Feherty said Carnoustie was the hardest course

[Titleist87]

During the Feherty Judy Rankin episode (watched it again last night) and having never played Carnoustie, or anything east of Florida for that matter, what makes it the "hardest golf course" in the words of Feherty?

[HoffTTM]

The finish is extremely difficult and he might have played it in the '99 Open when the rough and weather were unbelievably bad. Then added to that anything less than a 15 mph breeze is an absolute anomaly and that is enough to severely affect play. The majority of the time it is across to some degree as well.

On top of this from the normal golfer tees it is significantly longer than the majority of other links courses

[prsgtrman]

interesting i didnt find it to be the most difficult i have ever played. as mentioned the last 5-6 holes are a real challenge. i felt like the mid holes were rather bland and vanilla. if the middle section of holes were as hard as the opening and closing stretches i could agree more with his statement.

[puttnforthe8]

+1 to above. I don't agree with Feherty. For me Vijays course in Fiji is the hardest course I ever played...it was so much more difficult than Carnoustie by a large margin.

Obviously, when a event is held there, they can let the rough grow out which will make it touger. Weather is weather....will factor in.

I played the tips as they had set...per the card it is 6900+; but I think where the tees were, it was probably playing about 6700-6750. I had a pretty mild wind with no rain. I shot 77.

[Stensons3Wood]

It cant be harder than Kiawah Ocean.

[gregflat9]

All of these courses are wind dependent.

I played Carnoustie and didn't find it that hard but Kiawah was nigh on impossible in a 30mph wind.

Kiawah tops Carnoustie for toughness in my eyes.

[carn9698]

I am there today playing at 10.44 playing on the annual Craws Nest Tassie tournament. I have been here since Sunday. I play off 7.5. In the qualification tournament on Tuesday I shot 88 gross and failed to qualify for the knockout stages by 2 shots because I shot 79 gross on the adjacent Buddon Course on the Monday. Half a club wind max both days. Wind makes the difference here. It is the hardest course I have ever played. A lot harder than Birkdale. Valderama would be the 2nd hardest I have played. Danger on the holes are this: 1st anything left of centre fairway kicks left and more than likely in to the burn. On links with roll I drive it around 260 so I am often left a 6 iron there. 2nd shot must go left side of the green. Deep hay left or right and the green is always quickest on the course. 2nd: good luck missing the 3 bunkers 1 of which is centre fairway. As you walk up to your ball through this canyon you start to see why Carnoustie is so revered. I mean this hole is on an epic scale. The green is about 80 yards long front to back. 2nd shot for me is generally a 4 iron run to the front and hope for 2 putts. The issue generally is he firmness of the turf. On the concrete it's like concrete so you need to trap the ball with perfect contact to hit crisp irons. If your ball is in the semi just off the fairieays most golfers prefer that. Do not go left or right on 2. Deep hay and bunkers. The bunkers by the way are all very deep. The tops of them are about 4 foot above head height with revetted faces and often the ball ends up against the face so goes sideways or back. Also every bunker is designed to suck your ball in rolling off the firm fairways gathering in to them. Instant bogey probably double or worse when in them. 3rd hole short but do tricky you would not believe. Lay up short of bunkers with a long iron or hybrid then you face about 140 over a burn. Upturned saucer green. Anything left of green centre gets swallowed up by the bunker. Deep hay right and big. 4th: keep it slightly right and hope to avoid bunker. Deep hay too right and ditch left. 7i in generally and avoid left bunker. 5th: 4 wood lay up short of ditch and hope to avoid bunkers. Deep hay right. Left with a 6i in must stay right because left bunker sucks it in. Severe slope back to front green very quick. 6th Hogans Alley: take the hogan route but so narrow and scary. Most bail out right and miss bunkers. Oob left. 2nd shot is a lay up with a 7i normally but it is so narrow with oob left and a ditch cutting diagonally narrowing the fairway the further you dare lay up. About a 7i in to the green so well protected by bunkers back and big. Such a tricky sloping green as well. 7th: oob left deep hay right. You have to nail your tee shot avoiding bunkers. That leaves you 5i but avoid bunker on the right. 8th par 3 about 155 oob tight left with green slip in pushing ball oob. Best shot here is leave it on front right of the green hoping to miss right bunker. Hope to 2 putt and get out of there. 9th: forest pan oob on left. Pot bunkers and ditch on right. 2nd shot is about a 4i trying to avoid gorse on right. Going for breakfast now so I will set out the back after that. The back 9 at Carnoustie is unbelievable trust me. Just epic hole after epic hole building in substance to the last. I am hungry now!

