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Do you have a "nemesis" hole?

#18 at my home course is a 195 yard par 3 with a lake running the entire left side and behind the green, cart path and parking lot are on the right. 2 tier green with a pretty steep drop off the back. Wind is usually coming off the lake which makes you have to start the ball over the water and hope the wind pushes it back onto the green. Always second guess myself and hit it right at the green, only to end up well right.
 
I have one that is a par 3 also. There is nothing special about it, just a 160 yard par 3 with a little lake in front of you but it ends 30 yards shy of the green, so if you are a little short it is no big deal. It is an optical issue for me. The tee box is not cut straight at the green, and it just messes with my head. As hard as I try to visualize the hole without seeing the tee box, I always wind up hitting a big hook, and am never close to the green. Just thinking about that hole is making my blood boil a little bit.
 
We have 6 courses in the county I live in and hole No.4 at my home course is rated as the No.1 hardest hole in the county. It is a par 5 which plays 510 yards off the mens tee.
From the tee, the fairway runs down hill to a creek that is 220 yds from the tee. The entire right side, from tee to green is OB. At the creek, there are 3 large trees left (yellow circles) plus a wooden bridge. The opening from the trees left to the OB right is 55 yds.

For me, playing safe, it is a iron tee shot just short of the creek. From there, you are faced with a blind shot forward, as the fairway slops towards the creek at the halfway point and runs downhill towards the green in the forward half of the long fairway. I often play a 3 wood as my second shot, which can bring the pond left into play as you play away from the OB right.

If you make up to the downhill part of the fairway facing the green, you are then faced with a old Box Elder tree which hangs out to protect the front of the green, again with OB right.

The green, which we nicknamed the "rock" many years ago, slopes towards you as you approach but the rear 2/3's is pretty flat which is where the pin is most of the time. The green is super small, 33 ft wide and 63 ft long, hard and super fast.

Par is a great score here, birdies are rare and double or triple bogey common. This hole is often a round maker or breaker.

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Why yes I do! It is Hole #5 at Longshore in Westport, CT. You can go and see my bunker near the green where every year from June - September, they actually erect a cabana and provide me with my personal bunker raker, bringer of double scotch, pool boy. The pro shop actually tells people if they call to find me to go "look in the right front bunker at #5". Sad, I know....

To see my personal bunker scroll through the slide show here to Hole #5. If you need me, that's where I'll be!
 
The 3rd hole at Kitty hawk the eagle course. Par 4 430 yard dog leg right water on the right and a creek that runs into the pond is where the dogleg starts around 220 to carry the creek. if you slice ir hook it right your in the pond. Carry the creek and you should have a 9 or 8i into the green. It's a big and fairly flat green but you can put up a big number on this hole.
 
Dent said:
357 Yards
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351 Yards

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Actually to add onto these two 17 is a beast as well. It is actually like our own Amen corner. 17 is 450 something yards and is basically straight away but the approach is so deadly. In order to get the ball onto this green you have to hit the highest possible ball or you have to hit it 20 yards short and roll it up. The front part of the green and left side immediately bowl hard into the middle with severe slopes. Last year I found myself taking a PW from 157 in order to get the ball high enough to stick the green.

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Yep dent I can see those sand traps on 15 & 17 on the right side having that come hither feel!!
 
MaryC said:
Why yes I do! It is Hole #5 at Longshore in Westport, CT. You can go and see my bunker near the green where every year from June - September, they actually erect a cabana and provide me with my personal bunker raker, bringer of double scotch, pool boy. The pro shop actually tells people if they call to find me to go "look in the right front bunker at #5". Sad, I know....

To see my personal bunker scroll through the slide show here to Hole #5. If you need me, that's where I'll be!
Click to expand...

What a nice course to provide you with such great service!!!! Bahaha
 
There's this hole at Westwood that kills me everything that's pretty close to what you describe Jacob. It's 165 yards to the edge of the green and a 179 to the back side of it.

If you hit it short, the ball does not go into a ravine, it's goes into a chasm. A chasm so deep that trolls live at the bottom of it. IE not only can you not play the ball but you won't be getting it back. Ever. So that's easy then eh, if you can't hit the green just fly it right? Nope. There's a cliff wall directly behind the green and if you hit the wall, you will roll straight back off the green and into the chasm (the green sloped to the chasm).

It's evil.
 
