The best three-hole stretches in golf, ranked

Anywhere else, back-to-back par 3s might be frowned upon, but not at Pacific Dunes, where the 10th and 11th are some of the most exciting on property. “When God gives you two lemons, you make lemonade,” says course designer Tom Doak. The 10th has two sets of tees, one to the left and one higher and to the right. Both play into the stiff prevailing breeze to a tricky green with the ocean beyond. The short 11th (above) is the one to save your hole-in-one for. Riding the coastline, be sure to stay right, as any left miss either trickles into a bunker, or worse, the beach beside the Pacific. The par-5 12th is wide open, bomb away. On the layup, be sure to avoid the deep cross bunker that will turn a straightforward par (or birdie chance) into a battle for bogey.

The final three holes at Quail Hollow, known as “The Green Mile,” regularly ranks as one of the toughest stretches on the PGA Tour, and starting with the 500-yard par-4 16th, it’s no surprise why. The approach loosely mimics No. 11 at Augusta National—any left miss falls down into the water, and the right bail out is no bargain. The all-carry par-3 17th is perhaps the most intimidating shot on the course. Any mishit or tug to the left is wet. The left miss is once again the killer on the long 18th, as a creek winds up the entire side of the hole. Like the previous two holes, however, right is not a suitable bail out, as trees catch any wayward tee shot. On The Green Mile, you either hit the proper shot or you get punished.

The 16th at Winged Foot West plays as a par 4 in championship play but a gettable par 5 for members. Be careful not to run through the fairway off the tee, as the landing zone cleverly happens to be where the hole twists to the left. The par-4 17th winds to the left and gets narrower and narrower as you get closer to the green, which is guarded by deep bunkers right and left. To say that the tee shot at the long par-4 18th is crucial is accurate, but so is every shot at this brute of a home hole. The green has one of the largest false fronts in golf, and it doesn’t get any easier from there. It’s fitting end to the championship test.

Like at TPC Sawgrass and so many other Pete Dye designs, Whistling Straits concludes with a par-5, -4, -3 combo, beginning with the par-5 16th, which can play a beast into the often stiff headwinds in the late afternoon. The approach plays to a narrow infinity green that appears to stretch into Lake Michigan. As our architecture editor Derek Duncan says, the 17th green stands on stilts, propped up by a cavernous waste pit to the left of the surface. The long par-3 begs for a shot out to the right that uses the slopes to bring it back into the middle of the green. You turn away from the water as you tee off on the all-carry 18th. There’s no shame in playing the par 4 as a three-shotter, but be precise on your layup, as waste bunkers and gunch gobble any mishit.

Should you start your Bandon Dunes golf trip at the resort’s original course, the second shot on No. 4, which plays to an infinity green with the Pacific Ocean beyond, is the moment you understand why you journeyed to such a faraway land. The fifth hugs the shoreline and as one of our panelists writes “is a perfect replica of any hole you might see in Ireland or Scotland.” Fescue and dunes abound. The par-3 sixth continues along the ocean and plays to a tiered green. It serves as further proof that the previous two holes weren’t a fluke.

You can make a compelling case for any three-hole stretch at our top-ranked course in the country, but Nos. 13-15 at Pine Valley are our panelists’ favorite. The up-and-over par-4 13th is a brute. Keep it up the right side to have a view of the green, which is tucked around the lefthand corner. “It’s Pebble Beach’s eighth hole, but without the Pacific Ocean,” Golf Digest’s editor in chief Jerry Tarde says. The downhill 14th was originally conceived as a par 4 but now plays as the course’s final par 3. Playing upwards of 200 yards from the tips to an island green, the hole punishes anything less than a precise strike. Bobby Jones was in a slump in 1930 when he visited Pine Valley but had an epiphany on the bridge between Nos. 14 and 15 that, legend says, revived his game and led him to complete the Grand Slam. Considering the challenge of the uphill 615-yard par-5 15th, you better hope you have a similar epiphany.

It’s hard to summarize this oceanside stretch any better than one of our panelists: “The third tee is completely exposed to the ocean breeze unlike the first two holes at Fishers Island,” he says. “The third green seems to melt into the horizon and sits at the edge of a cliff. The Alps/Punchbowl fourth is potentially the most visually striking golf hole in the world and the punchbowl green is massive. The fifth is a long Biarritz template played over an intruding beach that depending on the wind direction may require a long club to reach.”

“It should be won or lost right here,” reads the plaque as players enter the Bear Trap at PGA National, annual host of a PGA Tour event. Whether we’re talking about hanging on to win a tour event or break 90, the Bear Trap delivers on its promise. An iron shot with any leakage to the right will find the water on the par-3 15th. Bailing into the left bunker is no gimme up-and-down. The par-4 16th demands a thoughtful tee shot to avoid bunkers and water, before playing a long-ish approach over more water. The par-3 17th might be the most intimidating of the three. Left, right or short and you’re wet. Now is the time to find the center of the face.

We’ve previously anointed Merion as the best shower in golf, and the 16th tee is a good time to remind you of your reward for surviving the next three holes. One panelist calls it “adult golf” and another “a freight train.” You’d better hit the ribbon fairway at the winding par 4 to realistically hit the green. Don’t be afraid to take driver at the par-3 17th, which at the 2013 U.S. Open played more than 250 yards. Ben Hogan’s 1-iron from the 18th fairway en route to winning the 1950 U.S. Open created one of golf’s most famous photographs. He didn’t have the option to take a hybrid or 5-wood. You do. We’d suggest hitting one of them.

The line between a birdie and a double bogey is nowhere as fine than at the Stadium Course’s closing stretch. The island-green 17th rightfully gets all the attention, but the gettable par-5 16th and water-lined 18th reward bold play and punish timidity with cold justice. “For tournament golf, this is a nearly perfect finishing stretch to produce volatility, excitement and drama,” writes one panelist.

Use the first five holes at Pebble to cure any right misses before you arrive at what local resident Jim Nantz calls the “celebrity holes.” The Pacific captures any shot lacking integrity at the sharply uphill par-5 sixth. The obligatory picture at the short dropdown seventh is your new phone wallpaper. Now, choose anything from a sand wedge to a 5-iron, depending on the wind. Jack Nicklaus called the second shot at No. 8—a sharply downhill 190-yard approach over ocean to a tiny green—his favorite in golf. “If the wind is howling, good luck,” one panelist says.

Quite safely the most famous three-hole stretch, Amen Corner distinguishes between a great shot and merely an average one better than anywhere. In trying to judge the swirling wind, uneven lies and green contours at the long par-4 11th, deceptively tricky par-3 12th and wraparound par-5 13th, surely a prayer can’t hurt. Then there’s the Masters history. “The home of more drama than any other three-hole stretch,” one panelist rightly claims.

Some say that the 135-yard 15th, which plays over a rocky cove to a boomerang-shaped green, is the most scenic hole in the world—that is, if the next one didn’t exist. No hole has a better combination of challenge and beauty than the all-carry 233-yard 16th, ranked No. 1 on America’s 100 Greatest Holes. After crossing the Pacific to a small peninsula on the 16th, the par-4 17th hugs the coastline as the approach plays over a grove of cypress trees. Succinctly put by one of our panelists, “It’s the prettiest stretch of holes anyone will ever play.”