Hole No. 1, The Cliffs at Glassy (1st), Travelers Rest, SC
Sophisticated cuisine and high-tech wellness facilities are a theme at each of the six Carolinas communities bearing The Cliffs brand. Our Dream 18 starts there with an inspiring tee shot courtesy of architect Tom Jackson.

This tight and dramatic par-4 at Cliffs at Glassy plays to a narrow landing area beside a steep wooded hillside. Drives that steer clear of it flirt with water on the right.
Click here for more information about The Cliffs!

Hole No. 2, Fox Acres (8th), Red Feather Lakes, Colorado
Tucked into the Colorado Rockies on 460 pristine acres an hour from Fort Collins, the pine-scented community of Fox Acres is home to one of Colorado's Top Ten private golf courses.

Designed by noted Denver architect John Cochran, it offers a true high-light in the form of a clever par-4 featuring a water hazard that despite causing butterflies is fairly easily cleared. Cochran leads players around a sharp dogleg known as “Ray’s Corner,” rewarding drives placed on the left half of the fairway with a clear shot to the green.

Hole No. 3, Teton Springs (11th) Teton Valley, Wyoming
Rocky Mountain snow-splashed peaks, mountain-fed stream and lakes and vast green fairways make golf at Teton Springs a continually memorable event. The community's 11th holetakes advantage of great mountain views from allalong its straightaway 460-yards.

Two ponds lie in perilous locations along the fairway and up by the green. The front of the green is open to allow a long second shot to bounce in front and run in, proving that yes, you can you can build a great par-4 without doglegs or elevation changes.
Click here for more information about Teton Springs!

Hole No. 4, The Riverfront (15th), Suffolk, Virginia
Living amid Tidewater charm with waterfront views in the only master-planned community with a Tom Doak golf course is a sign of discernment. The course-design connoisseurs who play this layout and its knee-knocking, par-3, 15th over golden marsh grass must remember that the green is large enough to handle a less-than-perfect shot.

The reward goes to a committed stroke and the ability to block out anxiety—which strikes the golfer despite the gorgeous surroundings.
Click here for more information about The Riverfront!

Hole No. 5, Ford Plantation (15th), Richmond Hill, Georgia
Pete Dye was admittedly seduced by the Lowcountry beauty of Ford Plantation, with its views of the Ogeechee River and miles of marsh beyond. Dye worked these long, lush views into the golf course, which traipses across some 600 acres.

In homage to the original “Alps” hole, the 14th at Scotland’s ancient Prestwick, Dye likes to occasionally design a par-4 with an impressive cluster of very high mounds that obscures the green at least partly, even for the player who has driven well. This two-shot hole is only 383 yards from the back tees but its Alps feature can give a golfer fits. Click here for more information about The Ford Plantation!

Hole No. 6, The Founder’s Club (14th), Sarasota, Florida
Inside a guarded sanctuary accented by 90 acres of picturesque lakes and shaded by stands of pines, palms and old oak hammocks, there is a “core” golf course (not lined by housing) by Robert Trent Jones, Jr. that represents some of his finest work in recent years. Our highlight hole is a monster par-5 that plays from a narrow chute of trees.

This 570-yarder plays along water for half its length, and a mistake off the tee will make getting home in a decent score a difficult task. The large green provides plenty of rippling contour, so par will be well earned.
Click here for more information about The Founders Club!

Hole No. 7, Winchester Country Club, Meadow Vista, California
Perched in the scenic Sierra foothills—above the fog of the Sacramento Valley and below the snow line of Lake Tahoe, Winchester offers exclusive luxury estate homes. One of them enjoys an enviable view of the dramatic downhill seventh, a par-3 from the combined sketchbook of Robert Trent Jones Sr. and Jr.

Its green is guarded by a large natural gorge at the front of the green. Overshoot the target and you’ll be navigating a large mound at the back right that makes recovery play difficult on this thinking-man’s layout by a famous father-son duo.
Click here for more information about Winchester Country Club!

Hole No. 8, Aliante Golf Club (5th), North Las Vegas, Nevada
Playing golf while scanning dramatic desert terrain and spectacular views of Sheep Mountain peaks can cause distraction. For golfers in the 1,900-acre master-planned community of Aliante, losing concentration on the this artful, compact par-4 with its bowl-like landing area off the tee is not recommended. The course is a festival of unique contours and angles, but the fifth is particularly dramatic in shape.

Hole No. 9, Quechee Lakes (Highland 7th), Quechee, Vermont
The Quechee setting is rural but Rockefeller-influenced, with watercolor villages and immense preservation lands in all directions. This community is one of Vermont’s golfiest places, with holes like the thrilling 7th on the Highland course a fitting example of its  woodland challenge.

It’s a par-4 with a broad, rapidly flowing creek all along the left side, plus some vintage Geoffrey Cornish bunkers guarding the right side of the fairway and the green.

