Every PGA Tour pro has nightmares about certain holes. Some demand a perfect drive over water. Others ask for a 220-yard approach into a green the size of a one-car garage. A few simply break players over the head with weather, length, and unforgiving pin positions until the leaderboard looks like a list of survivors.
RotoWire compiled every official scoring-average report the PGA Tour has published from 2021 through 2026, ran the multi-year totals across every fixed-venue stop on tour, and ranked the toughest holes by strokes over par. The result is a definitive list of the hardest holes on the PGA Tour -- anchored by data, not reputation.
Vidanta Vallarta's 10th plays the hardest of all. Quail Hollow's Green Mile lives up to its name. And Augusta National is the only course with three holes inside the top 10.
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➜ Interactive widget below: tap any hole for year-by-year scoring, par-break distribution, and the story behind why it's so hard.
How We Ranked the Hardest Holes on the PGA Tour
Every hole on this list was scored using official PGA Tour stat reports from 2021 through 2026 (six full seasons of data plus the 2026 season in progress). We pulled hole-by-hole scoring averages for every fixed PGA Tour venue, calculated the multi-year average over par, and filtered out holes that played fewer than two qualifying seasons.
A few notes on the dataset:
• We excluded rotating major venues (US Open, Open Championship sites that change each year) because they don't have multi-year data at the same course.
• Quail Hollow's 2025 data includes the PGA Championship, which the Truist Championship venue hosted that May.
• Torrey Pines (South) 2021 was excluded because the course also hosted the US Open that year, which would have contaminated the standalone Farmers Insurance Open average.
• Where a hole's par changed mid-sample (Grand Reserve #15 was renumbered from a par 5 to a par 3 in 2025), the earlier-format data was dropped.
Result: a clean, defensible, six-year scoring-average ranking of every hole worth ranking on the PGA Tour calendar.
The 10 Hardest Holes on the PGA Tour (Multi-Year Scoring Average)
Here's the headline list -- the 10 holes that have played the toughest, on average, across the entire 2021–2026 PGA Tour season. Every hole is a par 4 except where noted (none are par 3s or par 5s in the top 10).
Rk | Course | Hole | Par | Yards | Over Par | Tournament |
1 | Vidanta Vallarta | #10 | 4 | 475 | +0.425 | Mexico Open |
2 | Quail Hollow | #18 | 4 | 494 | +0.404 | Truist Championship |
3 | Torrey Pines (South) | #12 | 4 | 505 | +0.337 | Farmers Insurance Open |
4 | Augusta National | #11 | 4 | 520 | +0.334 | The Masters |
5 | TPC Sawgrass | #18 | 4 | 462 | +0.327 | The Players Championship |
6 | Augusta National | #5 | 4 | 495 | +0.316 | The Masters |
7 | The Renaissance Club | #18 | 4 | 483 | +0.313 | Genesis Scottish Open |
8 | TPC San Antonio (Oaks) | #1 | 4 | 454 | +0.308 | Valero Texas Open |
9 | Muirfield Village | #18 | 4 | 480 | +0.304 | the Memorial Tournament |
10 | Augusta National | #18 | 4 | 465 | +0.302 | The Masters |
A quick read of the table: nine of the top 10 are par 4s in the 460–525 yard range. Augusta National lands three holes in the top 10. Quail Hollow's Green Mile finisher is the only hole that has played over par every single year of the sample. And the toughest hole on tour over the full window is not at a major venue at all -- it's in Mexico.
The Hardest Hole on the PGA Tour: Vidanta Vallarta #10
Vidanta Vallarta's 10th hole has been the hardest hole on the PGA Tour since the Mexico Open joined the schedule in 2022. The 475-yard par 4 plays into prevailing Pacific Coast wind, with thick native vegetation lining both sides and a small green that punishes anything but a precise long-iron second shot. Across four editions, the hole has played +0.409 or worse every single year, with a four-year average of +0.425 over par.
That number is brutal in context. The Tour-wide average bogey-or-worse rate on the hole sits above 47% -- meaning roughly half of every shot taken there ends in bogey or worse. Birdies are practically impossible: just 5.7% of attempts find the hole in fewer than four shots. For a par 4 that's shorter than the average top-25 entry, that's an extraordinary degree of difficulty.
The Mexico Open also gets quieter weeks of media coverage than most PGA Tour stops, but the scoring data is loud: Vidanta's 10th is, by any defensible measure, the toughest hole on tour.
The Green Mile at Quail Hollow: Where the Tournament Gets Decided
Two holes from Quail Hollow Club's famous "Green Mile" — the closing three-hole stretch of holes 16, 17, and 18 -- make this list. They're the reason the Truist Championship (formerly the Wells Fargo Championship) has produced more late-Sunday lead changes than almost any non-major event.
