Furnace Creek Golf Course: The world’s most extreme golf course?

When playing on golf courses that feature water hazards most golfers try to avoid them, but one on one extreme course, the water could be very inviting to players – as a means to cool down.

In the past I’ve played golf in Turkey and Tunisia and I found them to be excruciatingly hot, yet enjoyable experiences – especially afterwards when cooling down with a few ice-cold beers. However, playing golf in 30c temperatures around the likes of Lykia World Resort or Golf el Kantaoui pales into comparison to perhaps the world’s most extreme golf course when it comes to heat – Furnace Creek Golf Club, which is situated in Death Valley National Park, California where summertime temperatures can reach a 5-iron melting 55c!

Furnace Creek is a lush green oasis set amid the Mojave Desert near to the California/Nevada border. What started out as a simple 3-hole course which date farmers would use to pass time was expanded to nine holes and later to 18 holes by the celebrated course architect William F. Bell – who lists Torrey Pines among his creations.

Perry Dye, son of legendary course architect Pete Dye gave the course a makeover in 1997. As well as installing a full irrigation system, Dye rerouted some of the holes and introduced strategically placed mounds and trees around the course.

It is easy to be fooled by Furnace Creek into thinking it’s just another golf course with its trees, ponds and lush greenery. It’s a challenging course despite its relatively short 6,236 yards off the back tees with wide and inviting fairways. But players don’t just battle the course layout – they also battle extreme heat over a course that sits some 200 feet below sea level, making it the lowest course in the world.  This has an added effect of altering the distance of shots – where one may normally hit a 7-iron, they may find themselves having to go down a club and hit a 6-iron to cover the same distance.

Heatstroke is more of a danger at Furnace Creek than any bunker or water hazard; sweat from the body evaporates before it has a chance to properly cool the body and the thermometer outside the pro-shop serves as a stark reminder of just how hot it can get. The thermometer maxes out at 130F and often reaches that threshold. The average temperature during the summer months is 115F – around 45C. At other times of the year, the course isn’t quite so severe but the temperatures can still be uncomfortable with an average temperature of around 26C in early spring and late-Autumn.

Keeping hydrated is of paramount importance, as is conserving energy in the strength-sapping heat. Often players who take to Furnace Creek forego regular pre-shot routines and forget about practice swings – instead teeing up and hitting their shot before dashing back into the cooling shade.

In June 2011, the course staged what is perhaps the craziest ever golf tournament – the Heatstroke Open, which attracted 48 competitors to play Furnace Creek at the height of summer. Most of those who took part were players who had played the course during less extreme temperatures, with only course employees having experience of the course at its hottest.

Played over 2 days, the temperature on day one reached 115F and day two saw the mercury stop at 114F, but players were on the course early when the temperatures were still double-digits and finished by lunchtime with the temperature ‘only’ reaching 110F.

One good thing about having such extremes of temperature is that it is pretty easy to get a tee-off time during the summer. Furnace Creek is pretty empty during the warmest months with only course employees and the bravest – or craziest – of golfers willing to take on the challenge and green fees are just $30, including the use of a golf kart.

The course is so empty in fact, that the 19^th hole – perhaps the most important on the course – closes from June through to September! Reason enough to avoid the course during the summer months…

So, is this the world’s most extreme golf challenge? Could you play 18 holes in one of the hottest places on earth where coyotes and perhaps the occasional snake can be found prowling the fairways?

To get a taster of what you might face at Furnace Creek, it might be best trying to acclimatise to the extreme temperatures with a golf break in Las Vegas before heading to Death Valley and the Heatstroke Open at Furnace Creek Golf Course!