Beautiful brutes. Magnificent monsters.
By Russ Pate
Par-3s often provide a welcome respite during a round of golf — a counterpoint to onerous par-4s and elongated par-5s. At times, par-3s represent nothing more than a tee, a green, one swing, and two putts, thank you very much.
Besides, penciling threes on the card, not to mention the occasional two, keeps the aggregate score from soaring like gasoline prices at the pump.
Yet some par-3s are anything but benevolent. Some are brutes, potential round-wreckers that can sear scorecards and force golfers to seek solace in the 19th hole.
Some are, in a word, intimidating.
Such is the case with the following par-3s, culled from clubs worldwide. The fear they induce can be traced to forced-carries, unpredictable wind patterns, gaping bunkers, undulating greens, and an absence of bail-out areas. Or simply sheer length.
These crippling par-3s create doubt and confusion, impeding players from committing fully to club selection or shot shape, perhaps both.
Let’s take a closer look at these malevolent monsters.
Contributor Russ Pate’s love affair with par-3s dates back to his college days in Texas, when he routinely cut class to play par-3 courses in Lubbock and Austin.
10TH HOLE
Bluegrass Yacht & Country Club
Hendersonville, Tennessee
This ogre offers up the essentials of intimidation: a forced-carry of 180 yards; water protecting the left side and back of the green; bunkers on the right; out-of-bounds within five steps of the bunkers; a deep, narrow green with appreciable slope. Head golf professional Rick Burkardt jokingly notes that Bluegrass members regard the hole as “the easiest par-5” in the Nashville area.
6TH HOLE, MASTERS COURSE
Brookhaven Country Club
Farmers Branch, Texas
This brute requires a forced-carry of 216 yards over water. As head golf professional Michael Kiesling observes, “Into the wind, you can’t always get there, and downwind you can’t hold the green.” The narrow putting surface slopes toward the water and more than a few members have suffered the ignominy of watching putts roll off the green and into the drink — giving new meaning to “deep six.”
6TH HOLE
Currituck Club
Corolla, North Carolina
Yet another sixth hole (!), this beauty on Carolina’s scenic Outer Banks calls for a 200-yard shot to a green protected by bunkers on each side. With water looming on the left, only the fearless or foolhardy attack back-left pins. But the main challenge is what head golf professional David Donovan describes as an ever-present “two-to-four club wind,” which whips in off the Atlantic Ocean and at times turns his stock 3-iron into a full-bore 3-wood.
6TH HOLE
Crow Canyon Country Club
Danville, California
This 200-yard beauty features a pond that guards the front of the green and runs the entire length of the right side. Adding to the dilemma is the predominant left-to-right wind, which steers shots toward the pond. “It’s deadly for the player with a tailing fade,” assistant golf professional Chris Souza notes. “Any shot that leaks to the right is wet.” OB looms to the left of the large, flattish green, protected by bunkers front left and back.
- Photography by Aidan Bradley
17TH HOLE, NORTH COURSE
Firestone Country Club
Akron, Ohio
Full concentration and a narrow focus are essential to face this 218-yard monster, which provides the ultimate in par-3 intimidation: a peninsula green. Pin placements on the right side of the putting surface are invitations to disaster. Mercifully, a bail-out area to the left gives players a fighting chance to salvage par. “Swirling winds off of the lake can make it even more difficult,” head golf professional David Dinan notes.
- Photography by John Henley
8TH HOLE, LAKES COURSE
Gainey Ranch Golf Club
Scottsdale, Arizona
The elevated tee on this 198-yard desert beauty provides a compelling view of the trouble at hand. That trouble is water, which creeps up next to the green and creates a natural temptation to “tug” tee shots left. Unfortunately, a large bunker awaits to capture those tugged tee shots. The two-tiered green slopes left to right and features a dramatic elevation change back to front. Notes head golf professional Scott Little: “The green has almost no places that give a golfer an automatic two-putt.”
- Photography by Richard Petrillo
14TH HOLE
Granite Bay Golf Club
Granite Bay, California
This beautifully framed, slightly uphill hole requires a forced-carry of 212 yards to a large, severely undulating green protected on the right by two steep-faced bunkers. Stuart Smith, director of golf, says the key is to match expectations with capabilities and, if need be, bail out left. Attacking pins on the upper right side leaves no margin for error and brings five into the equation, as the green falls away toward a lateral hazard. “Celebrate if you make three,” Smith advises. “It’s a great score here.”
