Raleigh skyline makes Lonnie Poole GC's 11th hole the favorite

View of Raleigh Skyline from the 11th tee
at Lonnie Poole Golf Course

It’s not unusual for golfers to choose a favorite hole on a given course for something other than its design. 

In a recent survey of repeat players at the Lonnie Poole Golf Course at N.C. State University, 35 percent of the respondents selected the lengthy par-5 11th hole. With its six sets of tees from the “way-back-there” box of 665 yards to the shortest length of 477 yards, nearly the entire hole, a third of a mile long parallel to highway Interstate-40, and its every nook and cranny can be seen from each tee. 

The right side from the fairway is closely guarded by a wooded area. The left side slopes severely away from the fairway, taking good shots into heavy rough. Two well-placed fairway sand bunkers on the left and right can come into play on second shots. Deep sand bunkers from about 100 yards out guard the front of the shallow but wide green. Two sand bunkers guard a bail-out area short and right side of the green. 

The 11th is the course's No. 2 handicap hole and can be played various ways. Long drive and second shot and then an uphill blind third or a challenging bunker shot from 70 yards out. Or a decent drive, a layup five iron leaving a 140-yard pitch. There are many other ways, some planned, some mistakenly taken. The 11th has a love hate relationship with most players, or maybe it’s the other way around. It’s challenging and, from tee through the green, the 11th is a great hole for its design.

However, it’s what looms behind and over the green, about three and a half miles away, that serves as the primary reason for it being the favorite of that 35 percent who took the survey: You can see downtown Raleigh from there, the tall, towering buildings that make up the Capital City's skyline. It’s that constant view, a complete distraction for the first 400 yards, that makes it the favorite hole. After that, you may ask yourself: What have I gotten myself in that's so tough?

No other hole comes close as the favorite. Second at 15 percent is the 16th hole, a relatively short (405 yards from the back, elevated tee). “The view, the challenge, and the green quality,” said one respondent about why the 16th is a favorite. Another said, “It’s a short hole that requires accuracy but rewards a good drive.” And another, “View from the tee and a challenging approach shot.”

The 16th is also considered a least favorite by 10 percent of the survey-takers. Said one, “Tight visual driving area with the water hazard to the left and the trees on the right, blocking the view of the right side of the fairway. Middle fairway bunker penalizes a good tee shot. Green side bunkering is a bit too much once you've conquered the tee shot. Only about 50 percent or less of the green can be used for pin placement. I feel fortunate when I walk away with par.”

As we get into favorite and least favorite holes and how the respondents rate the course from toughest holes to easiest holes, here is a link to the scorecard.

Favorite holes — Percent of respondents

   Hole 11 — 35.0 percent
   Hole 16 — 15.5 percent
   Hole 1 — 10.0 percent
   Holes 4, 5, 7, 15, 18 — 5.0 percent (each)
   Holes 2, 6, 9, 12, 14, 17 — 2.5 percent (each)

   Holes 3, 8, 10, 13 — 0.0 percent each)

Comments about the par 4, 18th, 425 yards from the Wolfpack (middle) tees as a favorite. The comments also apply to why it's a least favorite hole:

• Various reasons: It's length from the Wolfpack tees, the penalizing area right of the bunkers nearest the green, the out of bounds to the left, and the size of the green make it the most challenging hole on the golf course. I like the challenge. It might take driver, 3-wood one day to reach the green and driver, 7-iron the next day. Birdies are possible but so are triple bogeys.
• It’s simply a great hole!

Least favorite holes — Percent of respondents

   Hole 12, 18 — 17.5 percent (each)
   Holes 3, 13 — 12.5 percent (each)
   Hole 16 — 10.0 percent
   Hole 2 — 7.5 percent
   Holes 5, 15 — 5.0 percent (each)
   Holes 4, 6, 9, 11, 17 — 2.5 percent (each)

   Hole 1, 7, 8, 10, 14 — 0.0 percent (each)

Comments about least favorite 12th hole, down hill 391 yards (Wolfpack tees), par 4:

• Trouble three ways on the approach shot, particularly if your drive isn’t long.
• Very little place to hit a tee shot. The fairway is too crowned.
• It’s just an awkward hole from the tee.