Why yes I do, 2-3-4 at my course. Don't know if it's a warm up issue or what, but they get me every time. If I get passed those holes in +3 I'm pretty happy. I don't know why, they are not difficult hole, I just do a good job of making them difficult.

2- Short par 4 dog leg left with water on the left and heavy rough on the site. Really narrow well guarded green.
3- Long par 5 with waste bunkers all the way up the right side. I fight an occassional hook and my bunker play is average at best.
4- Dogleg right with OB on the right with raised green. Looks real easy but always plays tough.

I'm gonna focus hard on those holes this year to play them with a positive attitude and hopefully positive results will ensue.
 
AvionicsMan said:
Yep dent I can see those sand traps on 15 & 17 on the right side having that come hither feel!!
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Oh yea, the ones on 17 for me are hardly in play unless you hit a pretty bad drive. On 15 though the first one stretches right across the fairway and only leaves a 10 yard gap for you to thread, or you have to hit it short or clear. It is a really tough carry too because there is rough on the other side.
 
For me it's the Par 4 18th at my home course. On paper is doesn't seem too bad, only 413 and straight but the fairway is super tight, there is a ravine running across the fairway and both contribute to it being the #2 handicap hole. I can't seem to hit my tee shot anywhere but right which leaves me either in the trees or rough with a blind second to a small green that slopes hard from right to left.
 
No matter what course I play, its always the first hole. That's where everyone lines up ready to tee off all staring at you while you tee off :nono:
 
This hole used to not be my nemisis. Once we were pretty good friends, but we seem to have grown apart over the past year or two.
It's not all that hard of a hole... Par 5 with a slight dogleg to the left over the final 170 yards or so.
The problem is that trees line the right side of the fairway, especially near the tee. Also, not only is the tee shot uphill, but a good drive also reaches a part of the fairway that slopes right to left. Going left leaves you with no shot at the green in two, and depending on how long or how far left, maybe not much of an angle to advance the ball to set up an approach to the green on your 3rd shot.
At one time, I would hit my tee shot straight, leaving me a good angle from atop the hill in the fairway. Last year I was hitting a draw which put me in trouble on this hole... and often times I would add some pull to the draw and really get in trouble. On top of all that, the tee box was expanded last year which enabled tees to be set even more to the right, practially requiring a fade to have decent drive.
 
Hole 11 on one of my home courses. Par 5, and there is a creek about 180 from the forward tee box. I can't driver, so I have to hit a 5 wood. I can't carry the creek with driver. The water goes all the way around the left. After I hit to creek, the hole is pretty narrow. Water left and other hazards on the right. I usually hit 5 wood again, depending on my lie from teeing off. Then I have to decide if I can get to green in 3. This again depends on my lie. There are bunkers on front right and side left of the green. I just get in so much trouble in this hole.
 
This hole used to kill me:
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We play the 2nd from the back tee box so it measures around 190 and the wind is always coming from the left, they love to stick the pin just over that bunker so you're aiming out over a lot of that water. I always used to reach for a water ball at that tee, just never had a good feeling on the tee. Finally I just decided to get up there with confidence and hit the damn shot. Now I use the ball I'm already playing for that round and confidently step up and knock it on the green. That hold had my number for a long time, not anymore though!

It's a mean sucker from the blacks though!
 
For me it is #14 a short par 3 at Dalton G&CC. It plays from 130 to 175 depending on tees played. There is water very close at the front and around the left side of the green. Any miss short or left means hitting across the pond again. The only good place to miss is right as long as you get over the water and stay short of the traps. The concrete cart path circles around behind the traps and close behind the green so it is possible to hit the cart path and have your ball shoot out of bounds. Of course this all is avoided by hitting the green and usually that is not too hard to do. When this hole turns evil is with wind. It is difficult to tell when wind is helping or hurting and it swirls in this corner of the course as well. I have taken an 8 on this hole in a tournament as well as my share of pars and birdies. On days the wind is blowing, I am dreading #14 as soon as I start the back side.
 
I've got one at my course. Par 3 17th has ruined many of my best rounds. Narrow, elevated green.The right edge of the green slopes off into water. It is very steep so even if you hit the right fringe it rolls down. Over the green is OB. Left of the green is a bunker, so then you are pitching back across the green that slopes toward the water. Sometimes to save my round I even lay up short and try to chip up because it seems like I can never hit the green. It is the only time I ever seem to push my ball, and I always land right on the right slope and it runs down into the water. GRRR!!! I'll have to take a picture of it when I play it tomorrow.
 
