Worst Course You've Ever Played

[thejuice]

[quote name='audioph1x' timestamp='1413259019' post='10282427']
Collins Hill golf course in Lawrenceville, GA...

Greens are terrible, no one replaces their divots, it's in a neighborhood and there aren't any porta johns on the course. Might as well sign yourself up for sex offender list.

For $25 after 5pm, there are MUCH better courses with friendlier staff in the area.
[/quote]

CH definitely isn't the best course in the North Gwinnett area but there aren't many public course options. The layout isn't bad, I just think the cart paths are terrible and the bunker suck (but you're supposed to stay out of them anyway). It's hard to blame the course for idiots that don't take care of the greens.

With that said, my list of goat tracks in Atlanta are:

Bobby Jones (real goat track that gets a lot of play because of its location among many private courses)
Steel Canyon (used to be a garbage dump years ago and has plenty of power lines to battle)
Lost Mountain (not horrible but all the holes are built right on top of each other where you can actually play your hole from two fairways over)

[daverain1]

Worst I've ever seen in New England - Brooklyn Golf Club in Brooklyn, CT (yes CT, not NY). Clubhouse is a Front porch, fairways are barely mowed crab grass, and greens are tiny. There's less than five sand traps on the whole course, the only thing that separates it from a cow pasture is tee boxes and greens.

I thought I seen the worst when I teed off late in the round up and over a hill. To my surprise there's a large pond out of sight over the hill. No signs, flags, or detailed scorecard with layout, if it's your first time and you're not playing with a local, you're in the pond.

I drove my there on my way to an assignment for 9 months and there's a sign on Rt 6 - public golf course. Curiousity got me one day with my clubs and shoes in the trunk and I followed the sign. I can't believe anyone ever plays there more than once.

[dhartmann34]

Either Hunter Country Club in Richmond Illinois (Dandelions on the greens, beat up bowling pins as tee markers and a waste treatment facility in the middle of the course) or Lakemoor Golf Course in Lakemoor IL (Conditions were unplayable. Carts looked like had gone through a war zone. And the clubhouse was a trailer getting ready to fall to pieces. Not to mention on one of the holes on the backside, a guy was fishing in one of the on course ponds from his living room in his mobile home).

[duffer987]

^I had to google map that one! It looks worn out enough from the satellite pics and knowing those are mobile homes and not houses really helps paint a picture

[audioph1x]

[quote name='duffer987' timestamp='1413560126' post='10305001']^I had to google map that one! It looks warn out enough from the satellite pics and knowing those are mobile homes and not houses really helps paint a picture [/quote]

Haha that's awesome. How much do courses like this tend to cost? There's a great muni in Charleston for 10$ that's way better than the worst I've played and paid $25 for

[ShooterMcGavin311]

Babe Zaharias course in Tampa Florida. It used to be the place to play in the 60's and 70's from what I heard. Now its just a collection of flagsticks scattered about a cow pasture. Such a shame. Worst conditions I have ever seen.

[isaacbm]

[quote name='duffer987' timestamp='1412651897' post='10247209']
Immediately Tall Timbers in the suburbs of Vancouver BC came to mind. I had not played it since the late 90s and remember it being just horrible. Dirt, gravel, and a bit of grass. It seems in 15 years nothing has changed: [url="http://www.yelp.com/biz/tall-timber-golf-course-langley"]http://www.yelp.com/...-course-langley[/url]

Amazed it's still open.

Now for most disappointing: TPC Sawgrass.
[/quote]I'VE played Tall Timber. It's trash. Would quit golf if I had to play only there...

I clicked on the site and one review said :" It looks like they just hosted a huge bush party..." That about sums it up! LOL!

[isaacbm]

[quote name='dhartmann34' timestamp='1413558482' post='10304869']
Either Hunter Country Club in Richmond Illinois (Dandelions on the greens, beat up bowling pins as tee markers and a waste treatment facility in the middle of the course) or Lakemoor Golf Course in Lakemoor IL (Conditions were unplayable. Carts looked like had gone through a war zone. And the clubhouse was a trailer getting ready to fall to pieces. Not to mention on one of the holes on the backside, a guy was fishing in one of the on course ponds from his living room in his mobile home).
[/quote]"not to mention ??" LOL! You have to mention that! That's the funniest thing I've read on this site in a while!

[isaacbm]

I've played over 650 courses in my life and I've seen my share of beauties...

If it's conditions we're talking about, I've played a course in a tournament where the local rule was "line of sight relief for all gofer holes on the greens." That was the Aberdeen Country club in SD. Made me laugh that it was called a country club!

