks to a grip/swing change, but if I have a bad drive I am basically playing for a bogey.
 
JMN57 said:
Glen Mills is a really nice/tough Bobby Weed course that is probably one of the toughest publics in PA - Philly area. You'd be happy to know that in fact #8 (the next hole) is a shortish "drivable" par 4. It is ~310 from white/blues and 325 from the tips. The drive is blind though and there is a severe false front on the green so it is a pretty tough to get it in the green. Personally, I've come to the conclusion that it's better to hit a 200 yard tee shot and leave myself a full gap or sand wedge in than have to chip up that false front.
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Wow, that's really cool to hear. I tend to enjoy courses like this that obviously have some intentional design elements that get the golfer in mindsets other than "Driver, PW, rinse, repeat, etc...".
 
Super long holes. They make me swing harder than I should.
 
I don't know what it is about them, but #9 at 1757 and #18 Old Hickory mess with my head... fairly straight and decently open, but no matter what I hit from the tee I have never been in the fairway... and usually never "findable" either, even though on #18 Old Hickory I've hit I can't tell you how many straight down the middle and never been able to find it.
 
So to add to my previous post. For some reason I can't stand tee boxes that aren't flat. Also any forced uphill with a bunch of trees right in the front, forcing you to elevate your drive quickly. Oddly don't do super terrible on these, but my head is awash with bad thoughts the whole time.
 
Par 3's with water next to the green.
 
Any hole that forces a relatively short layup and then a lengthy approach. I just think they're stupid, because they dictate your club selection rather than giving you risk/reward options. And since I don't like them, I usually screw them up. Lol
 
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