by Gary Williams | Aug 27, 2024 | Great Golf Holes
Par 5 – 515 yards
Ballyneal is one of the fabulous golf courses built this century. Cast among the endless chop hills in eastern Colorado, Tom Doak let Mother Nature direct him to create a flow of holes that match the tilt of the land. The texture of the fescues, sage and yucca are on display everywhere but especially on the par 5, 8th hole. The ripples and rolls from tee to green are tremendous as is the grand bunkering on the right side of the fairway and left short of the green. The green is on the wild side for Doak, which is saying something, and the practical play is to stay left as the green is terraced from left to right. Contour is king in great holes and the 8th at Ballyneal is a cavalcade of contour.
by Gary Williams | Aug 20, 2024 | Great Golf Holes
Par 4 – 456-504 yards
There is likely no other hole at the Country Club that more accurately represents the roll, contour, and landforms of the property than the 3rd hole all the way down to the pond in the rear of the hole that really isn’t in play. The pond is used by members in the winter for ice skating and the small building on the pond houses the skaters to get warm during skating breaks. The hole has so much contour and texture throughout. The new championship tee is further left and almost makes the hole appear fairly straight. Chasing your tee shot into the hourglass fairway takes on risk because of how it narrows the further you play toward the hole. The puddingstone rock outcroppings are your first encounter with the dramatic feature on the course. The two bluffs that the fairway snakes between are spectacular. The recessed green side bunkering beautifully frames the rectangular shaped green and Gil Hanse’s team reclaimed the front portion of the green adding challenging pin locations. Brookline is a wonderful piece of land and hole #3 proves it.
by Gary Williams | Aug 13, 2024 | Great Golf Holes
Par 3 – 194 Yards
Winged Foot is the soundstage for the great American golf club. The setting, the clubhouse and the holes are optimum for all that golf can be. The 10th hole on the West Course is masterclass. The tee is the center of everything at Winged Foot so your tee shot is a baring of your soul to one of the golfiest clubs in the world. Its location is a showpiece and it’s as fine a par 3 as A.W. Tillinghast ever designed. The home behind the green was referenced by Ben Hogan more than 60 years ago as he discussed the precision required on the hole. The bunkering is superior, and the contour and tilt of the green make it even more exacting from the tee. Played between 194 to slightly more than 200 yards from the back tee the demand on a long iron to a perched up well bunkered green is the Foot personified. The owner of the home behind the green is looking at one of the great golf holes in the world.
by Gary Williams | Aug 1, 2024 | Great Golf Holes
Par 5 – 535 yards
The 14th is the final par 5 and the last hole at Friars Head that runs along the dramatic dune that separates that stretch of holes from the final four holes. Bill Coore & Ben Crenshaw have always constructed holes that fit into the land. The 14th appears to have always lived where it lies. The hole plays up the entire way and playing to the high side of the hole shortens it but requires taking on the large bunker down the right-hand side. The green complex is naturally tilted back toward the fairway and the false front demands landing a ball deep enough to avoid your ball collecting in a hollow nine feet below the front of the green. The dramatic walk up the steps toward the 15th tee which are set into the rear dune allows you to look back on the 14th and all its beauty.
by Gary Williams | Jul 17, 2024 | Great Golf Holes
Par 4 – 351 yards
I’m a firm believer that Chicago Golf Club possesses the finest set of greens of any golf course in America, and further, every hole could be on a “best” list. The 14th, Cape, has its origins in C.B. Macdonald’s original “Cape” the 14th at National Golf Links. It was wholly a Macdonald creation, and it features a green surrounded on three sides and a carry over a hazard off the tee which is set at an angle. I marvel at this hole because the green appears to have been floated into the tiny northwest corner of the property. The confines so natural and cozy it looks like it’s been there for centuries. The diagonal carry bunker on the left is the dominant feature from the tee. Second shots after solid drives are short irons but in keeping with Macdonald’s tenet that the shortest way over the hazard is the longest way to the hole. 14 presents the smallest green on the golf course at 6,168 square feet. Not tiny but it feels and looks that way after playing the first 13 holes because the size and scale of the previous greens is significantly larger. The green is also modest in contour relative to the other 17 at Chicago Golf. There are subtle spines that run through the green complicating the reading of the 14th green. There is a semi-circular ridge that protects the front left portion of the green which compounds the challenge of getting close to a front pin. The Cape at Chicago Golf is modest in length, but its design principles and intimate location tucked in the corner of the property make it one of my favorite holes in the world.
by Gary Williams | Jul 17, 2024 | Great Golf Holes
Par 3 – 229 yards
Royal County Down is consistently ranked among the 5-10 best golf courses in the world. Its brawny make up is matched by its sheer majesty as one of the great golf canvases on the planet. The 4th hole is the greatest representation of all that RCD is for the golfer. After playing the first three holes down the shoreline you turn back towards the Mourne Mountains and take in the breathlessness of the golf course from a higher elevation than the first three holes. From the back tee at 229 yards, you play down to a green with ample depth considering the length of the tee shot but you are seeing the cluster of bunkers that surround the green, short, left, right and at the rear of the green. You are always carrying your tee shot over dense gorse, which in the springtime is a radiant golden yellow color. The green is also surrounded by natural dunes that creates a glorious Amphitheatre once you reach the putting surface. It’s simply one of the greatest long par 3’s in the world.
