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We are lucky enough in the Bay Area to have some excellent golf courses on which to play. Some have hosted major championships, such as the Olympic Club, which held the United States Open four times, while others claim to fame would be hosting a local fundraiser. 

Each course has its holes that players remember long after they have played it; the kind of hole that might be difficult, beautiful, or just great because you made an excellent birdie.  Determining a great hole is objective, but having played most of the courses in the area, I got to thinking about some of the best holes in the North Bay, starting with par-3s.  We don't have to travel too far to find a great par-3. The Sonoma Golf Club has four excellent short holes and trying to pick just one is difficult.

The 17th is a short hole that has probably the hardest green to read on the whole course.  The 14th plays long and is surrounded by some deep bunkers, while No. 7 is likely the most picturesque hole on the course with a creek bordering the right side of the hole and trouble lurking to the left. But No. 4 gets my vote as one of the great par-3s in the area.  The fourth hole sits at the furthest point from the clubhouse on the course, bordering the boundary fence along Carriger Road, which at times comes into play if a pull or hook is hit.  The green is definitely the most difficult to hit on the course.  From the back tees the hole plays more than 200 yards and requires a long iron or hybrid club which must avoid the aforementioned road and bunkers that flank the left and right sides of the green. 

It just so happens that the green is also the narrowest on the course, making it difficult to locate.  If you are lucky enough to find the green, a two-putt is not always a guarantee; although narrow, the green is very long and could easily be two-to-three-clubs different from the front to the back of the green.  A flag on the front of the green is easily the toughest; miss long and you have an extremely quick and difficult putt coming down the slope.

 It is no surprise that this hole annually plays as one of the toughest during the Charles Schwab Cup Championship.  A three on this hole is most likely going to help you pick up ground on your playing partners. •••

We next travel west in Sonoma County for the picturesque and beautiful 17th hole at Bodega Harbour Golf Links.

Bodega had all its greens rebuilt this year, but it certainly didn't make No. 17 any easier. Being next to the Pacific Ocean, wind is generally a factor on this hole.  From the back tees the hole plays 188 yards and your tee shot must carry the famous marsh that fronts the green.  A large bunker in front of the green will catch a tee-shot that is not hit correctly, but with the wind usually swirling and coming into the player's face, the tee shot generally plays much longer than the card says.

This par-3 has no bailout area. If you miss left it will find the marsh; miss short and your looking at the bunker at best while right and long both are marked as hazard filled with long grass.  The green is large, but fairly flat, although hitting the green does not automatically mean you will walk away with a par.  One thing is for certain; if you are coming down the stretch with a good round going, you are going to think about this hole long before you get to it.   

•••   

A par-3 that might not get as much publicity as others in the area is Mare Island's third hole.  One of the newer holes on the "Oldest course west of the Mississippi," the third hole comes early in the round after two gentle opening holes.  Nothing is gentle about the third, however. 

Playing just under 190 yards, No. 3 is downhill but often into the prevailing wind off the bay.  There is only one place to be safe on this hole; the green. Miss your tee-shot just a little left and your ball is most likely lost.

A wall of rock sits just off the left hand side of the green, which would lull you into a false sense of security that a tee-shot to the left will bounce down onto the green, but this rarely happens. The right side of the hole is no better, with bushes and long grass marked as hazard; a tee shot in that direction almost always results in a penalty shot and bogey at best. A small bunker does sit in the front right portion of the green, so a tee-shot that is moving just to the right of the green will often find the bottom of that. 

The green is small, as are all the greens at Mare Island, so finding it with your tee-shot will often mean you have a makeable birdie putt; but given that most foursomes will struggle to have one ball on the green in regulation, there aren't too many birdies made on this hole.

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If you have any suggestion on your favorite holes in the area, please feel free to contact me via the Web at rwdavison@yahoo.com. Tell me what hole, on what course and why you like that particular hole.  A list of difficult par-4s in the area will appear in an upcoming I-T Golf Notes.   

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