Describe the hardest hole you've played

Thought it would be interesting to share some brutal holes we have played recently

For me it was the uphill par 4 at chambers bay that was almost a 90 degree dogleg right over a massive set of bunkers. I played it right after the open and the fairways were still running hard. For the life of me I have no idea how it's possible to hold that fairway. And I like to play a cut....it's impossible with a draw. Not to mention the second shot is severely blind and uphill to a tricky slopey green out of sand or trampled hay/rough

[attachment=2891908:images.jpg] 18 th. Kapalua. Into the wind,down hill and drunk.

[b]Royal Melbourne Hole # 6[/b]
[b]par 4, 428 yards[/b]

I haven't played any famous holes. We have a hole generally regarded as one of the toughest around, though

It plays 430yds but is a 90 degree dogleg left and you can't cut it cause the trees are too high. The entire right side of the hole once you hit the dogleg is OB. It's in play off the tee (if you hit a straight ball off the tee more then 230 you will be OB.) And then when you make the turn it runs down the right side all the way as mentioned

It's formerly a par 5 so the green is not receptive at all and is basically a redan. The OB right is 6-7 yards right of the green and you are approaching from 180-210 yards. There is also red stakes left of the green , maybe 12 yards left

It's very easy to make triples and quads. Often in club championships guys in contention will play it like a par 5 and lay up in front of the green to play for bogey

Balboa Park, number 16, par 5, 555 yards: it's a double dogleg that runs on the top of a ridge with hazards on both sides. Off the tee it's a dogleg left, into the wind, I usually hit driver and cut the corner. Even if you carry the corner, there's a tree along that line that can interfere with the second shot. If you hit a great drive, cut the corner and avoid the tree, the green is still on a narrow tip of the dogleg right with the wind now out of the right making going for it in two very difficult. If you choose to lay up, there's a fairway bunker on the corner of the dogleg. Once you navigate all that, the green is long and narrow with two tiers. I have made more bogeys or worse than I have pared it, never birdied it. Probably one of the hardest holes in San Diego.

There is resort outside of DC, if forget the name but the Greg Norman Course has what I believe to be the toughest 4 hole stretch in in resort golf

Hole 6 430 yard Par4- have to layup due to water, not really a tough hole
Hole 7 480 yard Par4- water up the left, bunkers up the right, a little tougher
Hole 8 680 yard Par5- I went Driver, 3 wood, 5 wood (it was into the wind)
Hole 9 250 yard Par 3- all carry over water and it was into the wind. Swung as hard as I could with a 3 wood, was 10 yards short. made bogey though

I think most tour pros would struggle on this stretch

17th St. Andrews. A pretty easy par 5. Unfortunately, it's a par 4.

I have 2 that come to mind and both are par 3's. The 17th at Whistling Straits was absolutely brutal when I played there last summer. It was something like 210 yards from the tees we were playing, directly into a 20-25 MPH wind (fyi we actually had fantastic weather here, but by the afternoon the wind really started picking up). I remember hitting a choked down 5 wood (my 245 yard club). The problem for me with a fairway wood is I NEVER hit a straight ball. When hit well (I emphasize when) it's almost always a 5-10 yard draw/pull. Hitting in to a wind that is that strong with any movement on the ball, especially movement towards the water is a disaster. I ended up hitting it great, having it turn in the wind and almost end up in Lake Michigan. I was about 12 inches out of the water staring up a 50 or so foot extremely steep slope to the green. I took my 58 degree, laid the face wide open, took a full swing, barely crested the edge of the slope and somehow made par. The caddy told me he had only seen other person get it on the green from there, let alone to 5 feet.

The 2nd toughest hole was 16 at Cypress Point. 220, straight into the wind, all carry, hitting it directly out into the ocean. The day we played we had incredibly awful weather. Horizontal rain, high winds, and it was about 45*. It was brutal, but, it was Cypress so it was worth it. I hit a choke down driver because the hole was playing into a stiff diagonal, hurting cross wind. At the time, I probably hit my driver 250 or so yards. I had to aim it 30 yards off the green into the ocean/rock formation right of the green because the wind was blowing so hard. I hit 3 balls, none of them cleared the water haha. The second one hit the rocks and bounced back lol. The weather was so bad that by the 3rd hole there were no scorecards left in our group because all of them had become so saturated that they disintegrated.

