1. Bellerive
ST. LOUIS, MO.
Site of: 1965 U.S. Open; 1992 PGA Championship; 2004 U.S. Senior Open
• This Robert Trent Jones Sr.-designed snoozer sports an arsenal of enormous elevated greens inevitably fronted by bunkers, water or both. You repeatedly face the same shots for 18 holes.
2. Belfry (Brabazon Course)
ENGLAND
Site of: 1985, '89, '93, '02 Ryder Cups
• Sure, there are Ryder Cup memories here, but with the exception of the driveable par-4 10th and the watery closer, there's little to distinguish the rest of the layout from its former life as a potato field.
3. Pinehurst (No. 2)
PINEHURST, N.C.
Site of: 1999, '05 U.S. Opens; 1936 PGA Championship; 1951 Ryder Cup
• OK, OK, so from 50 yards in, this is the greatest test in golf. However, as Ben Hogan once noted, "The trouble with Pinehurst is that when you try to think of one great hole, you can't."
4. Royal Lytham & St. Annes
ENGLAND
Site of: 1926, '52, '58, '63, '69, '74, '79, '88, '96, '01 British Opens
• From the par-3 opener to the final green nestled uncomfortably close to the clubhouse, there's a dearth of drama and visual interest from beginning to end.
5. Sahalee (North/South Course)
SEATTLE, WASH.
Site of: 1998 PGA Championship; 2002 World Golf Championships—NEC Invitational
• It's so hemmed in by trees, there's no space for fairway bunkers (or gallery grandstands). The flattish greens, guarded by simple oval bunkers, make for a vanilla putting test.
6. Champions (Cypress Creek Course)
HOUSTON, TEXAS
Site of: 1967 Ryder Cup; 1969 U.S. Open; 1990, '97, '99, '03 Tour Championships
• Jumbo-sized flat fairways paired with similarly scaled greens are accented by a smattering of low-key creeks and ponds and vise-like Bermuda rough.
7. Tanglewood Park (Championship Course)
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C.
Site of: 1974 PGA Championship; 1987-2002 Champions Tour events
• Its status as one of the best bargains around for Joe Public doesn't make it exciting. They could remove 100 bunkers and no one would notice.
8. Southern Hills
TULSA, OKLA.
Site of: 1958, '77, '01 U.S. Opens; 1970, '82, '94, '07 PGA Championships
• It's a pleasant parkland walk, but the reverse cambered fairways and tree cover that looks the same from hole to hole get old in a hurry. What's more, the tame topography belies the club's name. They should call it Southern Flats.
9. Carnoustie
SCOTLAND
Site of: 1931, '37, '53, '68, '75, '99, '07 British Opens
• As golf writer Jim Finegan puts it, "Walk to the fourth tee and prepare to enter a vast meadowy plain, a landscape monotonously pedestrian, covered with holes that, too often, are neither memorable nor inviting."
10. Olympia Fields (North Course)
CHICAGO, ILL.
Site of: 1928, '03 U.S Opens; 1961 PGA; 1997 U.S. Senior Open
• Jim Furyk won the U.S. Open in style here four years ago. But can you recall one hole in the closing stretch?
* Disclaimer: A lack of flair doesn't make these courses unworthy. It just means they're about as memorable as Caddyshack II.
