[Duncan Cheslett]

What is the worst or most unpleasant golf hole you've ever experienced?

How about this one for starters?

Didsbury Golf Club is one of five adjoining courses built around 100 years ago along the flood plain of the River Mersey in South Manchester. Didsbury is far from the worst course of the five, but like all of them it suffers from damp, boggy conditions at almost any time of year.

In the seventies the Manchester orbital motorway (M60) was routed right through the course which led to unavoidable changes being made. New holes were built on a triangle of land accessed over the motorway by a footbridge and alterations made to the existing holes as necessary by architects Dave Thomas and Peter Allis (yes, him!!)
 


Apart from the nightmare walk over the bridge with six lanes of busy traffic thundering under your feet the altered course is not bad, if a little dull and uninspiring. There is though, one complete disaster of a hole - the 10th!



What is wrong with the 10th at Didsbury? Where do I start?

First of all, the proximity of the motorway means that you cannot hear yourself think. The deafening roar of the traffic, however, drowns out the hum of the high voltage electricity cables 10ft above your head. A pylon sits adjacent to the tee and the cables run directly over the fairway all the way to and over the green. That's right - the entire hole is played with 10000v electricity cables over your head!

But that's not all!  Such is the risk of stray balls clearing the high fence protecting the motorway that a local rule is implemented prohibiting the use of all clubs with a loft of less than 17 degrees. Until recently the rule was 'irons only' but I imagine that the advent of hybrids has led to the change. After checking our lofts we all took 5 woods - a club which most players are surely capable of sky-hooking! Perhaps left-handers should be banned from playing the hole at all!

I could just about accept all the above shortcomings if the hole was an architectural gem. It isn't. There is absolutely nothing there! Its disastrous environment is compounded by it being  one of the dullest bog standard tree-lined parkland holes you will ever find. It is a relief to emerge from under the wires after putting out with your head still throbbing. It can't be good for your health.

I like Peter Allis and thoroughly enjoy his commentaries. My regard for him however, has taken a big knock after playing Didsbury yesterday!

[Mark_Rowlinson]

Didsbury was a MacKenzie course until the coming of the motorway. I don't know how much of the Mac course survives. When you are on the far side of the motorway you are also adjacent to a big waste tip - can be smelly.

[Ronald Montesano]

It seems that you've said precious little about the hole, and plenty about its surrounding freckles. Is it the hole or the dressing?

Does the fairway slope at all? Any mounding or wrinkles, or is it flat from tee to green? What is the green like? Is that single bunker enough to give it character?

[Duncan Cheslett]

Does the fairway slope at all? Any mounding or wrinkles, or is it flat from tee to green? What is the green like? Is that single bunker enough to give it character?

There is no character to the hole - it is also such an unpleasant place to be that the only thought is to get to the next tee as quickly as possible!

Didsbury was a MacKenzie course until the coming of the motorway. I don't know how much of the Mac course survives.

There appears to be some confusion here, Mark.  

According to the club website  "Over the years the course has changed significantly. The first clubhouse burned down in 1909. In 1921 it became an 18 hole course and the world renowned golf architect C.A. Mackenzie, famous for his terraced greens, was employed to redesign several holes. In 1973 the whole course was redesigned after the Manchester ring road, the M60 bisected the land."

An entry for June 4th 1921 on the MacKenzie Chronology reads

" Didsbury GC, Manchester, England. The remodelled course was opened for play.    ‘The Guardian’ 4 June 1921  Mark Bourgeois, Neil Crafter"

There is no other mention of Didsbury on the Chronology that I can find, despite the apparent reference in the above quote to a possible earlier entry.


So was Didsbury a Dr Mac course or was it the work of his brother Charles?  I notice that the club are not members of the MacKenzie Society.

When you are on the far side of the motorway you are also adjacent to a big waste tip - can be smelly.

We're not doing a great job of selling Didsbury here, are we Mark?  

[Mark_Rowlinson]

Duncan, I've just had a look in the Didsbury GC Centenary booklet:

'A celebrated golf course architect C.A. Mackenzie (famous for his terraced greens) was employed to lay out the five holes required after replanning the existing course, and on the 4th June 1921 an eighteen hole course was opened.'

Was it CA Mac (not, so far as I know, famous for his terraced greens)? Is their scholarship accurate?

I may have to drop them a note of enquiry.

[David Ober]

The par-5 9th hole at "Journey at Pechanga." An absolutely horrible hole with giant oak trees in the middle of the fairway and no way of going around them save a 10 yard-wide sliver of fairway to the right with OB to the right of that. Evidently the right fairway was supposed to be much wider, but a burial ground(?) was discovered on the right side of the hole, and the hole had to be re-routed.

Whatever the reason, the hole is just plain awful.

[Tom_Doak]

I had a whole Eclectic 18 of the worst 18 holes I'd ever seen in the Gazetteer of the original Confidential Guide.