17 at St. Andrews right into a crazy wind and driving rain.

[quote name='alfriday' timestamp='1438794005' post='12083624']
17th St. Andrews. A pretty easy par 5. Unfortunately, it's a par 4.
[/quote]

Man i need to get over there and play that course. It's on the bucket list for sure

Local course, par 3, 190 yds, severely uphill, fairway slopes severely right to left, green slopes even more severely right to left, above the hole, long, or right is DEAD, DEAD, DEAD.

I made an ace on the hole and I have no idea how. NO ONE aces that hole EVER.

Another is a par 4 about 450, which is not the problem. Downhill, so doesn't play that long.

Problem is tiny green, water right, bunker left (straight downhill into the water), OB long, and dead short. I don't understand architects that give you no bailout at all.

Your only bailout is 40 yards short left of the green and that is no picnic.

[quote name='2putttom' timestamp='1438787581' post='12082934']
[attachment=2891908:images.jpg] 18 th. Kapalua. Into the wind,down hill and drunk.
[/quote]



Played that course at least 50 times... but never drunk. If drunk, that course would eat me alive.

In high school I used to play a tourney every season at a course that had one hole that would always eat me alive. 550 yard par 5 18th that was a long, slow left to right shape the whole way, like a banana. It's heavily wooded, tight, and dry, so if you miss or roll through the fairway you're likely gone, or there were so many leaves you could hardly find it. As someone who has played a draw (and cannot control a fade) for years it gave me fits; one time after hitting the fairway I hit low punch shots down the fairway just to keep in play. I need to get back to that course some day.

The hardest, but not least favorite, would have to be #14 at Trump international LA. Even a well struck shot would be lucky to be well placed, it's pretty much just hit and pray it doesn't find a hazard.

18 at Doral Blue Monster.

17th at the Old Course. Easy par 5....drive left, 5 wood, then 7 iron. Lipped out for a 4. As a par 4 it is borderline a bad hole as the green does not shape up for the way the majority of mortal golfers hit it.
6th at Turnberry. 222yds into the wind. Couldn't reach with a driver. And it wasn't that strong a breeze.

My memory of hard holes parallels my memory of a bogie or double on the last hole...when I walk off the green its long gone and forgot. I suppose hardest equates to challenging to my way of thinking.

[quote name='blahrkb' timestamp='1438792197' post='12083418']
Balboa Park, number 16, par 5, 555 yards: it's a double dogleg that runs on the top of a ridge with hazards on both sides. Off the tee it's a dogleg left, into the wind, I usually hit driver and cut the corner. Even if you carry the corner, there's a tree along that line that can interfere with the second shot. If you hit a great drive, cut the corner and avoid the tree, the green is still on a narrow tip of the dogleg right with the wind now out of the right making going for it in two very difficult. If you choose to lay up, there's a fairway bunker on the corner of the dogleg. Once you navigate all that, the green is long and narrow with two tiers. I have made more bogeys or worse than I have pared it, never birdied it. Probably one of the hardest holes in San Diego.
[/quote]
That hole is a JOKE!!!!!

I have to hit 6 iron, 6 iron, pitching wedge. No way am I taking driver.

my course has a par three that I cannot wrap my head around.

225 yards (long for me),alley of trees to hit out of, can't see the putting surface from the tee box, 3 large bunkers on right with a huge downslope that leads back to the previous hole, left has maybe 12 yards of grass before OB in houses comes in, trees protecting the green both sides.

I don't think i've ever even come close to parring it, pretty sure i walk with a bogey or double every time and hang my head in shame.

