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How Challenging is Your Golf Course?

Sean

Sean

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My home course is a short one. It's 9 holes and you go around twice. People playing it for the first time lick their chops when they look at some of the hole yardages. However, they neglect to look at the slope. More often than not, after they walk off 18, they either really liked it, or hated it and will never play it again.

Black: 6006/127

Black/Yellow: 5746/125

Yellow: 5426/124

Red: 4752/116 (men's rating)

Red: 4752/124 (women's rating)

The course is littered with hazards, not much rough to speak of, and small greens. You can hit a shot in the fairway and still end up in a hazard. On six of the holes (going around twice), parts of the fairway slope towards a hazard, and six of the greens are like island greens. Many a shot you hit at another golf course that would be just fine will find a hazard at my home course. We joke all the time on the tee, or fairway, as the ball flies into a hazard: "That would have been fine at any other golf course." If you can play a round without losing a golf ball, that is quite a feat, regardless of your HI.

A long hitter will have an advantage as he can use an iron off the tee, for most of us mere mortals that isn't an option. There are no wide open fairways on the course. Your tee shot has to be precise. On the infrequent occasion I play another golf course, the fairways seem a mile wide, and I rarely lose a golf ball.

How challenging is your golf course?
 
I guess I'll use Dorchester as my home course, even though I live on Stonehenge - I only play it when I have out of town guests because it's really hard lol.

Dorchester is what I call a night and day course - the front 9 is just a golf course like you'd see anywhere, some challenging tee shots, some difficult holes, some that are easier to give a litte break. But the back 9 is gorgeous - it hasn't been developed, so you're playing out in the woods. After the 11th tee, there are only 2-3 houses on the rest of the course. Even the ratings are different for the front and back for most of the tees.

Blue 70.6/ 127 (6400)
White 68.2/121 - 74/128 (5837)
Yellow 63.2/108 - 67.7/112 (4661) (women's overall is 70.6/121)
Red 62.5/103 - 67.1/111 (4566) (women's overall is 68.5/118)
Green 60.2/103 - 62/101 (3670)

To quote my friend Wade on all of the Glade courses he's played, "you haven't seen so much OB in your life." All of the fairways are lined with trees. The fairways slope. And the rough is really rough - last week with all the rain, it was US Open rough. Dorchester has some good strategicially placed fairway trees, and starts the back tees off with TWO water crossings and the #1 HC hole. 5 is Lake Nemesis and a par 7 from the reds. There's a fairway that if you hit it dead center, and the ball will bounce and roll to the right into the rough behind the trees.

On the back 9, there's a par 3 with a crazy steep elevation drop off. Hit it short and you're on the "cliff" side. Hit it long, and you're in the creek with the copperheads. There's a fantastic cliff side tee with a dog leg and suddenly an elevated green over a waterfall. It's a fun, fun back 9, all while you're walking isolated in the woods.

In addition to the usual hazards, you also have the danger of ticks and copperheads and eastern diamondbacks. So keeping it on the fairway is crucial!
 
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Sean said:
My home course is a short one. It's 9 holes and you go around twice. People playing it for the first time lick their chops when they look at some of the hole yardages. However, they neglect to look at the slope. More often than not, after they walk off 18, they either really liked it, or hated it and will never play it again.

Black: 6006/127

Black/Yellow: 5746/125

Yellow: 5426/124

Red: 4752/116 (men's rating)

Red: 4752/124 (women's rating)

The course is littered with hazards, not much rough to speak of, and small greens. You can hit a shot in the fairway and still end up in a hazard. On six of the holes (going around twice), parts of the fairway slope towards a hazard, and six of the greens are like island greens. Many a shot you hit at another golf course that would be just fine will find a hazard at my home course. We joke all the time on the tee, or fairway, as the ball flies into a hazard: "That would have been fine at any other golf course." If you can play a round without losing a golf ball, that is quite a feat, regardless of your HI.

A long hitter will have an advantage as he can use an iron off the tee, for most of us mere mortals that isn't an option. There are no wide open fairways on the course. Your tee shot has to be precise. On the infrequent occasion I play another golf course, the fairways seem a mile wide, and I rarely lose a golf ball.

How challenging is your golf course?
Click to expand...

where do you play?
 
My course is fairly difficult. Plays longer than it is because of forced shots on some of the doglegs. It has some nice risk reward choices to make which can help you out or get you in big trouble. You can put driver in hand from the black tees on almost every par 4 and 5, but from the white you only get to use it 4 or 5 times. It's really a very different challenge from the 2 tee boxes.

