Golf is often a game of embellishment, played fairly from tee to green, then exaggerated upon at the clubhouse bar afterward. That's where a made 10-foot putt suddenly becomes 20. It's where the braggard of the group constantly finds a way to re-tell the story of when he or she got to play No. 17 at TPC Sawgrass and dominated the island green. Well, this is the story of a golf hole that will shut them all up.
Meet the world's longest par 3.
The 19th hole at the Legend Golf and Safari Resort in the Limpopo Province of South Africa is unlike any in the world. With a tee box set over 1,400 feet in the air on Hanglip Mountain, it is only reachable by helicopter. (If the height isn't enough to scare you, the 18-hole course, which is part of a safari, also has lions, elephants, cape buffalos, rhinoceroses and leopards roaming free.) The adventurous must stand mere feet from the knee-shaking drop as they try to hit driver down the vast expanse to the pin a whopping 630 yards away. It's an accomplishment only made possible by the nearly half a minute of hang time the ball gets before hitting the green, which is shaped like the continent of Africa.
At roughly $200 to play, it's one of the most expensive holes, if not the most expensive, in the entire world. But the helicopter ride and view alone are worth the price of admission. Not to mention that if you're the lucky first person to ace the monster, the resort will pay you a cool one million dollars.
Plenty of golfers have taken a swing for the hole in one and failed. In fact, there have been just five birdies on the hole, all by amateurs. The resort has a leaderboard online that lists the best scores ever. Curiously, there is a Morgan Freeman listed as making par, but no indication if that's the Oscar winner or not. Of all the professionals that have played the world's longest par 3, Padraig Harrington is the only one known to have made par.
If you can match his score or beat it on the 19th hole at Legend Golf and Safari Resort, that's a story that will silence every loudmouth you ever get paired up with again.
You can follow Adam on Twitter @AdamKWatson.
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