Worst Courses Played

[ragontona]

I have two nominees:

1) Greendale Golf Course in Alexandria, Virginia. AKA "Home of the seven hour round."

2) Meadows Farms in Locust Grove, Virginia. 27 hole layout, but gimmicky as all hell, and the tee boxes are some of the worst I've ever... and I mean EVER... seen. The gimmicky stuff includes "The World's Longest Hole," an 847 yard monstrosity that forces you to play layups the entire length of the hole; the "Baseball Diamond" hole, which is a par-3 that actually looks like a baseball diamond, complete with outfield fences, and the "Waterfall Hole" which is another par 3 with the green perched atop an artificial waterfall. The course plays like some gigantic Putt-Putt golf course. Not a fan.

[$2 Nassau]

I have two nominees:

Ding Ding, we have a winner!

[hurley9192]

Newport Beach Golf Course in Newport Beach, CA is commonly referred to as the Hidy Old Course. Driving range mats for tee boxes and very little grass in the fairways and it's next to the Orange County airport so there are planes taking off every 10 minutes. It is lighted though so you can play at night. $7 for 18 holes.

[ronaldkuntoro]

I went to Jakarta in Indonesia (South East Asia), just below Singapore. Some of my business associates brought me to play at "Imperial Klub Golf" in small suburb called Lippo Karawaci. Here is their website: http://www.imperialklubgolf.com/ . They have female caddies down there (I wonder why...but they are a bit bitchy judging from their tones). The course has a very thick grass for their rough, it is like if somebody does not lawn their front yard for years. The course design is very un-level. That way, you cannot see the greens from the fairways because the fairways are lower than the greens. I almost had blind shots for every shot I had to hit from the fairways. I don't know what to call it, hard course or poor course design. It was also freankin' hot in the afternoon in Indonesia (it was in December). About 90-100* F....

[redi630]

Country Lakes Golf Club in Naperville IL. A decent layout for a muni but every fairway is lined with apartments who's tenets could care less about golf.

On one of the holes, there was a path of dead grass across the middle of a fairway, on a par 5, where kids would cross with their bikes. I almost hit a kid skating across on his roller-skates.

[Dragasevich]

Burnley Golf Course, in the Inner Eastern Suburbs of Melbourne Aus.
That is seriously the worst corse ever, no par 5's. I think it has 5 par 3's. No wonder why it only costs $10 to play.

I was there the other day when someone hit their ball over the vertically challenged fences straight into a new BMW. Supposedly it happens a few times a week. Surely they would fix the fences.

[Mikeland]

Newton Commonwealth, Newton MA. By far one of THE WORST GOLF COURSES EVER. They actually have mats for tee-boxes in some areas, and there are 18 holes crammed into a space where nine would barely fit. The sad thing is that it's a Donald Ross design...that's owned by a city with no clue how to run a golf course.

[lamebums]

For me, it would have to be Meadowood Golf Course , in Burlington, KY. 6 or 7 years ago, my father's company did some blacktop work there, so they gave us free golf for the rest of the year. It was my first true attempt at golf, and I obviously didn't know any better. You pay for what you get (only $11 on weekdays - great deal), but the place has really gone downhill in the past few years.

The first, second, third, and ninth fairways all run parallel to each other, which means you're better off wearing a helmet, because errant balls will wind up two fairways over, and most of the people there have little to no etiquette. The back nine was sold a few years ago and turned into condos, whose owners can't care less about golf. Deep cabbage and the remnants of construction line the right side of the third fairway, and the fifth hole is a drivable par 5, if you cut the corner over the tree seedlings. The fairways are almost indistinguishable from the rough, and the greens stimp to what, a 2 or 3?

The pro shop has almost nothing to display, except a few boxes of Top Flites and Wilsons from last year. The bar used to be a nice operation, run by one of my father's buddies, in fact - but they ran him out, and no one's back there anymore. Senior leagues still play there - and it's because of those leagues I don't want to play there anymore. It takes four friggen hours to play nine holes, and they don't let anyone through.

