Hard Holes Made Harder

[dagolfer18]

What’s an occasion when a difficult hole at a course you’ve played has been made harder due to conditions? Here’s mine. Last summer, the day I first broke 90, we were playing a course down at the beach. As you know, it can get windy on beach golf courses. The 18th hole was a long par-4, 430 from whites, 460 from blues. The catch? It was playing directly into a 20mph (at least) wind, making the 430 play a lot longer. I still had about 240 over water after my tee shot, so I laid up short of the water on the second shot and hit to the green from there. That’s probably the windiest day I’ve ever had on a golf course.

[boogielicious]

9 hours ago, dagolfer18 said:

What’s an occasion when a difficult hole at a course you’ve played has been made harder due to conditions? Here’s mine. Last summer, the day I first broke 90, we were playing a course down at the beach. As you know, it can get windy on beach golf courses. The 18th hole was a long par-4, 430 from whites, 460 from blues. The catch? It was playing directly into a 20mph (at least) wind, making the 430 play a lot longer. I still had about 240 over water after my tee shot, so I laid up short of the water on the second shot and hit to the green from there. That’s probably the windiest day I’ve ever had on a golf course.

Wind can be limiting on holes, but it can be helpful too. There’s a muni close to me and the opening hole is long for me at least. On a calm day with a good drive, I am a 6 iron out. South winds can make it a 4 iron. But one fall day I had a 20mph tail wind. It was a 9 iron.

when I read your title, I thought that I can make a hard hole harder with bad placement. The lowest HC hole on my league course is a dog leg right 420 par 4. The tee is elevated. If I hit my drive to the right spot, it is a 7 iron to the green over water. If I hook my drive, which has happened a lot, it is either a lay up to 130 out or a 4W over water to the green depending on the lie I get.

[cooke119]

I play on Long Island, NY and wind is almost always a factor but worse then that is when we get rain and there are puddles in the bunkers, they don't drain well. We all call for a free drop when the ball ends up in the water. I wonder if that is legal? But we're not playing for money so...

[Darkfrog]

Several years ago during wildfires in northern California, I played on a very smokey, hot day, with unusually high winds. No clue as to the force, but just a guess that sustained 20-25 mph, with much higher gusts. Honestly, I'm not sure the course should have been open; first due to very unhealthy air quality (I wore a N95 mask the entire round), and second due to large branches being blown off trees in the gusts.

Every hole was made more difficult by the winds, and the difficulty was exacerbated depending on whether or not the wind gusted when the ball was in flight. Also every green was covered in debris from the trees, making putting interesting unless you had a leaf blower in the bag.

The hardest hole for me that day was a long par 3 that has a forced carry to get across a mini valley/waste area. The hole is already challenging because of its length, the trees and OB fence along the right side, the valley with waste area of death along the left, and psychological effect of the forced carry. I included a photo below of the hole playing about 185 in normal conditions for reference.

The tee boxes vary between 180-220 yards (it normally plays about 190), but on this day it was playing over 200 yards from the white tees, into the wind with a little right to left wind direction as well. I wasn't hopeful of reaching the green given the wind, but my intent was to ensure I covered the forced carry, and at least reach the fairway apron leading up to the green, chip on, and cross my fingers for a 2 putt bogey. I hit a pretty solid 4-iron, but the ball just seem to die and drop from the sky. My ball made it across the forced carry, but landed in the rough on an upslope, short of the cart path and fairway apron. In hindsight I probably should have teed off with 5-wood. My second shot was poor (unaffected by wind) and it landed in the right greenside bunker. That bunker is the easier of the two to get out of, but it took 3 attempts (just because I suck at those shots), and then 2 putts, for a 7. Silver lining was that I didn't loose a ball, which happens too frequently on this hole.

[billchao]

No single hole stands out in my mind from playing in difficult conditions, probably because the whole round would be more difficult.

[CarlSpackler]

Conditions this time of year I find tough. The ball almost plugs in the fairway because the ground is so soft. Your drive can actually back up in the fairway. 

[iacas]

3 hours ago, Darkfrog said:

The hardest hole for me that day was a long par 3 that has a forced carry to get across a mini valley/waste area. The hole is already challenging because of its length, the trees and OB fence along the right side, the valley with waste area of death along the left, and psychological effect of the forced carry. I included a photo below of the hole playing about 185 in normal conditions for reference.