[sevenfourate]

[quote name='carn9698' timestamp='1441869006' post='12291922']
I am there today playing at 10.44 playing on the annual Craws Nest Tassie tournament. I have been here since Sunday. I play off 7.5. In the qualification tournament on Tuesday I shot 88 gross and failed to qualify for the knockout stages by 2 shots because I shot 79 gross on the adjacent Buddon Course on the Monday. Half a club wind max both days. Wind makes the difference here. It is the hardest course I have ever played. A lot harder than Birkdale. Valderama would be the 2nd hardest I have played. Danger on the holes are this: 1st anything left of centre fairway kicks left and more than likely in to the burn. On links with roll I drive it around 260 so I am often left a 6 iron there. 2nd shot must go left side of the green. Deep hay left or right and the green is always quickest on the course. 2nd: good luck missing the 3 bunkers 1 of which is centre fairway. As you walk up to your ball through this canyon you start to see why Carnoustie is so revered. I mean this hole is on an epic scale. The green is about 80 yards long front to back. 2nd shot for me is generally a 4 iron run to the front and hope for 2 putts. The issue generally is he firmness of the turf. On the concrete it's like concrete so you need to trap the ball with perfect contact to hit crisp irons. If your ball is in the semi just off the fairieays most golfers prefer that. Do not go left or right on 2. Deep hay and bunkers. The bunkers by the way are all very deep. The tops of them are about 4 foot above head height with revetted faces and often the ball ends up against the face so goes sideways or back. Also every bunker is designed to suck your ball in rolling off the firm fairways gathering in to them. Instant bogey probably double or worse when in them. 3rd hole short but do tricky you would not believe. Lay up short of bunkers with a long iron or hybrid then you face about 140 over a burn. Upturned saucer green. Anything left of green centre gets swallowed up by the bunker. Deep hay right and big. 4th: keep it slightly right and hope to avoid bunker. Deep hay too right and ditch left. 7i in generally and avoid left bunker. 5th: 4 wood lay up short of ditch and hope to avoid bunkers. Deep hay right. Left with a 6i in must stay right because left bunker sucks it in. Severe slope back to front green very quick. 6th Hogans Alley: take the hogan route but so narrow and scary. Most bail out right and miss bunkers. Oob left. 2nd shot is a lay up with a 7i normally but it is so narrow with oob left and a ditch cutting diagonally narrowing the fairway the further you dare lay up. About a 7i in to the green so well protected by bunkers back and big. Such a tricky sloping green as well. 7th: oob left deep hay right. You have to nail your tee shot avoiding bunkers. That leaves you 5i but avoid bunker on the right. 8th par 3 about 155 oob tight left with green slip in pushing ball oob. Best shot here is leave it on front right of the green hoping to miss right bunker. Hope to 2 putt and get out of there. 9th: forest pan oob on left. Pot bunkers and ditch on right. 2nd shot is about a 4i trying to avoid gorse on right. Going for breakfast now so I will set out the back after that. The back 9 at Carnoustie is unbelievable trust me. Just epic hole after epic hole building in substance to the last. I am hungry now!
[/quote]

PLAY WELL !!

[az2au]

I've played it a few times and it is one of the harder courses I've played when the wind is up. There are multiple holes where it feels like there is no reasonable place to hit the ball on days like that. That said, I've had good rounds there as well and it is short so you don't need to hit driver unless you have some wind. I think the best round I had there I hit driver once and mostly hit 3 irons off of the tee.

I've asked to play from the tips and been denied even with a verifiable single digit index (currently 3.1). I suspect that was due to the course being crowded however.

