The Hole that bites you in the butt.

[Tom the Golf Nut]

Do you have a hole on your local course that always seems to get the best of you? Here is mine, lets here about yours.

2nd hole, dog leg left. The hole is 344 yards from the white tees. Hole plays 200 yards straight out. Then almost 90 degrees and uphill to a green guarded by two bunkers in the front with about two yards between them. If you hit to the middle of the fairway from the tee you are at the 150 yard marker. It plays about 2 to 3 clubs longer due to the hill. You really want to hit over the last tall tree on the left in order to have a short iron into the green.

In these photos. I did clear the trees and was left with 112 yards to the pin. I still had to hit a 9 iron (140 yards for me) due to the severe uphill slope.  You can see the slope better from the green backwards. 

When I par this, it is the start of a good round. Usually I'm trying to recover from bogey.

[Pandaman]

My home course has a couple...

A long par4 (par5 in winter) with left to right slope to add to my fade/slice.  Tee shot mostly goes in the trees or through them onto the adjacent fairway.  Only parred it once, usually score 6 or 7 as I play it as a par 5 due to length.

And a 150ish yd par 3.  OB left (catches my pull) and steep, deep downward slope on the right that means a nasty uphill wedge (often through a tree) to get on the green.

[sirchunksalot]

The one hole on my golf course that is the thorn in my side is the par 4 10th hole at Chatata Valley. Playing at 357 yards from the whites, it should be relatively easy, but the tee shot is guarded by a narrow window between trees. 

Right now, my miss off the tee is left, which leads to a lot of shots hitting the trees lining the creek. A right miss leads to hitting off a down slope and a chunked second shot. I've probably had more double bogeys and worse on this hole than any I've ever played because I know I hate this hole and it has a way of getting in my head.

[daviddvm]

19 minutes ago, sirchunksalot said:

The one hole on my golf course that is the thorn in my side is the par 4 10th hole at Chatata Valley. Playing at 357 yards from the whites, it should be relatively easy, but the tee shot is guarded by a narrow window between trees. 

Right now, my miss off the tee is left, which leads to a lot of shots hitting the trees lining the creek. A right miss leads to hitting off a down slope and a chunked second shot. I've probably had more double bogeys and worse on this hole than any I've ever played because I know I hate this hole and it has a way of getting in my head.

I know what you mean, every course I play has at least one hole that gets in my head...LOL

[daviddvm]

Okay at my home course the 18th is the number one handicap hole...gets in everyone's  head ! Demanding drive and more demanding approach and into the prevailing wind. Bogey is a good score!

[Middler]

It's definitely #17 on my regular course, a par 4 that plays white 423, gold 399 - we play from both. The green has pronounced undulations. But what makes it tough is the landing area using a driver is only 28 yards wide so it's very hard (for me) to hit. There are mounds left and right of the landing area, untended rough that's so thick odds are you won't find your ball - so you have a lost ball, or one you can only hope to advance back into the fairway, it's far too thick to reach the green.

IF you manage to hit the fairway with a driver, it's only a 140-150 yd approach. If you layup to stay in the much wider section of the fairway, you're looking at a 200 yard approach - and if you're on the left side, your approach is blocked by several large trees on the mound on the left.

Mercifully, it's the only green on the entire course not guarded by sand traps.

I'm averaging 5.3 on that par 4, one of only two holes where my average is more than bogey. The picture may not do it justice...

[sirchunksalot]

45 minutes ago, daviddvm said:

Okay at my home course the 18th is the number one handicap hole...gets in everyone's  head ! Demanding drive and more demanding approach and into the prevailing wind. Bogey is a good score!

I love the video fly over and that looks like the stuff of my nightmares. 452 yards and an approach to the green over water on a par 4. I'd be ecstatic with bogey there. 

[Tom the Golf Nut]

2 hours ago, daviddvm said:

Okay at my home course the 18th is the number one handicap hole...gets in everyone's  head ! Demanding drive and more demanding approach and into the prevailing wind. Bogey is a good score!

 

2 hours ago, sirchunksalot said:

I love the video fly over and that looks like the stuff of my nightmares. 452 yards and an approach to the green over water on a par 4. I'd be ecstatic with bogey there. 

I like the fly over too. Over water twice !  Even with a 250 yard tee shot you still have 200 into the green with water in the front. Glad it's not on my course! But it does look like fun to try.

 

[Tom the Golf Nut]

Just now, Tom the Golf Nut said:

 

 

On 7/2/2020 at 8:40 PM, Tom the Golf Nut said:

Do you have a hole on your local course that always seems to get the best of you? Here is mine, lets here about yours.