Comments about least favorite 18th hole:

• Hole 18 is unreachable for one who MUST play from Wolfpack tees due to driver length
• Too difficult for mid to high handicappers.
• To long from white Wolfpack tees. The Wolfpack tees are down in a hole and the Red tees are elevated that makes them easier than the Wolfpack tees.
• Wolfpack tees are totally unfair.

Which brings us to ranking holes on each nine from toughest to easiest. This is not the official USGA method for determining the course handicap holes. That process is much more sophisticated and requires at least 200 rounds, comparing how a scratch golfer and an 18+ handicapper compete from the same tees, applying handicaps to make the match come out even.

In this survey, every hole was assigned points based on the toughest to easiest (1-9) multiplied by the number of times a hole was placed in the survey 1-9. For instance, if the 3rd hole was listed 75 times as the toughest, that's 75 points. If it was listed 42 times as the second toughest, that 84 points. The holes are then ranked toughest to easiest using fewest (toughest) to the most (easiest) points. Hey, low score wins in golf.

The front and back nines were not combined to rank them 1-18. Here are the hole ranking from toughest to easiest:

Front Side (Holes 1-9) Shown toughest to easiest:

5th Hole: would be 1st handicap hole; currently 5th
3rd Hole: would be 3rd handicap hole; currently 1st
9th Hole: would be 5th handicap hole; currently 3th
2nd Hole: would be 7th handicap hole; currently 9th
7th Hole: would be 9th handicap hole; currently 7th
1st Hole: would be 11th handicap hole; currently 11th
4th Hole: would be 13th handicap hole; currently 13th
8th Hole: would be 15th handicap hole; currently 15th

6th Hole: would be 17th handicap hole; currently 17th

Back Side (Holes 10-18) Shown toughest to easiest:

18th Hole : would be 2nd handicap hole; currently 4th

12th Hole: would be 4th handicap hole; currently 8th

11th Hole: would be 6th handicap hole; currently 2nd

13th Hole: would be 8th handicap hole; currently 10th

16th Hole: would be 10th handicap hole; currently 12th

15th Hole: would be 12th handicap hole; currently 6th

10th Hole: would be 14th handicap hole; currently 16th

14th Hole: would be 16th handicap hole; currently 14th

17th Hole: would be 18th handicap hole; currently 18th

The survey was conducted in early December 2020. More stats about the respondents:

Rounds played at LPGC during the last 12 months:

101+ rounds:  30.0 percent

1-25:  25.0 percent

26-50:  17.5 percent

51-75:  12.5 percent

76-100:  15.0 percent

 

Annual greens fee player or Daily greens fee payer:

Package Plan:  92.0 percent

Daily greens fee:  8.0 percent

 

Ride a cart or walk:

Primarily walk (75 percent of time):  52.5 percent

Primarily ride (75 percent of time):  32.5 percent

Equally walk and ride: 15.0 percent

Tees played most of the time:

Red tees:  35.0 percent

Gray tees:  33.0 percent

Wolfpack tees:  25.0 percent

Gray/Green Combo tees: 5.0 percent

Green tees:  2.0 percent

None of the respondents play the Black or competition tees (most of the time).

Gender and age of participants:

Male 65+:  55.0 percent

Male 55-64:  18.0 percent

Male 35-54:  13.0 percent

Male 18-34 : 10.0 percent

Female 55-64, Female 65+:  2.0 percent each

 

Do you have a GHIN handicap index?

Yes, and I would like to play in handicap tournaments at LPGC: 75.0 percent

Yes, and I would NOT like to play in handicap tournaments at LPGC: 18.0 percent

No, I don’t have a GHIN index: 7.0 percent

Footnote: The handicap indexes of those who took part in this survey range from a 0.5 to 24.0 with half at 10.0 or less and half above 10.0. The average handicap index was 10.6.

Thanks to all who took the survey. If you would like to comment on the results, please use the comment section below.