I've played a few courses I've thought were harder. Mauna Kea from the tips the other day is one for sure. Royal Lytham & St. Annes is supposed to be the second hardest course on the rota and the lone time I played it I started double, double and finished at 3 over. The key there was avoiding bunkers while the key at Carnoustie is avoiding the burns and bunkers.

[prsgtrman]

[quote name='az2au' timestamp='1441870362' post='12291944']
I've played it a few times and it is one of the harder courses I've played when the wind is up. There are multiple holes where it feels like there is no reasonable place to hit the ball on days like that. That said, I've had good rounds there as well and it is short so you don't need to hit driver unless you have some wind. I think the best round I had there I hit driver once and mostly hit 3 irons off of the tee.

I've asked to play from the tips and been denied even with a verifiable single digit index (currently 3.1). I suspect that was due to the course being crowded however.

I've played a few courses I've thought were harder. Mauna Kea from the tips the other day is one for sure. Royal Lytham & St. Annes is supposed to be the second hardest course on the rota and the lone time I played it I started double, double and finished at 3 over. The key there was avoiding bunkers while the key at Carnoustie is avoiding the burns and bunkers.
[/quote]

that sucks you were denied to play from the tips. carnoustie by far took longer than any other course we played mostly due to western play so they shouldve let you play from the tips. we played a bunch of the rota qualifier courses and sped around them in 3 ish hours.

[HoffTTM]

[quote name='carn9698' timestamp='1441869006' post='12291922']
I am there today playing at 10.44 playing on the annual Craws Nest Tassie tournament. I have been here since Sunday. I play off 7.5. In the qualification tournament on Tuesday I shot 88 gross and failed to qualify for the knockout stages by 2 shots because I shot 79 gross on the adjacent Buddon Course on the Monday. Half a club wind max both days. Wind makes the difference here. It is the hardest course I have ever played. A lot harder than Birkdale. Valderama would be the 2nd hardest I have played. Danger on the holes are this: 1st anything left of centre fairway kicks left and more than likely in to the burn. On links with roll I drive it around 260 so I am often left a 6 iron there. 2nd shot must go left side of the green. Deep hay left or right and the green is always quickest on the course. 2nd: good luck missing the 3 bunkers 1 of which is centre fairway. As you walk up to your ball through this canyon you start to see why Carnoustie is so revered. I mean this hole is on an epic scale. The green is about 80 yards long front to back. 2nd shot for me is generally a 4 iron run to the front and hope for 2 putts. The issue generally is he firmness of the turf. On the concrete it's like concrete so you need to trap the ball with perfect contact to hit crisp irons. If your ball is in the semi just off the fairieays most golfers prefer that. Do not go left or right on 2. Deep hay and bunkers. The bunkers by the way are all very deep. The tops of them are about 4 foot above head height with revetted faces and often the ball ends up against the face so goes sideways or back. Also every bunker is designed to suck your ball in rolling off the firm fairways gathering in to them. Instant bogey probably double or worse when in them. 3rd hole short but do tricky you would not believe. Lay up short of bunkers with a long iron or hybrid then you face about 140 over a burn. Upturned saucer green. Anything left of green centre gets swallowed up by the bunker. Deep hay right and big. 4th: keep it slightly right and hope to avoid bunker. Deep hay too right and ditch left. 7i in generally and avoid left bunker. 5th: 4 wood lay up short of ditch and hope to avoid bunkers. Deep hay right. Left with a 6i in must stay right because left bunker sucks it in. Severe slope back to front green very quick. 6th Hogans Alley: take the hogan route but so narrow and scary. Most bail out right and miss bunkers. Oob left. 2nd shot is a lay up with a 7i normally but it is so narrow with oob left and a ditch cutting diagonally narrowing the fairway the further you dare lay up. About a 7i in to the green so well protected by bunkers back and big. Such a tricky sloping green as well. 7th: oob left deep hay right. You have to nail your tee shot avoiding bunkers. That leaves you 5i but avoid bunker on the right. 8th par 3 about 155 oob tight left with green slip in pushing ball oob. Best shot here is leave it on front right of the green hoping to miss right bunker. Hope to 2 putt and get out of there. 9th: forest pan oob on left. Pot bunkers and ditch on right. 2nd shot is about a 4i trying to avoid gorse on right. Going for breakfast now so I will set out the back after that. The back 9 at Carnoustie is unbelievable trust me. Just epic hole after epic hole building in substance to the last. I am hungry now!
[/quote]

Are you playing in one of the consolation stablefords for those that didn't get through? Love Tassie week, made the last 16 of the Maulesbank 3 years ago.

