6 Modern Golf Courses with Multiple Drivable Par Fours

Those who have the good fortune to visit GrayBull, the Dormie Network’s newest private club, will not only experience Dormie’s exceptional hospitality in a striking, away-from-it-all setting, they’ll also have the pleasure of teeing it up on one of David McLay Kidd’s recently completed projects—a 7,181-yard gem that some may consider to be the Scottish architect’s best design to date. Beyond offering a wonderful variety of holes and exceptional sequencing that keeps players focused on the details from first tee to 18th green, GrayBull joins the ranks of other modern marvels that present golfers with more than one opportunity to potentially reach the putting surface with their tee shots on a par four. “I don’t want people to be playing defensive golf hole after hole,” McLay Kidd once said. “Go for it!”

But as the Scotsman acknowledges, if you’re going to go for it, you better be accurate. Missing the intended line with driver on GrayBull’s 5th and 16th holes can introduce a myriad of challenging and, if we’re being honest, downright undesirable predicaments. On the 5th, bold players must challenge the right side of the right-hand fairway bunker. It’s the only way to get a bounce that will propel the ball toward the slightly elevated green. Missing left will either catch the bunker that’s strategically placed in the center of the fairway (and built into a steep mogul) or, if you miss that trap, the slope of the fairway will almost assuredly kick the ball down into an expansive native waste area. On the 16th, ideal drives need to carry the centerline fairway bunker and finish just to the right of it, as that’s how they’ll get a favorable bounce. Any shots that miss left of the bunker will leave a challenging, sidehill lie and an uncomfortable, in-between distance to the center of the green.

While GrayBull is exclusively private, many of the other courses with multiple drivable par fours are open to the public. Here, we spotlight six of them, focusing exclusively on courses with at least two holes that measure fewer than 300 yards from tee boxes that play at least 6,100 yards in total.

Fields Ranch East—Frisco, Texas

The major championship venue at Omni PGA Frisco (starting with the 2025 KPMG Women’s PGA Championship and the 2027 PGA Championship), Fields Ranch East introduces two drivable par fours that require different tactics from the tee box. Consequently, the two holes also deliver different punishments for those who take on the risk but miss the mark.

Unless they hit a great drive that hugs the right side of the playing corridor on the 7th—a hole that plays 290 yards from the III tees—first-time players will likely discover that the seemingly inviting par four is a brute. Miss left, and a cavernous fairway bunker will likely devour your ball, leaving you with a 60-yard bunker shot that must also carry a deep swale just short of the green. In other words, only pull the driver from your bag on the tee if you have a strong short game, as missing your mark will likely require a challenging mid-length bunker shot, a handsy pitch, or—if things really go awry—both.

By contrast, the 15th hole reveals almost all of itself from the tee. At 280 yards, the par four allows big hitters to go right at the flag (no matter where it’s positioned on the elevated green), but the precipitous hillside leading up to the putting surface is blanketed by five bunkers—most of them sprawling and with steep faces—which can make for a difficult recovery, especially if you don’t have a highly proficient sand game.

Black Desert Resort—Ivins, Utah

The newest course on the PGA Tour’s annual calendar, Black Desert Resort, recently showcased the go-for-it potential that characterizes some of its short par fours.

The 14th hole, for example, is one that can reward two notably different strategies. Using the fairway bunker on the left as an aiming point, you can try to position your drive as close to it as possible. If you’re successful, according to the course’s designer, the late Tom Weiskopf, “you’ll have a beautiful pitch into a very challenging, undulating green.” But for the risk-averse, “if you drive your ball right over that bunker on the right hand corner of this fairway,” the architect said, “you’ll find yourself on the green, because it all kicks forward and runs down.” From the Weiskopf tees, which play just under 6,500 yards, such a drive requires a carry of at least 250 yards. However, as the Black Desert Championship’s inaugural victor, Matt McCarty, proved, you can also shape a drive onto the green, so long as you can curve a tee shot from left to right.

On the front side, the 5th hole plays 281 yards and, for those who want to go for it, the par four requires players to thread the needle between a fairway bunker on the right and one on the left, not to mention a greenside bunker that sits just beyond it. As Weiskopf revealed during the design phase, this green complex is challenging and requires a skillful short game, which means players who don’t go for the green off the tee can also be rewarded—so long as they can accurately hit their second, which will likely be just a short wedge.

Payne’s Valley at Big Cedar Lodge—Ridgedale, Mo.

As a player, Tiger Woods never shied away from playing boldly and taking on heroic shots. As a course designer, he places emphasis on building generously wide holes that encourage golfers to utilize the contours of the ground and embrace the idea that playing golf should, first and foremost, be fun. At Payne’s Valley, his design ideology meets his style of play, especially on holes 3 and 12, which bring the putting surface into play from the tee box but only if players first study the contours of the fairway and surrounding areas around the green.

