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architecture
Worst of the best
The not-so-great holes on America's 100 Greatest
Illustration By Chris Gash
December 2008
Just as Cindy Crawford has the mole and Robert Redford those baggy eyes no amount of surgery can remedy, the most glamorous golf courses in America have flaws, too. No course is perfect, not even those ranked on Golf Digest's list of America's 100 Greatest. Sometimes the flaw is a substandard hole, the result of an architectural hiccup or a committee compromise or a ham-handed alteration by a design dilettante. Hadn't noticed? That's because you were blinded by the marquee. Here are Architecture Editor Ron Whitten's picks of the worst holes on the nation's best courses.
THE BOTTOM 10
2007 rank on 100 Greatest in ( )
1
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Bandon Dunes (31)
- Bandon, Ore.
Par-5 18th / A blind tee shot, a straight, boring fairway and an ugly gray lodge behind the green mar this otherwise extraordinary course.
- More information on this course >
2
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Cypress Point Club (4)
- Pebble Beach
- Par-4 18th / No fairway, just cypress trees practically everywhere.
- More information on this course >
3
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Flint Hills National G.C. (49)
- Andover, Kan.
- Par-5 18th / An awkward tee shot to a fairway pinched by water left and trees right.
4
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Hazeltine National G.C. (89)
- Chaska, Minn.
- Par-3 17th / A drive-and-pitch par 4 was converted to a 182-yard par 3.
- More information on this course >
5
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Medinah C.C. (No. 3) (11)
- Medinah, Ill.
- Par-4 ninth / The hole turns left and the fairway slopes right, into trees.
6
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Oak Hill C.C. (East) (25)
- Rochester, N.Y.
- Par-3 sixth / The catcher's-mitt green yielded four aces in one round at the 1989 U.S. Open.
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