Three Toughest Holes on public courses in the Detroit area.

     It is impossible to play every golf course in Michigan during the course of a season. If you could play 36 holes every day at two different courses and play during the winter, you woud still be about 100 short of playing the over 800 courses that exist in the mitten state.

      Over the course of the next month, I will be releasing my lists ranging from the toughest tests of golf, best golf holes, best junior golf tours and will take on topics from you. Just give them to me.
I also will be opening a golf  website in late January and I will have a lot of videos, commercials for courses, promotions and we are looking into a golf show.

My toughest three holes played is a very tough task and I will include only public courses I played the first time through. I will look at the resorts next time.

In no particular order, you have to drive quite a ways to find this course in Howell but Hunter's Ridge is an outstanding golf course. Located about eight miles north of Highland Road just short of Howell, the finishing hole at this course is one tough cookie.



I Bombed My Tee Shot and Still Have Plenty to Go.

The Chute Comes into Play on the 18th

Your Second Shot Needs to Go Left. The Fescues are Difficult
to the Right

This hole is one of my favorite closing holes in golf. Playing as the 2^nd handicap hole on the course, this par five (556-547 yards) demands golfers hit it through a tight chute of trees out of the tee box and has a wide fairway to drive it. There is trouble with the carnage on both sides of the fairway but the trees nearly 450 yards from the tee box frame this hole and golfers that hit it through the chute know they are in the game to hit it close for the second shot which is a douzy. Unless you have played this hole a few times, there is no way to know about the downhill slope about 125 yards in front of the green that funnel everything into the wetland fescues, the narrow left side fairway and the bunker that guards the green. The view is pretty and the third shot could be penal. If you go into the wetlands, it is good night. The sand bunkers are clustered on the left side below the hole and will catch errant second or third shots and a well placed bunker in front of the green will turn your smile upside down if you do not watch it.  After hitting the ball into a valley that funnels balls to the wetlands, the green then goes slightly uphill and acts to repel shots trying to find a home close to the flag. The green is two-tiered from back to front and the log cabin clubhouse has a patio and those who have had a few pops can cheer or jeer you. I nearly birdied this hole when my third shot from about 100 yards landed on the dog hair and was ten feet from the pin. My putt was wells struck and sat on the lip but did not go in. RRRrrr!

The second hole that requires the very best golf you can play and ranks by many people as on of the  toughest holes they can play is right smack in Auburn Hills at Fieldstone. To me, the real hole of substance is the eighth. This par three dandy is a monster. If Ben Hogan were around he might be proud of saying he brought another monster to its knees.  Most golfers will never see the really brutal side of the eighth. It plays from 119 to 227 but only those playing from the back will understand the difficulty of the hole as the men play from 167 to 197 yards.  

The eighth green from about 150 yards.
Most golfers will play from here.

The hole is difficult for quite a few reasons. There are woods to the right and left of the hole and fescues in front of the elevated two tiered green. For those golfers that do not go into the woods, a bridge makes the hole very tight and going over the green will carry out-of-bounds or  with a very difficult and blind chip to the green. If the flag is in the back left, golfers have a slim chance of landing it. If the flag is in the bottom tier, golf shots hit above the flag will roll most likely roll off the front edge of the green into a collection area. From the shorter yardage, pars are possible and I have seen birdies and earned one myself but not from 227 yards. I have also been to the right and short and I would mark down par every time if that was a possibility.

14th fairway from a golfers view on the tee box.

The old 14th hole at Katke Cousins in Rochester is a true ball placement hole and ten yards either way will knock you out of a clear shot at the green. This includes a tee shot to the right or left of the center of the fairway and also hitting a short tee shot or a long one that carries into a trap or the woods. 

      This is another elevated tee where the woods will gobble up any balls hit right or left and a sand trap will collect any errant tee shots in the landing area somewhere around 240-250 yards down the fairway. Errant tee shots that land on the fairway but short will have tree trouble as the mature tree line will knock down any less than stellar shots from the fairway. Oh yeah, the green is devilish. It is undulated and is guarded by bunkers. You better be right with God as it slopes from the back to the front and both times I played this hole the flag was in the front 15 of the green. Any mid to long iron shots  hitting above the hole will be hit downhill and it would not take much to hit your second putt from the fairway if you are above the hole on mowing day.

After a revamp of the course, this is now hole 5.

A tee shot not placed in the fairway will have tree trouble and you may have to shape your shot.

The green on this hole is very tricky.

16th fairway from the tee box

Are there holes tougher than these. I am sure that there are but like anything that is subjective, I would love to have your opinion.  If you do, bring it. I did not play every course in Michigan last year but these are tough. If your course was not surveyed, invite me. Your course could be here next year.