2nd hole, dog leg left. The hole is 344 yards from the white tees. Hole plays 200 yards straight out. Then almost 90 degrees and uphill to a green guarded by two bunkers in the front with about two yards between them. If you hit to the middle of the fairway from the tee you are at the 150 yard marker. It plays about 2 to 3 clubs longer due to the hill. You really want to hit over the last tall tree on the left in order to have a short iron into the green.

On 7/2/2020 at 8:40 PM, Tom the Golf Nut said:

When I par this, it is the start of a good round. Usually I'm trying to recover from bogey.

So the hole won again today. Walked away with a bogey.  Cleared the tree but 2nd shot found the front bunker. Decent sand shot out but 2 putted. I'll give it a shot again tomorrow!

 

[toehold57]

Hey Tom, since your hole is under 350 and since it doesn’t appear to be a technicality challenging hole, I assume(!) the issue is mental.  What is it about the hole that bites you?

Maybe play the hole differently for a round or two to sort of ‘reset’ your approach?  Play up perhaps, play it as a par 5, maybe massively overclub that second shot and intentionally fly the hole.

On a 9 hole course we have a par 3, most of the time it plays at 195 up hill.  It’s rare for anyone to hit the green.  You can watch people swing really hard ending up with lefts, rights or chunks.  It’s not a hard hole besides being long.  I had to pull too much club and go long a few times to get those bad thoughts out of my head.

[Tom the Golf Nut]

If you play the hole as intended it would be a 200 yard tee shot to center of the fairway and dog leg with a flat lie. If you hit the ball to the 150 yard marker your next shot plays 2 to 3 clubs more due to the elevation and bunkers guarding the front. So you really need to play 180 and be able to hit a high ball. I dont hit a high ball typically. If you play more club you fly the green. It is a short green front to back. The green also slopes from back to front. Our greens roll at a 10 to 12. If you go long and chip on,  your all the way to the front and have a 2 putt. Most members of our club have trouble with that hole.  So for me its try to clear the trees with a 5 wood and get 1/2 way up the hill.

One of out matenience crew for the summer is on the college golf team. He also plays the course regularly. Just this morning he told me how much he hated that hole as well. 

I did par it today with a one putt.

[MaxEntropy]

I'm not sure of the exact yardage from the whites. I'm pretty sure it plays in the 360-370 range, but hole #13 at our league course is definitely in my head. On paper, I don't think it looks terribly hard, but I guess there's a reason it's the #3 handicap.

Hitting the fairway is a must to have a realistic shot at par. Even then, you have to hit it far enough or favor the right side to not be blocked by the trees on the left (opposite the trees near the cart path on the right). I can count the number of times I've hit the fairway on a few fingers, which immediately brings bogey into play. Water left of the green leaves the right side as bail-out area, but there are big mounds over there and you can have some awkward stances/lies for a chip if you aren't lucky.

[zrumble]

I have a local course that bites me. I always shoot well over my handicap there. The worst thing is, it’s an easy course. Extremely short. 5500 yards with relatively flat greens. Fairways are only 15 yards wide and burnt, and greens are postage stamps. But it’s all in front of you with no slope. I cannot for the life of me put a good score on that course. 

[Firebird]

For me there are 2 that I consistently stuff up. As you can see this course is tight and there is not a flat/level lie on any hole.

The second at Morack is a 467M Par 5 Dog leg to the left at 220M. I either get a 4-5 or an 8-9.

 

However the killer hole for me is the 14th which is straight up hill 342M Par 4 Rated 1 because it is  OB on the Right. Should be easy but if I am going to loose concentration it is on this hole.

 

[puttnfool]

On 7/4/2020 at 10:58 AM, daviddvm said:

Okay at my home course the 18th is the number one handicap hole...gets in everyone's  head ! Demanding drive and more demanding approach and into the prevailing wind. Bogey is a good score!

That looks like a doozy.

[ParFore74x]

For me it’s the number 1 par 4 playing around 400 yards from the white tees. This hole is totally in my head. Doesn’t matter if I warm up first or go straight from truck to tee, this hole drives me nuts. Pretty straight forward. No elevation. Hand full of trees on both sides. For whatever reason, I cannot get a good score on this hole which means that I have to get it out of my head quickly and move on once I walk off the green so that it doesn’t make the round drag. 95% of the time I stick my ball just behind a tree on the right side forcing me to chip or punch back to the fairway. That’s usually followed by an approach that ends up short or right of the green and then a chip on and maybe even a three putt to top it off. Very common for me to card a 6 or 7 here. 