- Photography by Jim Fitzpatrick
4TH HOLE
Hackberry Creek Country Club
Irving, Texas
Talk about a Texas-sized par-3. This bad boy measures 241 yards. But that distance is misleading, as head golf professional Ben Burns points out. “The hole heads straight into the prevailing [south] wind,” Burns says, “so it effectively plays about 265 to 270 yards.” While neither water hazards nor bunkers await at the green, just getting home in regulation is a mighty feat in itself. This explains why many Hackberry members refer to the hole as a “good par-4.”
- Photography by RJ Hinkle of Quad/Photo
15TH HOLE, CASCADES COURSE
The Homestead
Hot Springs, Virginia
The claustrophobic tee shot on this 229-yard mountain beauty comes out of a chute of evergreen trees toward a tricky, two-tiered green. While bunkers protect both sides of the green, the left front is accessible. Pin positions back right are demanding, because the limbs of a sycamore tree hang over the right side of the putting surface, knocking balls down in the bunker. The Homestead director of golf Don Ryder says the hole “offers a challenge for any golfer.”
- Photography by Patrick Drickey
17TH HOLE
Lakelands Golf Club
Merrimac, Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia
This monster plays 210 meters (230 yards), more than half the distance of a forced-carry over water to a narrow green guarded by bunkers and bushland. A nettlesome pot bunker roughly 30 meters in front of the green receives plenty of raking. Despite the inherent difficulty, Lakelands member Leisl Roughead, a 16-handicapper, aced the hole on July 3, 2004, sinking a 156-meter shot. Good on you.
8TH HOLE
Laurel Springs Golf Club
Suwanee, Georgia
This 181-yard hole plays uphill, especially from the forward tees, and demands a carry over a large, deep bunker guarding the front of the green. Complicating matters, notes head golf professional Todd Wagoner, is a false front on the right, which repels tee shots with impunity and leaves delicate recovery shots. Taking an extra club and making your mistake long is no bargain, either, as the small, narrow green is ringed by deep rough.
- Photography by Marc Climie
11TH HOLE
Macquarie Links International Golf Club
Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
The signature hole at Macquarie is regarded as one of the most spectacular par-3s in Sydney, and with good reason. Tee shots of 172 meters (188 yards) must carry a chasm and clear a sandstone wall. Reaching the narrow green, guarded by bunkers left and rear, does not guarantee par or better, either; the putting surface possesses enough undulation to make speed control imperative. Lee Dougherty, membership director, calls the 11th an absolute “jaw dropper” for prospective members who tour the club.
6TH HOLE, PINEHURST NO. 2
Pinehurst Resort
Village of Pinehurst, North Carolina
This 220-yard monster humbles even the best players in the world, as 2005 U.S. Open competitors found the green at a 46.8 percent clip. With the putting surface protected by a false front, and bunkers left, right, and beyond, the hole yielded only 22 birdies in four days, compared with 159 bogeys, five doubles, and two “others.” Champion Michael Campbell made bogey here twice. The sixth allowed 1.73 putts per Greens in Regulation, making it the second most difficult. Adding pressure at the sixth is its placement directly after the brutal 469-yard, par-4. That back-to-back stretch can make or break a round at Pinehurst No. 2.
- Photography by Thomas Toohey Brown
4TH HOLE
Quail Hollow Country Club
Painesville, Ohio
This 226-yard beast plays slightly downhill to a two-tiered green that slopes left to right and is difficult to read. A large bunker protects the right front of the green, but the Weiskopf/Morrish design team generously provided an opening on the left side. The opening allows players to reach the putting surface by executing run-up, links-style shots (aided by a knob that propels shots forward). Head golf professional Olle Karlstrom notes, “It’s a great hole where birdies are rare, par is a winner, and four is the norm.”
17TH HOLE
Tampa Palms Golf & Country Club
Tampa, Florida
This beautiful brute measures 187 yards and demands a forced-carry over a lake. To make matters worse, the wind typically swirls. Bunkers beyond the putting surface snag air-mailed tee shots, leaving delicate recovery shots. The green features a ridge that makes two-putting problematic when players wind up on the wrong side. Kevin Kenny, head golf professional, says, “Walking off this green without a penalty shot makes the beer in the grill taste that much better.”
10TH HOLE, PLANTATION COURSE
Woodside Plantation Country Club
Aiken, South Carolina
Long shot + small target = high number. That’s the formula behind this 210-yard behemoth, known for producing bogeys or worse. Jay Pittman, director of golf, comments, “We’ve found it’s just a hard hole for every level of player.” The difficulty comes from a huge front bunker that swallows tee shots, plus a narrow putting surface that falls off at the back. Even bail-out shots short and left leave tough recovery shots. Good luck.
- Photography by Southside Gallery