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It\u2019s not that Hole No. 1 at Portland Country Club <\/strong>is scary in itself. From your dreamy elevation, you\u2019re driving across a scenic 180-degree vista down a hill toward the sea. The green seems in reach. It\u2019s a magic feeling. The problem is, everyone\u2019s watching.<\/span><\/p>\n By everyone, I mean everyone in the Portland Country Club dining room. The enormous picture windows fronting the tables are set immediately behind the tee. A big movie is playing, and you\u2019re the star up on the screen. What if you miss? Everyone including actor Gary Merrill in a kilt has teed off from here. (Picture that!) But now it\u2019s you and you alone. The diners behind you peer over their lobster stew. You set up for the swing\u2026<\/span><\/p>\n Scratch golfer Romilly Emmons<\/strong> says, \u201cWhen somebody misses a shot, diners do<\/em> bang on the glass!\u201d Also, \u201cOn the outdoor deck, there\u2019s a gaggle of hecklers ready with their comments, pre- and post-drive. Try not to think about it.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n \u201cSea Turn,\u201d a dogleg to the right, is the romantic name for No. 17 at Webhannet Golf Course<\/strong>. The great British Open champion Tony Lema<\/strong> (1934-1966) once drove the 17th green with a soft fade. This urban legend has always gotten into my head, so whenever I\u2019ve been given a crack at it, I\u2019ll always try (with, so far, disastrous results). For me, Champagne Tony Lema\u2019s ghost will forever be on the tee of the 17th, driving the green, my golf Siren. It\u2019s spookier when you think of Lema dying at just 32 from an aircraft accident in a Beechcraft Bonanza in Lansing, Michigan, while headed for an exhibition on July 24, 1966. <\/span><\/p>\n Hole No. 3 at Prout\u2019s Neck Country Club. <\/strong>\u201cI grew up playing Prout\u2019s Neck,\u201d says 2016 Maine Amateur champ John Hayes IV<\/strong>. \u201cThe whole course is full of mystique. You\u2019re basically on the Atlantic. On No. 3., you\u2019re teeing off basically on the beach. I almost got a hole-in-one on this par 4, 340 yards off. The hurricane winds helped. My ball was four feet from the pin.\u201d Yikes. Now, everybody\u2019s going to try to do it, and we\u2019ll be overswinging into the next century.<\/span><\/p>\n For Abby Spector<\/strong>, seven-time Maine Women\u2019s Amateur state golf champion and 2001 New England Women\u2019s amateur champion, it\u2019s lucky No. 17 at Riverside, <\/strong>where she is Director of Instruction. \u201cIt\u2019s a very pretty dogleg to the right with a brook running through the right-hand side of the course. But it\u2019s a risk-reward hole, so you can try to cut off the corner and get to the green.\u201d If you dare. \u201cI like those risk reward holes. When I pull something like that off, I feel like I\u2019m channeling my old Abby!\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Romilly Emmons also nominates the 17th at Kebo Valley<\/strong>. \u201cIn fact, it\u2019s my first choice\u201d for a psychologically disturbing hole. \u201cIt\u2019s a par 4. The hole faces a bunker.\u201d It\u2019s almost like it\u2019s smiling at you. \u201cYou\u2019re facing this Sahara Desert. Who knows how many balls have hit the edge and dribbled back down into this trap.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n No 11 at Sugarloaf<\/strong> is the black hole at a golf course legendary for eating golfers alive. On the tee, they say it\u2019s like flying. \u201cIt\u2019s so elevated,\u201d Emmons says. \u201cIt\u2019s 180 yards down this hill. But because of the height, it plays just 155-160 yards.\u201d The illusion exists to suck you in. \u201cYou have to clear the Carrabassett River but somehow land before you overshoot the green.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n
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