Played a hole in HS that was next to Lake Michigan. It was a par 5 with a sand dune in the middle of the fairway. Probably 50 yards wide at its widest spot and 75 yards long. Fairway split in two around it. Right side was wider but left side gave a better view of the fairway. If you were long (270+, which I wasn't in HS) and accurate enough you could take it over the dune, but the landing area was only 20-25 yards wide. Even if you went over it was still 230 to the green over another dune. And if you went into any of the dunes it was an "environmentally sensitive" area/hazard so you couldn't look for it. Layup area was probably 30 yards wide, which gets pretty narrow with a 20 mph wind off the lake. In calm conditions the hole is really quite manageable, but the wind off the lake can make it brutal.

Don't think I ever made more than a 7, but saw plenty of double-digit scores.

Just like MM, I played a course in high school that was interesting to say the least. Severe dogleg left, 400 plus yards with a stream running directly along your line off the tee, splitting the fairway in half beyond the dogleg. It was roughly 225 yards to clear the stream but the dense pine forest on the left and right of the dogleg kept anyone but the DJ type from going over the trees. It would have taken 310 yards of carry to clear the forest. It took a precise shot landing in an area no larger than a large green off the tee leaving a long iron second shot to a downhill green with a huge cluster of pine trees right in the middle of the fairway 40 yards short of the green.

Weird hole and extremely difficult to figure out.

Hole #15 at Antler Creek golf course in black forest Colorado. 697 yards! The first time I played it the wind was howling 30+ mph straight into us.

From the tips the course is brutal. Over 8100 yards. Altitude or not, its a beast. The last few times I was there, they didn't even have tee markers on the tips.

Course near me has a brutally hard par 3. It's 240 yards all over a body of water with water running all along the left side as well. There are no bail out spots either, in front of the green is a big pot bunker and the whole right side is woods. Oh and over the green is water too but not many people hit it over. What makes it even harder is if you do go in the water the drop area is still about a 120 yard shot into the green. It's the 17th hole and I've seen it ruin some good rounds.

[quote name='andrew.turker' timestamp='1438800567' post='12084296']
17 at St. Andrews right into a crazy wind and driving rain.
[/quote]

In other words, a normal summer day.

My friend birdied the hole. He hit a low drive that almost skimmed the roof of the hotel. He caught a 3 hybrid thin, the ball didn't get over 5 feet off the ground. But the ball bounced around the bunker and stopped 40 feet from the hole on the edge of the green. The putt barely caught the edge of the cup but dropped in. It's a good thing they don't ask how, but how many.

The scotch that he bought in the Old Course Hotel that night went down a lot easier than the birdie putt.

Our 8th hole is 247 yard par 3 over 200 yards of water with heavy trees right and left and a massive bunker short right. Many a high cap can never carry the water and the drop area still requires a 125 yard carry over the Aqua again. Very brutal , especially in windy conditions. Bogey here is the standard a par is like a birdie. Usually in skins or money games a par here might net the whole pot... Saw this happen with a group of 50 !!!!!

I'm still thinking on this, but the hole I hate most is 12 at Torrey Pines. Nothing more than a long, straight nightmare directly into the wind. Find a bunker or fail to flush one of two big shots and you are screwed.

I do have to agree on 16 at Balboa as was mentioned above. Brutal.

For me it's gotta be the 18th at TPC Sawgrass. Most intimidating tee shot I can remember facing off the top of my head, and the approach is no cake walk either.

A par 3 at Stone Harbor Golf Club that has water on 3 sides with a small green. Typically plays 175 and its all water carry and its been wind in my face every single time I've played there.

Well mine seems like chump change compared to these. My hardest was a par 5 546 yard hole (Bay Breeze at Keesler AFB). 284 yards to clear water 45* bend to the left and another 271 yards to the green.

Near impossible to clear the water, Left hand side is a bay and marsh. Can't cut the bend off either and 284 to clear the water is straight out from the tee box, as you go left the distance to clear the water increases.

No way you could can be on the green in less than 3.

Hole #10 at Banyan Tree Golf in Kadena, Japan. 582 yard Par 5, gigantic mountain immediately left (OB) and thick as hell habu jungle immediately right (OB). Blind tee shot over a hill and I don't even want to use the term 'dogleg left' because it it goes about 90* left. Go long and you are in a deep gully that separates a couple holes. Trees everywhere. Fun hole. It used to be the #1 tee box back when I first started playing. Great way to start a round.....