[carn9698]

[quote name='HoffTTM' timestamp='1441920011' post='12295566']
[quote name='carn9698' timestamp='1441869006' post='12291922']
I am there today playing at 10.44 playing on the annual Craws Nest Tassie tournament. I have been here since Sunday. I play off 7.5. In the qualification tournament on Tuesday I shot 88 gross and failed to qualify for the knockout stages by 2 shots because I shot 79 gross on the adjacent Buddon Course on the Monday. Half a club wind max both days. Wind makes the difference here. It is the hardest course I have ever played. A lot harder than Birkdale. Valderama would be the 2nd hardest I have played. Danger on the holes are this: 1st anything left of centre fairway kicks left and more than likely in to the burn. On links with roll I drive it around 260 so I am often left a 6 iron there. 2nd shot must go left side of the green. Deep hay left or right and the green is always quickest on the course. 2nd: good luck missing the 3 bunkers 1 of which is centre fairway. As you walk up to your ball through this canyon you start to see why Carnoustie is so revered. I mean this hole is on an epic scale. The green is about 80 yards long front to back. 2nd shot for me is generally a 4 iron run to the front and hope for 2 putts. The issue generally is he firmness of the turf. On the concrete it's like concrete so you need to trap the ball with perfect contact to hit crisp irons. If your ball is in the semi just off the fairieays most golfers prefer that. Do not go left or right on 2. Deep hay and bunkers. The bunkers by the way are all very deep. The tops of them are about 4 foot above head height with revetted faces and often the ball ends up against the face so goes sideways or back. Also every bunker is designed to suck your ball in rolling off the firm fairways gathering in to them. Instant bogey probably double or worse when in them. 3rd hole short but do tricky you would not believe. Lay up short of bunkers with a long iron or hybrid then you face about 140 over a burn. Upturned saucer green. Anything left of green centre gets swallowed up by the bunker. Deep hay right and big. 4th: keep it slightly right and hope to avoid bunker. Deep hay too right and ditch left. 7i in generally and avoid left bunker. 5th: 4 wood lay up short of ditch and hope to avoid bunkers. Deep hay right. Left with a 6i in must stay right because left bunker sucks it in. Severe slope back to front green very quick. 6th Hogans Alley: take the hogan route but so narrow and scary. Most bail out right and miss bunkers. Oob left. 2nd shot is a lay up with a 7i normally but it is so narrow with oob left and a ditch cutting diagonally narrowing the fairway the further you dare lay up. About a 7i in to the green so well protected by bunkers back and big. Such a tricky sloping green as well. 7th: oob left deep hay right. You have to nail your tee shot avoiding bunkers. That leaves you 5i but avoid bunker on the right. 8th par 3 about 155 oob tight left with green slip in pushing ball oob. Best shot here is leave it on front right of the green hoping to miss right bunker. Hope to 2 putt and get out of there. 9th: forest pan oob on left. Pot bunkers and ditch on right. 2nd shot is about a 4i trying to avoid gorse on right. Going for breakfast now so I will set out the back after that. The back 9 at Carnoustie is unbelievable trust me. Just epic hole after epic hole building in substance to the last. I am hungry now!
[/quote]

Are you playing in one of the consolation stablefords for those that didn't get through? Love Tassie week, made the last 16 of the Maulesbank 3 years ago.
[/quote]yes consolation prizes for me. To be honest getting to play the champs course is more than a consolation. 89 gross on that on Friday off back blocks in strong winds. Happy with that even off 8! So difficult. It really is golfs Mount Everest off the tips in wind. I recommend all to try it before they hang up the clubs. Not for the faint hearted!