A dream 18: A look at some of area golf course's top holes

Before we get into this, I want to explain this list. I kept it to public courses in the area. I have played some very nice private courses in the area — like Findlay Country Club and Mohawk Country Club — but I know not everyone has played them, so I wanted to make this list as accessible as possible for people to play. Sadly, for me, my favorite course of all time, Hawthorne Hills, has been closed for years. If it were still open, I'd probably use the entire back nine of Hawthorne, except for No. 15, that's how much I loved the course. Holes 16, 17 and 18 remain unmatched by any course I've played. And I'm sure I missed some great holes on this list, so if you feel like I did, send your thoughts my way at dylanfrazier@thecourier.com There are some courses I haven't played yet and I need to; maybe this list will push me to play them. With that, here is my 'Dream 18'… FRONT NINE No. 1— Stone Ridge Golf Club, Par 4, 399 yards Off the top of my head, I can't think of a tougher hole to start a round than No. 1 at Stone Ridge. Well, I can, but it's closed and that's No. 1 at Red Hawk Run. Sort of a split fairway with No.10 — which is also a tough hole in its own right — No. 1 has water to the left and tall grass and mounds to the right. You're looking at a sunken green with a bunker tucked on the left side on your second shot as the fairway is above the hole. A fun yet challenging first hole. No.2 — Hidden Creek Golf Club, Par 3, 180 yards If there's water on a hole, odds are I'm finding it. Especially on a hole like No. 2 at Hidden Creek. A longer par three with water to the right and a greenside bunker. You can't miss short here — you'll lose a ball to the pond like I've done each time I've played here—but you can definitely miss long. A nice challenge after hole No. 1. No. 3 — Lincoln Hills Golf Club, Par 4, 314 yards This is a classic case of high risk, high reward. This is short, I mean really short, just a 314-yard Par 4. This can be a scoring hole, no doubt, but you have to clear the woods to the left. If you can't do that, this went from a scoring opportunity to an 'I-just-hope-that-I-break-45 opportunity.' An interesting hole, to say the least, but one that requires you to map out your plan, for sure. No. 4 — Sycamore Springs Golf Course, Par 5, 540 yards If you can hit a solid drive and a darn-near-perfect second shot, you can make this a scoring hole. I don't know how that feels because I either ended up in someone's backyard to the right, or I got a little too confident and tried to get on in two and ended up in the pond. Regardless, a fun hole that presents just as many rewards as it does challenges. No. 5 — Hillcrest Golf Club, Par 4, 362 yards This isn't the most physically demanding hole, not even close. It's only 362 yards from the white tees, but you'll be hard-pressed to find a more mentally demanding hole than No. 5 at Hillcrest. Being located right beside I-75 causes some serious mental strain. I've never put so much thought into not completely turning over on my swing, all I think about is not hitting it into the highway and nothing else. No. 6 — Memorial Park Golf Course, Par 3, 156 yards First and foremost, I've only played Veterans Memorial just one time, and it was about two years ago. Right along the road after a Par 5, No. 6 presents some challenges with trees riding the left side, bunkers greenside on the right and even more trees behind the green. Admittedly, this is just as much a sentimental pick as a great hole. I chipped in for a birdie here, and long before I was born, my dad got his first — and only — hole-in-one. Something about that hole gives my family good luck, so I'll take it! No. 7 — Birch Run Golf Club, Par 4, 396 yards Funny thing about this course: I hadn't played it until last Friday. I'd been wanting to play this course forever but kept pushing it off and this gave me an excuse. No. 7 is a tough hole, I mean a really tough hole. There's out of bounds to the left and a creek on the right that eventually cuts the fairway in half. You have to fly it about 250 yards off the tee and that's no easy task with trees on the left. On your second shot, you can't really miss anywhere because it's an elevated green. Short or long of the green is a bad day, and wouldn't you know it, I went long. No. 8 — Bluffton Golf Club, Par 4, 393 yards You can miss left here for sure and be fine, but if you go right, you might find yourself in No. 2's fairway with trees in your way of the green. There are trees spread out in the rough on both sides of the fair as well as a pond that narrows the fair near the green which makes it quite the set-up for the Par 3 No. 9 at Bluffton. No. 9 — Colonial Golfers Club, Par 5, 565 yards I was soooo close to picking No. 6 at Colonial instead of No. 9 because the layout of six — with the waterfall and the dogleg to left — has to be one