I wisely chose not to rehash it for the current volume!

[Thomas Dai]

Power cables hanging over a course are pretty vile.

I understanding burying them underground isn't really a goer due to heat and cost. Has anyone found an inexpensive way to deal with the issue?

atb

[Adam Lawrence]

I remember reading - at the time - that we could have buried every power cable in the UK for the amount we spent on the Millennium Dome. I can't be sure if that is true, but if so, surely it would have been a better contribution to our national well-being?

[Tom_Doak]

I remember reading - at the time - that we could have buried every power cable in the UK for the amount we spent on the Millennium Dome. I can't be sure if that is true, but if so, surely it would have been a better contribution to our national well-being?

That seems unlikely.  The big ones cost about $2 million per mile to bury ... and even if you were willing to pay it, the power companies sometimes refuse if the line is important.

The only place I knew of where a golf development buried more than a mile of power lines was Caves Valley in Baltimore, before our client in China rerouted two power lines so they wouldn't cross the island where the course is built.

[Ruediger Meyer]

Played this gem yesterday



The pictures doesn't describe nearly enough how bad this hole is. You have no idea where to shoot the ball whether for the tee shot or the second shot. If you are in the Fairway, all you can do is chip out because your second shot is blocked out by the trees. If you are on the fairways and hit the second straight an as arrow there is a 70% chance you end up in the water because the small fairway, which you can't see anywhere after the tee shot, is sharply tilted to the water. If you manage to avoid it, you still can't hit it close to the flag if it is on the left side of the green because the window between the trees in front of the green is maybe 20 meters wide

[Jaeger Kovich]

I remember reading - at the time - that we could have buried every power cable in the UK for the amount we spent on the Millennium Dome. I can't be sure if that is true, but if so, surely it would have been a better contribution to our national well-being?

That seems unlikely.  The big ones cost about $2 million per mile to bury ... and even if you were willing to pay it, the power companies sometimes refuse if the line is important.

The only place I knew of where a golf development buried more than a mile of power lines was Caves Valley in Baltimore, before our client in China rerouted two power lines so they wouldn't cross the island where the course is built.

Tom - That was a pretty happy day when the towers came down! ... and we got video evidence!

https://www.dropbox.com/s/bvoeepn5691kh87/Video%20Oct%2001%2C%208%2039%2042%20PM.mov?dl=0

[RJ_Daley]

Duncan, I've seen a few crappy holes, but yours takes the cake. 

[Matthew Rose]

#6 on one of the nines at Kennedy Muni in Aurora, CO. 450 yard par four. Forced layup off the tee as there is a wide creek 240 yards off the tee; to carry it you need to hit it 300 on the fly.

So, you have to hit 3 iron off the tee and 3 wood for your second shot. The only par four I've ever played where you have to hit a longer club for a second shot than you do off the tee.

Oh, and to your left are six lanes of Interstate 225 and an ugly ass reservoir.

Honorable mention - #6 at Legacy Ridge in Westminster, CO.

[Matthew Petersen]

#6 on one of the nines at Kennedy Muni in Aurora, CO. 450 yard par four. Forced layup off the tee as there is a wide creek 240 yards off the tee; to carry it you need to hit it 300 on the fly.

So, you have to hit 3 iron off the tee and 3 wood for your second shot. The only par four I've ever played where you have to hit a longer club for a second shot than you do off the tee.

Oh, and to your left are six lanes of Interstate 225 and an ugly ass reservoir.

Honorable mention - #6 at Legacy Ridge in Westminster, CO.

My friend was visiting Denver earlier this year and drove by JFK as he took 225 from the airport to the Tech center. I wrote him like a 10,000 word email about how horrifically bad this hole is. You forgot about the drive being downhill, which makes it play even shorter, so it's an awkward shot to even try to get out as close to the edge as you'd like. There's also (is? was? Haven't played there in a  decade) a giant tree swallowing up the left side of the fairway. I saw people hit drives in the left of the fairway but have to chip out to the right side before trying to clear the creek. God, that's a bad hole.

[Tom Bacsanyi]

Speaking of Denver, Hyland Hills has several candidates.  The 3rd is a par 5 that double doglegs around a pond with giant trees guarding the inside of both doglegs.  The optimal strategy is to hit something about 225 off the tee to the first bend, then about 200 straight away to a narrow opening then a 135 yard shot to a green which tips heavily left to right down to a bunker or hazard.  There really isn't any other way to play the hole.  You can try to whack one over the first dogleg with driver, but you take on trees and the pond.  Even if successful, your second will be blocked out by a massive tree guarding the inside of the second dogleg, so your play is PW, PW from there.  It is an absolute disgrace of a golf hole. 

[Duncan Cheslett]

Talk of power lines reminds me of the time I hosted a high profile GCA visitor from across the pond at Reddish Vale. Teeing off at the 17th he questioned whether the tee was in its original location as he couldn't imagine Dr MacKenzie siting a tee under power lines.