Hole 18 — The Toughest Closer in Golf (#2 on tour)
A 494-yard par 4 with a creek running the entire left side of the landing area and continuing across the front of the green. Across the 2021–2026 window, the hole has played at least +0.330 over par every single year, peaking at +0.500 in 2024 and +0.456 in 2021. When Quail Hollow hosted the 2025 PGA Championship, the 18th added another data point at +0.410 -- confirming the hole's difficulty translates from regular tour setup straight into major championship pressure. Multi-year scoring average: +0.404.
Hole 17 — A 223-Yard Par 3 with Water and a Bunker Complex
The middle hole of the Green Mile. At its normal Truist setup, the 17th plays around 190 yards, but for the 2025 PGA Championship the tee was pushed back to 223 yards and the hole became one of the entire major's toughest tests at +0.394 over par. It's the hardest par 3 on this list, and one of just two par 3s in the entire top 25.
No discussion of the hardest holes on the PGA Tour is complete without the Green Mile. Both holes are in our top 25, and the closing par 4 ranks second on the entire tour.
The Hardest Hole at The Masters: Augusta National's 11th (White Dogwood)
Augusta National lands three holes inside the top 10, more than any other course on the PGA Tour. The hardest of them -- and the hardest hole at The Masters by a comfortable margin -- is the 11th, known by its Augusta hole name "White Dogwood."
The hole was lengthened to 520 yards before the 2019 Masters and has been the toughest hole at Augusta National in nearly every edition since. The tee shot is a downhill drive into a narrowing landing area. The green is guarded by a pond on the left. In 2022, the 11th was the hardest hole on the entire PGA Tour at +0.477 over par. The five-year average: +0.334.
Two more Augusta holes make this list: the 5th hole ("Magnolia," a 495-yard uphill dogleg) at +0.316, and the 18th hole ("Holly," a 465-yard uphill closer) at +0.302. All three are par 4s in the 465–520 yard range, which speaks to the central pattern of this entire ranking.
TPC Sawgrass #18: The Toughest Closer at The Players Championship
Most fans remember TPC Sawgrass for the island green at the 17th. But the 18th is where the Players Championship is actually won and lost. The 462-yard par 4 has water down the entire left side, including up against the green itself. Get aggressive off the tee -- splash. Bail right -- you're hitting a long iron from rough into a green sloping toward the lake. Five years of data shows it: TPC Sawgrass #18 ranks 5th-toughest on the PGA Tour at +0.327 over par.
The 2022 edition, played in some of the worst weather in tournament history, finished at +0.530 -- the second-toughest hole on the entire PGA Tour that season. The full six-year sample (2,561 attempts) is the deepest data set of any hole in our top 25.
The Hardest Par 3 on the PGA Tour
Only two par 3s crack the top 25, and both are over 220 yards from a regular Tour tee.
Port Royal #16 — The Bermuda Cliffside
At 235 yards, Port Royal's 16th hole sits high above the Atlantic Ocean with absolutely nothing to stop a missed shot from disappearing into the sea below. Bermuda wind makes club selection feel like guesswork. It has played over par every year of the five-year sample, with a multi-year average of +0.276 — ranking 17th overall and as the hardest par 3 on tour.
Quail Hollow #17 — The Green Mile Par 3
Detailed above. Multi-year average +0.269, ranks 18th overall.
Which PGA Tour Courses Have the Most Holes on This List?
When you map every hole in our top 25 to its host course, four venues lead the way:
• Bay Hill (Arnold Palmer Invitational): 4 holes — the most of any course on tour
• Augusta National (The Masters): 3 holes — including the top par-4 stretch in major championship golf
• Vidanta Vallarta (Mexico Open): 2 holes — including the #1 toughest hole on tour
• Quail Hollow (Truist Championship): 2 holes — the Green Mile par 4 and par 3 back-to-back
• TPC San Antonio (Valero Texas Open): 2 holes — the toughest opener on tour (#1) plus the par-4 4th
Bay Hill's placement is the surprise. The course doesn't carry the same major-venue prestige as Augusta or Quail Hollow, but its setup -- narrow fairways, water on multiple closing holes, and aggressive pin placements during the Arnold Palmer Invitational -- generates more above-average difficulty than any course on the PGA Tour schedule.
Why Are the Hardest Holes on the PGA Tour Almost Always Par 4s?
Twenty-three of the 25 hardest holes on this list are par 4s. The other two are par 3s. Zero par 5s appear in the top 25.
That isn't a coincidence. PGA Tour pros are exceptional at par 5s -- they're reachable in two for most modern players, which means birdie chances and a chance to recover after a poor drive. Par 3s are typically scoring opportunities because they're short. The hardest holes on tour, almost without exception, are long par 4s in the 460–525 yard range -- holes where players are forced to hit driver off the tee into trouble, then a long-iron approach into a small or protected green. There's no margin for the precision gap that separates the world's 50th-best player from the world's 5th.
Every top-10 hole on this list falls in that pattern. Five of the top 10 measure 480 yards or longer. None plays under 460 yards.
