Sep 21, 2018 · Selecting the top courses in the world is not easy, and some good grounds don't make the cut. For any golfer, even the top 100 courses in the world are difficult to play. Our list of the world’s toughest golf courses are a mix of difficulty, atmosphere and tradition. Those criteria make these facilities the toughest to tackle.
Jun 16, 2016 · Dow Finsterwald, a former Ryder Cup captain and PGA Championship winner, called Pikewood National the "most challenging, fair and beautiful course in the world." From the back tees, it has a 155...
Feb 05, 2016 · The toughest course I ever played was a course in Colorado called Cougar Canyon near Trinidad, CO. It was a Jack Nicklaus course, and unfortunately, the 2007/2011 recession caused this course to close. Another course that I played recently, which is included on my ‘toughest’ list and Golf Digest’s, is Spyglass Hill near Pebble Beach.
For better or worse, Ko'olau is the toughest golf course in the world. "If you want to know the truth," says Parris Ernst, the former head pro, "Ko'olau is the toughest golf course in the universe." The course is located just below the Pali Lookout at the windward base of the steep, green Ko'olau Range, 20 minutes from downtown Honolulu.
World's 10 toughest golf coursesThe Ocean Course, Kiawah Island, South Carolina, United States. ... Carnoustie Golf Links, Dundee, Scotland. ... Ko'olau Golf Club, Oahu, Hawaii, United States. ... Whistling Straits, Kohler, Wisconsin, United States. ... Jade Dragon Snow Mountain Golf Club, Lijiang, Yunnan, China.More items...•Aug 3, 2018
Toughest Courses (Season)RankingCourseYardage1Bay Hill Club & Lodge74662PGA National (Champion)71253Memorial Park Golf Course74124TPC Sawgrass725624 more rows
KIAWAH ISLAND / S.C. / 7,356 YARDS / PAR 72 (Eight of our top 50 were created by the man they call the "Marquis de Sod.") The Ocean has the highest combination of Slope Rating (155) and Course Rating (79.6) in America, according to the U.S. Golf Association.Jul 2, 2007
The slope rating value always lies between 55 and 155, with 113 being the average or 'standard' value. A slope rating of 155 means this is the most difficult course (for a specific tee) you can imagine. The higher the course and slope rating, the more strokes will be added to your handicap.May 26, 2021
As with most difficult courses, you're never safe at Quail Hollow until the very end.
The Ocean Course1 | The Ocean Course, Kiawah Island, S.C. Par 5, 16th holeGolf Digest Panelist Comments:"I think the 17th hole is the toughest par 3 in the world.Dec 7, 2011
Oakmont is generally considered the toughest U.S. Open host course and, in many ways, the perfect Open venue. At Oakmont in 2007 there were just eight under-par scores all week.Jun 21, 2016
Augusta National Golf ClubClub informationPar72Length7,510 yards (6,870 m)Course rating78.1 (unofficial)Slope rating137 (unofficial)17 more rows
71Oakmont Country ClubClub informationDesigned byHenry Fownes (1904), Tom Fazio (2015 renovation)Par71 (70 for U.S. Open since 2007)Length7,254 yards (6,633 m)Course rating76.933 more rows
1. Dragon Snow Mountain Golf Club, Lijiang, ChinaDistance: 8,548 yards.Par: 72.Jun 24, 2016
The second highest golf club in the world, Jade Dragon Snow Mountain was built in a valley of the Himalayan Mountains at 10,000 feet above sea level in Yunnan Province, which is located along China ’s southwest border with Myanmar, Laos, and Vietnam. Mountain views dominate the course, and the nearby city of Lijiang offers tourists a quaint old-time adventure in its old town sector.
2. Le Touesserok Golf Course (Ile aux Cerfs, Mauritius) Designer, Bernard Langer, dreamed up this challenging course located on 38 hectares (94 acres) on the southern half of picturesque Ile aux Cerfs in Mauritius, an island nation strung in an archipelago 1200 miles off the southeastern coast of Africa in the Indian Ocean.
