Borrowing from a blog on underdogsports, I’ve compiled votes for the toughest holes on 2008 Golden Tee Live. In most cases, votes went to holes where it’s toughest to make GT Par. There weren’t an overwhelming number of votes in that blog, but enough to be able to point out several of the potential stumbling points during your round. Here are the results!

#1 Toughest Hole — #18 at Misty Springs. This hole got votes from 6 different people, twice what any other hole got.

Next 2 Toughest Holes — #17 at Summit Lakes and #16 at Misty Springs. These holes got votes from 3 different people.

Other holes receiving votes from multiple people — #14 at Bayou Bay, #17 at Eagle Crest, #3 at Cypress Cove, and #11 at Misty Springs.

The following holes also received votes as being among the toughest in the game — #s 9, 11, and 17 at Bayou Bay, #s 10 and 13 at Summit Lakes, and #9 at Cypress Cove.

Feel free to add comments below to vote for any of these or any other holes on Golden Tee 2008 that you consistently struggle with!

The votes are in! Borrowing from a blog on underdogsports.net, there have been enough votes to have a consensus on the difficulty ranking of each 2008 course in Golden Tee Live. Here’s the breakdown, from hardest to easiest:

1) Bayou Bay — got 41 of 68 votes for hardest course, and average rank was 1.57.

2) Misty Springs — got 17 of 68 votes for hardest course, and average rank was 1.93.

3) Summit Lakes — got 6 of 68 votes for hardest course, and average rank was 3.14.

4) Eagle Crest — got 3 of 68 votes for hardest course, and average rank was 4.5.

5) Cypress Cove — got 1 of 68 votes for hardest course, and average rank was 4.5.

This section breaks down how to play each hole at Golden Tee’s Summit Lakes, which was voted the 3rd hardest of the 2008 courses by the expert community. The par 3 17th hole got multiple votes as one of the toughest holes in Golden Tee Live 2008, and holes 10 and 13 also got votes for being among the hardest.

Make sure you check out the video of how Sobe attacks each hole on this course! Then come back here and learn even more tips and tricks, and how to play from each of the tee boxes on the course!

When you’re done reading, click here to download and save a printable version of these tips that you can take to the bar while you play! Don’t worry, I do it too!

After polling several of the experts, there are three different ways people choose to set up for Golden Tee Live 2008 Summit Lakes.

Three different options are presented towards playing Summit Lakes. The most popular choice is to use the old hybrids (”old birds”) and the orange balls. The next most popular option is to use the low-loft (FTX) clubs and the D2 (high-spin) balls, and another smaller crowd prefers to use the low-loft (FTX) clubs and the orange balls.

Of course, the choice is yours, but it’s helpful to know how the pros set up to play Summit Lakes!

An easy par 4 to start, as usual – just try to position your tee shot with a straight-in wind so that you have the best chance of holing out your approach shot, or at least getting Great Shot Points!

This par 3 plays slightly uphill, so above all else, make sure you don’t leave it short in the water!

Here’s an occasionally drivable par 4. If the lake is frozen, be glad, because most of the water the rest of the way will be too! The round will play much easier than if the water is in liquid form.

From the front of this huge tee box, you can get to the green with a big tailwind and an A1 that will bounce off the ice and onto the green.

If you’re close and have a good wind but the lake is not ice, you can still get close to the green for a chip if you turn right and hit a C3 (a lucky topspin bounce could land you on the green this way as well). If your tee shot accidentally rolls into the snow, it will sit up, and you can still usually get there in two (remember backspin won’t work as well).

The safe approach works too – there’s no reason you can’t lay up at the end of the first fairway and hit your approach into the green from there!

On this par 5, you should always be able to reach the bottom fairway off the tee. Don’t worry about clearing the mountain either – even a low-loft driver with roll will go straight over the edge of the mountain. Simply turn left until you are lined up to land in the rough between the snow and water down below. Crank a hard drive with roll, and your ball will roll out of the rough and into the fairway. From there, you should have a nice approach shot into the green for an eagle putt!

Don’t take this tee shot for granted – make sure you end up in the middle of the fairway, because there’s trouble right and left! Stay in the middle and you’re in good shape to birdie.

Play one less club because of the downhill shot, and compensate for the wind more since the ball will be in the air longer!

This par 4 is drivable 90% of the time.

The left side of this tee box is money – hit a straight wood with backspin to the green.

From the middle of the box, you’ll need to hit a B1 or a small A1 around the mountain to get there.