Like the poster above said of shadow canyons, I thought it was horrific. There were multiple holes where my buddy and I would stand on the tee box and just look at each other puzzled and say :" I don't get it...."

My favorite quote that I ever read was one year after the Alberta Amateur at Goose Hummick in Edmonton Alberta. Howard Pasechnik was quoted in the paper saying:" They ruined a perfectly good gravel pit when they build this shlt hole." The upshot is Howard became a course designer and has build two of the most enjoyable courses to play in the province. He says to this day that playing that event inspired him to change his career and become a course designer.

Played a sand green course in northern alberta that had a sign that said:" Golfers must yield to all quad traffic" There was basically a dirt bike/quad track right through the course. Oh, and the greens were oiled sand traps. If you've never experience this, let me say.... DON'T.

[JohnStaff]

The New York Times had an article a few years ago about my hometown golf course, the Bristol Golf Club, and called it the worst course in America. At one point, it was an 18-hole muni. Then the town took 9 holes for their new industrial park so you weave through boat manufacturers and warehouses. On one hole between the trees arching over the fairway and the power lines running down the center of the fairway, its pretty much impossible. At one point there was an open pit filled with strange colored liquid in the middle of the 7th fairway (blind, of course) that was an apparent sinkhole. And the grass conditions are abysmal.

The "value" of the course is the liquor license attached to the clubhouse, which are quite hard to obtain and apparently supports a rollicking nightly business. Its current existence is as a strange and underutilized bar amenity.

The town planner and I joked about it, but we couldn't argue with the designation. Although about a mile from my house I've only played it twice in a decade.

[jmtbkr]

 

This was on the fairway at the Sandpiper golf course of Club Med in Port St. Lucie. Worst place I ever played. Crab grass, bare spots, sand and dirt between the crab grass, rocks in the bunkers(no sand at all).

Well, it was a free round to go along with the free stay for the day. So we swam, drank and ate for free.

[Rjb01camaross]

The worst I have experienced in the Tampa area has to be the Macdill AFB courses

[AntonGolf]

Have to say Stone Harbor at the Jersey Shore back in the 90s (before they 'softened' it). Archi-torture at its finest.

[farmer]

Tejas Golf Club in Stephenville, TX. Old, old nine holer built in a river bottom. Every green is an upside down bowl, tiny and infrequently mowed. Everything on the course, tees, fairways and greens, is common Bermuda, but there is no grass in the fairways unless they've had rain. The ninth hole is a 90* dogleg left that would be a 5 iron, 8 iron hole but for the huge, old live oak in the middle of the fairway just up from the turn. Too big to go over, too low to go under, and it covers all the fairway. I have family there, and I play it once a year just to see.

[oregongolf]

Have to say Stone Harbor at the Jersey Shore back in the 90s (before they 'softened' it). Archi-torture at its finest.

 

[GWD]

A course in Ocho Rios, Jamaica. Can't remember the name. It was 30 years ago.

Caddies were required. They were barefooted and looked to be twins to Bob Marley.

Greens had not been mowed and holes not moved in weeks. Grass was growing into the holes...had to hit the hole dead center...the opening was about the size of the ball. With the huge spiders in Jamaica it was a bit unnerving to reach down into those holes.

Untended fairways...well, not fairways but rather areas of the jungle cut down and occasionally mowed. Not a mower or maintenance person in sight. No sand traps. The clubhouse was a cabana.

No rough, just jungle. Nasty looking guys wandering across the fairways, singly and in groups, with machetes to get to the next patch of jungle. I kept my eyes on them as they walked by...not that I could have done much. My wife played at the time and was quite unnerved by the conditions. Spiders and hatchetmen are not in her comfort zone.

"No worry, mon."

[liamandskylar]

[quote name='thejuice' timestamp='1413286813' post='10283113']
[quote name='audioph1x' timestamp='1413259019' post='10282427']
Collins Hill golf course in Lawrenceville, GA...

Greens are terrible, no one replaces their divots, it's in a neighborhood and there aren't any porta johns on the course. Might as well sign yourself up for sex offender list.

For $25 after 5pm, there are MUCH better courses with friendlier staff in the area.
[/quote]

CH definitely isn't the best course in the North Gwinnett area but there aren't many public course options. The layout isn't bad, I just think the cart paths are terrible and the bunker suck (but you're supposed to stay out of them anyway). It's hard to blame the course for idiots that don't take care of the greens.

