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Writers agonize over
their most difficult holes
We asked some of our contributing writers to Triad Golf
Today to tell us about the most difficult golf holes they've ever played in
North Carolina. Keep in mind that golf writers as a group are better with a
keyboard than they are with a 5-iron and usually more accurate in writing down
quotes than they are about penciling in a score. All those truths aside, some of
their remarks follow.
We're now asking our readers to make their own suggestions
for the toughest holes they've played in North Carolina. Please email to
editor@triadgolf.com, and we'll include
some of them in an upcoming issue. Be sure to name the course, hole, par and
yardage. Everybody that submits a “most difficult hole” will be entered into a
drawing for complimentary golf — cart included — at a course guaranteed to have
some difficult holes.
OAK HOLLOW
High Point
No. 11, Par 4
When your golf handicap hovers somewhere around the legal
drinking age and your swing is closely related to a weed-eater, there are plenty
of holes that will rough you up.
But over the years, round after round, nothing has battered
me as mercilessly as the 11th hole at Oak Hollow.
It has my number and par isn't it. I have, at one time or
another, birdied every hole on Oak Hollow except No. 11, which I have never
parred.
There's no logical explanation for it other than I am
psychologically beaten before I tee off. That and the fact it requires two, good
back-to-back shots to give yourself a decent run at a birdie. But even a
two-putt par isn't always easy.
The hole is a dogleg left with Oak Hollow Lake on the left
side, slightly blocked by a stand of trees. One lone tree stands out on the left
side like a giant catcher's mitt. The lake also cuts in front of the left
quadrant of the green.
Any shot to the left, if it doesn't reach the lake, is a
difficult recovery and usually results in a play-safe pitchout.
Push a shot to the right and you tangle with more trees.
Big hitters who split the middle of the fairway can sometimes roll right on
through and into some hilly rough.
Over the green on an approach is a major mistake. There is
a generous bailout area on the right side of the Pete Dye-designed hole, but an
approach shot there will test the best of chippers.
I've been on the green in two a few times and three-putted
every time, which tells you about the surly nature of the wide but narrow green.
Usually I take my bogey 5 and cheerfully continue on my
way. But one of these days ... — Jim Pettit
TOBACCO ROAD
Sanford
No. 13, Par 5
Among the holes that "have my goat" and thus are deemed to
be difficult, the 13th at Tobacco Road — Mike Strantz's knee-bending design —
comes to mind most quickly.
It's not just the number — 13, because (over time) all the
holes at Tobacco Road have gotten to me.
There's something about a double dogleg par-5. And the fact
that the driving area is at least 70 yards wide has little influence on my
shortness of breath on the elevated tee.
The fact that the green is almost completely surrounded by
a 15-foot sand dune has little to do with the fact that I can't hit a decent
wedge at the already shallow green. And that's after I squirm a little 5-iron
from the tee-shot landing zone.
This hole should be 3-wood, 5-iron, sand wedge and short
putt. Some day, maybe it will. — Michael Dann
LITTLE RIVER
Sandhills
No. 3, Par 5
The most difficult hole I've ever played is No. 3 at Little
River Golf Club between Pinehurst and Carthage. Dan Maples, a golf course
architect for whom I have great admiration, built this par-5 with a mean streak.
The hole isn't overly long and doesn't take a great drive,
but the green defies approach shots. Try to keep the ball below the pin and it
rolls back into a chasm fronting the green. Try to hit it past the pin and it
jumps off the back. Try to put it at the pin or to the left and you're faced
with a daunting chip back. The only way to hold the green is to hit to the right
quadrant and then you're usually faced with a putt so tough you can't keep it on
the green.
Someday I'll par this hole. But right now I'm living with
double bogey as my best. — Howard Ward
RIVER RIDGE
Clayton
No. 3, Par 4
If this isn't the most difficult par 4 in the Triangle,
it's got to be in the top 5, certainly so if I have a vote. I've played River
Ridge three times, and I've played the third hole from a different set of tees
each time -- just trying somehow to make a par. Ain't happened yet.