[AmishJason]

Put me at any golf course with water directly in front of the tees on a par 3 and my first ball is going straight in the water.  I don't understand it one bit.  It can be like hole 3 at River Oaks where there's 30 yards to the water or hole 12 at Greystone CC and about 30 feet to the water.  My first ball and possibly a second is going to the water.  

[edingc]

Hole No. 2 at my home course gets me a lot, also. 338-yard par 4, with a dogleg left corner to navigate around.

Too short to hit much more than a 6-iron off the tee, the landing area slopes heavily from right-to-left, so anything hit too far left will funnel down underneath the tree guarding the left side of the dogleg. Anything left too far right is potentially blocked out by trees, or in the fairway bunker. In total, the fairway is only about 20 yards wide at the landing area.

A great shot will roll out to a little flat spot and leave just less than 150 into the green. Most other shots will require something low in the 160-170 range to get to the green in two.

Based on the placement of the second fairway bunker, the original strategy when the course was built in the late 1960s would have been to either layup into the dogleg like I play it now, or bomb it over the trees on the left. But they are way too tall now to try that.

Stats-wise, it's technically not my worst-scoring hole, but I've never birdied it. A par means I'm generally off to a great start on my round.

[heavygolffeels]

the 13th at Wickenburg Ranch. Still searching for the elusive par on this one. 

Beautiful hole from the box. Long par 3 playing at 220 from my preferred blue tees. Nearly 250 from the blacks. I've seen a few people hit driver on this par 3. Others laying up short with mixed results. Alot of water and sand out there. I'm still not sure how to play it. 

Pin location is normally in the back right. 220 is typically a 20* hybrid for me which naturally has a draw flight, which forces a longer carry over the water to play the center of the green. That a little too scary for me, so I usually aim center left of the green. The bunker in the back left has a decent mound of grass between the green and forces some height onto the shot, and the green heavily slopes away to the water, so its hard to get the distance to the pin right. Not a good miss. I could probably layup with a 4 iron, but a mishit (which happens frequently with my 4 iron) brings the water and the front bunker into play. I've tried to hit a nice cut with the hybrid, but its not a routine shot for me and I pushed it and watched it splash hole high but 20 yards right into the water. My best shot was with a 5 wood, that I lasered right at the hole, but these greens are dry in AZ, the light rough around the green is cut tight, and the back slopes down to the water, and my ball ran off the back to splash town. Besides 3 putting from the very front edge of the green, my best scores have been on shots that just missed the green to the left, but I have yet to get up and down from there, playing timid second shots because of the speed of the green sloping away. One day!

[zrumble]

37 minutes ago, scooterhd2 said:

the 13th at Wickenburg Ranch. Still searching for the elusive par on this one. 

Beautiful hole from the box. Long par 3 playing at 220 from my preferred blue tees. Nearly 250 from the blacks. I've seen a few people hit driver on this par 3. Others laying up short with mixed results. Alot of water and sand out there. I'm still not sure how to play it. 

Pin location is normally in the back right. 220 is typically a 20* hybrid for me which naturally has a draw flight, which forces a longer carry over the water to play the center of the green. That a little too scary for me, so I usually aim center left of the green. The bunker in the back left has a decent mound of grass between the green and forces some height onto the shot, and the green heavily slopes away to the water, so its hard to get the distance to the pin right. Not a good miss. I could probably layup with a 4 iron, but a mishit (which happens frequently with my 4 iron) brings the water and the front bunker into play. I've tried to hit a nice cut with the hybrid, but its not a routine shot for me and I pushed it and watched it splash hole high but 20 yards right into the water. My best shot was with a 5 wood, that I lasered right at the hole, but these greens are dry in AZ, the light rough around the green is cut tight, and the back slopes down to the water, and my ball ran off the back to splash town. Besides 3 putting from the very front edge of the green, my best scores have been on shots that just missed the green to the left, but I have yet to get up and down from there, playing timid second shots because of the speed of the green sloping away. One day!

That’s a doozy. Almost need to practice a shot just for the hole. Some subtle grip change or something you can count on to give you that little fade when you have to have it. I have a 3 iron with minimal offset and a Dynamic Gold X-100 that is hook proof. It’s not always in the bag, but I’d hit it as hard as I could at the left bunker and just know it’s falling right. 

[Mtbryant01]

Number 4 on my “home” course. 200 yard par 3. Green sits elevated and is wide, but not deep. If you hit it short of the green, you’re in the water. If you hit it long, you have a really tight chip to try and get it to stay on the green and not run back off into the water on the other side. The only safe miss is out right either into the sand or even further right of the sand. The green has a ridge in the middle that will either funnel the ball to the back left of the green or front right. I’ve gotten a par on this once and it was only because I thinned my 5 iron into the hill before the green, stopping its momentum and ending up on the green. 