It was gently pointed out to him that the chronology didn't quite work like that!  



And before anyone asks, the power lines at Reddish Vale impact only slightly on three holes - the tee shots at 17, 16, and 18 from left to right on the photo. A local rule requires a mandatory reload without penalty if a ball strikes a cable.



On one famous occasion a Major Comp was won after a ball heading straight for the river on 16 hit a wire. The second ball was subsequently chipped in for an eagle 2!

[John McCarthy]

I have played plenty of bad golf courses filled with bad holes.  But if they are cheap and you are with your buddies who cares?  But charging a premium for terrible golf is where my ire is raised. 

I played this course once, The Grove Country Club in Long Grove IL.  It is a terrible real estate course.  The hole that stands out is the second.  The tee was completely in the shade so it was dead and muddy.  There was trees and ob left with more trees to the right.  Hit a driver and you can go into a pond.  After a dogleg in the landing zone there is water to the right and trees all the way down the left side including more in the second landing area.  The preferred shot for the approach might be inside a fairway bunker.  It was a poorly thought out hole with a house in the middle of the dogleg which necessitated planting of trees to protect the house.  The only allowed tee shot is a draw - which many golfers cannot pull off. 

[Buck Wolter]

This is the one that came to mind for me --guess the architect.

[John McCarthy]

I have played plenty of bad golf courses filled with bad holes.  But if they are cheap and you are with your buddies who cares?  But charging a premium for terrible golf is where my ire is raised.  

I played this course once, The Grove Country Club in Long Grove IL.  It is a terrible real estate course.  The hole that stands out is the second.  The tee was completely in the shade so it was dead and muddy.  There was trees and ob left with more trees to the right.  Hit a driver and you can go into a pond.  After a dogleg in the landing zone there is water to the right and trees all the way down the left side including more in the second landing area.  The preferred shot for the approach might be inside a fairway bunker.  It was a poorly thought out hole with a house in the middle of the dogleg which necessitated planting of trees to protect the house.  The only allowed tee shot is a draw - which many golfers cannot pull off.  

Isn't that the old Hillcrest?  That's a bad hole.  But it's nothing compared to what used to be #1 (now #10) at Seven Bridges in Woodridge.  That's the worst hole I've ever seen - the only par 5 in the world that is best played as 8 iron, 8 iron, 8 iron.  Just horrible.

I don't know if used to be Hillcrest.  I was only there once and after the Royal Group bought it.  That first at 7 Bridges is also godawful.  I refuse to go to 7 Bridges anymore.  There used to be a par 5 at the Oak Club of Genoa that was 6 iron, 6 iron, 6 iron but I always had a weakness for that course and that particular hole had a cool skyline green with movement.  As they are slowly destroying the Oak Club with renovations they turned it into a dumb par 4. 

[Jim Franklin]

#6 at Holly Hills (Frederick, MD). 496 yard par 4 with a large tree in the middle of the fairway. Take your drive right of the tree and draw it or left and cut it. If you go right and drive stays straight, OB. If you go left and do not cut it, you are wet. Dumbest hole EVER.

[Matt Frey, PGA]

I played Hartwell in Cincinnati a few times in high school and the third hole was a shortish par 5 with a 90-degree dogleg to the right about 130 yards from the tee, then 270 to the green. It would have been a much better long, straight par 4 rather than a short par 5 with a dogleg. See image below.

[Steve Salmen]

John and David,

I'm sure I haven't played as many Chicago courses as you guys but two awful holes are 9 at Big Run, and one of my all time least favorites anywhere, #18 at George Dunne.  Honorable mention for bad holes at Dunne go to 4 and 11.

[Brian Colbert]

John and David,

I'm sure I haven't played as many Chicago courses as you guys but two awful holes are 9 at Big Run, and one of my all time least favorites anywhere, #18 at George Dunne.  Honorable mention for bad holes at Dunne go to 4 and 11.

3 Chicago guys in this thread and nobody is going to mention #11 at Oak Grove in Harvard, IL? For shame.

http://www.oakgrovegolfcourse.com/hole11/hole11.htm

The picture doesn't quite do it justice, as that "water" is really a bunch of trees/wetlands that you cannot hit over. It is best played wedge, wedge, wedge, wedge, one putt.

[Jason Topp]

The worst hole I played this year was the 2nd at the Legend at Shanty Creek in Michigan.  It was about 300 yards long from the tees we played with the tee shot uphill over a cliff.  I am not sure how high the hill was but it was one of the steepest I have encountered.  The fairway is a relatively narrow tabletop surrounded by weeds left, water right and water long.  The 2nd shot is a pitch over water to the green. 

It is a pretty easy hole for good players, provided that they judge the distance effect of the uphill tee shot correctly.  For the vast majority of us it is pretty much impossible.  It is pretty much the opposite of what a well designed hole should be.  I am not sure why they did not just make a good par 3 on some difficult land.

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