How to Use This Data for PGA Tour Betting and DFS
Hole-by-hole scoring averages aren't just trivia -- they shape both betting markets and daily-fantasy roster construction. A few practical applications:
• Make-the-cut and top-20 markets at tournaments with multiple hardest-holes (Augusta, Bay Hill, Quail Hollow, Sawgrass) favor accurate ball-strikers who avoid the big number. Bombers with wider misses get punished harder than usual.
• Long par-4 specialists -- pros who lead the Strokes Gained: Approach category from 200+ yards -- historically outperform their odds at venues with multiple long, hard par 4s.
• Round-by-round market: weather forecasts hit these holes hardest. If you see overnight rain or wind forecast above 15 mph at any tournament from the top of this list, the cut line typically moves 2–3 strokes higher.
• In DFS, value plays who excel at the Mexico Open, Valero Texas Open, Wyndham, or Bermuda Championship -- weaker fields with multiple top-25 difficulty holes -- produce some of the season's best leverage.
RotoWire's tournament previews break this down for every event on the calendar, with course-specific betting picks and projected ownership for DFS.
The Complete Top 25 Toughest Holes on the PGA Tour
Beyond the 10 highlighted above, here's the rest of the list (ranks 11–25):
• 11. Sedgefield CC #14 (Wyndham Championship) — par 4, 505 yards, +0.301
• 12. Colonial CC #5 (Charles Schwab Challenge) — par 4, 481 yards, +0.297
• 13. Riviera Country Club #12 (Genesis Invitational) — par 4, 479 yards, +0.296
• 14. Vidanta Vallarta #16 (Mexico Open) — par 4, 505 yards, +0.293
• 15. TPC Twin Cities #9 (3M Open) — par 4, 502 yards, +0.292
• 16. Bay Hill #18 (Arnold Palmer Invitational) — par 4, 458 yards, +0.278
• 17. Port Royal #16 (Butterfield Bermuda Championship) — par 3, 235 yards, +0.276
• 18. Quail Hollow #17 (Truist Championship) — par 3, 223 yards, +0.269
• 19. Memorial Park #14 (Texas Children's Houston Open) — par 4, 529 yards, +0.266
• 20. TPC San Antonio (Oaks) #4 (Valero Texas Open) — par 4, 481 yards, +0.264
• 21. Bay Hill #8 (Arnold Palmer Invitational) — par 4, 460 yards, +0.263
• 22. PGA National (Champion) #6 (Cognizant Classic) — par 4, 479 yards, +0.259
• 23. Bay Hill #9 (Arnold Palmer Invitational) — par 4, 480 yards, +0.257
• 24. Bay Hill #15 (Arnold Palmer Invitational) — par 4, 467 yards, +0.255
• 25. Innisbrook (Copperhead) #16 (Valspar Championship) — par 4, 475 yards, +0.251
Tap any hole in the widget at the top of this page for full year-by-year scoring, the par-break distribution (eagle / birdie / par / bogey / double-plus rates), and the editorial breakdown of what makes each one so hard.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the hardest hole on the PGA Tour?
Vidanta Vallarta's 10th hole, a 475-yard par 4 played at the Mexico Open. The hole has played +0.425 over par on average across four PGA Tour editions (2022–2025), making it the toughest hole on the PGA Tour over the most recent multi-year sample.
What is the hardest hole at The Masters?
Augusta National's 11th hole — named "White Dogwood" — is the hardest hole at The Masters and the 4th-hardest hole on the entire PGA Tour. The 520-yard par 4 has played +0.334 over par across the 2022–2026 Masters editions.
What is the Green Mile at Quail Hollow?
The Green Mile is the closing three-hole stretch at Quail Hollow Club (holes 16, 17, and 18). It's widely regarded as the toughest closing stretch on the PGA Tour. Two of the three holes — the par-4 18th and the par-3 17th — are in our top 25 toughest holes, with the 18th ranking second overall.
How long is TPC Sawgrass #18?
TPC Sawgrass #18 plays 462 yards as a par 4. Water guards the entire left side from tee to green, making it one of the most strategically punishing closing holes on the PGA Tour. It ranks 5th on our list of toughest holes.
What is the hardest par 3 on the PGA Tour?
Port Royal's 16th hole at the Butterfield Bermuda Championship. The 235-yard par 3 sits above the Atlantic Ocean cliffs and has played +0.276 over par on average across five editions, ranking it 17th on our overall list and as the hardest par 3 on tour.
Which PGA Tour course has the most hard holes?
Bay Hill, host of the Arnold Palmer Invitational, has four holes in our top 25 -- more than any other course on the PGA Tour. Augusta National is next with three. Vidanta Vallarta, Quail Hollow, and TPC San Antonio (Oaks) each have two.
Methodology
Multi-year scoring averages compiled from official PGA Tour stat reports, 2021–2026 seasons. Stroke-weighted across all qualifying editions. Minimum two seasons of data required to qualify. Rotating major championship venues excluded. Quail Hollow 2025 data includes the PGA Championship. Updated through May 2026.
