Par 5's

slave1

Well, we've had the Par 3s and 4s so time for the Par 5s I suppose.
Longest, strangest, most memorable, optimal number (all else equal), course with most/fewest, longest in a row etc.

For a guy who enjoys taking photos I don't really have any that stands out, from memory the finish to Adare is a good one as well as the similar 16th in The K Club (below) which apart from being a good golf hole had the explosion of emotion in the RC, I found the 18th in Moyvalley tough.

Palmerstown PGA has all par 5s as its index 1-4 which I thought was in the unusual realms, but I heard somewhere recently they changed those indices.

Can't think of plenty of courses with two Par 5s back to back but none with more than that...

Wichita Lineman

3 is grand, though I'd prefer if one of our 3 was on front 9 rather than all 3 being in the last 5 holes.

valoren

My two favourites are from Waterville.

The 11th "Tranquility", threading through the dunes, the silence is fantastic and the finishing hole with the Atlantic all down the right side.

LuckyGent88

Cashen course in ballybunion has a couple of memorable ones. The 8th is a beast of a hole but the 15th is a cracking par 5 altogether.

Kevinmarkham

slave1 wrote: »

Well, we've had the Par 3s and 4s so time for the Par 5s I suppose.
Longest, strangest, most memorable, optimal number (all else equal), course with most/fewest, longest in a row etc.

For a guy who enjoys taking photos I don't really have any that stands out, from memory the finish to Adare is a good one as well as the similar 16th in The K Club (below) which apart from being a good golf hole had the explosion of emotion in the RC, I found the 18th in Moyvalley tough.

Palmerstown PGA has all par 5s as its index 1-4 which I thought was in the unusual realms, but I heard somewhere recently they changed those indices.

Can't think of plenty of courses with two Par 5s back to back but none with more than that...

Narin and Portnoo has three consecutive par 5s - holes 13-15. A bit of a tough ask that late in the day, but 15 is glorious.
I'll post some photos this evening...

slave1

Wow, that is late into the round alright, I love it when there's at least one of a Par 3, 4 and 5 over the last 4 holes.
My perfect finish would be tough par 4, nice par 3, driveable (~260y-270y from elevated tee) risk/reward par 4 and then island green par 5 with a tight driving line but generous lay up area.

Tough par 4 from anywhere, something like the 15th in Dromoland, nice par 3 from anywhere then 18th/16th from Adare/K Club Palmer.

Sean_pop

18th at Fota Island is a memorable Par 5 for me even though I hit in the water!!!

charlieIRL

Christ I hate Par 5's!!! Can never seem to score well on them!!

jrby

the 11th in hermitage is a lovely par 5, index 1 as well which is unusual...

Rikand

charlieIRL wrote: »

Christ I hate Par 5's!!! Can never seem to score well on them!!

For a fella who hits the ball so far, I'm surprised!

Dr_Colossus

In my home club (BlackBush) there are 5 par 5s (par 73). Starts and finishes with a par 5 and also there are two back to back shortish par 5's on 9 and 10.
I have problems with the last hole as I think it favours the higher handicap golfer and doesn't offer enough risk/reward given it's index 10. There's water before the green but the hole itself is too long to make it reachable in 2 (562 yards) so if you don't find the fairway on your drive you're forced to often hack sideways and then layup making a bogey a good score.

Generally I like par 5s but they should be good risk/reward holes and require you to strategise the best route to the hole. It's nice to have a reachable in two par 5 offering you the opportunity to go for it if you get out a good drive but I also really like a par 5 where a long iron off the tee might be the best option.

The par 5s in Palmerstown house I thought were good offering different options from both the tee and second shots plus I liked the par 5 finish in Moyvalley.

Ally McIntosh

All other things being equal, I ideally prefer less than four Par-5's. We've enough long courses as is. And three shot holes are generally harder to design with meaningful strategy.

But again, site determines it in the end.

Kingswood Rover

Blessington lakes has 2 in a row 8th and 9th. The 9th has to be one of the best par 5's around 600 yards from the medal tees with a 220 carry over a old sandpit onto a slightly sloping Fairway. So even if you hit a corker 250/260 you then got to hit a three wood/hybrid between or over 2 magnificent trees that guard the rest of the fairway. That will leave anything from a hybrid to a wedge in. You then have to carry the ball onto a raised green as there are two bunkers right in front of it...cruel some might say but there you have it. The 9th in blessed lakes is a golf course on its on. Super Saturday March 7th.

ForeRight

Millicent starts with 2 par 5's
The second one very reachable

SevesThreeIron

Dr_Colossus wrote: »

In my home club (BlackBush) there are 5 par 5s (par 73). Starts and finishes with a par 5 and also there are two back to back shortish par 5's on 9 and 10.
I have problems with the last hole as I think it favours the higher handicap golfer and doesn't offer enough risk/reward given it's index 10.

The story goes that 18 is left as index 10 for match play purposes. It should probably be somewhere between index 1 and 5 but as many matches don't go that far you would often have games decided without an index 1 or 2. So they say anyway.

You probably know but O'Grady claims two have had a 2 on that hole years ago. Two drivers! That was before the lake was there in front of the green.

Personally I think it's a great hole, one of the genuine quality holes in BB. Requires two accurate and long-ish shots just to get in position to play for the green. It's a potential card wrecker!

Dero123

We have three in Athy in the first eight holes with back to back on 4 and 5. Surprised nobody has yet mentioned the second at the Heritage I think that a great one along with the 15th on the o meara in carton house

Kingswood Rover

Dero123 wrote: »

We have three in Athy in the first eight holes with back to back on 4 and 5. Surprised nobody has yet mentioned the second at the Heritage I think that a great one along with the 15th on the o meara in carton house

Yep 4 and 5 at Athy are really good on a good summers day 4 can be reachable although the OB on the right tends to make me a little tight and i never seem to rip it enough to get up, the 5th is a great hole never was long enough to even contemplate getting over the water in 2.