The photo did not work.

[Darkfrog]

1 hour ago, iacas said:

The photo did not work.

It did seem to be uploading for a long time, but it looked like it showed up in the editor before I clicked submit.

Photo, take 2.

[CarlSpackler]

@Darkfrog That hole looks pretty evil.

[dagolfer18]

15 minutes ago, Darkfrog said:

It did seem to be uploading for a long time, but it looked like it showed up in the editor before I clicked submit.

Photo, take 2.

Ooohhh. That’s an interesting par 3!

[Darkfrog]

21 minutes ago, CarlSpackler said:

That hole looks pretty evil.

 

10 minutes ago, dagolfer18 said:

Ooohhh. That’s an interesting par 3!

It's my nemesis hole of sorts. For starters, I find it visually intimidating due to the trouble left, right and short. Also, I don't have a ton of confidence hitting 5 and 6 iron which are normal club selections for this hole.

I've birdied it once in  150+ rounds, and usually I'm happy to walk away with a bogey.

[CarlSpackler]

4 minutes ago, Darkfrog said:

It's my nemesis hole of sorts. For starters, I find it visually intimidating due to the trouble left, right and short. Also, I don't have a ton of confidence hitting 5 and 6 iron which are normal club selections for this hole.

I've birdied it once in  150+ rounds, and usually I'm happy to walk away with a bogey.

I imagine it is for a lot of people. What is the handicap of that hole?

[woodzie264]

Using my LSW shot planning/mapping principles,  I’d use driver to take the risk out. Driver goes long with a nGIR, then pitch on. Hope for par or two-putt for bogey and move on ☺️

[dagolfer18]

50 minutes ago, Darkfrog said:

 

It's my nemesis hole of sorts. For starters, I find it visually intimidating due to the trouble left, right and short. Also, I don't have a ton of confidence hitting 5 and 6 iron which are normal club selections for this hole.

I've birdied it once in  150+ rounds, and usually I'm happy to walk away with a bogey.

Same way with me and the 13th at my home club. A 420-yard par 4, long on my standards. Treeline to treeline is about 40 yards, second shot severely uphill. Only parred it once, never close to a birdie. This is where my score is screwed over most of the time.

[Buckeyebowman]

4 hours ago, CarlSpackler said:

Conditions this time of year I find tough. The ball almost plugs in the fairway because the ground is so soft. Your drive can actually back up in the fairway. 

That's exactly what I thought. We encounter this every year. The fairways are like gumbo, and you get negative roll out! 

 

4 hours ago, CarlSpackler said:

Conditions this time of year I find tough. The ball almost plugs in the fairway because the ground is so soft. Your drive can actually back up in the fairway. 

 

2 hours ago, Darkfrog said:

It did seem to be uploading for a long time, but it looked like it showed up in the editor before I clicked submit.

Photo, take 2.

But, I notice that the tee seems to be chopped up by a bunch of divots! Like people were teeing off with irons. The hole looks challenging, but seems to be about 350, not 430. Of course, pics can be deceiving. 

[Darkfrog]

18 minutes ago, Buckeyebowman said:

But, I notice that the tee seems to be chopped up by a bunch of divots! Like people were teeing off with irons. The hole looks challenging, but seems to be about 350, not 430. Of course, pics can be deceiving. 

You’re mixing up my hole with @dagolfer18 hole. My hole is a 200 yard par-3, thus the divots from iron shots. 

[Killa]

There are two par 3s that might not be up to regulations on the nearest 9hole course. One plays from 165-175 depending on where they place the tee off area and it’s about 150 to carry the water. The water also “fades” from the green so if you fade it too much you would need about 190 to carry the water. And if you really go from the back tees you don’t see more than 1/2 the green and you have to fade it if you want to hit the center of the green. If your ball flight is a draw you are dead. 
 

The other one is a 175-195 par 3 that is tree lined and the gap is not wider than 15 yards, probably about 10 yards. If you play it from the tips there are some low hanging branches that force you to punch the shot. 
 

Both of these holes can be made much easier/harder, depending on tee box placement. 

[David in FL]

Hard holes are harder in difficult conditions.  Hell, all holes are harder in difficult conditions....