Best Island Greens In Golf
Standing on the 17th tee at THE PLAYERS Stadium Course at TPC Sawgrass, it’s just you, your nine-iron and thousands of eerily quiet spectators. Sweat accumulates on your brow, and your bone-dry grip suddenly feels slippery. The green looks foggy and shrinks with each glance up… THIS is the tremendous feeling PGA TOUR pros experience every May at THE PLAYERS Championship, and while we can’t hand out invites to play in THE PLAYERS, we can invite you to emulate that one-of-a-kind feeling at the 10 Best Island Greens in Golf.
- Hole #8
- Palm Coast, Florida
- Falling just a yard shy of two bills, the 8th hole at The Conservatory Course at Hammock Beach Resort is a lengthy test for an island green par 3. And if you’re fortunate to hit it hard enough to find dry land, here’s to hoping that your ball avoids the bunkers that protect both sides of this Tom Watson-designed gem. But much like a tourist to Palm Beach, most who play the 8th at Hammock Beach Resort end up sandy or wet.
- Hole #5
- Orlando, Florida
- Towering Orlando pine trees behind the 153-yard, island green 5th hole at Grand Cypress Resort – East Course reflect beautifully on the water and give players the perfect amount of information on the wind. Short and you're wet. Long and you're more wet. Well you can’t really be “more wet,” but you can certainly be more scared on this Jack Nicklaus-designed hole that asks you to slide the ball through a bunker-laden landing area.
- Hole #15
- Bolingbrook, Illinois
- More so than any other course on this list, the 156-yard, 15th hole at Bolingbrook Golf Club presents the largest contrast in club selection on any given day based on the notorious Chicago wind. And if the two trees behind the green don’t tell the wind story well, the cresting waves on a small pond certainly will. Pick the right club, or else.
- Hole #17
- Palm Desert, California
- Designed by Ted Robinson, the “King of Waterscapes,” the 160-yard, 17th hole at Marriott’s Desert Springs – Palm Course is a beautiful representation of Robinson’s master craft. This one-shotter features rock outcroppings and cascading waterfalls—and that’s just around the tee box. With a rock wall bordering the front of the putting surface, this Palm Desert island green allows one to miss long, but he better prepare for a slippery chip downhill that brings the water back into play.
- Hole #15
- Reno, Nevada
- The longest hole on the list, the 15th hole at Lakeridge Golf Club measures a whopping 239 yards from the tips, but don’t let the distance scare you too much. With a tee box perched 140 feet above Reno’s Lake Stanley, the descent down to the 15th green at Lakeridge is certain to help drop your club selection down a peg or two, but don’t count on taking that long iron or fairway wood out of your hands.
- Hole #16
- Williamsburg, Virginia
- One of golf’s first island greens, the 169-yard, 16th hole at the Golden Horseshoe Golf Club – Gold Course is a masterpiece originally designed by Robert Trent Jones and later renovated by his son, Rees Jones. Famous for its elevated tee box that makes it feel like the ball is floating in the Williamsburg sky for days before knowing where it will land, the 16th at the Horseshoe only gets better when you get to the crescent-shaped green that’s surrounded by five ball-catching bunkers.
- Hole #14
- American Canyon, California
- With panoramic views of Napa Valley, the 166-yard, 14th hole at Eagle Vines Vineyards & Golf Club provides golfers with a stunning glimpse of Redwoods, Oaks, vineyards and the best of what the Bay Area has to offer. But once you’re done admiring the landscape, the reality of a demanding iron shot sets in with an island green peppered by bunkers in all four corners.
- Hole #15
- Las Vegas, Nevada
- A refreshing contrast from the surrounding desert, the 182-yard, 15th hole at Las Vegas Paiute Golf Resort – Wolf features a large island green set in the middle of a tranquil blue pond. And while it doesn’t seem too difficult to hit the large green, with three tiers and strategically placed pins, the window for a birdie opportunity dwindles the landing zone down to the size of a blackjack table on the Las Vegas Strip.
- Hole #17
- La Quinta, California
- Rightfully named “Alcatraz” for its small, confined green with no room for your ball to escape to safety, the 168-yard, 17th hole at the Stadium Course at PGA West demands supreme accuracy from the tee. A ball that doesn’t end up on the dancefloor at the La Quinta Resort is a ball that joins the likes of infamous Alcatraz inmate Al Capone—doomed—with no hope for salvation.
- Hole #17
- Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida
- Arguably the most renowned hole on the PGA TOUR, the 137-yard, 17th hole at THE PLAYERS Stadium at TPC Sawgrass can be a deceivingly tough hole. To the naked eye, the Pete Dye-designed island green looks like a large landing zone, but when three tiers split the green into thirds, the window for leaving a makeable birdie putt dramatically shrinks. This intriguing challenge makes Ponte Vedra Beach a bucket list destination for all golfers.