For me I play the ball and not the hole, might work for you to look at it that way.

one thing I do is pick intermediate targets.  Don't focus on what's down fairway.  Also, try this next time you get to the box.  Pick your target line, set your club head on target line and then open your stance slightly.  Don't readjust club head. Then just make your normal swing and it should fade slightly.   A little practicing this shot on the range and you'll kill this hole really soon.

good luck!

Great topic George and YES there's one hole at my home course, Portsmouth C.C. that gets me every time.  Walking away with a bogey makes me happy to say the least... 

It's the 2nd hole, Par 4 a little over 400 with a slight dog hill right..   Getting off the tee is the key on this hole and boy does the wind play a factor in this.  Wind can either be in your face or behind and if you don't get put in the middle of the fairway, you're struggling for a bogey at best. 

There's another hole very similar to this as well but a little longer on the back 9... 

As to how I deal with it?  I always choke down on my driver and hope for the best...  All i can do...

Number 17 at my home course is a downhill par 3 that maxes out at around 135 yds. This hole has ruined more good rounds than any other on the course. It plays down hill and the green slopes severely from back to front. If you put any kind of spin on the ball it will spin off the green. I have tried full shots, 3/4 shots and punch shots all with no consistent positive results. I am happy when I walk away with a 4.

One of my favorite area courses has several holes like that, that turn right, against my normal draw. 

I spent extra time at the range adding a power fade for holes like these.  I open my stance a little, stand a little closer to the ball, and then hold on tighter with my right hand to restrict the release of the clubface, and feel like I am 'cutting across' the ball from outside to in.  I find it easier to do with hybrids and woods than with my irons.

I tend to hit a slight draw (RH) with my driver so I completely understand how difficult it is to hit a fade or cut when needed.  I spent my whole life trying not to "slice" the ball and now, cannot do it do this day.  In this situation, as long as I don't run out of fairway, I'll hit my driver straight to cut the corner.  When all else fails, I hit a long iron that I know will be straight and play my second shot in.  There aren't many courses anymore that accommodate a left to right shot anymore.

For me it's the 6th hole which is a 375 yard dog-leg right with a grove of trees to the right which attracts my ball off the tee like a magnet.  The upside is that I've gotten good at hitting a punch shot out with a 4 iron that can come close to reaching the green.

Yes.... Every darn holes at Torrey Pines South!

I can never get past number 4 and 5 at my club. The first three holes at the club are easy par and sometimes birdie holes. If I can get through 4 and 5 that is when my good scores come. 

4 is a dogleg right par 4 to an elevated green. It is one of the toughest greens on the golf course.

5 is a long straight away par 4 with a tiny 2 tiered green. 

Both just are difficult for me. 

The 4th hole at my home course owns me. A 510 yard par 5 that requires a 205 yard lay up tee shot. Second shot has to get up and over 40 yards of marsh, which leaves 170 into the green that is guarded by bunkers on the left and has a sharp drop off behind and to the right. 

The tee shot on the 8th hole at my home course drives me crazy!!! The fairway doglegs left, slopes left, and left of the fairway is trees, bushes, and tall grass. I usually hit a draw (RH), but I play tips so the tee box is set back and to the right. I need to hit a cut on that hole, because to hit a draw you have to start it over the OB stakes on the right. The angle of the shot just makes me uncomfortable, and it is a long hole so I have to hit a driver.

My challenge is #10 on the Falls Course at Magnolia Grove, Mobile, AL.  Par 5, dogleg left.  Second shot is on a downhill stance, a shot that I can't seem to master.  That second shot I like to land short of the falls which is a man made concrete rapids.  The shot to the green is a carry over the rapids and up to a well protected green with deep bunkers on either side of the green.  The green has a lot of contour, hit into the wrong zone and a three putt sneaks into the score.  The only easy shot on this hole is off the tee.  I've only had a few pars on this hole, I walk away happy with a bogey.