The right side of this box gives you trouble. You can try to hit a topspin driver off the mountain and try to get lucky, but watch out – you could go into the water past the green. And, if this happens, it will put you back on the tee box!

To reach this par 5 in two, you’ll have to get on or past the little bottleneck between the fairways. Of course, there’s trouble on either side, with water on the left and nasty rough on the right. Normally, you can aim at the right small path along the lake and hit a big C3. Assuming you clear trouble to the fairway, you’ll have an iron to driver shot into the green.

If you don’t think you can clear the first fairway, laying up is much better than being in the water or the nasty rough.
Or, from the front of the box, you can aim at the flag and blast the ball straight ahead into the snow (a low-risk option). The elevation will be low, and you need as much distance as you can safely get, so pound it out there! Even when the ball plugs, you can still get to the green on your second shot. This is a good option if you’re a beginner and don’t trust your accuracy over the bottleneck.

This par 4 is drivable a lot of the time. If there’s ice, it’s that much easier. Just go for it and don’t worry about getting wet.

Or, if you can’t get there, line up with the wind for a straight-wind approach shot from just about anywhere.

Without ice, you may have anywhere from a straight shot to a big A1 or C3.

Sometimes you could be into a huge wind from the very back of the box. You can’t get there with this setup. Lay up in the snow below you, but make sure you hit the flyby button a few times to check out the terrain. The snow has mounds and you won’t be able to get there in two if you get stuck behind one.

Remember that this green is WAY downhill, and the wind will REALLY blow it again. Your ball will be coming straight down from the tee even with a driver. A strong face-wind makes it really hard to hold the green, so definitely don’t use backspin with this setup (try to land long).

The fairway is separated in two here. Most of the time, you’ll just want to lay up toward the end of the first fairway, which will leave you with an easy 5-wood to the green.

If there’s a big wind and you’re at the front of the box, you can get to the second fairway pretty easily, where you’ll have a nice iron shot in.

When in doubt, lay up short, because distance on the approach shot won’t be an issue!

It’s rumored that this green has been driven once or twice when the lake is ice, but you probably won’t be thinking about that! If this hole is icy, though, blast an A1 or C3 as far down the ice as you can, leaving yourself with a nice approach shot with the wind.

If the lake is water, lay up on top of the hill on either side (whatever gives you a better approach shot with the wind). You should then have from a 2-iron to a 3-wood from there.

This hole is really tough. You’ll want to club up because of the incline, and you’ll usually want to avoid backspin, which can suck your ball right off the green. But if you don’t use backspin, you can roll right off also! You’ll probably have to fight the wind here with some kind of angled shot, but if you’re off just a bit, you’ll be in the sand or worse. Good luck!

This section contains an overview of all the 2008 Golden Tee Live courses, including tips and tricks for each 2008 course. View the video clip below for an overview of the 2008 courses!

The shortcut here is to rotate to the right a few times and try to land the ball on the green patch in between the cabins. If it looks tough, it is. If you can stick it here, though, you’ll have a wood into the green for eagle. Don’t be long over the green, though, because it’s out of bounds there!

Going down the island fairways will mostly never get you there in two, but it’s a good way to lay up if you’re 350+ to the cabins into a big wind and there’s no ice.

If there’s a good wind, or you’re close enough on the box, you can blast a drive over the cabins into the snow. You should still be able to reach the green in two from here also, and it doesn’t require a precision drive!

Finally, if the lake is ice and you have a back tee box, don’t be afraid to crank a drive onto the ice just left of the cabins. You may be able to reach the green in two from here as well!

This hole is always drivable over the rock. If you’re close enough to be able to use a 3-wood, it will clear the rock. A driver will usually hit the top of the rock, but it will bounce over. If you have to hit driver, use backspin and aim for the right side of the green. The rock will kill the backspin, but the ball should bounce over the rock and trickle down onto the green! Sometimes you will plop into the snow, but you’re still in good shape there. If you do end up on the hill looking down at the green, remember that you can putt off the hill!

If this hole is icy, you can get close to the green, even maybe making it with a couple lucky bounces (be careful for some of the ice holes, because there’s water still in a couple).

This hole usually plays tough because of the wind and a downhill shot into the green. Try to leave your approach shot straight with the wind.

A good rule of “thumb” here: When hitting from the rough with a wind in the teens blowing from behind, you will want to hit a club whose normal distance (ex: 9-iron = 100yds) will land the green, and hit a full thumb shot (no pullback). If you’re into the wind, you will need to club up 1 or even 2.