These tee shots are scariest

Step up to the tee box on certain golf holes and things just feel right.

Maybe it’s the way the hole fits your eye. Or the shape of the shot you’re most comfortable with – which, in my case, is a high and oftentimes overly aggressive fade.

Past experiences can sometime play a part as well.

But whatever the cause, you suddenly feel comfortable, in control and capable of blocking out whatever evils might lurk between you and the green.

Unfortunately, views from certain other tee boxes can generate completely different kinds of feelings, with dread being one of the first to come to mind.

And again, past experiences – especially those negative ones that I tend to stumble onto far too frequently – can impact your confidence and the trepidation you feel on those particular holes as much as anything.

With that in mind, I present my own personal list of the ten more intimidating tee shots in the Inland Northwest:

10 No. 13 at the Creek at Qualchan

Sorry, but I can’t force myself to put together any list of suspect golf holes without including this 333-yard ogre of a par 4. Actually, once you complete your reading assignment, learn just how “interesting” and “challenging” the hole is and step to the tee, there isn’t much – visually, at least – to chill your blood. What ratchets up the intimidation factor is the realization that any tee shot not blasted left into the trees is destined to end up in the same 20-foot circle at the base of the hill where 85 percent of all tee shots seem to gather.

Which means there’s a good chance you’ll be hitting your short approach shot to a narrow, elevated green out of a fresh divot.

9 No 17 at the University of Idaho

This devilish par-3 stretches 232 yards from the back tees and plays along a narrow ridge that falls off dramatically on both sides. Hit it a little left and your ball ends up back on the 16th fairway. Hit it right and your ball rolls out of bounds, down another steep grade and into a … actually, I’m not sure what’s over there. I’ve hit several tee shots to the right off this hole but have never had enough nerve to venture to the edge of the precipice to see where they’ve ended up.

8 No. 3 at Downriver

As the trees just beyond and to the left of the elevated tee box on this 366-yard par-4 continue to grow, trying to land a fade on its knife-narrow fairway becomes less and less of an option – especially with all of the trees on the right. The correct play off the tee, according to the advice offered anonymously on Downriver’s Web site, is to play it safe and use a club that will get you to the 150-yard marker.

So if you want to spend your $23 to hit that kind of shot, go ahead. Me? I prefer to aim right with my driver and hitch my hopes on being able to generate one of the three draws I tend hit each summer.

7 No. 12 at Esmeralda

The visual from the tee box, which sits some 50-60 feet above the green on the 159-yard par-3, is scary enough. A bunker guards the left side of the putting surface and any tee shot that rolls off the back of the green can be a bear to get up and down. But what makes the tee shot a real nightmare is the walk back down the steep grade – hoping all the while that you don’t step on a loose stone or railroad tie and tear an ACL.

Good luck, and happy knee surgery.

6 No. 8 at Downriver

As I pointed out earlier, past experiences can play a big role in shaping your mindset as you approach the tee on certain holes – even relatively tame looking par-3s like this 216-yarder. So anyone who remembers the column I wrote last summer about making a 12 from the bunker here during a pro-am tournament should need no further explanation.

5 No. 9 at Indian Canyon

I remember moving out here from the Midwest over 25 years ago and playing The Canyon for the first time. I couldn’t wait to get to this par-5 I had immediately perceived to be a pushover after glancing at the scorecard and discovering it measured only 449 yards. After arriving at the tee, however, my eagerness waned quickly as I stared up the steep hill to the clubhouse and realized this was going to be 449 of the toughest yards I had ever traversed. What I didn’t realize was how much the fairway sloped to the right, so I steered my fade away from the trees on the left to the right-center of the fairway and then watched in amazement as my ball rocketed to the right and rolled under a cart parked near the 16th tee.

And I feel safe in estimating that at least 60 percent of the drives I’ve hit on this hole since then have ended up in that same general area, leaving me blocked out and boiling.

4 No. 18 at MeadowWood

Until it apparently became fashionable to compare the golf-ball size holes in your vinyl siding and roof with those of your neighbors, the intimidation factor on this 413-yard par-4 hardly registered. Today, however, the once-beautiful and receptive fairway that gently doglegs to the right down a steep hill, is tightly lined on both sides by expensive homes.

And suddenly, the only thing I can visualize from the tee box is the owner of one of those houses sitting out on his deck, sharing a drink with his lawyer and listening for the distinctive “thunk” that will announce my pending arrival – and help pay for the new seamless siding he’s been waiting to install.

3 No. 16 at Wandermere

Where do I start with this 405-yard, dogleg-left par-4 that has deflated so many egos and blown apart so many good rounds? From the elevated tee box that aims you toward the corner of the dogleg and toward the shortest part of the fairway – where even a fairway metal or long iron might put you in the trees – to the big tree in the middle of the fairway that can block even the most well-intentioned and accurately struck drive, this hole just feels wrong. I once asked the head pro about the best way to play it, and he said something to the effect of trying to “hit a low hook off the tee and fly it under the branches of those trees that guard the left side of the fairway.”

Off an elevated tee?

Go ahead. Raise your hand if you have that shot.

2 No. 4 at Liberty Lake

They built a new green on this 376-yard par-4 some time back and greatly enhanced the character of what had been a blah hole. What they didn’t do, however, was clear up the problem of having to play it parallel to a heavily traveled street that is separated from the right side of the fairway by nothing more than a chain-link fence and sidewalk.

That might not bother those of you who can move it from right to left. But every time I address my ball on the tee and hear the cars streaming past in both directions, I can’t prevent this disturbing image of a body shop repair bill from dominating any positive swing thoughts that might otherwise come to mind.

1 No. 3 at Esmeralda

Giving this shortish and relatively benign 482-yard par-5 the distinction of being No. 1, might surprise some of you straighter hitters. But, again, past experiences play into this intimidation thing, and I still can’t shake the memory of the drive I pulled left over the chain-link fence and into a graveled parking area in front of one of the mobile homes across the street. My ball ended up next to a rusting pickup truck where two men were sitting on the tailgate and doing major damage to a half rack of Keystone. I went to the fence and asked if they would toss my ball back to me, and one of them looked up, took another long tug off his beer and said, “Why don’t you come over here and try to get it.”

I didn’t.

But I did gain a whole new appreciation for the intimidation level of tee shots on certain golf holes.