Black is 6498 71.7/130
White is 5880 69.2/124
 
At a fairly short by today's standards 6860 yards, it's a tough test. We had a local US Open men's qualifier here 18 months ago and there were only 4 out of 69 that shot under par with the medalist shooting a 70. The greens are very fast with a lot of slope and it is well bunkered. It's a 1924 Seth Raynor design that has stood the test of time. Raynor most famous designs are for Waialae, Chicago Golf Club, Fishers Island, and Sleepy Hollow CC.
 
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My course tends to give people fits, in such a good way.

tips are 6,921 with a slope/rating of 73.9/143
tournament is 6,653 with a slope/rating of 72.1/138
Green tees are 6,082 with a slope/rating of 68.9/128
 
Mine is pretty tough. Especially off the tee. Tree lined fairways on every hole. Errant shots are penalized by half a shot at least. So if you're having a tough time driving you won't score well

Par 72 at 6790 yards
72.7 rating 129 slope from the back tees

Greens are a decent size and only a couple have severe contours but most have such a subtle set of breaks it's hard to make long putts. I've been there 2 years and still have putts that break the opposite of what I read
 
I don't particularly have "a" home course.

The course I play the most is also a 9 hole course, about the same length as Sean's, and slopes about the same. But it's rated about 2 strokes lower, which seems fair. It's weird in that some it's "teeth" come from the par 3s. The first plays about 165 uphill and will absolutely kill you if you miss the green. The second is 200 yards uphill and has a tricky green. Another course I play slopes a bit less, and I think that's fair based on my experience. Greens are flatter, and there are a couple more places you can miss and still have a line to the green, especially on the front 9.

Another course I play semi-regularly has a ton of hazard around the first few holes, and plays about 6200 yards at a par 70. That's rated the toughest, at 70.4/134, and that seems fair. Despite some easy holes in the middle, the first few and last holes can really leave you hurting.

Having played the course Sean is describing above, I actually think it's the rating that sneaks up more than the slope. It's an equal opportunity course that is going to kill folks who don't practice course management.
 
My home course was one of the Nike tour sites and it is not an easy course. I played from the blue a couple of times but mainly I play from the whites and it is still a challenge. I would not even consider playing from the tips.

Black is 7216 yds 76.2/142
Blue is 6786 73.5/136
White is 6374 71.7/130
 
72.7/139, so pretty challenging. Not really that long at just under 6500 yards, but very penal if you miss the fairways by more than a few yards.
 
My home course is about 6400 from the whites and 133 slope. Very challenging to play because of the variety of shots you need to navigate the course. There is only 1 reachable par-5 and the course winds in and out of trees, basically neutralizing the driver. Best part of the course is how much easier it makes other courses seem in comparison.
 
My home course is typically ranked in the state's top 10. Preferred tee box is 6,550 Yards (72.1/142). Add a 20 mph wind when the ground is soft and you've got a good test.
 
I'd say mine is challenging but pretty fair. The normal men's tees (blue) are 73.4/132 from about 6,750. The tips (black) are 75.3/134 from just over 7,000.

The course is a Robert Trent Jones Sr. design built in the 50s. Now that most trees are fully mature, it is significantly more difficult than it was even 10 or 15 years ago. There is a real premium on keeping the ball in play. You can get lucky, but if you miss the fairway by more than about 5 yards in either direction on most holes, there is a good chance you will have tree trouble or be in a bunker. It gets very difficult in a hurry to score well if you aren't hitting your tee shots well. Conversely, if you are playing well off the tee, you can score. That's not to say it's easy though. The greens typically putt very nicely, but they don't always hold shots particularly well and the slopes can be deceiving. But if you are hitting the ball well, it is a fair test. Everything is in front of you for the most part and the risks/rewards are obvious.
 
My home course is a bit of a bear.

There is about a 75/25 split with first time players, with 75% saying "I will never come back here again". The challenge with the course is knowing where to hit. On at least 50% of the holes, a drive right down the middle is totally wrong, and you will end up in a bad if not terrible spot.
 
I was reminded this week of how different a challenging course can be. I play some challenging courses at home, but I also play some with wide fairways and flat greens. On my buddies trip to the Robert Trent Jones golf trail, it quickly became apparent these were not the easy greens. Getting on the green is not enough. If you're on the wrong level, a 3-putt is extremely likely.

