Hole lotta trouble
Navigating the toughest golf holes in Nova Scotia.
When Leon Carter won the first of his four Nova Scotia amateur golf championships on a windy, hardbaked Hartlen Point track, he was asked just how challenging it had been.
“I’m a member at Dundee,” he said. “Not much is tough compared to that.”
Carter was right that day in 2000, and he still is. Dundee is known for its rigour (as one of my playing partners said after we finished there, “not a level stance on the course”), but is by no means the only place where you need to bring your A game.
The Links at Brunello is aboveaverage difficult for any average golfer, and I once played in a scramble at Granite Springs with a guy who bought 18 balls in the pro shop before his round, then got a dozen more at the turn.
In an effort to identify the 18 toughest holes in Nova Scotia, we canvassed golf course employees across the province, staff and customers at Golf Central and the people we play with. One caveat: we chose one first hole, one second hole, and so on. As soon as we started talking about this idea, there was instant debate about whether Northumberland Links or Clare had the toughest No. 5, and which par three second hole — Digby’s or Brightwood’s — was most likely to result in a double bogey.
Agree with the results? Strenuously disagree? Weigh in below.
Hole No. 1
1. Amherst Golf Club — From the club: “#1, also the #1 handicap hole, is a 568 yard double dog-leg par 5 which plays to a very narrow fairway with trees on both sides. It’s aptly named Eye-Opener. The conservative player hits an iron off the tee. A long drive to the left will find a steep embankment and to the right are trees, tall grass and bushes. The fairway opens up after the second shot and plays down a slight incline to a bunkered green. The green has three tiers and if you are left or long, you have to chip back up the hill to get on the green.
2. LePortage Golf Club — “It’s a good thing the view on the second hole is nice, almost makes you forget the first hole,” says one nomination.
Also receiving votes: Bluenose Golf Club, Highlands Links Golf Course
Hole No. 2
1. Digby Pines Golf Resort — If you can accurately hit a high, softly landing draw to a small target with a mid-iron, this hole isn’t that scary. But short is wet, long is on a steep bank of thick rough, and double is common.
2. Abercrombie Country Club — “If you are lucky enough to have (an approach) into the slanted threelevel green, you will have to challenge a large pond and another small but deep trap in front,” a member says.
Also receiving votes: Sherwood Golf and Country Club, Brightwood Golf and Country Club
Hole No. 3
1. The Links at Brunello — From the white tees, 572 yards, so a threeshot hole for anyone, especially considering the elevated green that adds a club or two to the approach. From the tee, the landing area is as narrow as it looks, and firm, with woods left and a marsh left. The second shot requires navigating traps on both sides of the fairway and a deep, massive bunker guards the front of a huge, undulating green. A brute of a par 5.
2. Berwick Heights Golf Course — “From the right, where most tee shots end up, you have a blind shot over a bunker with trees and a hazard to the right. Most people bail out to the left on the hill, leaving a very difficult chip shot. Those that hit the green find it difficult to stay on because of the slope,” says club president Dan Keddy.
Also receiving votes: Oakfield Golf and Country Club
Hole No. 4
1. Old Ashburn — “It’s a very long 395 uphill, and the fairway slants so you don’t get a good roll, it’s almost always into the wind and it’s got the toughest green on the course. Other than that, it’s a walk in the park,” says a 40-year Ashburn member who’s a 10 handicapper. “I haven’t parred it this year.”
2. The Links at Brunello — “The toughest hole to make par on in the province,” one regular says.
Also receiving votes: Northumberland Links, Truro Golf and Country Club, Highlands Links Golf Course, River Oaks Golf Club
Hole No. 5
1. Northumberland Links — Named the Grim Reaper to acknowledge the 18th century cemetery adjacent to the fairway, and also because this par 5 is where promising rounds go to die. A creek runs the length of the right side, there are woods left and large mounds guard the front of a sloped green that is typically Northumberland hard.
2. Clare Golf and Country Club — Formerly a par 5, and now the “toughest par 4 I ever played,” a member says of this uphill hole, with OB all the way up the left hand side, and a tee shot over water to a side hill stance for the approach to a long, narrow sloped green. “The cards says the hole plays 430 yards, but I think it’s 455.”
Also receiving votes: The Lakes Golf Club, Brightwood
Hole No. 6
1. Glen Arbour Golf Course — A former member describes the longest and hardest hole at Glen Arbour like this: “A bit of a dog leg right off the tee. Even if you hit a good drive you now are on a downhill lie, and must hit a long shot across a creek with scrub on both sides, (before an approach) up hill to a horseshoe-shaped green.”
2. The Links at Penn Hills — Hard to choose a target area from the tee on this par 4 that has a creek crossing the fairway diagonally right where a good drive would come to rest. “A bad hole, but very tough,” says one writer.
Also receiving votes: Digby, The Lakes, Cabot Links
Hole No. 7
1. Highlands Links — The runaway winner, getting more votes than any other hole in Nova Scotia. Sample comments:
“If you are on the wrong side of the green, two putts will be almost impossible.”
“Bunkers all around as you approach the green. I have brought my bucket and shovel to each and every one of them.”
“If you par this hole, you have had five outstanding shots.”
“Not only does it take three remarkable shots to get on the green, but the green itself is tremendously tough. I play it as a par 6 and hope.”
2. Parrsboro Golf Club — How’s this 209-yard par 3 sound? “Apple tree on right front of green surface means you can be on the green and still have an unplayable lie. Over the green slightly lands you in an (orchard) if you are lucky enough to stay in bounds. Slope of green, once you are actually on the green, makes putting no bargain, and three putts are common. Wind blows strongly off the Bay of Fundy constantly with the changing tides.”
