Tot
Hill Farm Ranked 7th Hardest
Course in Golf Digest's
Ranking of America's 50
Toughest Golf Courses
By Golf Digest Editors March 2007
From time to time, in golf and in life, it's good to get outside of your comfort zone. Way outside. It's good to test yourself, to throw yourself into that burning ring of fire, to tee off from the all-the-way backs at Bethpage Black on the hottest day of the summer, as four Golf Digest editors did a few years ago (and they're still talking about it).
To help you discover what you're really made of--and in honor of Golf Digest's first "toughest course" ranking from the 1960s—we've identified 50 of the most diabolical courses in the country. These are courses that grab you by the collar on the first tee, slap you around for five hours, then reluctantly agree to let you limp your sorry carcass back into the clubhouse for resuscitation. They are courses meant for drag-out, high-stakes battles at high noon. Courses where they should sell "I survived a round at ... " T-shirts in the golf shop. Fields of bad dreams.
This is not a scientific or even definitive ranking. It's our list of layouts that have battered and bruised us, ruined our scorecards and made us want to weep. You probably know some tough ones that we've missed. Regardless, find one near you and take it on (32 of our 50 are public-access courses). Stand tall. Be strong. Cross the Rubicon. If you survive, tell us all about it. And if you don't, make sure you go down fighting.
Top 10 Toughest Courses in America
-
1. THE OCEAN COURSE
Kiawah Island / S.C. / 7,356 Yards / Par 72
-
2. THE INTERNATIONAL
(THE PINES)
Bolton / Mass. / 8,325 Yards / Par 73
-
3. KOOLAU GOLF CLUB
Kaneohe / Oahu / Hawaii / 7,310 YARDS / Par 72
-
4. PGA WEST (STADIUM
COURSE)
La Quinta / Calif. / 7,266 Yards / Par 72
-
5. OAKMONT COUNTRY
CLUB
Oakmont / Pa. / 7,225 Yards / Par 71
- 6. BETHPAGE STATE PARK GOLF COURSES (BLACK) Farmingdale / N.Y. / 7,386 Yards / Par 71
-
7. TOT HILL FARM GOLF CLUB
Asheboro / N.C. / 6,543 / Par 72 -
This is where the
late Mike Strantz
perfected Extreme
Golf and proved that
golf courses don't
need to be long to
be murderous.
Smashed from solid
rock, holes plunge
down mountainsides,
jump creeks and
climb canyon walls.
Rock outcroppings
congregate along the
top edges of many
bunkers. Boulders
squeeze approach
shots and frame
greens as well as
tees. Stones line
Betty McGee's Creek,
which intrudes on 13
holes. Hand-stacked
rock walls even wind
along several
fairways. At Tot
Hill Farm, a round
without a ricochet
is a major
accomplishment.
-
8. WHISTLING STRAITS
(STRAITS)
Haven / Wis. / 7,362 Yards / Par 72
-
9. PINE VALLEY GOLF
CLUB
Pine Valley / N.J. / 6,999 Yards / Par 70
-
10. TOBACCO ROAD
GOLF CLUB
Sanford / N.C. / 6,554 Yards / Par 71 - This is Mike Strantz's version of Pine Valley, as seen through a funhouse mirror. Bunkers become craters, greens become sinkholes. The sand hills are taller and more eroded, the pits are steeper and deeper. Some greens are three times as wide as they are deep, and others are twice as long as they are wide. What's not distorted is that there are five blind shots at Tobacco Road. That makes it cotton-pickin' hard.
