Hardest Course You've Ever Played (in the U.S.)

[bullldog 1,385]

PGA National in West Palm Beach . The Bear Trap is the real deal and it will bite ya arse! [emoji15][emoji199]

 

 

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Gray, what about the Squire course? I though it was tuffer. Real narrow with thick rough.

Edit to change course name

[GolfSpy Barbajo 9,438]

Maybe it's a mental thing? You know, like a course you like but there's always that one hole where you struggle.

 

MDGolfHacker

 

Mental no doubt -- I don't even like driving near that course, never mind playing it.

[PlaidJacket 7,733]

I'm not sure I can really name a course that I'd consider the "hardest" I've ever played. I've certainly made many a course "hard". Even at my home course I've turned in some of the most awful rounds ever! If I had to choose; I recall Old McDonald at Bandon Dunes being a problem. But again... it was probably due more to me than the overall difficulty of the course.

 

One thing I've learned is to play the correct tee. Don't bite off more than you can chew. Most of the time when I go on golf trips I'm playing courses I've never seen/played before. I've found it better to play a little shorter as opposed to longer. There's nothing worse than paying a hefty green fee at a destination course and then after the round feeling like you took a whipping. It's happened to me. Probably should have moved up at the turn. But we'd tough it out for some reason.

 

Quick story:

Several years ago when we were getting ready to tee it up on the Judge course at the RTJ Trail in Montgomery, AL one of my buddies poo-poo'd the suggestion of wanting to move up a tee. He said he didn't want to take the "teeth" out of the course. The starter asked his handicap and remarked that he'd be well served to move up a tee. We did. My buddy went on to shoot something like 88 that day. He later said it was good we moved up. LOL

[ole gray 17,294]

Gray, what about the Squire course? I though it was tuffer. Real narrow with thick rough.

Edit to change course name

 

Yea the Squire was tough!  It would beat ya like a drum and take no prisoners..   Man that was some good times had back in those days.

[BigtazzGolf 1,901]

Mine was Fighting Joe, one of the Robert Trent Jones courses in Alabama.

That one broke me down!

 

Tazz

Grip n Rip it

[Kenny B 28,453]

Most any course can be tough if you are not playing well.  Even if you are playing well, the course designers have a habit of making you look bad if you play from the wrong set of tees.  Heed PJ advice and move up if you are unfamiliar with the course.  More fun.  With that said, I find any course that has a lot of elevation change and strong influence on breaks on greens to be extremely difficult.  If you are unfamiliar with the course, club selection is hard, and the designer probably gave you a bad area to land in if you used the wrong club.  On the greens putting is nearly impossible unless you are familiar with the amount of break inherent in the prevailing slope.  Think of the Indio effect in Palm Springs.  Mountain courses are really tough.  We have a bunch of them here in the Northwest.  However, the absolute toughest course for me to play was the Plantation Course at Kapalua.  It's a mountain course on steroids, and I will go back!!

[downlowkey 4,118]

Browsing through the US Open qualifying courses reminded me of a few tough courses I've played. Two of which are La Purisima G.C. in California and Ram Rock G.C. in Texas.

So strange. I just read Zeasy's post heading without actually opening the thread and started thinking through my toughest tracks. Ram Rock and La Purisima were both really high in the running for me too!

 

What he didn't mention, a lot of the fairways at Ram Rock are turtle backs with OB everywhere. So you have to hit a fade into the left half or a draw into the right half to have any chance of your ball staying on the golf course. 70 out there is really golfing your ball, pards!

 

I played a college event at La Purisima almost 20 years ago so a lot of the details are kinda fuzzy but OP's description of #9 is spot on. The hole is a nightmare. I also remember thinking there was zero place to hit your tee shot on the downhill #16. I made a disastrous number in the practice round so throughout the tourney I recall hitting something like 9 iron off the tee thinking a scrambling par probably picks up at least a shot on the field.

 

Everybody seems to be referencing conditions so I'm also going to err that direction for my top pick. UCSD Tournament: Torrey Pines South in '00 the week after the Buick. It rained so much the grounds crew could not mow the rough between Sunday of the Buick and when we tee'd it up several days later. It was at least as hard as the US Open setup, except we didn't have an army of spotters. If your ball finished a foot off the fairway you had to hit a provisional because you probably wouldn't find it. And even if you did the only shot was one sometimes two full swings with a SW just to get back to the fairway. I think 79 was the best score posted that day. Couldn't even enjoy the beauty of the place, absolute torture.

[misky9 6]

The toughest course I've played is Erin Hills...without a doubt. The course is long, narrow and the fescue is very difficult to negotiate. I'm excited to see the pros battle this course during the US Open this summer.

