Golf courses and holes featured in this edition include:
≈ The 9th at Angkor
The Angkor Golf Resort in Siem Reap, Cambodia is an 18-hole, par 72 course that measures 7,729 yards. The course was designed by Sir Nick Faldo, who describes the course as having generous fairways but calls the bunkers “impressively bold.” The greens have subtle undulations that reward a variety of approach shots, according to Faldo.
≈ The 3rd at Mauna Kea
Mauna Kea Golf Course at Mauna Kea Resort in Kohala Coast, HI was once a black lava field. The land was transformed when Robert Trent Jones Sr. created the Mauna Kea course there in 1964. The course has seen recent improvements designed by Rees Jones, son of the original designer. Hole position for typical play is an 18-hole par 72 measuring 6,358 yards. For championship play the course measures 7,370 yards.
≈ Number 2 on the Stanley Thompson Course
The Stanley Thompson 18-hole course is part of the Banff Springs Golf Resort in Banff, Alberta, Canada. Considered to be Canada’s most storied golf architect, Thompson designed the par 71, 6,938-yard course in 1927. The 18-hole layout winds along the Bow River under the snow-capped peaks of Sulphur Mountain and Mount Rundle.
≈ Number 6 on the Old Course at Lahinch
In 1892 a group of British Army officers laid out a links golf course at Lahinch and initiated the club’s storied history. In 1894 Scottish golfer Old Tom Morris laid out a new course along the ocean-side sandhills to create what he called, “the finest natural course he had ever seen.” The Lahinch Golf Club is in Dough, Lahinch, County Clare, Ireland at the edge of the Atlantic Ocean.
≈ The 9th at Black Desert
The Black Desert Golf Course at the Black Desert Resort in Ivins, UT is slated to host the LPGA Tour this month. The 19-hole, 7,200-yard desert course was designed by Tom Weiskopf, who was selected to transform this lava field in Utah following his work that transformed the lava field at Waikoloa Beach Resort in Hawaii.
≈ Number 13 on the Bluffs Course
The tee shot to the green at 13 is downhill and appears deceptively long, but the distance across the “abyss” is only about 14o yards. The Bluffs Course at Arcadia Bluffs Golf Club in Arcadia, MI is a links-style layout carrying through native grasses with dramatic views of Lake Michigan. Completed in 1999 and designed by Warren Henderson, the course ranges from 5,024 yards at the red tees, expanding to 7,300 yards for championship play.
≈ The 16th at Mammoth Dunes
One of five courses at San Valley Resort in Nekoosa, WI, Mammoth Dunes was designed by David McLay Kidd in 2018. The layout features “enormous fairways, big accessible greens, and visually unique hillsides of exposed sand, ‘mammoth dunes,’ that became the course moniker.” The 18-hole course ranges from 4,055 yards at the blue tees to 6,988 yards at the black tees. Golf Digest ranked it number 26 among America’s 100 greatest public courses.
≈ The 3rd at Royal County Down
Royal County Down in Newcastle, County Down, Northern Ireland enjoys a beautiful links setting in the Murlough Nature Reserve framed by the Mourne Mountains, and reaching along the shores of Dundrum Bay. The club was founded in 1889 by a group of men from Belfast and during its long history has hosted a wide range of championships beginning in 1893 with the second Irish Open Amateur and more recently the Walker Cup in 2007.
≈ The 17th at The Reserve
The 17th is a 777-yard par 5 that, while quite long, offers dramatic downhill slopes running toward the green. Shots well hit enjoy a long roll that can reward golfers with the potential to score under par. The Reserve at Moon Light Basin in Big Sky Montana is a 7,800-yard Jack Nicklaus Signature Course at an elevation of 7,500 feet surrounded by dramatic Rocky Mountain vistas.
≈ The 18th hole on the Firecliff Course
Created by the City of Palm Desert in California, the Desert Willow Golf Resort first welcomed golfers to play the Firecliff Course in 1997. At 7,056 yards, the course challenges golfers with more than 100 bunkers and many water features while rewarding them with time in a beautiful desert landscape. The 18th hole is a 536-yard par 5 challenge with water on the right that threatens to sink any errant approach shot.
≈ Number 5 at 3 Creek Ranch
The Club at 3 Creek is a private 18-hole course at 3 Creek Ranch in Jackson, WY. Designed by Rees Jones, the 7,700-yard course offers views of the Teton Range and Grand Teton rising to the north. The Club at 3 Creek is frequently ranked as the best course in Wyoming by Golf Digest magazine.
≈ 7th Hole at Pebble Beach
The 7th hole at California’s Pebble Beach Golf Links is only a par 3 and at 106 yards the shortest hole on the PGA Tour. Surrounded on three sides by Carmel Bay and guarded by substantial bunkers, the approach might seem simple, were it not for the wind, so relentless a force that Sam Snead decided to putt from the 7th tee in order to make par on the hole in 1963.
Published by Tide-mark Press © 2024