The 18 Most Addictive Golf Holes

Golf holes come in all shapes and sizes. They can also inspire many feelings. Some are loved, some are admired and others just get under your skin. While they are typically rated in terms of beauty or difficulty, there’s another category that’s equally potent yet much harder to quantify: addictiveness.

Addiction is the distinction between what you want and what you have to have. In this case, it refers to a hole you have to play—one with a lure that is both inescapable and inef-fable. It could be visually haunting or require multiple visits to unlock all its secrets. It may present an opportunity to do something rare or heroic (like pull off a miracle shot or make an eagle) or fill you with an unmatched level of fear or excitement. Their measurements may be elusive, but you know them when you play them. And whether easy or impossible, stunning or modest, you can’t wait for another try.

12TH HOLE AT WHISTLING STRAITS, STRAITS COURSE
PAR 3; 84-166 YARDS SHEBOYGAN, WI Can you measure fear by degrees? When playing over a gorge to a long green that angles away from the tee, the tension and terror escalate incrementally the closer the pin is cut to the edge of the cliff. While all of the par threes on the Straits Course are benched into the bluffs overlooking Lake Michigan, the elasticity of the 12th hole makes it the most intriguing. 65 miles from General Mitchell International Airport (Milwaukee); N8501 County LS; 800-344-2838; www.destinationkohler.com

12TH HOLE AT FOSSIL TRACE GOLF CLUB
PAR 5; 507-585 YARDS GOLDEN, CO Triceratops roamed this hole 64 million years ago, and their fossils are encased in the dramatic rock ledges surrounding the green. The real obstacle, however, involves three sandstone outcroppings that stand vertically in the fairway. The trick is to keep them from playing pinball with your Titleist—and thus avoid a giant dinosaur footprint on your scorecard. 35 miles from Denver International Airport; 3050 Illinois St; 303-277-8750; www.fossiltrace.com

5TH HOLE AT BETHPAGE STATE PARK, BLACK COURSE
PAR 4; 401-478 YARDS FARMINGDALE, NY One of architect A.W. Tillinghast’s most iconic holes, the Black’s uphill fifth measures your character with a drive over a massive diagonal bunker. Do you hit a drive safely across the shorter left corner, try for a heroic carry over its farthest right side or chicken out with something in between? The pros didn’t fare so well during last summer’s US Open with a 4.34 stroke aver-age—can you do better? 31 miles from La Guardia Airport (New York); 99 Quaker Meeting House Rd; 516-249-0701; www.nysparks.state.ny.us

4TH HOLE AT WORLD WOODS GOLF CLUB, PINE BARRENS COURSE
PAR 5; 406-494 YARDS BROOKSVILLE, flIt looks as if the netherworld is breaking open in the form of a huge chasm of sunken sand and scrub on the entire right side of this hole. You can flank the devil and play safely to the left, or hit right over it to set up a second shot across another arm of the fairway for a chance at an eagle. 52 miles from Tampa International Airport; 17590 Ponce de Leon Blvd; 352-796-5500; www.worldwoods.com

9TH HOLE AT THE COURSE AT YALE
PAR 3; 146-213 YARDS NEW HAVEN, CT The course at Yale is open to students, alumni and their friends, and working a connection is worth it for the country’s finest biarritz (a green that features a deep gully bisecting its middle). The ninth at this 1926 C.B. MacDonald/Seth Raynor design begins with a tee shot across a lake into a 60-yard green intersected by a 4-foot-deep depression. Until you’ve tried to putt out of, or through, the swale, you haven’t truly experienced the biarritz. 56 miles from Westchester County Airport; 200 Conrad Dr; 203-392-2376; www.thecourseatyale.org

5TH HOLE AT CUSCOWILLA GOLF RESORT ON LAKE OCONEE
PAR 4; 262-299 YARDS EATONTON, GA The choice here is to go for the green, which requires a 250-yard uphill carry directly over the hazard; drive your ball to the wide fairway to the right; or aim for a hidden upper fairway diagonally across from the green. In order to birdie the hole—no easy task given the tiny, crowned green—you’ll want to choose the approach that best fits your style of play. 84 miles from Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport; 126 Cuscowilla Dr; 800-458-5351; www.cuscowilla.com

17TH HOLE AT TPC SAWGRASS, PLAYERS STADIUM COURSE
PAR 3; 92-137 YARDS PONTE VEDRA BEACH, flAt no other place in the world is it so entertaining to hit the ball into the water. You’d rather be on the island green for sure, but just as many stories are shared about lost balls and triple bogeys. It’s the ultimate do-or-die hole, which will give any golfer the shakes on the tee. 32 miles from Jacksonville International Airport; 110 Championship Way; 904-273-3235; www.tpc.com/sawgrass

14TH HOLE AT ATLANTIC CITY COUNTRY CLUB
  PAR 4; 323-339 YARDS NORTHFIELD, NJ This hole is positioned on the edge of a marshy bay with the green about 300 yards away, and the Atlantic City skyline to the right goads you to go all-in with a high-stakes drive across the wetlands. Nerves and swirling winds, however, mean you’ll probably take the shorter, safer carry to the left. Oh well. One of these days, your luck is bound to change and you’ll get that downwind breeze and the courage needed to drive the green. 7 miles from Atlantic City International Airport; 900 Shore Dr; 609-236-4401; www.accountryclub.com

1ST HOLE AT TOBACCO ROAD GOLF CLUB
PAR 5; 463-558 YARDS SANFORD, NC Two gnarly dunes stand to the left and right of the tee like fescue-draped Scylla and Charybdis, ready to swallow up stray drives. There is plenty of room to hit over them, but their presence is intimidating, especially on the first shot of the day. A similar bottleneck of dunes awaits your second shot, but again, over the top is a wide open green. The feeling of making it through the gates safely never gets old. 46 miles from Raleigh-Durham International Airport; 442 Tobacco Rd; 877-284-3762; www.tobaccoroadgolf.com

