Given the choice of posting a good score or testing themselves from tees pros might play, most golfers will take the good score.

This project is not about them.

This project might even scare the pros a little: Identify the 18 toughest public course holes in the Sacramento area, play them from their longest configuration and often to their toughest pin location, and have the results chronicled in the newspaper for 18 weeks for all to see.

Allan Owen, a 7-handicapper and one of six Bee readers chosen for the mission, posed a reasonable question: "Do we get a prize if we break 100?"

Answer: Probably not. To the prize or breaking 100.

Randy Cook, Matt Corsaut, Michael Gelber, Kathi McCoy and Janet Smith, with handicap indexes between 1.1 and 17.1, will join Owen in the pursuit. Plenty of right-minded higher handicappers applied, but it didn't seem right to expose them to "the tips."

The six were chosen from more than 150 who responded to a call for volunteers with the right golfing spirit for the challenge. It's hard to say whether choosing the 18 toughest holes or six most deserving participants was more difficult. There are a lot of brutal holes and great golfing spirit out there.

Cook, a left-hander, balked at giving up his regular weekday game when given the call. He eventually relented, but his loyalty to his golf buddies sealed his inclusion.

Corsaut emailed: "I would be the only player who can rip a drive 320 down the middle then rifle a 2-iron to 2 feet for eagle on a par 5; then on the next hole, slice one into the woods, chop it out near the green, shank a wedge into a bunker, take two to get out, then three-putt for a quad." Our kind of self-deprecating player.

Gelber, who recently turned 50, envisioned the project as a birthday present of sorts. Fittingly sick.

McCoy's description of her internal struggle to enjoy the game despite her competitive nature was immediately endearing. This could be interesting.

Smith wrote that she has a handicap index of 4, plays the ball down and is a stickler for the rules. Had us at plays the ball down.

Owen posts 180 to 200 rounds a year. "I might be a 7 from the whites, but I'm a 30 from the blues," he said. "I want to get my (butt) kicked by the tough holes from the tips." Our captain.

There were fewer candidates and more "winners" in choosing the area's toughest 18 holes. Whether the hole was fair or good wasn't considered. When a tiebreaker was needed, the lesser-known hole prevailed. One hole a week will be unveiled for the next 18 weeks. There is no hierarchy.

The 18th holes at Empire Ranch, Castle Oaks, Diamond Oaks and Dry Creek didn't make the cut, so save the emails for a debate when all is said and done. Remember, there's a lot of subjectivity involved.

Some of the attributes valued:

• Length and accuracy – meaning a full, free swing is called for but difficult to produce

• Every shot – first, second or third – is demanding

• The green, even reached in regulation, poses three-putt potential

• Visual intimidation

• Challenging for men and women

Each course was limited to one hole – Dry Creek could have had six. The par of the holes adds up to 72 – there were numerous bearish par 3s and par 4s omitted, but the par-5 options were surprisingly sparse.

Personal experience and input from players and club pros prevailed over a hole's course handicap, which, according to Jim Cowan, the Northern California Golf Association's director of course rating and handicapping, makes sense.

"The No. 1 handicap hole is not necessarily the most difficult," Cowan said. "It just identifies the hole on which a high handicapper most needs a stroke to achieve a halve with a low handicapper in match play."

Finding holes suitably tough for men and women – playing the same 18 was a priority – was a challenge. Thick rough, deep bunkers and forced carries are more penal to women, Cowan said. The greater the accuracy requirement, the more difficult for men.

Still, yardage is the biggest obstacle for players of both sexes.

"Add bunkers, and you hardly see a ripple (in score change)," Cowan said. "Same with increasing green speed or rough height. But add 50 yards to a hole, and all across the board you will see scores increase."

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