I still go there occasionally, because it's cheap and my buddies like the course (it's easy to post a low score there), but by and large, I try to avoid it. It's a shame the place has gone downhill in the last few years, but with half a million dollars worth of renovation, it could be the place to spend an afternoon.

[CG031]

Indian Creek in Emmaus, PA. It wasnt good conditions and it was way too short from the furthest back tees. Only 5200 yards!

[AndrewM]

1. Pheasant Hollow, East Greenbush, NY - We call it Peasant Hollow now. It's basically flags in a field. On the 6th hole, my 9-iron approach ended up 90% buried in the green. The green on the 7th had a mushroom patch growing on it.

Believe it or not I think I actually played that course in college... It actually came up in conversation the other day as a recollection of the worst place I'd ever been. Doesnt it have some absurdly long Par 6... like 700 yards?

[getinthehole]

On holiday in Devon, UK. I played a course that I can't remember the name of. It was shocking, the fairway was just basically a giant divot, the greens had no break but because they had so many pitch marks, you hit a putt straight to the hole and it just bobbled everywhere. Since it was just a fun day with my family and a friend I didn't mind too much, but I'd hate to play seriously there.

[is 120 respectable]

Silver Spring Golf Course

Haha, I just played there this past week and I actually really liked it. The three straight Par 3s were pretty ridiculous though. I drove it relatively straight that day, but my friend did almost kill someone going a fairway to the right. The worst course I have ever played is called Eagle's Crossing in Carlisle, Pennsylvania. I have never played a course so fast and brown in the very beginning of spring. A more experienced golfer might have liked it but it destroyed me.

[DDBowdoin]

oh wow is this a great section...

easily, 1.) Ponkapoag Golf Club, Canton MA - I have a love hate relationship with this track. It's a Ross design which pleases me, 36 holes (again, nice)... but its a state owned course which is even worse than a town muni. They sink about $27.82 a year into this course. There is no distinction between fairway and rough just one nice sheet of grass. I can't putt there, the greens probably roll at a 3 level, imagine velcro.

2.) Putterham Meadows, Brookline MA. Not as bad as Ponky but really, really close.

[DDBowdoin]

Newton Commonwealth, Newton MA. By far one of THE WORST GOLF COURSES EVER. They actually have mats for tee-boxes in some areas, and there are 18 holes crammed into a space where nine would barely fit. The sad thing is that it's a Donald Ross design...that's owned by a city with no clue how to run a golf course.

thinking back, yes... Newton is horrible. I mentioned Ponkapoag but at least Ponky rolls in at 6400 yards. Newton Commonwealth is like 400 yards long, right? Something like 7 or 8 driveable par 4's and by driveable I mean 280 yards.

[Ben]

Olivas Park, Ventura CA. I hear they've redesigned the whole course though...

[tjy355]

Olivas Park, Ventura CA. I hear they've redesigned the whole course though...

Phoenix-based golf course architect Forrest Richardson did the project which re-opened for play earlier this year. I have no personal familiarity with the course before or after, but it seems to be an improvement. Some more info here:

http://www.golfgroupltd.com/olivas.html Tom

[Norm66]

I hate to knock it because they have the nicest range in the area and it's more the players than the course, but this place called Pioneer in Marietta, OH (next to Wal-Mart unfortunately) is the worst course I've ever seen.

The layout is OK, not great but OK and they have some real rough out of the fairways, but the greens are crap. Last time my wife and I played there (couples play 9 w/ cart for $20) we swore we'd be willing to pay twice the amount to play a better course. The greens were so bad they honestly looked like somebody had brought their kindergarten class to play on them with hammers. Nobody had fixed a ball-mark in weeks by the look of it. Besides that there were several honest to goodness beaver pelt divots taken out of greens. Inexcusable and I haven't been back since.

Most of the rest of the courses in my area are surprisingly nice and one is in the best condition I've ever seen a course in my young golfing career.

[gaz d]

Crappy 9 hole par 3 in spain longest hole 98 yards and the greens were like my back garden (very bad!)