We also played "The Senator" in Pratville, the links-style course where an LPGA event is held. Man, what a total pain-in-the-butt that course was. You'd better hit it straight, because if you were offline at all, you had absolutely zero chance of finding your ball in the (not-exaggerating) knee-high fescue that lined both sides of the course. Fortunately for me, we played a scramble-ish format so I didn't have to turn in a score. :)

I still played well and was overall happy with how I rose to the challenge, but it definitely took more mental effort and course management to score well on those difficult courses and greens.
 
Red 5900 119
Gold 6400 121
White 6620 122
Blue 6920 123
Not much difference in slope because we just don't have many bunkers, and there is only water on 1 hole that comes into play. It is a 9 hole course but very well maintained greens and fairways. You get off the fairway and into the rough, good luck as its brutal. White tees can vary between 6400 and 6620 depending on tee box position and pin placement, I have no problem playing that distance but prefer the shorter gold tees at 6200-6400.
We will do a split tee box round depending on who is playing
 
I don't have a home course but the one I have been playing mostly over the last year due to convenience and cost I would say is not very difficult. From the back it's 6233 with a rating of 70.5 Slope 129. It's a course I enjoy playing but sometimes I would prefer a bit more of a challenge. The greens are small and rough is usually long and thick, which helps protect the course a bit, but if you are chipping from the fringe or fairway you can get the ball to check up easily. Greens are pretty flat so you don't have to deal with a lot of break.
 
I don't have a home course. Instead I play various courses and therefore the challenges are intensified. Playing the same course all the time makes some of the challenges disappear because of familiarity. The only thing that keeps a home course more challenging is changing pin placement on the greens. Everything else pretty much stays the same.
 
The 5 local muni courses I play range from ratings of 70 to 71.4 and from the middle tees are around 6400. They are not incredibly difficult courses but each have their share of some challenging holes. Probably at the beginning of this year I would have called them "somewhat difficult" and then I played Bethpage Black which has redefined the word difficult in terms of golf courses! THAT is a difficult course. Stupidly difficult in fact!
 
Very easy and short. 6481 70.5/116

My second home course it tough. 6893 73.3/133
They added yards so needs to be re-rated. It also has the most difficult greens I have ever played. Some people think they are unfair.
 
Sean said:
My home course is a short one. It's 9 holes and you go around twice. People playing it for the first time lick their chops when they look at some of the hole yardages. However, they neglect to look at the slope. More often than not, after they walk off 18, they either really liked it, or hated it and will never play it again.

Black: 6006/127

Black/Yellow: 5746/125

Yellow: 5426/124

Red: 4752/116 (men's rating)

Red: 4752/124 (women's rating)

The course is littered with hazards, not much rough to speak of, and small greens. You can hit a shot in the fairway and still end up in a hazard. On six of the holes (going around twice), parts of the fairway slope towards a hazard, and six of the greens are like island greens. Many a shot you hit at another golf course that would be just fine will find a hazard at my home course. We joke all the time on the tee, or fairway, as the ball flies into a hazard: "That would have been fine at any other golf course." If you can play a round without losing a golf ball, that is quite a feat, regardless of your HI.

A long hitter will have an advantage as he can use an iron off the tee, for most of us mere mortals that isn't an option. There are no wide open fairways on the course. Your tee shot has to be precise. On the infrequent occasion I play another golf course, the fairways seem a mile wide, and I rarely lose a golf ball.

How challenging is your golf course?
Click to expand...

What's the name of that course? I wanna look it up and take a gander.
 
luvagoodshot said:
I don't have a home course. Instead I play various courses and therefore the challenges are intensified. Playing the same course all the time makes some of the challenges disappear because of familiarity. The only thing that keeps a home course more challenging is changing pin placement on the greens. Everything else pretty much stays the same.
Click to expand...


If that were true, I'd play the same course all the time and eventually "master" it. Much easier said than done.
 
In daily conditions my home course is easier than the stated rating/slope but for the 4 months that it's in grown in prep, it's a monster.

Tips 78.2/144
Black tees 75.3/137
green tees 73.1/133
Gold tees 70.7/129
 
My course isnt crazy hard, but not easy either.
Blacks - 73.8/136 7000
Blues - 71.9/132 6650
Silvers - 70.9/131 6400
Whites - 69/126 6000
 
Fairways are huge but the greens are tough as nails.
Black - 75.3/138 7317yds
Blue - 72.1/130 6580yds
White - 69.6/124 6006yds
Green - 69.3/118 5050yds
 
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