With that said, my list of goat tracks in Atlanta are:

Bobby Jones (real goat track that gets a lot of play because of its location among many private courses)
Steel Canyon (used to be a garbage dump years ago and has plenty of power lines to battle)
Lost Mountain (not horrible but all the holes are built right on top of each other where you can actually play your hole from two fairways over)
[/quote]

CH is a goat track and the course up in Helen (forget name) has great views but greens had more disease than a Kardashian.

[rexmaster]

Jewel Runaway Bay GC in Jamaica. They claim to be a golf resort, but the golf course has rock hard tee boxes and fairways with manifested with weeds. This course has potential to be a real golf resort with a nice layout, but in need of major maintenance. To make things worse, a caddie is mandatory to play.

[GWD]

[quote name='rexmaster' timestamp='1417380934' post='10522187']
Jewel Runaway Bay GC in Jamaica. They claim to be a golf resort, but the golf course has rock hard tee boxes and fairways with manifested with weeds. This course has potential to be a real golf resort with a nice layout, but in need of major maintenance. To make things worse, a caddie is mandatory to play.
[/quote]

Hmmm...that sounds like it may be the one I played years ago. See post #46.

If I remember correctly, it was a lengthy bus ride from Ocho Rios. The name sounds familiar.

[surfnbrett]

River View in Santa Ana, CA. You play back and forth over the santa ana river run off area. Its home to tons of bums and the greens have long grass than the fairways, because the fairways have no grass. Just dirt and Gravel

[audioph1x]

[quote name='liamandskylar' timestamp='1416596141' post='10484111'][quote name='thejuice' timestamp='1413286813' post='10283113']
[quote name='audioph1x' timestamp='1413259019' post='10282427']
Collins Hill golf course in Lawrenceville, GA...

Greens are terrible, no one replaces their divots, it's in a neighborhood and there aren't any porta johns on the course. Might as well sign yourself up for sex offender list.

For $25 after 5pm, there are MUCH better courses with friendlier staff in the area.
[/quote]

CH definitely isn't the best course in the North Gwinnett area but there aren't many public course options. The layout isn't bad, I just think the cart paths are terrible and the bunker suck (but you're supposed to stay out of them anyway). It's hard to blame the course for idiots that don't take care of the greens.

With that said, my list of goat tracks in Atlanta are:

Bobby Jones (real goat track that gets a lot of play because of its location among many private courses)
Steel Canyon (used to be a garbage dump years ago and has plenty of power lines to battle)
Lost Mountain (not horrible but all the holes are built right on top of each other where you can actually play your hole from two fairways over)
[/quote]

CH is a goat track and the course up in Helen (forget name) has great views but greens had more disease than a Kardashian.[/quote]

Thank god someone else can see how much of an overpriced piece of $hit CH is. The employees don't even speak English. Pathetic.

[Wriggles]

I recall playing a course called Palisades in the mid 1970's, in Beaver Falls, PA. The positively worst, the tee boxes and greens were full of crabgrass. With the exception of the length of grass, everything looked the same. Only played there a couple times. Sometime later, it was redone. I last played there about ten years ago. Looked pretty good, was really crowded that day.

A close second was another local course, Ohioview. I used to play there because it was open all winter and cheap. The course was actually depressing to play. You hit rock bottom with Ohioview. The course was sold numerous times with attempts to improve, but it finally closed in 2011.

I drove past there a couple months ago, doesn't look like it was ever a golf course.

[jbucher]

[quote name='oregongolf' timestamp='1412638205' post='10245771']
The two worst I've ever played are within a few minutes of each other. Wayne Golf Course in Bothell, WA - a 240 yard par 3, followed by a 170 yard par 4 several holes later. The now defunct Wellington Hills in Woodinville, WA is a close second... where you get to hit over a road, not once, but twice.
[/quote]

I didn't have the guts to mention this thread to one of the guys in my bowling league, He works at the Wayne course.Wellington hills where I went and twisted my ankle on the same hole almost every round. From what I have heard Wellington will be developed into a MTN. Bike park which is fine with me. If my wife and I aren't golfing were riding.
The OP of this thread needs to go play Tyee GC in Sea-Tac, Wa. It used to be 18 holes but they lost several due to the 3 runway. Nothing like putting with a 737 800 feet above you taking off or landing. I will add the yelp reviews everyone needs to read for a good laugh.
[url="http://www.yelp.com/biz/tyee-golf-course-seatac"]http://www.yelp.com/...f-course-seatac[/url]
Jimmy B

[Golf-Junkie]

What I don't understand is how any of these courses can stay in business, especially in a sport where demand is compressing.

Are some of these funded by city coffers?

