What do you want from an opening hole?

[MarkT]

What’s your ideal opening hole? Where I play we have a reachable par 5 which is great as you can hit driver and you can’t really get into any trouble but you never take advantage of it and, if it came six holes later, you might make a few birdies.

I’d also rather not use a shot. Or play a par 3. Or have to hit an iron. Or see any white stakes. Or make a birdie.

Am thinking the likes of Dornoch, get driver out, almost certainly make bogey and get about your business

 

[Smiffy]

Nice, gentle par 4 or 5 to get you into your round..... dislike par 3 starts or anything where you've got to bust a gut to get home.
Blackmoor has a nice start.

 

[hacker_al]

Definitely not a par 3.
Other than that, as long as I finish with the same ball I started with I don't mind

 

[MarkT]

Nice, gentle par 4 or 5 to get you into your round..... dislike par 3 starts or anything where you've got to bust a gut to get home.
Blackmoor has a nice start.

I hit it OOB at Blackmoor with a hybrid (though hadn’t really been to bed) ?

 

[Deleted member 1147]

Kedleston is a reachable par 5, when played off the whites, but a long par 4 off the blues.
I much prefer the par 5 option.
The obsession with long par 4's is one I don't understand. Especially as we already have 7 par 4's of over 400yds off the whites.

 

[sweaty sock]

195 par 3 with a valley infront of the green, OB all the way down the right, so tight on the green the OB fence can stop you lining up a putt. Also enourmous narrow, crowned, double green shared with spectators from 18.

Most would complain, but most would also play off the very back tees so they could "be challenged and play the real course".

 

[Miller]

A dinosaur straddling the fairway, and a dog-leg tunnel onto the green.

 

[KenL]

A birdie!

 

[NearHull]

Sunshine, good company. Then a par.

 

[Deleted member 3432]

I love our opening hole. Got to hit the fairway and full commitment for the second shot with anything from a wedge to some sort of timber depending on wind conditions of the day.

Great tast of what is to come on the opening stretch.

Only downside is your round can be over very quickly if you get it wrong.

 

[chico]

Always nice to get a par on the first. Nice shortish par 4 fits the bill.

 

[patricks148]

Personally I like a shorter par 4 start so you can get your round off in the right manner, Dornoch, Carnoustie have this right. We had a nice easy start but now it's a considerably harder hole at over 400 to a raised green. Not a fan of a par 3 start.

 

[G1z1]

I like a short par 4 something under 400 yards. Nice drive then hopefully a short iron onto the green for a chance of a birdie but usually end up with a bogey

 

[sweaty sock]

Does no-one warm up?

 

[KenL]

Does no-one warm up?

Rarely.

 

[Deleted member 3432]

Does no-one warm up?

Always, but that doesn't necessarily prevent a car crash on the 1st ?

 

[Smiffy]

Does no-one warm up?

Yep
Always half half an ounce of Golden Virginia tucked in the bag.

 

[jim8flog]

One of the things I have said for years is that if I was to design a course (never going to happen) I would start it with a very tough Par 3, the sort where most golfers would take 4 or more. In that way you are setting the pace for the rest of the round.

Where I play there is nearly always a hold up on our 15th which is a very tough par 3 and just all the waiting around can be a card wrecker as well as the obvious frustration of sometimes being the third group on the tee.

 

[Curls]

Not the opening hole at Birkdale ?

Wouldn’t stop me playing there every day though.

 

[jim8flog]

I am superstitious and I do not like getting a birdie on the first, although it does not stop me from trying.

So many rounds with a birdie on the first which have gone downhill from thereon.