Assignment Twenty - Visual Journalism

 The Tour 18

As a golfer, I dream of playing the worlds most elite and renowned courses around the world. I hope to play Augusta National, where the tour players tee it up for the Masters, Sawgrass, and the colonial. All of these courses that have been played by the best of the best and so of course, I want to play them too. As a broke college student, these dreams are rather unrealistic. Some of these extremely private courses won't even let people near their gates let alone onto the course to play, but there is a course that gives you a taste of the greats. Tour 18 is a golf course located in Houston Texas that houses 18 holes designed after the most memorable golf holes on the best courses in America. Today we will take a virtual walk through these golf holes and find out what makes them worth of making the Tour 18.

Hole Number One

The first hole of the tour 18 is a replica of hole number eighteen at Harbor Town Golf Course in South Carolina. This hole is iconic as when the leader makes his way down this hole, the eighteenth, boats line the harbor to make some noise for the winner of the tournament.

Hole Number Two

The second hole of the Tour 18 is a replica of hole number 6 at Bay Hill Golf Course in Orlando Florida. This enticing hole encourages players to go for it over the water, forcing risky shots that can make or break a round. "In 1988, John Daly tried to carry his drive 320 yards over water on this hole carding the highest score on a golf hole ever to be recorded, an 18, by putting six balls into the water."

Hole Number Three

Tour 18's third hole is Pinehurst's second course hole number three. This fun but trick hole is described by its creator, Donald Ross, as "the fairest test of championship golf [he had] ever designed." 

Hole Number Four

The fourth hole of the Tour 18 is modeled after Inverness #18 an iconic hole that has been seen during 5 YOUS. open championships and two PGA Championships.

Hole Number Five

This iconic hole is the replica of hole #11 at Augusta National. "The second shot on the 11th hole, also known as White Dogwood, is the beginning of "Amen Corner," one of the most feared stretches in golf history." The Amen corner is featured at Augusta National, but was beautifully recreated on the tour 18.

Hole Number Six

Next up is the second hole of the infamous "Amen Corner," Augusta National's 12th hole. It has been called "the toughest par three in the world."

Hole Number Seven

The last hole of Amen corner, replicated at the Tour 18, is Augusta's Hole #13. A staple of the PGA tour Masters tournament, and often considered "one of the most beautiful holes in all of golf."

Hole Number Eight

La Costa Hole #4 comes up next on the scorecard, this legendary hole dates back fifty years to the Hyundai Tournament played by the best of the best.

Hole Number Nine

The per three number nine is a replica of TPC Sawgrass #17 is known as "one of the easiest par fives on the course"... quite humourous if you know golf.

Hole Number 10

Hole number 10 is a replica of the Desert Inn #10, this course has hosted a number of prestigious tournaments over the years including the Tournament of Champions. 

Hole Number Eleven

Hole #11 of the Tour 18 is the whimsical replica pf Disney (Magnolia) hole six. This hole "features a Mickey Mouse shaped bunker that protects the front of the green. Short of the bunker or in one [of] the ears hardly ever leads to a par."

Hole Number Twelve

The par four Colonial number three is what stands at hole 12 on the Tour 18. This hole "marks the beginning of the "Horrible Horseshoe"- the tree most difficult holes on the course [at the Colonial]."

Hole Number Thirteen

The next hole on the Tour 18 is designed after Pebble Beach's fourteenth hole, a par five. This hole is a monster and "has been ranked as the most difficult par-5 on the PGA Tour five times in the last decade." Even the best of the best have found themselves humbled by this hole.

Hole Number Fourteen 

Oakmont #3 is replicated on the Tour 18 fourteenth.When this course was created it was designed to be the hardest course in the world, and this hole goes right along with that belief. 

Hole Number Fifteen

Next up on the tour 18 is Shinnecock Hills hole number 8, a hole layer by many of the greats on the PGA and LPGA. Shinnecock Hills was originally designed as a 12 hole course, but 6 were then added to turn it into the championship course it is today.

Hole Number Sixteen

Hole #16 is a model of the Merion hole #11 located in Pennsylvania. The legend Bobby Jones played his first and last tournaments here, and he will go down in the history books as one of the "world's greatest golfers and America's most popular athlete [in the 30s]."

Hole Number Seventeen

The seventeenth hole on the Tour 18 is a replica of the difficult #8 at Oak Tree. A course played by the best at the PGA Championship in 1986 when "its USGA course rating was a 76.9, the highest in the country at that time."

Hole Number Eighteen

The final hole of the Tour 18 concludes with the infamous 18th from the Doral. Doral Golf Resort "is one of the nations most recognizable golf courses, [and] has held a PGA Tour event since 1962." This makes "the course the third-oldest stop on the worlds top professional tour." 

Each of these holes personifies the people that have played it and the tournaments that have been played there. The best of the best have stuck a tee into these holes, and were lucky enough to even get a glimpse into what they are made of. The Tour 18 gives the average golfer a look into the greatest golf holes ever made, and ever played. While is is a small sliver of the courses I aspire to play, the Tour 18 is a slice of heaven for anyone who can swing a club.