Look, I'm as tired of hearing about the bear trap (holes Nos. 15-17 at PGA National, site of this week's Honda Classic for those who don't know) as you are, but the reality is that these holes matter because they comprise part of one of the toughest courses on the PGA Tour. 

In fact, PGA National had three of the nine toughest holes played on the PGA Tour in 2018 and likely will again in 2019. Here's a look at the top 10 hardest in 2018.

RankCourseHoleParO/U Par

1

Shinnecock

14

4

+0.567

2

Shinnecock

3

4

+0.563

3

PGA National

17

3

+0.533

4

Shinnecock

2

3

+0.439

5

Carnoustie

12

4

+0.426

6

PGA National

6

4

+0.416

7

Torrey Pines (South)

12

4

+0.410

8

Augusta National

11

4

+0.400

9

PGA National

15

3

+0.391

10

Shinnecock

10

4

+0.377

Take the U.S. Open venue of Shinnecock out of it, and the Honda Classic had three of the six hardest, including two of the three bear trap holes in par 3s at No. 15 and No. 17. Still, some participants in this week's event, including 2017 runner-up Gary Woodland, think these holes might not play as difficult this time around as they normally do.

"Obviously everybody talks about the finish with 15, 16, 17 there, the three hardest stretch of holes that we see all year," said Woodland this week. "But it's based a lot on the wind, too, and the wind is supposed to be down this week. The greens are obviously new, so they're extremely firm, so that'll definitely pose a test. But all in all, I think the scores might be a little lower than typical with the wind down, so we'll see how that goes."

Regardless, the Honda Classic poses a stiff pre-Players Championship and pre-Masters examination of where players' games are at. A single-digit number under par has won this event in five of the last six years, which is atypical for most PGA Tour tournaments. Maybe that's not the case this time around, and maybe the bear trap has been de-clawed by a lack of wind. But I'll believe that when I see it as the Florida swing gets underway on Thursday.