Your top three Hardest and Scariest holes at Augusta

[RC]

The pros's average scores on the holes at Augusta National are published and pretty well known, but this topic is about what holes would you rank as the hardest and scariest -- thinking about the challenge they would be to your game...  Just about everyone has watched play on every hole at Augusta National so what are your opinions?

My rankings and why they would scare me.:

First place.  The par three fourth hole -- 240 yards to a super difficult green, the left side of which invites three putts.

Second place..  The par four eleventh hole -- 505 yards up hill then downhill, hard slope to the left with approach to green tucked around and behind a water hazard.  Get over the hill and you have a down slope inviting a pull into the water hazard.

Third place.  A tie:  The par four seventh hole -- a thread the needle tee shot then an uphill approach from a possible down hill lie to a green so narrow back to front that if you hit it and stay on you feel lucky, and another par three that ties:  The twelveth hole -- just because it can be easy, but a tricky wind can spell disaster so quickly you could go from elation to dispair in a flash of time.

Honorable mention: par four fifth hole -- only because you need over 300 yards off the tee just to get a decent flight trajectory to hold the tricky green.  This one used to be one of Hogan's worrisome holes.

I also think the first and last holes are the two hardest pair of starting and ending holes on any tour course.

These are not the pros rankings according to their scoring, but what would you say?.

[Kieran123]

Number one was always hardest for me because of all the people watching and it being first swing of the round.

[clubchamp]

11th

12th

4th

[RC]

Number one is very hard and carries a high scoring average.  But it is straight away, and the green is fairly approachable, although slight misses tend to run off into collection areas -- you can save par with chip shots a little easier than some other holes..  All of them are hard, except perhaps for the par fives, and number one is up there and would have been an honorable mention in my list after number five.

Also,

11

12

4

are good choice IMHO.

[zipazoid]

12, 12 & 12.

[mck]

9-Hitting the approach up the hill with the chance of it coming back down could be a problem

10-I play a draw so I don't know how I would get off that tee

15- Easy for pros, but as a three shot hole your hitting a wedge with a downhill lie over water with water on the back.  I remember Vijay making a mess of the hole from that spot a few years back--I know I could do the same

[boogielicious]

12, 16 and 12 (again!).  Tough par 3s and water.  16, because if you overdraw, you are wet.  If you bail out, you usually have a tough downhill putt.  12 (double), because distance control is absolutely necessary even to par the hole.  Short=wet, long equals bogey.

[RC]

Number 12 is getting a lot of notice for good reason.  The green moves away from you on the right side, so a pin on the left is a lot closer than a pin on the far right  (some Nicklaus par threes have this design feature) -- except the green is very narrow so the closer left pin always gets a lot of shots just over the green.  A strong draw is not the shot for this hole.  The chip back is not easy and you might get close to an unplayable in the steep rough at the back of the green..  The heart breaker is a right pin when the wind knocks your ball down or balloons it up.  The ball just does not get to the green surface and rolls down the slope into Rae's creek.  You walk forward, take a drop and you are staring at a shot that normal players find very challenging -- a short pitch from a very tight slight downhill lie, over water, to a relatively shallow and almost flat green.  So for many people, 12 is about as tough as it gets.  And, it is not even a long par three.  Normally an 8 iron, maybe a 9 iron, and a smarter play might be a well flighted 7 iron.  Short but truly scary.  For average golfers, who might have to hit a five or six iron, this green would be very difficult to hold.  You need a high flight or controlled spin.

And a word about number 9.  This is an underrated hole.  The drive will be massive because it is down hill, but it must not be pushed.  The fairway slopes downhill but feeds balls to the right.  A big draw puts you at the bottom of the hill for an uphill approach.  Come off it a little and you have a very difficult downhill long iron approach that goes back up the hill.  A great drive is one that just misses the trees down the left side with a little draw.  Then the trouble shifts to the approach.  I think all uphill holes where you cannot really see the green surface are hard, but this one has a famous false front and that is all you can see.  You really can wind up more than fifty yards down the hill if you hit it short or spin off the front.  I know of one spin back that wound up 90 yards down the hill.  So, you try to err on the long side, but then the putt back is very intimidating unless the pin is deep into the green.  In some ways it is as hard as the the back right of 16, when the .pin is right above the crest where the ball will not stop.  You don't try to make the putt, you just hope not to three putt.  There is really only one pin position that is a "go for it" placement.

[RC]

Well, two days in and numbers 9 and 18 are the killers.  The back pin on 9 makes it really tough because the angle into the green is over bunkers to a narrow area, or if the player bails out right off the tee, it means a long, long approach.  18 with soft fairways means long irons into a bear of a green, with the pin close to the right side (which is normally the easy pin location.)  You go right or into the right trap and you change to playing for bogey -- forget par.