Toughest Courses on the PGA Tour in 2012

[mvmac]

Here's a look at the stroke average for each of the 49 courses played on the PGA TOUR in 2012 (stroke play events only). The rank from toughest to easiest is determined by average score relative to par.

I can speak from experience when I say that Olympic Club members are loving this

[colin007]

tiger wins two of the top six toughest courses.

[mchepp]

I can speak from experience when I say that Olympic Club members are loving this

Not totally fair, quite a different set up at a US Open versus the others. One note I find interesting is to see the Torrey Pines course rated as one of the toughest and one of the easiest. Wonder if it drives the players crazy.

[Golfingdad]

Not totally fair, quite a different set up at a US Open versus the others. One note I find interesting is to see the Torrey Pines course rated as one of the toughest and one of the easiest. Wonder if it drives the players crazy.

I agree. Not only set up harder, but they lop a couple of yards off a par 5 and call it a par 4. It should probably be considered a par 70 1/2 for the rankings. Of course even if they called it a 71 it would still rank first!

[Beachcomber]

I've played Muirfield under tournament conditions (Junior Amateur qualifier) in High School and it was the toughest test of golf I've ever played.  And the conditions were perfect in terms of temp/wind.

Part of the biggest issue for me back then was the length of the course...  And the fact that there were/are a lot of streams/creeks that run the property.  So if you don't hit the ball in the right places (some forced carries) - you're dead.  Lots of penalty shots were enforced that day!!

[jamo]

The three I've played (Palm, Magnolia, TPC Boston) are all on the second half of the list, unsurprisingly.

[boogielicious]

The thing about Olympic, from what I saw on TV and from Mike's description, was the players could hit the fairway with their drives and still have them roll to the rough.  Everything was off camber.  They also radically changed the tees from day to day on some holes.  Furyk had trouble with that when the moved up one tee almost 100 yards if I remember correctly.

This is what made it a great US Open course.

I had a chance to play TPC Boston, but didn't want to pay the $250.  Maybe next year.

[MSchott]

Originally Posted by mchepp

Not totally fair, quite a different set up at a US Open versus the others.

One note I find interesting is to see the Torrey Pines course rated as one of the toughest and one of the easiest. Wonder if it drives the players crazy.

Many players prefer the North course at Torrey to the more famous and harder South. The South course is 600+ yards longer which increases the difficulty.

[zipazoid]

I've played four on the list - Bay Hill, Firestone, PGA National & Harbor Town. Firestone was the toughest, imo.

You just cannot fluke it around Firestone - Gotta hit it long & straight off the tee & the greens are lightning-fast.