Holland Hills is an enjoyable and demanding country track to the south of the city. Take the 400 and turn right, moving past the town’s Speedway. HH moves across side hills in a unique fashion, making the course both logical and unforgettable. Each nine descends into a grove-like setting, meanders frequently along a river, then ascends up to the clubhouse at the end.<\/p>\n
1
\nThis hole seems to go on forever, and is as stern an opening test as you will find in WNY.\u00a0 Length alone is the challenge, as sand does not come into play.\u00a0 Green sits atop a bluff, unprotected against the wind, which seems to come from the East at all times.\u00a0 Use the old Travelin’ Duff theory here:\u00a0 play for five and you might make four; try to overpower the hole and six comes into play.<\/p>\n
2
\n200 yards to carry the sliver of creek that crosses this fairway.\u00a0 OB way right, so stay a bit left, although not in the trees that separate #2 from #3.\u00a0 Putting surface sits above fairway a bit.\u00a0 One bunker front left tends to push approaches to the right.<\/p>\n
3
\nTricky little hole, with a thin strip of water crossing fairway, and a bigger bit off to the right.\u00a0 A three-wood lay-up will keep you short of the wet stuff, leaving about 150 yards to the elevated green.\u00a0 Carry the water off the tee and you have wedge left.\u00a0 Putting surface is fairly large, so proximity to the hole is beneficial.<\/p>\n
4
\nA good-sized hole, up to a crest, down to a vale, then up to the green.\u00a0 Two good pokes get you within wedge from the green, then it’s left to your short game to determine par, birdie or bogie!\u00a0 Stay left into green, as cart path, mounds and tiny trees present problems on the right.<\/p>\n
5
\nA neat little par three, especially when the wind is pounding your face!\u00a0 A harmless 141-yard shot to a green ringed by water becomes a merciless gauntlet of nerves when the wind is blowing.\u00a0 Regardless of the conditions, par is a good score.\u00a0 Bunker behind green stops ball from swimming, but that’s the only salvation.<\/p>\n
6
\nA free-wheeling tee shot here, as the prevailing wind works to keep your ball in bounds on the left.\u00a0 Aim it at the trees to the right and let it fly.\u00a0 You’ll need all the distance that you can muster, as the hole plays some twenty yards longer than its measured length uphill.\u00a0 The second shot from below or on the upslope is blind, so take a walk to the top to get your target.\u00a0 There is room to miss this green on all sides, although a testy recovery remains.<\/p>\n
7
\nOne of the fun holes on the course.\u00a0 Same theory as on the last one, except you aim at the trees left, then let the wind return it to the right.\u00a0 Bombs away, and you might drive the green.\u00a0 There is water beyond, but if you hit it with your tee shot, you can brag about it.\u00a0 If you hit it with your second shot, that’s not good.\u00a0 Think birdie here.<\/p>\n
8
\nSimilar to number six.\u00a0 Tee ball up the slope, approach up the slope again, but fairway begins to slope down (not up) to green.<\/p>\n
9
\nSimilar to seven, albeit 100 yards longer.\u00a0 Carry the crest with your tee shot, and you will benefit from gravity, even on a wet day, as ball bounds toward green.\u00a0 I had a 3\/4 nine iron left to this green, and put it some 20 feet away off a downhill lie (those can be testy.)\u00a0 A nice finish to the front side.<\/p>\n
10
\nGo all the way back to the left for your tee shot.\u00a0 Placing the pond in front of you makes the knees a bit weaker.\u00a0 The ample fairway rolls down, then up to the green, situated a distant 415 yards away.\u00a0 Into the wind, it’s a darned tough par.<\/p>\n
11
\nComing back the other way, number 11 does not demand nearly as much as its immediate predecessor.\u00a0 Running downhill, this par four leans gently right.\u00a0 Do not be suckered into cutting the corner, as trees and other impediments await.<\/p>\n
12
\nDoglegging back to the left, up the same slope as number ten.\u00a0 No visible hazards, although the mound at the front left of the green is situated some fifteen yards shy of the putting surface.\u00a0 Go with your distance, not with what you see, and your approach will come up level with the center of the green.<\/p>\n
13
\nA neat, short par three.\u00a0 With the wind against, play enough club.\u00a0 If not, the shot will balloon against the wind, and fall short into the pond.<\/p>\n
14
\nAnother hole where the merit of clearing the creek must be measured.\u00a0 A lay-up will leave some 140 yards to a green situated back in a clearing.\u00a0 Truth be told, anything left or short is threatened by water, as the hazard traverses the fairway horizontally.\u00a0 225 yards are needed to carry the wet stuff.\u00a0 On the approach, best hit from the left, the green is well-framed by trees left and right.\u00a0 The clearing is ample enough to allow for a bit of wildness.<\/p>\n
15
\nTerrific par five.\u00a0 Water to carry off tee, lots of room to the left to bail out.\u00a0 After tee ball, hole sets off cross country some 300 yards down tree (left) and water (right)-lined fairway.\u00a0 Green sits at end of alley, bunker-less.\u00a0 A fair end to a difficult hole.<\/p>\n
16
\nThis is a very good (and demanding) par three.\u00a0 Similar to #13, albeit longer and minus the H2O fronting the green.\u00a0 If you can keep a 3-iron low and straight into the wind, you’ve got all the shots.\u00a0 Putting surface falls off to sides, with a bunker front left.<\/p>\n
17
\nA sweeping par five at the end of the round is a wonderful thing.\u00a0 This hole plays uphill on the tee ball, and a strong poke is encouraged to roll by the downward trend of the fairway, beyond 265 yards.\u00a0 The big lake to the right suggests a safer route to the left.\u00a0 The green sits above a swale, and a run at the hole in two can be made from the left side of the fairway.\u00a0 Sloping noticeably from left to right, many a ground fade has helped or hindered players here.<\/p>\n
18 Holland Hills is an enjoyable and demanding country track to the south of the city. Take the 400 and turn right, moving past the town’s Speedway. HH moves across side hills in a unique fashion, making the course both logical and unforgettable. Each nine descends into a grove-like setting, meanders frequently along a river, then […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1076","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-mo-golf"],"yoast_head":"\n
\nA strong end.\u00a0 Keep tee ball left–lots of fairway out there.\u00a0 Corner-cutters deal with big and small trees, OB, and water on right.\u00a0 Green is long and L-shaped; over 100 feet from front to back.\u00a0 Keep approach left to avoid grass bunker greenside.\u00a0 Par is a terrific score at end.<\/p>\n<\/span>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"