index2

BAY AREA'S TOUGHEST 18

Here is the basic criteria...the holes on the course have to correspond to the holes listed below. Bat area does not include Carmel or San Jose. Pasatiempo and Half Moon Bay don't count, but they should, but I haven't played them in so long, I didn't include them.

#1) Tilden Park. A beast for anyone who ever plays there. Long and straight uphill, I have yet to see someone put it on the green in two from the back tees. Someone always puts it in the parking lot left or the trees right, and the fairway never gives you a flat lie.
#2) Either Bridges or Wente, two par 4s that couldn't be more different. Bridges plays long, the 2nd shot is blind, the wind pushes the ball towards the chasm, and the landing area is small. Trouble left, and the ball will run out of fairway right. As for Wente, it is a short hole, but trees make the shot off the tee feel like you have to put it through a winding tunnel. Trees fronting the green make the 2nd shot a shot you have to work as well. Hit two perfect shots, it is an easy hole. But aren't they all?
#3) Not many choices here. I think most courses have easy 3rd holes for some reason, but then there is Chardonnay. The 3rd hole on the Meadows course is a par 3 at over 200 yards and into a breeze. A creek fronts the green and runs along the left side. The right side is a bail-out area, but getting up and down from there is very difficult. Bubba has had some memerable shots here...one from the creek onto the green, and one tee shot off the trees, that bounced back onto the green.
#4) Metropolitan. When the wind isn't there, it still plays long, and the green has so many slopes, you never know where the ball will end up. A knob on the green prevents you from approaching the green from the left side. If the wind is up (as every afternoon it is), expect a career wood to put it on the green. Par on this hole always gets you accolades from your playing partners.
#5) Stonetree. Long par 4 into the wind. The tee shot isn't difficult, but the next shot is a long shot to a green fronted by a creek. Go long and you have a downhill chip to a green that runs away from you. And the greens here are not slow. distance means everything on this hole.
#6) Harding Park. long par 4 where you have to be able to hit a long draw with your driver. Hit it left, you are in jail. Hit it right or straight, you are in jail. The green is a long way away on the 2nd shot, even for the pros in the AMEX. Did I mention the slope on the green? Ouch.
#7) Adobe Creek. Short par 4, but it is a doozy. So tough off the tees they have a local rule for lost balls. Left is OB, right is a blind 3-wood to a fairway with trouble to carry. The second shot goes to a well protected green with a ridge in the center. Make a par, and you will win the skin.
#8) Hiddenbrooke.Long par 4 (see a trend here?). Wind from the left, and trouble on the left. Drive isn't too bad, but the 2nd shot has water staring in your face in front and to the right. Put it left, and the up and down is a doozy. Only one birdie here has come from a chip-in from 40 feet.
#9) Stonetree. This might be the toughest par 4 I know. On an elevated tee box with heavy wind, you have a small area to aim at, hoping the wind doesn't push it right into a lake or left into the high grass. Then the 2nd shot has a lake left and OB right. I've seen a skin won in a foursome with a triple bogey here.
#10) Bridges. A par 5 with a similar tee shot as the prior hole. Wind makes it tough, and the 2nd shot to lay-up is difficult to judge because you run out of fairway. The green is a peninsula, and there is no safe bail-out area. Better have some confidence on your 3rd shot.
#11) Shadow Lakes. A par 3 with some teeth. A peninsula green surrounded by water, bailing out left is the safest route, but getting up and down does not happen often. With the length and the wind, getting a greenie almost never happens, and usually you will regret being aggressive.
#12) Hiddenbrooke. A par 5 that has produced some crazy scores. with trouble on the right all the way, and trees keeping left from being ideal, the real trouble has to do with the green. There is a small tabletop plateau in the back that sits 5 yards higher than the rest of the green. And this is the weekend pin placement. And the greens are fast. in the last outing, Bubba hit the green in regulation and still mad a 10. And yet he still won the skin because his playing partner had an 11.
#13) Roddy Ranch. This is the hardest par 3 in the Bay Area. You need to hit 3-wood or driver off the tee depending on the wind, and there is trouble everywhere. Bail out left, and you might get a bogey.
#14) Boundary Oaks. A long par 5 with trouble on both sides. Play it safe, and the green has such a severe slope that you still aren't guaranteed a par. Put it on the green to the right of the pin, and you'll probably putt it off the green.
#15) Franklin Canyon. Long par 4 with trouble right and OB left. Great long-drive hole because everyone has to hit driver. The green is tricky, so expect par to be the best score.
#16) I was going to pick Diablo Creek with the length and the huge oak tree that used to block your 2nd shot. But the oak is gone, so I'm going with Rooster Run. It is a par 4 into the wind with water left and a creek crossing the fairway at 160. But don't expect to get it there on most days (usually you'll have at least 200 left to the green...into a stiff breeze). And if you go right the trees will block your next shot. Only birdie here is when the wind was with us, but I've never had the hole play like that again.
#17) Bodega Bay. Par 4 with a slightly blind tee shot. Even with a strong drive, you will have a long shot in to a tightly guarded green. Never seen a birdie, and I've seen the Snaggler lay up. OB and bunkers will eat you alive.
#18) Canyon Lakes. A par 4 on top of San Ramon canyon where the wind pushes the ball right towards the houses. Go left, and your ball will fall off the canyon. the 2nd shot is blind unless you crank it, and the green has bunkers all around it. Thought about the par 6 at Lake Chabot (plays as a par 5 for the back tees (700 yards), but the downhill hole makes a par a reality.