[Brian A]

Hole 3 on the course I play weekly. I dont know why but it eats me alive. I can hit great drive, then chunk next shots, or bad drive great recoveries etc. The one thing I know makes is challenging is the green is close to 45 degree slope back to front and if you miss, the ball rolls forever 

[DiscipleofPenick]

There's a couple at my home course that can jump and bite you. By far the most common is #12, which is a 420 yard par 4. OB down the full length right, and a waste area left. The last 150 is downhill, across a creek, to a tiered green. Oh and the landing zone is about 20 yards wide. You can be in the left half of the fairway and still be blocked from the green. I par his hole maybe 2 twice a year.

#16 is also tough, 390 par 4 you have to draw the tee shot or forget it. And #18, a 525 yard par 5. It's tightly tree-lined on both sides, with a steep fall off on the left. There's a flat spot for a 275-290 drive to be able to go at it in 2, but if you're short of that, there's a lake that covers the next 75 yards, which forces a layup if driver isn't in right position. Numerous times I've been hitting 3 from 220 out.

Take Dead Aim

[Kevin Kikkert]

Hole #2 at my home course, Sunnybrook Country Club is my absolute least favorite hole on the course and for some reason is a psychological nightmare for me.

It is a 389-yard, Par 4 that is straight as can be. There is a creek that runs down the left side, with a large tree that can block you out from the left rough.

On the right, there is some thick grass you have to clear if you go too right, but just 10-15-yards off the right side you have large, leafy trees that run down the entire length of the fairway. It is easy to get blocked, and if you're in the trees on the right, you may never get out of them.

There is one bunker on the front right side of the green, but it really shouldn't ever come into play.

The hole is quite simple...hit a good tee shot, have about 130-150 in, and hit a pretty easy oval green. But, it rarely happens that way and I get blocked on the right 8 times out of 10. I have shot par on this hole several times, but have missed every birdie opportunity I have had. Last week, I rolled my 2nd shot into the flag stick from 151-yards and it bounced off of it 15ft...of course, missed the birdie putt and tapped in for par.

[Tom the Golf Nut]

4 hours ago, Kevin Kikkert said:

 I rolled my 2nd shot into the flag stick from 151-yards and it bounced off of it 15ft...of course, missed the birdie putt and tapped in for par.

 

Don't you just hate that. Have a fantastic shot into the green. Hit the flag stick and now your either off the green or now looking at a 30 foot putt. Did that last week, went from  possible birdie putt to chipping on from 30 feet off the green and one putt for par.

[josmi15]

14 at Chestnut Hills in Fort Wayne. Par 3, 170 yards. This is my arch nemesis.


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[TBS]

Yes! - Hole 18 on Valley Course at RTJ Oxmoor Valley.

 

It's uphill with a tee shot over a large valley. It's the perspective that gets you. The bunker in the fairway closes off the entire right side. From the Blue tees (one up from tips), the top of the bunker is 270 (w/out slope adjustment) so unless you can get a hold of one or have wind to your back, you can't carry it. The left side of the fairway is pretty much blind. You think that if you hit it too far right you will be in trees, but in reality it's a large landing area. I've been in the bunker way too many times. Oh yeah, elevated green with false front on the left and right side. Just brutal.

[TBS]

On 7/7/2020 at 6:44 AM, Mtbryant01 said:

Number 4 on my “home” course. 200 yard par 3. Green sits elevated and is wide, but not deep. If you hit it short of the green, you’re in the water. If you hit it long, you have a really tight chip to try and get it to stay on the green and not run back off into the water on the other side. The only safe miss is out right either into the sand or even further right of the sand. The green has a ridge in the middle that will either funnel the ball to the back left of the green or front right. I’ve gotten a par on this once and it was only because I thinned my 5 iron into the hill before the green, stopping its momentum and ending up on the green. 

Mtbryant01 - just stick it close and you dont have to worry about the water or the sand. (We play together and he saw my shot that's my prof pic on this hole. My only shot all day that day).

[den748]

It's not a specific hole that kills me, it's a type of hole.  

 

Short Par 4's.    I can't make myself to hit an iron off the tee.  Testosterone + 1% chance of driving the green = bogey or worse

[TSauer]

On 7/8/2020 at 11:06 AM, josmi15 said:

14 at Chestnut Hills in Fort Wayne. Par 3, 170 yards. This is my arch nemesis.


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Yikes! Wonder how many balls end up in there each year. I have one similar to this at my local course, it's like 20yds longer and the pond is a little further from the box... I have definitely hit my fair share of balls in it. Anything with water in my line is scary.