Barnaboy

Agree with dero123, the 15th on the O'Meara is a brilliant par 5, my favourite hole on the whole course. Generally not a huge fan of par 5's myself, they are usually quite ordinary holes.

The 18th in Rathcore isn't too bad as it has a risk/reward element with the lake. i also like the 16th at Knockanally, picturesque hole.

On the not so good- the 18th in Grange Castle is a very weak par 5, finishing holes should have something tough to test your mettle.

Kevinmarkham

Agree with others - difficult to keep them interesting/strategic tee to green. Obviously it's the second shot that causes the most difficulty from a design perspective - hitting from fairway to fairway (or rough to out of bounds!).

The holes at Palmerstown Stud are a bit crazy - all double doglegs and long. Good holes, but are four of them necessary?

Just as with short par fours, it's nice to have a short par five that gives people the belief they can reach in two.

Here are three that are fun to play:

Narin & Portnoo 15th


Royal Curragh 1st


The Island 15th

slave1

Have a lot of courses not come up with final par 5s with the same theme though in 'recent' years, Palmer, O'Meara, Adare for example are pretty much copies of each other with greens on LHS over water at the end...

WHIP IT!

I always like a course to begin and end on a par-five... from a 'Weekend Warrior' point of view, an opening par-five hole gives you a chance to hit a drive, fairway wood/hyrbrid/long iron and a short iron/wedge nice and early in the round... and a closing par-five gives the happy hacker one final chance at a decent par or better... while for more competitive golfers, a closing long hole always throws up the chance of a big finish or final-hole drama in match/team-play...

I'm surprised so many people seem to dislike par-fives in general... they're usually the most fun holes on a golf course for me...

stockdam

charlieIRL wrote: »

Christ I hate Par 5's!!! Can never seem to score well on them!!

I love them. I hate par 3s though.

downthemiddle

Kingswood Rover wrote: »

Blessington lakes has 2 in a row 8th and 9th. The 9th has to be one of the best par 5's around 600 yards from the medal tees with a 220 carry over a old sandpit onto a slightly sloping Fairway. So even if you hit a corker 250/260 you then got to hit a three wood/hybrid between or over 2 magnificent trees that guard the rest of the fairway. That will leave anything from a hybrid to a wedge in. You then have to carry the ball onto a raised green as there are two bunkers right in front of it...cruel some might say but there you have it. The 9th in blessed lakes is a golf course on its on. Super Saturday March 7th.

The last hole in Blessington Lakes is a great hole, fraught with danger. At 606 yards it is AFAIK the longest finishing hole in the country and can be a real card wrecker.

stockdam

downthemiddle wrote: »

The last hole in Blessington Lakes is a great hole, fraught with danger. At 606 yards it is AFAIK the longest finishing hole in the country and can be a real card wrecker.

And the longest par 5 is the 6th at Bright Castle. I think it's 735 yards from the back sticks.

downthemiddle

stockdam wrote: »

And the longest par 5 is the 6th at Bright Castle. I think it's 735 yards from the back sticks.

Is it not a par 6?

Rikand

downthemiddle wrote: »

Is it not a par 6?

It was, but according to a random review I found on the internet they had to change it to a par 5 and shorten the hole in order to comply with handicap regulations.

The par five 6th hole was, until recently, the longest hole in European golf, measuring a whopping 735 yards from the back tees! The club had to trim a few yards - 120 to be exact - off the holes in order to comply with the rules, as a par six hole is not recognised for handicap purposes.

http://www.irishgolfcourses.co.uk/northernireland/brightcastle.php

stitcheddepin

I love to see a risk reward factor on the par 5's. in my opinion they should offer a chance for long /brave hitters to gain a stroke on the field, or lose one if the shot goes astray.
The two mammoth par 5's back to back on the back nine in the curragh will knock the wind out of you, physical par 5's.
A finishing par 5 is always great, can set up a big swing in a competition or a dramatic finish in a matchplay. 18th in moyvalley is a good example, 18th in baltray also.

Deep Thought

Played a course in Tenerife where two Par 3 were index 4 & 5

dcrosskid

Sean_pop wrote: »

18th at Fota Island is a memorable Par 5 for me even though I hit in the water!!!

One of my favorite holes, played Fota twice and birdied it both days so it left a lasting impression.

On the Par 6 hole, I have never heard of a par 6 before. Sounds mad but i would love to give it a go. Pity it had to be changed back to a par 5 but that is still a massive par 5.

slave1

From a 2012 PGA Tour article...

Most years, the 667-yard 16th at Firestone South -- home of the World Golf Championships-Bridgestone Invitational -- is the undisputed longest hole on the PGA TOUR. Sure, the 663-yard finishing hole at Kapalua, home of the Hyundai Tournament of Champions -- is close. But that hole is severely downhill, and even medium hitters have been known to hit it in two occasionally.

But the 16th at Firestone is a true three-shot hole, unless you are a big left-hander named Bubba. He hit it in two in 2011, but that's another story.

This year at Olympic, the par-5 16th stretches to 670 yards, the longest hole in the 112-year history of the U.S. Open.

Random image of said hole

slave1

..and here's Bubba's approach to the par 5 18th at Kapalua, gotta laugh watching this one
348y off the tee then 305y off the deck :eek:

...and he makes the putt

titlebearer

The 13th in The European Club is one of my favorite holes ever. Great views driving off and if the wind blows makes it accessible for 2 shots to the green. Fota is a great finishing hole but the 13th in the European is special

mikepajero182

The 13th at the slieve russell is a great risk reward par 5, with the option to cut over the lake both on the tee box and on the approach.