Yesterday, I shared some notes and photos from a few of the best finishing holes I played this past year.  Below are three more.

The 18th hole at Royal Lakes presents a quadruple dose of trouble for those who go for the green in two -- two bunkers with 10 foot stone facings, a lake and two-tiered green. 

Royal Lakes Golf Club, Chestnut Mountain, GA 

    Royal Lakes, northeast of Atlanta and close to Lake Lanier, was suffering through the drought that gripped the southeast this summer and fall.  But true to its name, a number of lakes came into play when I followed my son around the course during a Division III collegiate golf match in October.  After struggling all round, including a soggy double bogey on the par 5 11th, Tim came to the par 5 18th needing a birdie or par to put up a respectable score.  At 530 yards straight downhill from tee to green, the green is reachable in two shots, but two bunkers - one directly in front and one at right rear - make the long hitter think twice.  They both are more than 10 feet high with sheer stone walls up against the green; no club in the bag is lofted enough to clear a shot from within five yards of the wall.  Tim's five-wood skidded along the right edge of the green and found the back bunker, just five feet from the wall.  After a few moments of indecision, he took his medicine by dropping in the back of the trap and faced a 25-yard blast down a double-sloped green to a front pin position.  It seemed likely he would come up short on the top tier or, worse, skid off the front into the other treacherous bunker.  However, he hit the ball clean, it teetered on the top of the ridge and then rolled down to a foot short of the hole.  It was the most improbable and best par I witnessed all year.

Sand and grasses and good design sense are enough to make North Hampton's 18th a classic.

North Hampton Golf Club, Fernandina Beach, FL 

    The North Hampton Golf Club near Jacksonville was a revelation for me, the first Arnold Palmer designed course I had played that did not seem overdone.  Arnie turned the rather flat land into a links style course that puts a premium on accuracy without his customary garishly sized bunkers.  Everything at the daily fee course worked in harmony, and the 18th hole was indicative, an impressive sculpture of tall grasses and natural-looking sand.  The finisher at North Hampton and indeed the entire course is worth a return visit and a reminder that sometimes diamonds emerge from rough landscapes.

One of the best 18th holes of the year was also the most tragic.  Weeks after we played it, its green fell into the sea. 

Wild Dunes Links Course, Isle of Palms, SC   

    The most scenic 18th hole I played this year was at Wild Dunes on the Isle of Palms near Charleston, SC.  Under normal circumstances, not even the hulking condo buildings that lined the right side of the fairway could neutralize the drama of a true ocean-side hole.  Yet the Tom Fazio finisher was a sight for sore eyes, literally.  The huge white sandbags from midway down the fairway to greenside, many of them shredded by the strong riptides, blotted the landscape, and appeared to be fighting a losing battle.  Indeed, a few weeks after we putted out on 18 in early August, the green lost its battle with the ocean tides and fell away into the sea.  The hole has been relocated and reconstituted as a par 3.  This is the second time in its 35-year history that Wild Dunes lost its 18th hole, the first time to Hurricane Hugo in 1989.  Mother Nature has not been kind to Wild Dunes, whose fantastic finisher has taken a more severe beating than those of us who tried to master it.  That probably makes it unique among finishing holes, a dubious distinction at best.

    When I watch a golf tournament on television, I am disappointed if the finishing holes do not provide high drama.  The best of them - Harbourtown and Pebble Beach come to mind - make even a two-stroke lead a little tenuous.  Everything from the drive to that last three-foot putt should have players and viewers holding their breath.
    I haven't played any U.S. Open courses this year, although I did play one that hosted the 1974 PGA Championship (Tanglewood), but I still looked for a little drama on the finishing holes I encountered.  Here are three that stood out for me.  Interestingly, none of these courses I feature today are in housing developments, but nice homes are available within a mile.  I'll follow up with a few more fantastic finishers tomorrow.

The finishing hole at Lexington Golf Club in Virginia may be out of character with the relatively easy rest of the course, but it has everything a great finisher should have.   

Lexington Golf Club, Lexington, VA 

    In April, on a visit to Washington & Lee University where my son Tim decided to enroll, we played the private Lexington Golf Club.  At 6,444 yards from the tips, a course rating of 71.4 and slope of 125, Lexington isn't a long or tough course by any means, but the 18th on the Ellis Maples layout is mean.  A 400-yard par 4, the landing area off the tee is generous, but the approach is a knee-knocker, all carry over water to an elevated green with a very false front and guarded in the middle by a yawning bunker.  The green arcs around the trap, and the putting surface slopes from the back right toward the bunker.  Front pin positions are especially treacherous; you have Hobson's choice of either toying with the slope in front of the green or hitting past and leaving yourself a tricky and slick downhill putt or chip shot.  The choice, especially during a competition, makes for a bit of drama.  Lexington's 18th is out of character with the rest of the course, but not with the roster of classic finishing holes.

The most direct line to the green is a tee ball down the right side at Caledonia's finishing hole, but that also could be the path to doom if you push your shot just a little.

Caledonia Golf & Fish Club, Pawleys Island, SC 

    Caledonia Golf & Fish Club, whose reputation and green fees have escalated in tandem in recent years, is a beautifully sculpted Mike Strantz course that is rarely taxing.  Position the ball well onto the generous fairways and a good score is more than possible.  The 18th, however, can ruin your day if you relax on the tee box.  From the tee, a typically wide Caledonia fairway spreads before you until about 240 yards out, where a lake encroaches from the right.  Those protecting a good score will play it safe to the left of the hazard, but that leaves a medium or longer iron into the difficult, 40-yard long green.  Taking a chance down the right with a 3-wood or driver leaves a seven iron or less and a much easier approach, especially to a back right pin, but even a slight push could mean double trouble - a penalty stroke plus a long approach.  Otherwise, the second shot is all carry over the water to a long and narrow spit of green; hit short when the pin is at rear and you could have a putt of up to 90 feet.  As you stand in the fairway sizing up your options, you may wish you were already among those sitting on the clubhouse deck, overlooking the green, ready to cheer or jeer.

The last shot from a fairway at Caledonia is appropriately scary, if you negotiate the tricky tee shot.  

Tanglewood Championship Course, Clemmons, NC

    The par 4 18th at Tanglewood's Championship Course in Clemmons, NC, is a straight uphill, dogleg right brute that requires a drive placed past a bunker at the corner of the fairway.  Then the fun begins with a long uphill iron shot to a well-guarded and elevated green in front of the clubhouse.  Pulled shots have a chance to clear a fence and bound into a parking lot, out of bounds.  As tough as the 18th is, it is not as difficult as #9, another uphill par 4 that served as the finishing hole in the 1974 PGA Championship and the scene of Lee Trevino's one-stroke victory over Jack Nicklaus.  Its green is perched on a hill with trouble all around; bogey is easier to make there than at today's 18th, although both fill the bill as outstanding finishers.

The 18th at Tanglewood (above) provides a thinking man's tee ball.  A shot near the bunker on the right leaves the shortest path to the green, but one that must clear some dastardly bunkers (bottom photo).  From the left, the shot is longer, still uphill, but with a better entrance to the green.

The 9th at Tanglewood was played as the 18th at the 1974 PGA Championship.  It is the tougher finishing hole.