Hole No. 10, Owl's Nest (12th), Thornton, New Hampshire
Across the way from Quechee in New Hampshire, Mark Mungeam’s 7,012-yard Owl’s Nest Golf Club is a proud amenity of the property, which is also loved for its White
Mountain views and sporting opportunities on the Pemigewassett River, a Class A waterway widely favored for excellent canoeing, kayaking, swimming and fishing.

A difficult hole on the back nine is this 450-yard par-4, which plays downhill to a generous landing area, then requires a long approach shot over wetlands to the green. Click here for more information about Owl’s Nest!

Hole No. 11, Stonehouse (7th), Toano, Virginia
Named "Best New Upscale Course in the U.S., 1996" by Golf Digest, the Mike Strantz golf course at this beautifully designed recreational community justminutes from historic Williamsburg is visually and strategically stunning. The short par-5 seventh, a double dogleg that skirts the top of a ridge, brims with risk-reward options for bold and meek players alike.
Click here for more information about Stonehouse!

Hole No. 12, Champion Hills (9th), Hendersonville, North Carolina
A serene community of villas, cottages and single-family homes set into beautiful wooded homesites in the Blue Ridge Mountains, Champion Hills has a moderate, four-season golf climate and a notable resident—no less than course-design king Tom Fazio.

Fazio’s rollicking layout at Champion Hills is highlighted by the par-3 ninth, a true beauty that plays steeply downhill past slopes dotted with colorful wildflowers.
Click here for more information about Champion Hills!

Hole No. 13, Horseshoe Bay Resort (14th), Marble Falls, Texas
Golf holes as festive and unabashedly man-made as this might not be built today, but the monumental scale and feel-good atmosphere of Horseshoe Bay are plenty rare, as well. Of the three Robert Trent Jones courses in this resort community among massive lakes, Slick Rock was the first and remains the most playable. Its signature hole is this 361-yard, par 4, which crosses a wide river with lily pads and a roaring waterfall built at considerable expense.
Click here for more information about Horseshoe Bay!

Hole No. 14, Running Y Ranch (4th) Klamath Falls, Oregon
As one might expect, the Arnold Palmer-designed golf course at Running Y is as spectacular as the surrounding environment. Playing through rolling terrain with mature
pine forests and scenic wetlands, Oregon’s only Arnold Palmer-designed course induces both delight and a tinge of fear at its par-3 fourth.

This is a gorgeous downslope hole with water right and the downhiller’s penchant for giving the drifting shot more time to drift. Guide the ball too far left, away from water, and it will kick hard toward trouble.
Click here for more information about Running Y Ranch!

Hole No. 15, Cuscowilla (5th), Lake Oconee, Georgia
A wonderful lakefront lifestyle on the shores of Georgia's Lake Oconee plus one of the most praised courses in America keeps the residents in top spirits at Cuscowilla. When they come to the fifth hole of their stellar links, they see the subtlety of Bill Coore and Ben
Crenshaw in action. From the back tees, the hole measures only 305 yards.

A huge pit of a bunker dominates the fairway, stretching within 24 yards of the front edge of the green and reaching back over 100 yards. The bunker is in direct line with the green from the tee and splits the generous right fairway from the smaller and tighter left side. The lesser player has ample room down the right for his typical slice, but the approach from there is a challenge to bring off.
Click here for more information about Cuscowilla!

Hole No. 16, Bayside (10th), Selbyville, Delaware
Sited within earshot of waves that wash in from Assawoman Bay, Bayside is a community with all the landmarks of a real town, including charming neighbor-hoods, world-class resort amenities and memorable views.

Its golf is by Jack Nicklaus, and clearly the designer loved this site. Jack’s 10th here is a standout, a rumpled, marsh-framed beauty of a par-4 throws two clusters of bunkers at the bold player, one set filling the fairway, the other orbiting a kidney-shaped green lowered into a slight depression. At a standard playing length of just 378 yards, it’s the hole where overconfidence goes to catch a firm scolding.
Click here for more information about Bayside!

Hole No. 17, Barton Creek (Foothills 16th), Austin, Texas
The mix of Austin nonchalance and high-toned luxury and service on-property at Barton Creek provides nice variety for property owners—something they also get in their four golf courses holes of golf by three different architects.

Choosing among them presents a dilemma , but the 16th on Tom Fazio’s beloved Foothills course is bound to please. A creek guards the left side of this par-4, 420-yard hole’s fairway landing area, then it turns across the front of the green, forcing a precise second shot.
Click here for more information about Barton Creek!

Hole No. 18, Horn Rapids (18th), Richland, Washington
Horn Rapids is an 800-acre, master-planned golf community set in a stunning natural location near the banks of the Yakima River in the sunny, temperate Tri-Cities region of Washington.

This finishing hole on our fantasy course is an actual finisher on the course we selected it from. Keith Foster’s much-admired Horn Rapids layout concludes with a par-4 of 390 yards, a short but dangerous dogleg right. The approach should be played to the middle of the green to avoid the lake that borders the green to the back and left. An approach missed right will find a deep bunker in front of the green.
Click here for more information about Horn Rapids!

Back to Top