Also receiving votes: Avon Valley Golf and Country Club
Hole No. 8
1. Avon Valley Golf and Country Club — Commonly heard on the tee here: “I don’t have this club.” The 200 yard shot is both downhill and to an elevated green at the same time, with a mucky pond left and a slope right that funnels errant shots under a tree. At first glance, this hole doesn’t look that hard, but it is.
2. River Hills Golf and Country Club — If you hit a big enough drive on this 395-yard par 4, you might get to the crest of the hill and have a view down to a tiny green.
Also receiving votes: Cabot Links, Le Portage
Hole No. 9
1. New Ashburn — No problem here. Just bomb a drive straight down the middle about 290, crush a hybrid straight down the middle a couple of hundred more yards, then hit a nice soft wedge to a spot on the two-tier lightning quick green where you can lag one up to tap-in range.
2. Brightwood — The big trench in front of the tilted green comes after a drive that first has to elude thick and wide branches on both sides of the fairway, and a lengthy approach shot.
Also receiving votes: Bluenose
Hole No. 10
1. Glen Lovat — Downhill and not that long at 413 yards, this quirky par 4 gets its teeth from four ponds, including two in front of the green, to go with a pair of bunkers.
2. Chester Golf Club — If you can land a three-wood or hybrid approach on an elevated green and make it stop quickly, this hole gets much easier.
Also receiving votes: Cabot Cliffs
Hole No. 11
1. Chester Golf Club — A visually confusing target area off the tee, along with soft earth and thick rough in front of an elevated green, combine to make par elusive here.
2. Mountain Golf Club — A long par 5 with a fairway starts wide and inviting. But a water hazard crosses the entire fairway where most players like to lay up. That leaves a long approach to a green protected by trees and a ravine.
Also receiving votes: Dundee, Brightwood, Oakfield, Paragon, Hartlen Point Forces Golf Club, Highlands Links
Hole No. 12
A view over the 12th green with the 18th hole and the Gulf of St. Lawrence in the background. (Contributed)
1. Cabot Cliffs — “Maybe the toughest par 3 in the province,” says a golfer who makes annual pilgrimage. Any par 3 where you’re hitting driver off the tee is obviously difficult.
2. The Lakes — A par 4 into the prevailing wind with an uphill approach to a small, narrow green.
Also receiving votes: Digby Pines, Osprey Ridge Golf Club
Hole No. 13
1. Fox Hollow Golf Club — If you’re above this severely tilted green, you’ll be very pleased with bogey. Or, as one member says, “you’re done.” To get there, a righthander has the ball below his feet for an approach shot with a wood or hybrid. It’s 420 yards, usually into the wind, and there’s water.
2. Brightwood — The hole’s configuration keeps golfers on adjacent #14 alert for errant shots, and the second shot is a blind one to a shallow green.
Also receiving votes: Clare, Bell Bay, Eden
Hole No. 14
1. Cabot Cliffs — The only golf course that appears twice on this list, appropriate since it was recently named the best course in Canada. Another par 3, most notable for the large rock hump that sits surrounded by bunkers. The rock was discovered while earth moving for the hole was done, and designers decided to leave it there.
2. Hartlen Point Forces Golf Club — Long, and almost always into the wind off the ocean, with a water hazard the length of the hole on the left and a small green that’s tough to hit in regulation.
Also receiving votes: Penn Hills
Hole No. 15
1. Hartlen Point Forces Golf Club — A member says “I’ve seen full drivers and pitching wedges find the green. It’s a bit windy. The entire left side is out of bounds and it happily accepts hooks, especially those accentuated by a headwind.
2. New Ashburn — One Ashburn member used to get home from a round to have his father ask him not what he shot, but what he had on 15. At 410 yards from the whites, a lot tougher on the course than it looks on the scorecard.
Also receiving votes: Brookfield, Amherst
Hole No. 16
1. Ken-Wo — Greenwood and Northumberland also have exceedingly tough 16s, but most voters favoured the par 4 at Ken-Wo. A huge bank guarding the green makes par nearly impossible if you don’t have a big sweeping draw in your arsenal.
2. Northumberland Links — An ugly hazard in front of the green that swallows long approach shots makes double bogey common. The view of the water and P.E.I. eases the pain.
Also receiving votes: Cabot Cliffs
Hole No. 17
1. Paragon Golf and Country Club — Just average in length, 159 from the whites and 181 from the blues, but three strategically placed pot bunkers mean tee shots have to fly all the way to the green. The flag on this kidney-shaped green is often tucked behind the bunkers, and on the other side a ridge funnels balls off the carpet.
2. Bell Bay Golf Club — “A tremendous test of nerve,” reads one submission about this par 3. “All that stands between tee and green is a chasm. The hole grabs your attention, because short, left or right are quickly eaten up by Mother Nature.”
Also receiving votes: Glen Arbour, Glen Lovat Golf Club
Hole No. 18
1. Oakfield Golf and Country Club — After one of the longer walks in the province, golfers often arrive at 18 fatigued, but there’s no respite. Describing “this beast” of a hole, one of the club’s best players says “It’s tough, but fair. There’s nothing quirky about it. Hit a good drive, and a good second, and you have a fair chance. Hit a poor shot, and you will certainly be penalized.”
2. Seaview Golf and Country Club — Hopefully your swing is grooved by this point in your round, because there is little margin for error off the tee in either direction.
Also receiving votes: Amherst, New Ashburn