 

 

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[PAgolfer2017 2,034]

Played Torrey North when on vacation. Great layout but thick rough. Also Penobscot Valley Golf Course in Maine gave me fits. Open layout and hit the ball well but couldn't get the ball to stay on the green....

 

Also there's a stretch of three holes on a course near my house that I always lose a ball ob...no matter what club I hit or how much I try to avoid it...definitely mental but it gets me every time...

 

 

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[mega 29]

With all the rain Northern California has had, every course I've been on has had US OPEN rough and that is not an exaggeration and have been tough to play in wet conditions.

 

The course close to my house has the shaggiest fairways I've ever seen. They just haven't been able to mow as needed until last couple of weeks.

 

About 8 weeks ago a local course set-up Par 3 tee boxes on all holes right next to the cart path and then charged a reduced rate to play the short course.

 

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[sixcat 3,980]

The River Course at Virginia Tech. Tough Pete Dye designed course along the New River.

 

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[Reesedw 2,642]

Indian Canyon Spokane, WA.. We took out yearly boys weekend to Couer D' Alene and played it on the way home.

 

Might have been the hangover, maybe bad golf or it was just hard as Hell.. I'm not sure.. Did not break 100 from the whites.. Worst part my buddy shot low 90's and killed me.. Also hungover.. DAMN.... lol

 

this is off their website..:::

Built on a canyon wall with a vertical drop of 240 feet amid many towering pines, the Canyon offers a very diverse and unique playing environment. It is well bunkered and has undulating greens which require a deft touch if par of 71 is to be achieved over the hilly 6,255 yards.

[Shankster 29,775]

Walloon Lake Country Club when I was 14. The greens were like putting on a basket ball court, and just as hard. Everything bounded off the back, impossible to stick/stop a ball on them. Since it was free, and I got an invite to play from a member (private course) I enjoyed it, but man was it a rough day.

 

 

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[J_Wurz 107]

+1 on Caledonia. Played 10 courses in Myrtle Beach in 6 days and by far Caledonia was my favorite.

Caledonia is AMAZING!! going to play it as a practice round the Sunday before the Myrtle Beach World Amateur. True Blue next door is awesome too!

 

 

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[J_Wurz 107]

The toughest course I've played is Erin Hills...without a doubt. The course is long, narrow and the fescue is very difficult to negotiate. I'm excited to see the pros battle this course during the US Open this summer.IMG_7157.PNG

 

 

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Come visit me in the merch tent! I got picked to volunteer there this year.

 

 

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[Shankster 29,775]

Come visit me in the merch tent! I got picked to volunteer there this year.

 

 

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Planning on making the trip over for a couple practice days.

 

 

- Alan

[J_Wurz 107]

Mine was Fighting Joe, one of the Robert Trent Jones courses in Alabama.

That one broke me down!

 

Tazz

Grip n Rip it

We got rained out during masters week this year there. We switched days around so we could get our 36 in. Was hoping to play that one. We ended up playing Ross Bridge. By far the best course I've ever played. That would be above Torrey Pines and Hazeltine here in MN. We played the Judge at Capital Hill and that was very tough.

 

 

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[Philly Golf Guy 444]

I always get stuck on this because it's tough to discern whether the course is difficult or game is making it difficult. So I always try to figure it out by what course I can't score well on even if I'm playing well.

 

Here are the ones that come to mind.

 

Sweetens Cove, TN. It's nine holes but the holes are all unique and well designed. The difficulty is so well planned around the greens that you'll never lose a ball, but will rack up strokes if you aren't exact 150 yards in.

 

Bear Creek, CO. A real bear of a course lol. Fits nicely with the mountainous landscape as almost target golf with several forced carries, many blind. I had the special treat of my game completely disappearing all 3 rounds I played, but I don't think it would have mattered.

 

Mission Hills El Campeon, FL. Especially when the wind is upbit even without, this atypical hilly terrain north of Orlando is tree lined and also has a number of forced carries over water. It does not let up.

[CoryRondeau 3]

Chambers Bay in Tacoma, Washington.

 

Site of the 2015 US Open.

 

Played the back tees at 7,100yds. Played 7,500yds for the US Open. Incredible piece of land to play golf on. Every shot was one you had to think about. Ball never stops rolling and if you don't know where to hit it off the tee, or leave it around the greens, it will be a long day of golf.

 

There is NO distinction between the greens and the rest of the course (excluding par 3's). The fairways just turn into the putting surface which is a total anomaly in my experiences golfing.

 

So much fun though to challenge yourself on a championship level course. Can't wait to go back again down the road.

 

Cory

 

 

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[Dgolfer 94]

Torry pines..

 

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