What Makes a Great Golf Hole?

Whether it is arguably the most famous hole in golf, the 18^th at St Andrews (below), TPC Sawgrass famous island 17^th green, or perhaps even one of the holes around the famous Amen Corner at Augusta, most people are aware of some of the greatest holes in golf.

Yet what it is about the hole that makes it ‘great’ is open to conjecture. No doubt that for every golfer who lauds the Postage Stamp, or the island green at Sawgrass, there are many more who would happily confine either to the waste bin if they could.

So this led me to ponder, what is it that makes a great golf hole?

The reason this came to mind, was that I recently played a local course for the first time, which boasted both an ‘island’ green and a 600-yard monster par 5 hole. I was looking forward to playing both holes very much.

However, upon reaching the Par 5, I was somewhat aghast to find that from around 220 to 290 yards, lay a large inky-blue lake.  In effect, this lake removed the driver and fairway woods from my bag, unless I was prepared to chance carrying a driver 300 yards into the wind.

I’m a mid-to-high handicap amateur, not Tiger Woods, so that is never going to be an option.

So, I was forced to hit a hybrid 3, which I did. And then I hit it again across the lake, the ball just coming to rest on the other side of the lake in light rough. The wind taking a good 30-50 yards off the usual length of each shot.

I was now playing my third shot on a par five and I still had around 200-250 yards to go to reach an elevated green, protected by a large bunker and I was playing the shot into a strong headwind.

I pondered the seeming injustice of the hole. I felt that by designing the hole in this way, eliminating the driver from the bag, the designer had made the hole practically impossible for an average amateur to par, let alone birdie or better.

To me, this was a clear case of a good idea on paper, translating into something entirely unworkable, and a little unfair, in reality.

In the end I posted a seven, which I was relatively pleased with considering I topped my fifth shot into the bunker before hitting a decent bunker shot and holing the putt.

The thing is, I am not sure how many top professionals would fancy that tee shot. 290 yards to carry over water, with boggy land just after the lake before you find solid fairway, all played into what are usually headwinds.

Would you see Tiger opting for driver there on the final day of a tournament? I’m not so sure.

It’s little wonder that the name  of the hole is “Lay Up”. It is good advice, because it is the only option. So I used my Adams hybrid to lay up.

As I bemoaned the hole design to my playing partner, he flatly disagreed and said he thought that this was a great golf hole for many reasons.

I’d love to report that this was because he’d carded an eagle three, but he hadn’t he’d taken a similar seven shots to me.

Over the rest of the round we discussed what makes a truly great golf hole, and this is what, between us we came up with:

• There has to be a number of different ways to play the hole successfully.
• There has to be a high, but fair, risk/reward factor to the hole.
• There should be no way to “cheat” the hole, such as by longer hitters ‘cutting off’ the dogleg to hit straight at the green.
• The hole should stand on its own merit and not need to be ‘tricked up’, such as by increasing the length of the rough, or speeding up the greens to make it more difficult to play.
• The hole should be aesthetically pleasing on the eye. It should also appear ‘natural’.
• Playing the hole relatively well should result in a birdie or par at worst, playing the hole poorly could lead to a round-wrecking score.
• That said – If you hit it into trouble, you should have a fair and even money chance of rescuing yourself with a decent recovery shot.
• The green should have enough protection and be contoured enough so that a different pin position on the hole presents a fresh challenge on how to play it.
• Lastly, when you finish the hole, regardless of what score you shot you should want to go back to the tee and play it immediately once again.

My argument was that by effectively removing the longest three clubs from my bag for my tee shot, this 600+ yard par 5, was effectively consigning me to a bogey at best if I played to my ability.

My playing partner’s argument was that just because the hole is 600+ yards long and you can’t use a driver or even a fairway wood, doesn’t make this a bad hole. You just have to play it more creatively.

We agreed to disagree and left it at that. That was back in the late summer this year.

Earlier this week we returned to the same course to play a late-winter round in unusually warm winter conditions. It was a lovely winters day for golf and I must admit, I wasn’t looking forward to playing the long par 5.

This time around, I once again took seven, but this was chiefly down to my putting which saw me rush a par putt and hit it six feet past, before missing the return when the ball lipped out.

My playing partner was good to his word and played this hole in a new, creative way. He pulled his tee shot left and somehow managed to land his ball on an adjacent tee box. From there, he hit his second shot  over a much narrower part of the lake, and given the extra height he had (and favourable wind conditions) landed the ball around 180 yards from the green.

He then hit one of the best five iron shots I’ve witnessed in person to within six feet of the hole to give himself a putt for birdie.

Which he duly missed because he can’t putt for toffee.

He still thinks it is a great hole and the more I play it, the more I am inclined to change my earlier stance and to agree with him.

In truth, what makes a great hole isn’t decided by golf magazines or experts or designers, but by how a that particular hole, whether it is a par 3, 4 or 5, makes you feel when you’ve played it.

And if you walk to the next tee with a smile on your face, then it has done its job.

Pictures courtesy of Wikipedia (CCL), Gorilla Golf Stock Images,