Most difficult course you've ever played.... - Page 2

Shattuck inn, nh

Played bethpage black last week. Played plenty of other tour courses, Shattuck is tougher. It is not long, but it is real tough.

 

Yes Sawgrass is near to impossible. An average like me had a tough time playing there. Not to mention the challenging golf course. Though it was tough, my husband manage to hit. But for me? Nah, don't mind to play there again.

Bulle Rock in Havre De Grace, MD.

 

From the black tees:

 

• Par 72
• 7375 yards
• 76.6 rating
• 148 slope

 

The place kicked my butt.  Still very cool experience.

The toughest layout I've every played is Saadiyat Island Golf Club in Abu Dhabi.  7806 yards from the tips and the course record (Including Pros) is 3 under.  It is a links course that is very very visually intimidating with 15 foot deep bunkers and such. 

 

The toughest greens I've ever seen is The Royal in Bahrain where the greens have more undulation than I've ever seen.  When the Euro tour set up the course last year they had to slow down the greens because they said that if they even had them rolling at a 10 that no  one would break par.  Paul Casey said that it was the most difficult golf course he has ever played. 

The Links at Crowbush Cove. Pot style bunkers that are hell to get out of. Punishing rough. Just an extremely tough course, start to finish. And a slice will put you in the ocean more often than not.

The question is a little tough to gauge since all courses were a heck of a lot tougher when I wasn't hitting the ball consistently! That said, my most challenging round was probably the Connemara GC, a links style course on the western coast of Ireland. In traditional Irish fashion, they grow the gorse about knee high, so anything that is hit into there is as good as dead. We lost so many balls, that my dad and I were literally down to our last ball by the 18th hole. It was the last round I remember giving up keeping score because the lost balls, drops, etc. were adding up so significantly.

I'll be playing there at the end of September... that's where my league's playoffs are.

Thunderhill in Madison, Ohio (Northern Ohio - east of Cleveland)

http://golfthunderhill.com/

 

Par 72  7,504 yards  78.5  152
Par 72  6,866 yards  74.5  144
Par 72  6,436 yards  72.5  137
Par 72  5,754 yards  70.1  128
Par 72  4,769 yards  68.5  121

 

For an oddity course... That is very difficult - at one time was ranked the toughest course according to slope/rating in Ohio (not sure if this is still the case or not??).  Many years back (2001 or 2002), I played the course when I was visiting my best friend who was attending medical school in Cleveland.  He pulled together a four day trip where we would play several courses throughout the area.  And one was Thunderhill.  

 

The starter at the first tee - he will ask for your USGA handicap card if you walk back to the championship tee box which is known as the 'Lightning' tees.  They don't let you play the tips unless you are a low single digit handicapper.  The course is long, tight and has a lot of water hazards as it used to be the home of a fish hatchery.  Pretty awesome course if you want to test yourself and play one of the more challenging courses out there.

 

http://golfthunderhill.com/course/course_tour/THThole1.html

http://www.examiner.com/article/thunder-hill-golf-club-madison-ohio-course-review

http://www.golfstyles.net/EnewsFolder_March10/OHPlayMar10.html

 

We played it more recently in the Newport Cup.

 

It's not golf. It's a joke. I recommend you (reading this) just stay away. So many good courses in this area, don't waste your money on Thunder Hill.

 

The most difficult course I've ever played? Oakmont during regular conditions. I've played Oakland Hills, too, and that might be second, but it's not close.

 

Hahahh yeah it is difficult.  Just out of curiosity what did you shoot?  I was in the low 80's - but we played it from the 6,800 yardage.  

 

Also, here is a link which list some of the most difficult courses according to Golf Digest (linked from Thunderhills site).

http://golfthunderhill.com/docs/golfdigestinsidemarch07.pdf

 

They were ranked in 2007 as one of the toughest.

Wow.  That looks sick.  May be in Seattle in September... Will have to do some research and see if I can make it to Chambers Bay.

I love That Course! Not sure if it's the toughest, but is one of the best public courses I've ever played.

played Kearney Hills a couple weeks ago.  Used to be a senior tour stop and while its not set up as tough as they would play on it..its still a challenging course because it forces you to hit shots and putt he ball in the correct position on the greens. 

Ever: Carnoustie in 50mph+ straight line winds. Really wish we could have played in 'light' winds of 20mph or so, that way I'd remember more about the course instead of the death march around it and the absurd effect the wind had on every shot.

PGA West

Honorable Mention - Sawgrass, though now that I've played there a bunch, it's not as daunting.

That course looks flaft out ridiculous.....water on every single hole...I gotta play it just for the punishment !!

The Bear at Grand Traverse Resort in TC.  I've played it several times from the tips and it's brutal.  Also when you look at the stats below, you see that it's really not all that long even from the tips, but it certainly lives up to its name. 

 

Tee	Yardage	Course Rating	Slope Rating	Par
Black	7078	76.3	148	72
Blue	6618	73.2	144	72
White	6129	71.2	140	72
Red	5281	73.4	139	72

The most difficult course I have played is Bittersweet in Gurnee Mills Illinois.

Silver Lakes on the RTJ Trail a couple of times.  I've also played Grand National, Capitol Hill and Oxmoor Valley, but Silver Lakes lives up to the Mind/Back/Heart Breaker monikers.  It seemed like every approach played straight up a hill.