It's an uphill, slight dogleg right that requires a carry
over water off the tee. To make matters more difficult, the shape of the hole
makes you feel as if your tee shot needs to be aimed a little left. Negotiate
the drive successfully -- from 431, 409 or 379 yards (pick your own poison) —
and you still face a steep second shot to a large green that allows you a view
of only the top of the flagstick.
I've yet to meet Chuck Smith, the man who designed River
Ridge and thus is responsible for so much of my misery, but rest assured I'm
looking forward to the day. — Kevin Brafford
BALD HEAD
Bald Head Island
No. 9, Par 4
Members of the pro shop staff say that a five on the ninth
is a great number, even though it's a bogey. The fairway is narrow and
turtle-backed, water left and right all the way to the green. There's never
shelter from a prevailing wind that routinely adds 100 yards of length to the
No. 1 handicap hole of 440 yards.
If there's a harder day-in, day-out par 4 in North
Carolina, I'd like to see it. Or better yet, not see it. For now, I'll be
delighted with a six at Bald Head’s fourth hole and move on. — Scott Martin
TANGLEWOOD CHAMPIONSHIP
Clemmons
No. 9, Par 4
My first thought was hole No. 11 at Tobacco Road, a par 5
where a good drive puts you in position to go for the green in two. I always mis-hit
my second shot going for the green and fire an 8 or an X. I was told the hole is
not that difficult, it is just my incompetence, so I played it as a three-shot
hole last time and made par.
Regardless of my incompetence, the ninth hole at Tanglewood
has to be the toughest hole in the area. A long par 4 that plays to an uphill
green that is fronted by huge deep bunkers and an overhanging tree limb. I
watched many a Senior Tour pro at the Vantage Championship bogey this hole. With
my game I'm happy with the bogey — it feels like a par to me. — Jay Allred
STONEY CREEK
Greensboro
No. 1, Par 5
The opening hole at Stoney Creek Golf Club is a first-class
humbler. It doglegs right and then it doglegs left and you have to hit over
water twice with water yet again to the right of and behind the green.
The tee shot has to be nearly perfect, a rarity for me.
There is no chance to reach the green in two shots. The next shot is across a
creek to a landing area. A pushed or pulled shot makes double bogey a virtual
certainty. And even if you hit a perfect second shot, it's best not to get too
cocky. The green is difficult to hold, as it slants both to the right and to the
back.
If your approach finds the green, you've hit a good shot.
It's difficult to find an easy putt, and birdies are extremely rare. Play the
hole as it should be played, and you'll still be lucky to get a par. — Nat
Walker
EAGLE RIDGE
Garner
No. 10, Par 5
Tom Kite is considered one of golf’s nice guys, which is
not surprising since he was coached and heavily influenced by one of the game’s
great gentlemen, the late Harvey Penick. So where did Kite get the mean streak?
Playing the 579-yard 10th hole on his Eagle Ridge layout
just south of downtown Raleigh can open up a can of golf whupass on your
scorecard. It is plain malicious. The drive from an elevated tee box to start
the back nine is the easy part. It’s the second shot which forces golfers to
engage their brains and assess their abilities – a double dose of danger for
most. You can lay up into a landing area but must leave it short of a marsh and
also off a severe sidehill lie that can require a crane and harness to keep you
upright. Reaching the green in two requires Hurricane Fran as a tailwind.
Kite’s slopes and contours on the green are in retaliation
for boyhood chum Ben Crenshaw being the better putter. It’s a killer hole on an
enjoyable course. — Patrick Jones
THE PRESERVE AT JORDAN LAKE
Chapel Hill
No. 10, Par 4
The 10th from the tips at Davis Love's The Preserve is a
470- to 480-yard par-4 dogleg right with a ravine in front of the green. It
takes a really long tee ball to be able to reach the green in two, and a great
second shot with a wood or long iron off a downhill lie to finish the job. A
layup second leaves a steep downhill lie to an uphill, sloped green.