[GWD]

[quote name='Golf-Junkie' timestamp='1419226184' post='10627083']
What I don't understand is how any of these courses can stay in business, especially in a sport where demand is compressing.

Are some of these funded by city coffers?
[/quote]

I'm not sure about the other cities, but the town I live in has one golf course. The city council decided that having a golf course (recreation) was vital to attracting new businesses.

After the course received city funds, it became much more playable. Still a bad course, but playable.

Well, maybe not. Three holes run parallel to a road. The city forced the course to alter the three holes so the possibility of a ball hitting a car and suing the city would be minimized. It was for a time a 17 hole golf course. Road holes were shortened.

A par 5 was changed to a par 3 and all the tee boxes were placed as near to the road a possible to require hitting away from the road to the green. So now there are three short par 3's in a row, each under 140 yards.

That is what happens when government becomes involved. Those that control the purse can call the tune.

[awil]

We play at a course at college that is a piece . The coach is friends with the owner so we make the trek out there . No putting green or warmup area. We get a full club length relief all over the course and play auto 2 putts.

[mumbles236]

Owl's Creek in VA Beach. Its just a little executive course, but the layout is terrible and it isn't maintained at all. Gravel filled sandtraps and if there has been rain or wind over 5 mph in the last week then there are fallen tree braches covering half the greens. and the yardage markers on their 75-80 yd par 3s generally say something closer to 110.

[Don Miguel]

[quote name='dicko999' timestamp='1412653482' post='10247339']
Goat Hill in Oceanside, CA, but I have not played there in a couple of years. The last outing was enough for me...it was a dying squirrel brothel in the fairways with residentially challenged humans drinking, crapping and shooting up in the surrounding forestry. I used to go out there often to get in a quick, cheap round during the work week with friends. As bad as the conditions were, we somehow could not stay away.

It is now under serious renovation, so I am beyond curious as to how it looks today.
[/quote]Ha! Man, that track was a rat's nest back in the day. You should check it out now though. John Ashworth (of Linksoul & Ashworth golf fame), has done a lot with the course. He even started a campaign locally "Save the Goat". He designed t-shirts and hats that you can buy in the shop. Ogilvy (sponsored by linksoul, I know...) has been seen around playing over the winter. Anyhow, agreed, it was in really bad shape but they have done a lot with the place. Still a fun little track, with fewer people shooting up in the bushes.

[sompin2do]

[quote name='oregongolf' timestamp='1412638205' post='10245771']
I was having a conversation with a friend on which course we've both played is actually more terrible and it led to the worst we've ever played. I've played some serious dogs... I would like to see where they stack up and why.

The two worst I've ever played are within a few minutes of each other. [b]Wayne Golf Course in Bothell, WA[/b] - a 240 yard par 3, followed by a 170 yard par 4 several holes later. The now defunct Wellington Hills in Woodinville, WA is a close second... where you get to hit over a road, not once, but twice.
[/quote]

I used to play Wayne Golf Course when I lived in Kirkland (74-77). They used those large black rubber door mats on the tee boxes instead of hitting off grass. Didn't pay much attention to conditions as a 14 year old kid.

Worst course for me would have to be Apache Mesa at Holloman AFB, NM(82-86). 9 holer with thin grass in the fairways and caliche dirt everywhere else. Nice pungent odor during the hot months and usually swarms of mosquitoes.

[dicko999]

[quote name='myr79' timestamp='1421335960' post='10751003']
[quote name='dicko999' timestamp='1412653482' post='10247339']
Goat Hill in Oceanside, CA, but I have not played there in a couple of years. The last outing was enough for me...it was a dying squirrel brothel in the fairways with residentially challenged humans drinking, crapping and shooting up in the surrounding forestry. I used to go out there often to get in a quick, cheap round during the work week with friends. As bad as the conditions were, we somehow could not stay away.

It is now under serious renovation, so I am beyond curious as to how it looks today.
[/quote]Ha! Man, that track was a rat's nest back in the day. You should check it out now though. John Ashworth (of Linksoul & Ashworth golf fame), has done a lot with the course. He even started a campaign locally "Save the Goat". He designed t-shirts and hats that you can buy in the shop. Ogilvy (sponsored by linksoul, I know...) has been seen around playing over the winter. Anyhow, agreed, it was in really bad shape but they have done a lot with the place. Still a fun little track, with fewer people shooting up in the bushes.
[/quote]

We always had a great time there. I'll tee it up there again soon since it has been far too long. Somebody sent me a photo of Adam Scott wearing at Goat shirt. Classic!