14TH HOLE AT WE-KO-PA GOLF CLUB, SAGUARO COURSE
PAR 5; 433-538 YARDS FORT MCDOWELL, AZ Like a classic “channel” hole, popularized by C.B. MacDonald in the early 1900s, this one has two routes (one safe and long; the other risky and direct). The primary fairway circles around to the left, but the smaller, alternate island fairway sits out to the right and offers a more direct path to the elevated green. If you roll the dice and miss it, you’ll find yourself knee-deep in desert and prickly cactus. 29 miles from Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport; 18200 East Toh Vee Cir; 480-836-9000; www.wekopa.com

12TH HOLE AT RUSTIC CANYON GOLF COURSE
PAR 4; 244-336 YARDS MOORPARK, CA You don’t often get an uncontested shot in golf, but this one has more in common with a very nice driving range than a typical golf hole. It all looks too inviting off the tee with a 75-yard wide fairway and the naked, unadorned push-up green right in front of you. Yet so absent are any obvious hazards that you can only scratch your head when you inevitably walk away with something less than par. 53 miles from Los Angeles International Airport; 15100 Happy Camp Canyon Rd; 805-530-0221; www.rusticcanyongolfcourse.com

17TH HOLE AT SHADOW CREEK GOLF CLUB
PAR 3; 140-154 YARDS LAS VEGAS, NV What is your vision of a perfect golf paradise? Tom Fazio’s was this picturesque Eden of streams, lakes and trees manufactured in the middle of the Nevada desert. The breathtaking 17th hole—with its perfect composition of floral hues, the green nestled across a reflection pond and a cascading waterfall beyond—is the ultimate gilding of the lily. You can’t help but wonder, is it real or imagined? Transportation provided through any MGM/Mirage resort; 866-260-0069; www.shadowcreek.com

5TH HOLE AT PINEHURST RESORT, NO. 2 COURSE
PAR 4; 279-476 YARDS VILLAGE OF PINEHURST, NC There’s no greater sense of accomplishment in golf than making par on a long, brutish par four. Considered by many pros the most difficult hole on one of America’s best courses, this one certainly qualifies as addictive. It looks unassuming, but the second shot plays uphill and the green is deceptively wicked, falling off precipitously in front and to the left. You’ll want to play it ’til you par it. 73 miles from Raleigh-Durham International Airport; 80 Carolina Vista Dr; 800-487-4653; www.pinehurst.com

10TH HOLE AT CHAMBERS BAY GOLF COURSE
PAR 4; 311-398 YARDS UNIVERSITY PLACE, WA You feel as if the 60-foot-high dunes that increasingly squeeze the fairway are closing in on you as you climb through bunkers. There is practically no wiggle room around a green that’s pinched by hillocks and a deep front bunker. Getting out alive requires a series of unflinching shots. 29 miles from Seattle-Tacoma International Airport; 6320 Grandview Dr W; 877-295-4657; www.chambersbaygolf.com

12TH HOLE AT ARCADIA BLUFFS GOLF CLUB
PAR 4; 293-431 YARDS ARCADIA, MI Spy thrillers often crank up tension by showing characters precariously skirting the outside ledges of tall buildings. You’ll feel like you’re acting out a similar scene at Arcadia Bluffs’ 12th as you cling to a precipice of land while Lake Michigan falls away on the left. The deep infinity green can induce vertigo with nothing beyond or below it but the endless sweep of the third largest Great Lake. Alfred Hitchcock couldn’t have come up with a better cliffhanger. 190 miles from Bishop International Airport (Flint); 14710 North-wood Hwy; 800-494-8666; www.arcadiabluffs.com

16TH HOLE AT PASATIEMPO GOLF CLUB
PAR 4; 353-387 YARDS SANTA CRUZ, CA Like a suspense movie with an unexpected plot twist, the mysterious view from the tee (all you can see are trees and the crest of a hill in the fairway) doesn’t prepare you at all for what comes next—one of the most fearsome second shots in golf. It is all or nothing into a green that looks as if it is sliding off a far hillside into a ravine. The false front and gaping bunker on the right add additional chills. 61 miles from San Francisco International Airport; 20 Clubhouse Rd; 831-459-9155; www.pasatiempo.com

15TH HOLE AT EL CAMALEÓN GOLF CLUB AT MAYAKOBA RESORT
PAR 3; 98-155 YARDS PLAYA DEL CARMEN, MEXICO Strong ocean winds make this exposed hole play differently each day, but what never changes is the anticipation of emerging from the dense mainland interior onto a thrilling stretch of surf along the beach. Alas, withdrawal sets in immediately as you turn away from the sea and head back into the cover of a mangrove forest. 30 miles from Cancun International Airport; Ctra Federal Chetumal-Puerto Juarez KM 298; +52 984-206-3088; www.mayakobagolf.com

17TH HOLE AT WHITE WITCH GOLF COURSE AT THE RITZ-CARLTON GOLF RESORT & SPA
PAR 3; 130-161 YARDS ROSE HALL, JAMAICA You feel on top of the world standing on the tee of this downhill par three, where the wide, shimmering blue of the Caribbean Ocean in the distance frames your ball’s flight. Even if you do land your tee shot on the bunkered, topsy-turvy green, it’s a letdown to walk off this stunning perch. 10 miles from Sangster International Airport; One Ritz-Carlton Dr; 876-518-0174; www.whitewitchgolf.com