of my favorite layouts of any hole around. I opted to go for No. 9 here because this hole is one of the most demanding holes I've ever played. You have fairway bunkers, trees on both sides and a creek in front of the green. Not to mention if you mishit in front of the creek, you're way below the green. A great hole to end your front nine. Par 36, 3,305 Yards Out BACK NINE No. 10 — Sycamore Springs Golf Course, Par 4, 370 yards I tried so hard not to use a course more than once, but I'm breaking my rule here. And besides, I made the rules anyway, so who's gonna stop me? Trees hug the entire left side and trees are placed throughout on the right. And if you slice the crap out of it — and I've done this a ton — you might find yourself in No. 11's fairway. Not to mention, it's bigger green that slopes downhill. No. 11 — Colonial Golfers Club, Par 4, 478 yards Look at me, breaking my rules on back-to-back holes. Shame on me. But it's with good reason. This hole is one of the coolest layouts, but easily one of the hardest, too. You'll have to clear a pond on your tee shot and from there, you'll be above the hole on your second shot with trees on both sides. Then a big green, to boot. No. 12 — Fostoria Country Club Par 5, 580 yards Good lord, what a beast of a hole. The longest hole on this list. Even with a good tee shot, you're not going to get on in two here, unless you're really good. I happen to be alright, and I'd be lucky to get on in 4. Trees to the left and right, water in front of the green, and in the fairway, present a ton of challenges. I've only played FCC a few times and this hole's stuck with me. A surprise to me was I didn't end in the water on this hole, so that's a win, right? No.13 — Delphos Country Club, Par 4, 401 yards I wanted to try and keep this as local as I could, but with a ton of courses—Bob's Countryside, Shady Acres, Wayside and others I've mentioned — all closing, I stretched the net out just a tad because it's sorta close, right? DCC is such a great course and so is No. 13. Trees to the left and bunkers to the right offer plenty of challenges. And you'll have to fly a pond going at the green. I played here in high school and what I did here was something I'll never do again in my life. You're probably thinking, 'Oh, you eagled out from 160 yards.' Funny, but no. I actually hit an electrical wire in the air with my ball. No. 14—Pike Run Golf Club, Par 3, 169 yards Do you play a bit of a pull? Sorry, you're gonna re-tee it here because you're going out-of-bounds. What about a fade? Splash! You've lost your ball to a creek that runs through the course. Not to mention a very long and slightly elevated green. Your tee shot requires a ton of focus, just make sure not to miss long. Quite the challenge for not necessarily being a super long Par 3. One of my favorite Par 3s around. No. 15 — Loudon Meadows Golf Club, Par 3, 157 yards First and foremost, I've never actually played this course. It's the one course I didn't get to play that's on this list. I called some friends and they helped me out on this one. So, I'll need to make the trip out soon. An uphill Par 3 that's guarded by a pond that isn't too long but is quite challenging. Trees surround the green. No. 16 — Lakeland Golf Course Par 4, 439 yards I'm not 100% sure if it was Lakeland or Bluffton Golf Club, but one of these two courses was the first course I played in high school. Oddly enough, I got disqualified for tapping the ball in with my hand at Lakeland. My career — albeit very short and very mediocre — only went up from there. No. 16 here presents a challenge by way of a pond. A very wide pond that you'll fly on your tee shot. You can't hit a slice or you're gonna lose your ball. At the same match at Lakeland, I sliced it into the pond. You can figure out where the ball went from there. No. 17 — Stone Ridge Golf Club, Par 4, 368 yards Guess I'm breaking the rules one last time. If you miss left, welcome to the tall stuff and odds are you're not finding your ball. If you miss right, you might join someone's backyard BBQ without being invited. You need a perfect tee shot here, it's such a narrow fairway with a bunker hugging the right side. From there — depending on where the pin's located — you almost wanna miss short because it's large tiered green. A fantastic set-up hole for the beast that his hole No. 18 at Stone Ridge. No. 18 — Moose Landing Country Club, Par 5, 455 yards Ah, home of the BVC Championship, well at least for me it was. I was the No. 5-man on Arlington in high school— we went to state my senior year, no big deal but between you and me, I had no impact on that— and I had the pleasure of playing here many times. I usually didn't play well, but between the fairway bunkers and the island green, No. 18 at Country Acre —I mean Moose Landing is quite the way to wrap things up on a good or a bad day. Par 36, 3,417 Yards In TOTAL: Par 72, 6,722 Yards Total