Both holes encourage players to favor the right side, but there are nuances to each that make for distinctive playing experiences. The green on the 3rd hole is guarded by a large bunker front and center that only looks small because the green, itself, is so wide. A fairway bunker positioned on the left-hand side of the hole is also in play, mostly on drives that are slightly mishit. On the 12th hole, the majority of the green complex is defenseless in front, save for one greenside bunker that stretches across the right edge of the putting surface. Players who want an eagle putt will need to challenge the edge of that bunker with their drives—or attempt to clear the left side of the bunker on the fly—as the ground leading up to the green slopes gradually to the left and tends to funnel balls into a collection area that is deeper than it looks.

Mammoth Dunes at Sand Valley—Nekoosa, Wis.

The Orange/Sand combo tees at Mammoth Dunes (another McLay Kidd gem) play 6,267 yards, and from those tees, the fifth par four on the front side (hole No. 6) is just 264 yards. The playing corridor’s mounding conceals at least half of the green when viewed from the tee box, but according to a caddie at the resort, the mounding also conceals some of the reason why more players should feel inclined to pull the big stick from their bags. “What you can’t see from the tee box is how much room there is left over the [fairway] bunker,” the caddie says. “That bunker is only 215 yards to cover and everything after it is fairway. So, if you’ve got a 260 driver in your pocket, play it left side of the green every time.”

Playing close to the same yardage as No. 6, the second drivable par four on the course, the 14th, could give players who were able to drive the earlier par four a highly unusual opportunity: the chance to reach the green with even less than a driver in their hands. Playing downhill, the hole features a wide fairway that’s canted significantly from right to left, with a speed slot positioned just after the middle fairway bunker. Hit your drive just past the bunker and on the right side of the hazard—a tee shot that needs to carry only slightly more than 200 yards—and a favorable bounce could send your ball rolling onto the putting surface.

Incidentally, Sand Valley’s newest course, Sedge Valley, also features two drivable par fours that are less than 300 yards. The only difference? The course plays less than 6,000 yards from the tips.

Monument Course at Troon North—Scottsdale, Ariz.

It’s not often you encounter a golf course with two drivable par fours that play under 300 yards from a set of tees that measure at least 6,700 yards in total. But that’s one of the compelling design features of the Monument Course at Troon North.

The 6th hole is the first that presents a temptation to chase glory. From the Gold tees, which play a tick over 6,700 yards, the straightaway hole requires a big poke to reach the surface, but the thin Arizona air combined with the altitude (2,100 feet above sea level) makes doing so a realistic prospect. The practical player will hit a tee shot no more than 200 yards, which takes all of the sand-filled trouble out of play. But if you’re feeling bold, take a rip with driver over the expansive fairway bunker on the right. Just know that if your shot drifts past the left edge of the bunker, you’ll likely be playing your next shot from the pot-like bunker just short of the green.

By the time golfers get to the second drivable par four on Monument, the 15th, they’ll have a clear understanding of the risks that come with missing green grass on this Tom Weiskopf- and Jay Morrish-designed layout. In other words, they’ll know that if they’re pulling driver from their bags and taking a direct line at the pin, there’s absolutely no margin for error left of the putting surface. Those who wish to give it a go are better off shaping a drive from right to left, using the centerline fairway bunker as a starting point. Although it plays only 283 yards from the Golds, the hole does stretch gradually uphill.

Gamble Sands (Sands)—Brewster, Wash.

By now, it may seem as though McLay Kidd is the poster child of modern architects who have embraced the concept of creating courses with more than one drivable par four. We can’t say with certainty that he would agree, but we do know that his ideological shift in design principles—which is to say, his propensity to create courses that offer forgiveness and the chance to have more fun—began a decade ago with the creation of the Sands course at Gamble Sands. There, a trio of par fours are likely to have many players throwing caution to the wind, pulling driver from their bags, and taking aim at the putting surface. “It’s a golf course that wants you to be aggressive,” he explains.

While the 8th and 12th holes both position the green tantalizingly close from the tee boxes—especially from the Regular tees, which play a tick under 6,200 yards—the 2nd hole is the one that most players will remember. Playing gradually downhill, the hole introduces scraggily native area left of the fairway and green, as well as a singular bunker positioned close to the center of the playing corridor. As McLay Kidd acknowledges, players who don’t want to go for it can lay-up either short of that bunker (that will likely leave an 8-iron or punchy 7-iron into the green) or they can choose to hit over the bunker, which leaves just a short wedge onto the green. But, as the architect would likely ask you, where’s the fun in that? “You can hit a driver to just pin high right of the green,” he says, “and the contours will kick you onto a kidney bean-shaped green where the golf ball just gets sucked down to the middle of the putting surface.

“Whether you lay up or go for it,” he adds, “you have to think.”

Have you played any of these courses with multiple drivable par fours? Tell us about your round in the comment section.