Earlier this summer, we asked readers on Facebook to share the most difficult golf hole they have played in the Upper Valley. Here is a closer look at three of the provided answers and how those close to the courses expand on the difficulties of each.
John P. Larkin Country Club — Hole 3
The third hole at Windsor’s nine-hole John P. Larkin Country Club plays as a par-4 for men and par-5 for women. Its lengths range from 324 to 330 yards from the red and yellow tees and from 333 to 342 yards from the white and blue tees.
“From teeing off, the fairway goes out pretty straight — if you’re just looking at that, it’s not too intimidating,” the course’s clubhouse manager, Trent Lowe, said.
The problem? If you are successful in getting the ball on the fairway, the green is elevated to the tune of 50 to 60 feet. “That’s what makes it really so difficult,” Lowe said, noting that the hill has native grasses on it, making for a thick playing surface.
“The height is a factor — it’s also a long, skinny green and it kind of goes from right to left in front of you,” Lowe said. “So even if you hit the green, it’s very hard to hold coming down at such a steep angle. A lot of guys don’t hold that green all year, or gals even.”
As for some tips on how to attack this part of the course, Lowe suggested laying up if you are unable to get a good first shot at the base of the hill. “The worst thing you can do is get stuck on the hill,” he said.
Lake Sunapee Country Club — Hole 12
Stretching 230 yards from the blue tees — what the director of golf at Lake Sunapee Country Club, Craig Gardner, referred to as the “original yardage of the hole” — No. 12 at Lake Sunapee Country Club in New London is a long par-3, a trademark of the course’s designer, Donald Ross.
“Ross built a lot of long par-3s, and he kind of built them somewhat the same way,” said Gardner. “He liked to have all-carry, whether it was over a canyon or something like that. In many cases it was just an uphill green that you had to carry the ball all the way to get it there.”
Not only do the length of the hole and the placement of bunkers left and right of the green stick out to Gardner, but also the green itself, which he referred to as “severe.”
“It’s big; it’s quite a bit from back to front — where it’s fast going from the back to the front,” he said of the green. “You can hit it on the green and still three-putt easily.”
Gardner indicated that some players treat the hole like a short par-4, considering the damage that could be done to one’s score if they find themselves in one of the bunkers.
“You’ve got to know your distance to hit it there,” he said. “It’s 230 yards in the air — a lot of people can’t hit a driver that far, so that’s one of the things that makes it difficult.”
Claremont Country Club — Hole 7
The seventh hole at the nine-hole Claremont Country Club ranges in length from a 379-yard par-5 for the women to a 434- to 446-yard par-4 for the men from the blue tees, according to Scott Pope, a board member of the club.
“The entire hole, up until the approach, is sloped down to the right at a pretty substantial area, so it’s probably about 250-260 yards into a valley, and then it’s uphill to the green, including a slope right to left,” Pope said.
Pope also said No. 7’s green is hard to read, and the right side of it drops off quickly. As for how he plays it, Pope likes to get his first shot to within 150 yards of the putting surface, then either go for the green or play his second shot to an approach zone.
“I try to get it up on something flat, so I have a good third shot or a putt,” he said. “It’s a pretty difficult hole.”
So difficult, in fact, that when the course was rated several years ago, it could have been made a par-5 with a change to the tee boxes due to the severe slope the hole has.
“They said, ‘Why would you want to get rid of one of the most difficult par-4s in New Hampshire?’ So we kept it a par-4,” Pope said.