A narrow fairway slopes to the right and a drive too far
right leaves a blocked second shot. The fairway is very narrow near the ravine
in front of the green with thick woods on the left, making the second shot very
dangerous. A stray ball is dead.
Better leave this hole for Davis Love to play. — Harris
Prevost
CHARLOTTE NATIONAL
Charlotte
No. 18, par 4
The 469-yard hole (from the cranks) doglegs left and
there's a small pond left of the fairway that keeps you honest. Nearly
impossible to get on in regulation from the back tees unless you can carry the
pond and cut the fairway with a 260-plus-yard tee shot. Adding insult to injury,
the approach shot is uphill to a medium sized green. Course was designed by
Russell Breeden. — Shane Sharp
PENNROSE PARK CC
Reidsville
No. 7, par 3
A couple of holes that immediately come to mind are the
finishing holes on both sides at Tanglewood’s Championship Course. Those are all
uphill every time I play them. But my ultimate vote goes to the par-3, No. 7
hole at Pennrose Park Country Club in Reidsville. This has been called the
world’s only dogleg par-3. If your 220-yard shot misses either left, right or
long, it’s a tough up-and-down. Even if you hit the green and aren’t below the
cup, have fun making that come-backer.
My guess is that there have been way more bogeys and
“others” than pars in the 74 years since Donald Ross put his pen to the paper in
designing this one. — Steve Williams
ROCKY RIVER
Concord
No. 5, par 3
Probably the most demanding par-3 in the
Charlotte area is the fifth hole at Rocky River Golf Club in Concord. It’s 178
yards from the back tees, 157 from the regular tees, and fraught with danger.
There’s no landing area other than the green. In front sits a deep bunker
surrounded by marshy underbrush. Wetlands from the Rocky River hug the right.
Any shots hit to the left of the green trickle across a cart path and into more
wetlands. Dense woods guard the back of the green, which is lightning quick and
drops off to the wetlands on the right. — Craig Distl
Putt-Putt
Burlington
No. 10, par 2
The toughest hole I've played had to have been on the back
18 at the Putt-Putt on North Church Street in Burlington. Back in the '60s,
Putt-Putt was such a popular game that the Burlington course was expanded from
18 to 36 holes.
The particular hole I'm speaking of was on the backside.
It was No.10, I think, but I could be wrong. Over the years, I've tried to erase
all memory of it from my mind.
The course has been redesigned and this particular
bastion of frustration was so nasty that it no longer looks anything like its
former self. Apparently I wasn't the only Putt-Putt putter to find this hellion
of a hole to be the devil incarnate.
But bear with me and see if you don't recognize it.
It was the one where, from the putting matt, you stroked
the ball down a slight decline toward a miniature windmill tunnel as those nasty
blades turned at a deceptively leisurely pace, just waiting to pounce on my red
(no, wait, I think it was green) ball.
When I was growing up, my mother used to take me and my
younger brother, Ronnie, to Putt-Putt on Saturdays where she'd drop us off for a
morning of fun (all the holes you can play before noon for a mere $1).
Ronnie and I bet big money in those days - a penny a
hole, plus a nickel for whichever one of us was the low man for the entire 18.
One particular Saturday I was on a roll, having bagged all aces or pars until I
reached the windmill hole.
Having honors, I putted first. My putt looked true, but
one of the windmill's blades caught my ball (now that I think about it, I'm
almost positive it was green) and kicked it off to the side where I had no
direct shot at the hole. My second putt was even worse, with the blade kicking
the ball completely off the playing service, making me take a penalty stroke.
I wound up with a 7 on the hole, which was the limit
Ronnie and I imposed on ourselves. Worse still, my game fell completely apart
after the windmill fiasco, with Ronnie soaking me for the better part of a
quarter before the morning was through.
Golf holes come and golf holes go, and I'm glad the
windmill hole went. — Steve Huffman
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