I have a 395 yard Par 4 hole on my home course that breaks my chops every round.  Its tight on either side till it opens at about the 200 marker.  If I'm not perfect I rarely get away without going OB.  There is a few ProV1's in Tree area on that hole 

The group that I play with have named the 7,8,9th holes on our course, GLOOM, DISPAIR and AGONY ON ME. Those holes can destroy a round very quickly, and often do. They are a Par 5, Par 3 Par 4. No level ground to hit off of, no level putting areas on the sloping fast greens, deep-deep bunkers, elevated greens, sloping doglegs left and waste areas fronting the uphill shots to the greens. Fun on a cross wind day, even more fun on a head on windy day, some days bogey is a great score on these holes. 

Hole #8 at Kimbeland CC.  It is a Par 3, facing southwest, 205 from the tips.  It's a peninsula green, with a bunker on the back right side.  Water is on two sides, the front and left.  Off to the right is a very narrow landing area, to the right of that is a hill with a cart path to the right of the hill.  The green is sloped back to front, and it is tiered from right to left.  In the summer the wind is in your face.  The tees are elevated a little, so your ball is directly into the wind the whole time.  I have hit 5 wood before.  In the winter when the greens are hard and bumpy, the wind is at your back.  On the days there is a storm blowing in, the wind will blow hard from the west.  If the pin is on the lower left side, the wind can easily push your ball 30 yards into the water.  If you gauge it wrong, you are left with a down hill 40 foot putt with 3 feet of fringe between you and the water.  I hate this hole thinking about it.  There isn't a flat putt on the whole green!  @$*&#(* Hole  

Oh yes!  No. 10, a short par four very tight.  You have to hit uphill and then it slopes from right to left.  All kinds of trouble.  I try not to be negative when I walk up but all these memories of all my bad shots come to my head.  Can't shake it!

Number 12.  Short par four.  From the tee box, you see a majestic live oak on the right about a hundred yards out from the tee box.  I played about 300 yards from the senior men's tees.  I normally hit a 17 degree hybrid and a 50* wedge into the green.  The green is very very very very small.  A sand trap on the left and a dirt trap on the right.  There is a huge life oak the covers that trap on the right which makes if difficult for sand to stay in the trap or stay fluffed and the swamps are to the back of the green.  The grain breaks to the left of the green towards the river.  Accuracy is the key here and little room for error.  Live oaks and loblolly pines line the right side of the fairway, not allowing sun the grass so if you stray right you are less likely to get a good lye.    Having so much to think about on this hold, Mr Shankapopamus has gotten me a few times on the second shot and I can have great score going into this hole and completely scramble my mind.  But it is a fun hole and if you play it right with a bump and run, you can score on it.   

#3 at Schifferdecker Golf Course in Joplin, MO. I don't know why I struggle so much at that hole. It's a dead straight par 5 that runs parallel to US-66. The wind in the spring and summer months is usually helpful in keeping the ball out of the road and there is plenty of room to the left, but I always seem to be afraid of that tee shot. Even when I do get the ball down the fairway, it seems like I screw it up somewhere else and rarely finish that hole even or better.

For me it's number 9 on my home course. A 419 yard par 4 where you hit over a valley onto a fairway that slopes against you. You don't get much roll. Your 2nd shot is to a narrow green with a ridge running through the middle. If you miss the green left or right it's a very difficult show to get up and down. Although it's tough, it is also a jewel on this Palmer design.

Great post George!!  I think this is a general issue that can be one that haunts many golfers that play the same courses over and over again.  I think we can get into a routine of how we play a course that we are used to playing and therefore are subject to some of the same positive/negative results that go with those patterns.  

When I first started playing, there were a few holes at my local course that would just haunt me.  If they were tight holes, I would be nervous and be very constricted in my actions.  Making for poor golf shots.  

Only when I moved away for college and started to work on my game did I come back to what is an easy course and was able to attack it with confidence!!  My key was to try to keep a clean slate and stay positive on every shot!!

Hole number one at Mattaponi Springs in Virginia, I can't count how many rounds have been ruined by starting of with a double or even a triple bogey on that hole.  It doesn't look all that bad down hill tee shot that I have to use a 3 wood or a hybrid and try to get as close to the edge of the water as possible.  Hit it to short you have a 200 yard carry over water, hit it to long you go into the hazard.  Second shot if you hit a good drive will be a 165-175 yard carry over water there is no real bail out area, right is the woods left is the trees.