Top 10 PGA Tour Finishing Holes You Can Play

The greatest finishing holes on the PGA Tour inevitably offer supreme challenge, remarkable beauty, risk/reward contemplations, or unforgettable history. A fistful of those holes combines all four traits.

Traveling golfers can rejoice because more than twenty closing holes on the PGA Tour are public access. If we were ranking on sheer difficulty, the 18th at Innisbrook’s Copperhead—site of the Valspar Championship—would make the list. If gallery excitement were the sole factor, so would the closer at the TPC Scottsdale’s Stadium course, home of the WM Phoenix Open. For sheer drama, the last at PGA National’s Champion would get a nod for the nerve-jangling finishes at the Honda, now known as the Cognizant Classic in The Palm Beaches. Those climactic closers fell just short, however.

Here are the top 10 PGA Tour 18th holes you can play.

 

10. PGA WEST (Pete Dye Stadium Course)La Quinta, Calif.; 439 yards, par four [The American Express]

The must-play of the desert is Pete Dye’s 1986 West Coast answer to his Sawgrass masterpiece—right down to its homage final hole. Technology has rendered the course the PGA Tour pros refused to go back to less dangerous than in its big-hair ’80s heyday, but for less proficient ball strikers, it remains terror-inducing with its arsenal of nightmarishly deep bunkers, Vail-sized ski-hill moguls, and exacting carries over water and desert. The dogleg-left 18th is no exception. A massive lake to the left that stretches from tee to green claims countless victims on both drives and approaches. Yet, play it too safe on either shot and moguls, bunkers, and rough await, not to mention a longer shot into the green. Sure, Dye replicated this design gambit on multiple courses, but what it lacks in originality, it retains in greatness.

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PGA WEST Stadium, 18th hole (photo by The Henebrys)

 

9. Torrey Pines (South)San Diego, Calif.; 570 yards, par five [Farmers Insurance Open]

The reachable (for some), pond-guarded 18th has provided oodles of dramatic moments over the years, most of them tied to Tiger Woods. To have a chance to reach in two, the tee shot must find the fairway. A drive struck 275 to 350 yards needs to avoid dense rough and any one of five flanking bunkers. It’s not a hard hole, with birdies outnumbering bogies by four to one, but if you’re seeking an eagle, or need to get it close to the front-left hole location, it provides supreme risk/reward, thanks to a green that slopes hard to the water.

pga tour finishing holes
South Course at Torrey Pines, 18th hole (photo by Donald Miralle/Getty Images)

 

8. Sea Island Resort (Seaside)St. Simons Island, Ga.; 470 yards, par four [The RSM Classic]

Seaside soared from a 1999 Tom Fazio makeover that combined a 9-hole, Colt/Alison-designed Golden Age classic and a less distinguished nine from the ’70s into a formidable track that has played host to the PGA Tour’s RSM Classic since 2010. Huge bunkers, low dunes, marsh-tinged wetlands, firm fairways, and several Atlantic Ocean views lend an Old World, linksy feel, especially when the breezes blow. Every characteristic comes into play at the 18th. Although the fairway landing area is resort-friendly wide, it’s somewhat crowned, which will redirect drives further left—where two bunkers await—or further right, where a third bunker lurks, as does the marsh. At the 250-yard mark, the fairway dips down, which helps with extra roll, but which leaves an awkward downhill stance for the approach. The slightly raised putting surface is guarded at 10 o’clock and two o’clock by bunkers, the left bunker especially deep. The 2013 RSM Classic winner Chris Kirk states that an even worse spot is the collection area to the right of the green: “It’s close to impossible to get the ball up and down from there.” With no wind, it’s mostly a pretty picture. When the breezes blow, however, which is often, Seaside’s 18th morphs into a beautiful brute.

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Seaside Course at Sea Island Resort, 18th hole (photo by Alex Slitz/Getty Images)

 

7. TPC San Antonio (Oaks)San Antonio, Texas; 591 yards, par five [Valero Texas Open]

A Tour stop since 2010, this Greg Norman design (with Sergio Garcia consulting) is open to guests of the next-door JW Marriott. Slender fairways, small, severely sectionalized greens, heavy contour around the greens, steep-lipped bunkers, and abundant oaks are among the challenges. Add water to the mix at the 18th. This uphill monster features a slender, right-to-left-sloping fairway, but finding and holding it are paramount, because options—and trouble—lurk everywhere. A layup second is complicated by a creek that bisects the fairway and by bunkers etched into a hillside on the right, but going for the shallow, elevated, three-tiered green requires a forced carry over a creek and ultimately, avoiding three more bunkers. Another layup option exists to a sliver of fairway that sits to the left of the main action. Finding that garden spot provides an easier angle of approach into the green, but finding that garden spot is problematic, because the curling creek and a hillside of thick rough squeeze that sliver to uncomfortably small dimensions. With a wedge for a third, birdies are gettable, but it’s frightening how quickly 6s and 7s crop up.

pga tour holes
TPC San Antonio (Oaks), 18th hole (photo by Carmen Mandato/Getty Images)

 

6. Puntacana Resort & Club (Corales)Punta Cana, Dominican Republic; 501 yards, par four [Corales Puntacana Championship]

Tom Fazio draped Corales on a clifftop setting along the Caribbean Sea in 2010. Buffeted by coastal breezes, the roomy, 7,650-yard, par-72 layout is liberally sprinkled with ponds, coconut palms, scrub-dotted sand expanses, and a bevy of stylish Fazio bunkers. Unforgettable is the closing trio, collectively known as “El Codo del Diablo,” (“the Devil’s Elbow”)—and the showstopper is the 501-yard par-four 18th that boomerangs to the right, around and over a Bay of Corales chasm of cliff, beach, and surf. Challenging the three-bunker complex to the right off the tee can pay off with a shorter approach to a green that’s elevated above the cliff. Said Joel Dahmen about his victory here in 2021: “Those last three holes are so hard—long, tough, into the wind. I hit 4-iron, 4-iron, 4-iron into those three greens. The 18th, especially the second shot to that right pin, with the wind blowing—I don’t think people realize how hard that hole is.”

