diff --git a/modules/core/src/main/java/org/locationtech/jts/operation/buffer/BufferCurveSetBuilder.java b/modules/core/src/main/java/org/locationtech/jts/operation/buffer/BufferCurveSetBuilder.java
index 0f491bc8cf..ff175f36a8 100644
--- a/modules/core/src/main/java/org/locationtech/jts/operation/buffer/BufferCurveSetBuilder.java
+++ b/modules/core/src/main/java/org/locationtech/jts/operation/buffer/BufferCurveSetBuilder.java
@@ -307,6 +307,7 @@ private void addRingSide(Coordinate[] coord, double offsetDistance, int side, in
   }
 
   private static final int MAX_INVERTED_RING_SIZE = 9;
+  private static final int INVERTED_CURVE_VERTEX_FACTOR = 4;
   private static final double NEARNESS_FACTOR = 0.99;
 
   /**
@@ -344,10 +345,11 @@ private static boolean isRingCurveInverted(Coordinate[] inputPts, double distanc
     if (inputPts.length >= MAX_INVERTED_RING_SIZE) return false;
     
     /**
-     * An inverted curve has no more points than the input ring.
-     * This also eliminates concave inputs (which will produce fillet arcs)
+     * Don't check curves which are much larger than the input.
+     * This improves performance by avoiding checking some concave inputs 
+     * (which can produce fillet arcs with many more vertices)
      */
-    if (curvePts.length > inputPts.length) return false;
+    if (curvePts.length > INVERTED_CURVE_VERTEX_FACTOR * inputPts.length) return false;
     
     /**
      * Check if the curve vertices are all closer to the input ring
diff --git a/modules/core/src/test/java/org/locationtech/jts/operation/buffer/BufferTest.java b/modules/core/src/test/java/org/locationtech/jts/operation/buffer/BufferTest.java
index 78b4c0d019..73b5509362 100644
--- a/modules/core/src/test/java/org/locationtech/jts/operation/buffer/BufferTest.java
+++ b/modules/core/src/test/java/org/locationtech/jts/operation/buffer/BufferTest.java
@@ -565,6 +565,17 @@ public void testMultiPolygonElementRemoved() {
     checkBufferNumGeometries(wkt, -18, 1);
   }
 
+  /**
+   * Checks a bug in the inverted-ring-removal heuristic.
+   * See https://github.com/locationtech/jts/issues/876
+   */
+  public void testLineClosedNoHole() {
+    String wkt = "LINESTRING (-20 0, 0 20, 20 0, 0 -20, -20 0)";
+    checkBufferHasHole(wkt, 70, false);
+  }
+  
+  //===================================================
+  
   private void checkBufferEmpty(String wkt, double dist, boolean isEmptyExpected) {
     Geometry a = read(wkt);
     Geometry result = a.buffer(dist);