The 3rd at my local and I are not friends, its massive dog leg right with a massive lake in the middle. I set a personal challange to not get 10 shots on his hole over the last three months and the best I have ever gone is 6 but I am always happy not to get double digets on that hole.
 
At my home course the 6th hole is a 3 shot par 5 with a huge, wide open fairway off the tee, then a very narrow landing area on the the second shot pinched on the left by a large mound covered in trees and underbrush (no shot at the green or a lost ball) and on the right by mounded rough and OB. And the fairway portion there is a little low and frequently soft or even a hair muddy so that any short iron or wedge that isn't perfectly struck will come up short in the pond that guards the green itself. It is an easy driver, mid-iron layup, short or mid-iron approach depending on the wind to a green where missing long is not killer, and yet somehow no matter how far back or close to the pond I layup I almost always end up putting a ball in the water and taking a double.

And then hole after that, #7, is a 180 yard par 3 from the (2nd set of tees) with water front and left and long, a long narrow bunker wrapping around the left, and mounds and two deeper bunkers right that leave you a downhill bunker shot with water long. The wind is always swirling there and often in your face no matter which direction it had been blowing the rest of the day. Anything short or too far left is dead and the wind will often grab anything that has even a hair of draw spin on it and shoot it left into the water. Anything right brings the bunkers and mounds into play. It is usually at last a 4 iron for me, often a 3 hybrid, sometimes a 5 wood or even 3 wood depending on the wind. Par is a good score, bogey is not bad, and double or worse is not a stranger. I once put three balls into the water, my fourth ball into the second right side bunker (the worse of the two), out onto the green but long on the far side with the downhill runout, three putt from there four an 11. My own little "Tin Cup" moment...
 
Thechosen1 said:
Ever heard of a course starting out with back to back opening par 5s? (1&2) And then numberr 3 is a dogleg right where the middle of the fairway is slightly wide with brush on both sides. From the landing area it skinnies down to the green(where oh by the way in the summer the green is as hard as a rock)
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One of the local courses starts big dogleg left Par 5, 180 yard uphill Par 3, 600 yard Par 5... its a difficult start.
 
Well golf in general is my nemesis, but hole-wise it used to be #5 at the home course. A mid-length par 3, with a creek up the right side. I've always pushed irons to the right, so it was mentally as tough a tee shot as I would have all day. The green is bunkered left, with the water swallowing anything hit too strong back at the green.

The usual group I play with struggles off the tee much more than I do. The 8th is an uphill Par 5 that plays into a thin green front to back bunkered front right and mid back. Many a good round had died with an "8 on 8"...

It was also the scene for one of the most comedic shots I've ever witnessed. One of the regular playing partners was sitting in the middle of the fairway about 250 out. He struck low laser 5 iron and blew the pvc pipe marking the 150 yard distance in half. Hit it absolutely dead square... The thing was brittle from years of sun. Looking back a 4 foot high post in the middle of the fairway was dumb anyways...
 
#6. A par three at cordova country club near Memphis. It's usually about 160 yds. I went 3 years without a par there! I did have a couple of birdies; but mostly doubles. The mind is a terrible thing!
 
A par 3, 160 yards, right side is all water. When I step up to the tee box the turtles head for the shore and STARE at me. :at-wits-end:
 
The 17th, par 4 339 yard hole. While it used to be a fairly difficult hole guarded on the left about 200 yards out by a big tree, and then a narrow spot in the fairway and a big patch of woods on the right. I always manage to slice it right on this hole and end up right in front of the woods. It never fails how I'm playing that day, how I aim, what club I use, I always freaking end up looking at the woods. Punching through them is not an option because the underbrush is so heavy. So you either have to try and fly the trees or pitch out onto the fairway leaving yourself with a long shot onto the green.

The last time I played I ended up taking a risk since I was hitting the ball well and was able to fly over the ~3 story tall trees onto the fairway leaving pitching wedge into the green to save par which was great because I always seem to play a 5 or 6 on that hole.
 
Hole #2 at McKay Creek, the 9 hole course I play most often. Bank of trees on the right next to the tee box, bank of trees on the left of the green, water just behind the green. Green is small and crowned. 196 yards from the men's tees. I've parred this hole maybe twice in the 10 years I've played at this course.
 
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