Golf in NC

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NC's Longest Golf Holes

Golfers playing at Black Mountain Golf Club near Asheville often do a quick double-take when glancing at the scorecard prior to teeing off on No. 17. The first response is often a chuckle at the obvious typographical error. The available information shows it playing to 747 yards with a par of six shots. That is a distance nearing a half-mile and more likely the length of an airport landing strip than a golf hole. And who ever heard of a par-6 hole? But the yardage and par score are exactly that – not mistakes.

No. 17 at Black Mountain Golf Club once garnered the title as the country’s longest golf hole. It has since been surpassed in the record books – a hole in the Midwest plays to an absurd 1,007 yards – but it remains a lengthy novelty for golfers playing this scenic course sitting in the shadows of 6,684-foot Mount Mitchell.

Gratefully, an extra shot is allotted on Black Mountain’s rare par-6 hole, one of the few in North Carolina and a rarity even around the globe.

Black Mountain Golf Club can no longer boast about having the longest hole just in North Carolina. That distinction belongs to Farmstead Golf Links in the coastal town of Calabash. The course’s finishing par-6 eighteenth hole stretches 767 yards. Adding to the novelty, this closing hole starts with a tee shot in South Carolina (22 percent of the course is located in that state). Somewhere down the fairway, golfers traverse back across state lines to the green located in North Carolina.

Guidelines set by the United States Golf Association (USGA) dictate that any hole 691 yards and longer can be considered a par 6 if the individual course chooses to do so (or it can remain a par 5). The USGA offers no additional regulations on holes such as No. 18 at Farmstead that require interstate travel.

Jason Monahan, a spokesperson for Farmstead Golf Links, is steadfast that the finishing hole is a fair one despite its imposing acreage.

“Keep it in the short grass and don’t try to bite off more than you can chew on the first shot,” he says. “It is a very fair hole if you take it one shot at a time and break it down. It is very manageable and not a difficult hole.” As evidence, Monahan said he was aware of at least two double eagles (three shots below par) on No. 18.

For golfers looking to shorten the trips on these par-6 holes, moving up to the closer tee boxes provides only a modicum of relief. For instance, at Farmstead Golf Links, the white tees still play to 669 yards. The red tees, used primarily by the ladies, measure a protracted 664 yards. Three solidly hit and accurate rips are required to set up a short-iron into the green on the fourth shot.

North Carolina has long proven to have a penchant for long golf holes. Wake Forest Country Club north of Raleigh claimed the world’s longest par-5 hole for many years. No. 1 measured a testing 711 yards, but its reign came to an end when the club closed its doors in 2007.

Holes measuring more than 600 yards, much less 700 yards, remain uncommon, but can be found scattered around the state. Silo Run Golf Course in Boonville features a 616-yard par 5. North Carolina State University’s Lonnie Poole Golf Course, an Arnold Palmer-designed layout, is slated for No. 11 to play up to 610 yards from the back tees when the course officially opens for play in 2009.

For golfers liking to hit it long, North Carolina provides multiple opportunities to swing away.

By Patrick Jones

added: December 19, 2008

updated: January 2, 2009