Claudia Laurent

Golf writer, Golf Handicapp · 1 September 2026

199 yards, and the canyon has done everything it possibly can to help you. Look at where you are standing. Sheer rock on both sides, close enough that anything into it kicks back down onto the grass, so you cannot lose this tee shot left and you cannot lose it right. The walls take the wind out of it as well, so there is nothing pushing the ball anywhere it does not want to go. It is bowling with the guide rails up. Then the rails run out, and the pins are on an island. Every excuse has been taken off you before you swing, and what is left is 199 yards of pure carry to a green with water on every side of it and a footbridge as the only way on. There is no front edge to run one up, no bail out short, and nothing to aim away at. You carry it or you reload. So take enough club. The commonest way to make six here is taking the number that needs your very best strike and then trying to help the ball into the air with it. Take one more than you think, make an ordinary swing, and aim at the middle of the green rather than the flag. The water is dead still down there, sheltered by the rock, and it holds a mirror of the walls all day.

This hole is not real. Like every hole in the collection it was conjured with AI, a golf daydream rather than a course you can go and play. The thousands of courses in the Golf Handicapp app, however, are very real.

This one is make-believe. The thousands of courses in the app are not.

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About the author

Claudia Laurent · Golf writer, Golf Handicapp

Claudia writes about the World Handicap System, golf scoring and getting more from every round for Golf Handicapp. She is a mid-handicap golfer who logs every card, the good ones and the ones she would rather forget.

This image is AI-generated. Published 1 September 2026.

The Ribbon

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