Dream 18

You've read the ranking of the Top 100 Courses in the U.S. and World and fought with your buddies about your favorite tracks. But what about your favorite holes? We asked our course rankings editor Joe Passov to build his Dream 18, using the best holes from the best courses in the world. What he arrived at is a sublime 7,149 yards of history, drama and yes, sometimes even pure torture. If only we could all get a tee time on this course.

• Tell us: What holes would be in your Dream 18?

Hole No. 1

Royal Melbourne (West)
Melbourne, Australia
6th hole; par 4, 428 yards

Designer Alister MacKenzie placed a nest of artfully sculpted bunkers fringed in heather on the inside elbow of this sharp dogleg right. Carry them (220-240 yards) and you're rewarded with a straightforward approach shot. Tee shots played cautiously to the left leave a lengthy approach from a hanging lie to an elevated green tilted audaciously from back to front. Playing from above the hole in the 1959 Canada Cup, Sam Snead putted off the green into a bunker.

Credit: Russell Kirk