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Puntacana Resort & Club, Corales Course, 18th hole (photo by Michael Reaves/Getty Images)

 

5. Arnold Palmer’s Bay Hill Club & LodgeOrlando, Fla.; 458 yards, par four [Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by Mastercard]

Perhaps the scariest second shot in golf is the over-the-lake approach to Bay Hill’s banana-shaped 18th green. Go long and a nightmare downhill chip from rough or sand awaits, with water beyond. The approach to such a slender target is so tough it even rattles eight-time champ Tiger Woods. “You can’t really say ‘get up’ or ‘get down’ because you don’t really know,” says Woods. A slender slot front left provides at least some kind of run-up/bailout—that’s how 74-year-old Arnold Palmer accessed the green in 2004 when he hit driver off the deck. Nevertheless, the aerial method is favored—just ask Robert Gamez, who jarred his 7-iron from 176 yards to drown Greg Norman’s chances in 1990.

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Bay Hill, 18th hole (photo by Sam Greenwood/Getty Images)

 

4. TPC Sawgrass (Players Stadium)Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla.; 462 yards, par four [The Players Championship]

The banana-shaped 18th looks nearly as intimidating—but plays much harder—than its pint-size, island-green predecessor. The hole favors a drive down the left side to achieve the best angle to approach the green, but the further left you go, the greater the risk of splashing into a huge lake. Adding to the discomfort are the railroad ties that form a sharp edge to the lake which creates an intimidation factor that exceeds the actual danger. The “safe” drive to the right leaves a lengthy approach from a poor angle, or worse, can scamper into the trees. The hole looks mean and plays meaner.

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TPC Sawgrass, 18th hole (photo by David Cannon/Getty Images)

 

3. Harbour Town Golf LinksHilton Head Island, S.C.; 472 yards, par four [RBC Heritage]

Don’t let the flat, double-wide fairway fool you. With OB stakes, trees, and condos to the right, and the Calibogue Sound to the left, any wind at all turns this early Pete Dye/Jack Nicklaus design into a beautiful beast. A large, flat green is protected by a large, flat fronting bunker. The safe miss is hole-high right, but it’s tough to summon the moxie to attack the pin from there, given that sea marsh lurks just beyond the putting surface. Of course, as archetypal landmarks go, few can compare with the candy cane-striped lighthouse that backdrops the green, along with a yacht-filled marina. Following in the footsteps of past champions Nicklaus, Arnold Palmer, Davis Love III, and Scottie Scheffler, among others, further hikes the must-play element. With a design that doesn’t overly favor one type of player, it is a formidable finisher.

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Harbour Town Golf Links, 18th hole (photo by The Sea Pines Resort / Rob Tipton)

 

2. Kapalua (Plantation)Kapalua, Maui, Hawaii; 677 yards, par five [The Sentry]

Despite its gargantuan length, the hole is generally reachable in two as it plays downhill and downwind. The gorgeous tee box panorama takes in an extra-wide, wildly sloping fairway that curves around a jungle-strewn canyon to the left. Beyond the green, the Pacific Ocean beckons. It seems impossible to miss the 50-yard-wide landing area, but an overly aggressive draw or hook will find the hazard. Complicating the second shot is an awkward stance on the severely tilted fairway. Short and left of the green, jungle jail awaits. Short and right of the green offers its own peril, as any chip shot struck from that area will run almost uncontrollably swiftly from right to left. The genius of the design and the unique terrain means that each shot yields meaningful risks and rewards. Following a 2019 renovation by original architects Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw, Kapalua’s closer once again plays as firm and fast as intended, which elevates it to rarefied air.

finishing holes pga tour
Plantation Course at Kapalua, 18th hole (photo by Dave Sansom Photography)

 

1. Pebble Beach Golf LinksPebble Beach, Calif.; 541 yards, par five [AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am]

There may be tougher, or even more dramatic finishing holes in golf, but none gets the pulse racing like Pebble’s. Arcing to the left along Carmel Bay, Pebble Beach’s 18th is a better hole today than it was for many decades, because modern equipment has allowed most bold hitters to challenge the green in two. Tree trouble in the center of the landing area, giant bunkers, out-of-bounds stakes to the right, and the crashing waves of the Pacific to the left are the main hurdles off the tee. The second shot offers similar dilemmas. While the beauty is overwhelming, the strategy is what elevates the hole, thanks to its simple risk/reward sensibility: How close to the water’s edge do you dare to play?

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Pebble Beach, 18th hole (photo by Evan Schiller)
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Robert T Hart Sr
9 days ago

Pretty hard to not include the par 4 18th at Whistling Straights. Plays like a tough par 5 to us mere mortals. R. T. Hart

Kirk Heil
9 days ago

18th at tpc Deere run 11th best maybe.

Last edited 9 days ago by Kirk Heil
Andy L Settler
9 days ago

The 18th @ Riveria is demanding and is a dramatic backdrop for a great finish.

Robert
Reply to  Andy L Settler
6 days ago

“You can play”

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