Country Club of Charleston, SC, USA   

11^th hole, 185 yards; One of the most feared holes in the southeast, this hole has intimidated many of the country's best amateurs to lay up during the Azalea Invitational. Lay up you say? On a 185 yard hole with no water?? How can that be??? Simply put, this green is a shelf with an eleven foot deep bunker on the right and a seven foot bunker on the left. The bunker edges are right up against the edge of the green which narrows to just eight paces wide at the back. Their fear, as is yours, is that you become involved in volleyball as your bunker shots fly merrily from one bunker across the green to the other, and so on and so on.

The 11th hole starts from here...

...but many golfers often first find the right hand bunker...

...followed by another shot from the left of the green.

The harshness of the hole is in stark contrast to the reasonableness of the rest of the course and to Raynor's work in general. Indeed, some contend that the green surface has actually risen two or three feet, due to the accumulation of sand thrown onto the green over the years since 1929 when Raynor designed the course. Still, the authors wouldn't change a thing as it gives the course the kind of high drama rarely found on flat terrain.

14^th hole, 335 yards; Rivals the 3^rd at Fishers Island as Raynor's finest short two shotter. The fairway is tightly bunkered both left and right, and they pinch the fairway in to 12 paces wide at the 230 yard mark from the tee. The green is mammoth and contains a back-right plateau that tests every nerve for a golfer to attack.

16^th hole, 430 yards; The second most famous hole on the course, the Lion's Mouth hole features a gaping seven foot deep circular bunker eating into the front of the elevated green complex. The green in turn horseshoes around the bunker and the effect is sensational and thoroughly original. A hole that Pete Dye, who was greatly influenced by Raynor, would be proud to call his own.

The striking Lion's Mouth hole...

...often leaves the golfer with a difficult recovery shot.

18^th hole, 460 yards; The perfect finish for this particular course where so much charm and guile has gone before. This brute of a hole is long and uphill and heads straight back to the beautifully restored southern clubhouse.

The three-shot holes are the course's glaring weakness. They (the 5^th, 9^th, and 15^th holes) are too loose on both the first and second shots and a number of Raynor's original bunkers have been removed. Raynor's original bunkering schemes should to be restored as a matter of common sense.

As his work has gained great recognition in the past several years, critics have surfaced. They argue that Raynor's style never evolved and didn't add or further the development of architecture. These critics would use Charleston as further proof to their point.

To that, we say, so what? We can't imagine anyone building a finer course over this property, and that is all that matters. In fact, many architects would benefit from a closer study of the cleanness of this design.

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