Palm Course, Saujana Golf Club (Kuala Lampur, Malaysia) Sloping greens and undulating fairways highlight this beautiful test of a golf course, which is nicknamed “the Cobra” both because plantation owners introduced cobra snakes to the area to keep the rat population in check and because of the layout.
Keep calling if you get a busy signal. If you aren’t a state resident, you’ll need to reserve a tee time 48 hours in advance. Reserving a tee time can be a difficult thing to do during the summer and on the weekends.
There are five courses at Bethpage—each named for a different color—but only the Black merits a sign that warns “The Black Course is a tough course which we recommend only for highly skilled golfers.”. If you still dare to proceed, the only advice you need is to stay out of the rough.
Thin air means balls fly much farther, and you’ll need that advantage on Jade Dragon Snow Mountain’s 8,548 yards—the longest par 72 in the world—with one of the par 3s measuring more than 260 yards and a par 5 that is over 800 yards. If you’re not used to the altitude, take it slow as you go to find your ball.
Nicknamed “Carnasty” by those in the know, Carnoustie is your ultimate links-style course located on the windswept shores of Scotland as it sidles up to the North Sea.
The par-73 layout, built in 1954 and reworked by Robert Trent Jones in 1972, has long been considered one of the longest in the world. It plays to a whopping 8,325 yards from the Gold (or "Tiger") tees and features three par-4 holes in excess of 530 yards.
From the Championship tees, the 79.7 USGA Course Rating is the third-highest in the nation. The Bogey Rating is 108.1 (fifth-highest) and the Slope Rating from the Championship tees is 153, though resort guests would be well-served to tee it forward.
The Slope Rating is the relative difference between both , essentially an indicator of how fast scores are rising on a given course for the non-scratch golfer). Yes, there will be some courses deemed slightly more challenging for scratch golfers and others perhaps considered a sterner test for bogey players.
There are more manageable tees at the Pines course, but for sadists or super long hitters, the back tees are as difficult as it gets in the sport. PIKEWOOD NATIONAL -- Morgantown, West Virginia. The sixth hole at Pikewood National called "On The Rocks.".
The beauty of the three rating systems is that it provides a more complete picture of the relative difficulty of a course for a given golfer. You can't just take Slope Rating and use that as the equation for absolute difficulty. This is where the term "Target Score" comes into play.
The par-5 finisher is 656 yards, yet there's an even longer par-5 on the property: the 674-yard third hole. There's also a par-6 hole that is 715 yards. When played from the back tees, The International is ranked as the hardest golf layout in the U.S. according to all three ratings.
The Golf Club of New England - Stratham, NH. Ko'Olau Golf Club - Kaneohe, HI. Other well-known courses will also be in the mix for many golfers: Pine Valley (NJ), TPC Sawgrass (FL), Bethpage Black (NY), Whistling Straits (WI) and Hazeltine National (MN), the site of this year's Ryder Cup competition.
Jason Scott Deegan/Golf Advisor. For many golfers, the beauty of the game is the fact that it's the ultimate sporting challenge. It takes a lifetime, if we're lucky, to master. And even so, there are far more days the game defeats us than we prevail.
Brandon Tucker is the Sr. Managing Editor for GolfPass and was the founding editor of Golf Advisor in 2014, he was the managing editor for Golf Channel Digital's Courses & Travel. To date, his golf travels have taken him to over two dozen countries and nearly 600 golf courses worldwide. While he's played some of the most prestigious courses in the world, Tucker's favorite way to play the game is on a great muni in under three hours. Follow Brandon on Twitter at @BrandonTucker and on Instagram at @btuck34.
And just because a course might be manageable for low-handicappers, it may be an entirely different beast for higher handicaps. So if you crave the sternest of tests, keep this list in mind, compiled by golfers all over the world, and features not just U.S. courses, but bruisers in Canada and Ireland as well.