[Ran Morrissett]

I suppose the 15th at Seminole and the old 8th at Riviera are the most famous examples of split fairways in this country? The 18th at Yale too though it never quite worked.

Have you played/seen any other good ones? What makes it good vs. being gimmicky?

Were there once more of them and have some been lost throught time?

Are many being built these days? David Eger descibed one going up in Atlanta that sounds neat: if you go right over some trouble, you are rewarded with a simple pitch to the green. If you go into the left fairway (which is the easy shot), the approach into the green is blind to semi-blind.

Cheers,

[John_Conley]

I made a post a couple weeks ago about the 5th at Southern Dunes, a Steve Smyers design just south of WDW.  It works because the split fairway isn't 1/2-fairway wide on each side a la #5 at Bandon Dunes.  Both routes are eminently playable and offer you different playing options.  

Similar to the hole you mention Mr. Eger describing... 1) Drive straight away and pitch over water from 80 to 115 yards  2) Lay up straight away leaving 130-150  3)  Try to carry bunker and land on top left fairway offering superior angle into green and very short approach  4)  Whip it way left to get same angle but not have to carry bunkers on tee shot, but add length to hole  OR  5)  Lay up short and at bunker, leaving a longer shot into green.

I'm all for it if the split isn't taking a normal fairway and halving it.  I believe both routes should offer the opportunity to play.  

Smyers also has an "alternate route" a la #7? at Valhalla where it plays about 500 straight away on island fairway or 575 if you go the long way - #12 at Old Memorial in Tampa.  Holes like this increase the strategy involved without compromising shot values.  In fact, they allow different players to choose to play toward their own strengths.

[THuckaby2]

I don't think this concept is ever gonna go away... architects will use it when the land allows.  There's an "interesting" one at San Juan Oaks in San Juan Bautista, CA (Couples/Bates design.  Narrow lower left fairway is harder to hit, gives better angle in if you find it... larger upper right fairway is easier to hit side to side, but not all that easy given how uphill it is and makes the 2nd shot a LOT longer and puts a green-side tree in play... To me there seems to be little reason to ever do the right, upper side - it's not all that much easier to hit and the penalty for going up there is pretty large.  Take your chances on the left.

But there it is, and the choice at least has to be made.  It gets pretty obvious after 2-3 rounds...

I'd like some where the choice isn't so obvious.  Can't think of any off the top of my head.

TH

[Ran Morrissett]

Tom, Your last sentence is spot on.

[Nick_Christopher]

#1 at Kingsley is a long par five that forces the player to decide from the tee to take the upper (right hand side) or lower (left hand side) path around a menacing bunker complex.  The right hand side offers a better position for the second shot, but it requires the player to carry the bunker complex off the tee to gain the greatest advantage from this route.

The lower route is straight away and a safer way to get off the first tee, but will ultimately set up a longer approach to the green.  Each option has its merits, and allows the player to make a good score if executed properly.

[David Wigler]

I thought that 12 at Talking Stick North was the best that I have played.  On the day we played it the pin was front right.  Going right off the tee gave a fairway that a jet could land on but the approach had to carry a desert wash pressed right up next to the pin and then land on a hard green sloped away from the pin from 150+ yards.  By going left, the tee shot required threading a needle between the wash and the OB Fences as well as carrying the ball close to 200 yards to get from the tee box to the fairway.  From that point though, the 2nd shot was less than 80 yards with no trouble at all.  It is a brilliant option hole that asks "Are you more comfortable hitting 7 Irons and accepting par or are you feeling good about your driver and willing to go for Birdie."  This would be a fantastic match play hole in a tournament.

[ForkaB]

Aren't 2-6 and 13-16 at TOC all split fairways, with the "proper" one close by the gorse and OB on the right, and the alternate one, offerring safety, but a more difficult approach, in the middle of the course to the left?

[GeoffreyC]

I agree with the 12th at Talking Stick North- Its a great short hole.  

Steve Smyers did another really good one at Royce Brook West (hole #4 I believe).  Its a longer hole in the 430-440 range if I recall correctly.  The hole is a dogleg left with trees and probably OB on the left. The optional fairways in this case are not equal in size and create a choice where the player can attempt a carry of about 200 yards of tall native grass to a much narrower left fairway where you also risk the trees to the left and a huge deep bunker complex in the center at the turn of the dogleg separating the two fairways.  The reward is a short iron approach directly in line with the long deep green.  The easy option to the larger/wider right fairway without a carry to negotiate leaves a considerably longer approach with a poorer angle to the green.  Fun hole on a very good public golf course.

[Scott_Burroughs]

Here's some split fairways:
#13 at TPC @ Avenel
#4 at Wyncote (SE PA)
#18 at Mill Creek (NC)
#4 or 5 at Kings North in Myrtle Beach (The Gambler hole has additional island fairway for shorter route to par 5)
#1 at Augustine (VA)
There's one at Blackwolf Run on the river.
Doesn't that one quarry hole at Black Diamond Ranch have a split fairway?
There's one at PGA West (Stadium)

I only like them if each is somewhat wide but one is more risk/reward than the other, otherwise it's just a gimmick.

[RJ_Daley]

What would an example be of one of the early split fairway concepts?  I'm thinking that the Lido contest hole that MacKenzie designed might have gotten the idea to the forefront.  Links courses have such alternate corridors where the golfer can use an alternate fairway as a strategy, particularly in high specific wind conditions. The split fairway that separates areas by running across the length of fairway to force a lay-up or carry across ravines, creeks or sand barrens may have been a function of early designers simply dealing with the natural terrain features that would be impractical to construct around.  Maybe Pine Valley had a big influence there.

Either concept of split vertically, diagonally or horizontally are nothing new and it almost seems like a majority of designers use them in one of their forms at least once per golf course design.  I very much agree with John C.,  that a split shouldn't merely be 1/2 of a normal fairway width.  Both avenues have to be wide enough to present a real option rather than one being just a narrow sliver of land.   Recently  I played at Blackwolf run with Clayman and the split at #5 is not too tantalizing as the one side is too narrow to make it tantalizing.  Lohmann had done one that sounds a great deal like the Smyers "Lido-like" island, albeit that the lido was and island of turf in a sand barrens and these are islands in water to provide a shorter route on a big par 5.

All in all, the land characteristics should dictate that one can be done with strategy and not just for the sake of doing one to be cleaver by over manufacturing it.

Lastly, the Kingsley club's first in my view does not require a carry of the middle cluster of native and bunker outcropping.  The right side is wide enough to be inviting and is high and shorter into the green with a more direct line.  If you are so long as to carry on a drive up right high side, fantastic and that is another option.  But for us mortals the high side is tempting as the shorter, more direct and better elevation route.  The left down side is wider fairway, but worse angle and longer.  I should have asked Mike D if there was a natural outcropping or nob of land that inspired him there, or if he manufactured that feature more or less. Mike???

[Nick_Christopher]

RJ,
Perhpaps, a more accurate description of the first at Kingsley is that to gain the greatest advantage from the upper route of the fairway, the player must carry the bunkers; however the upper route can still be reached by merely flirting with their presence(a slightly pulled drive, or one that draws back could run down into this set of bunkers).

[JerryK]

The new Jay Morrish course in Las Vegas, Dragon Ridge, has a split fairway on the
par 5 18th.  It is downhill with a view of the Las Vegas strip in the background.  My problem is that it was our afternoon round in November and the lights were shining brightly in the background and I did not have a portable spotlight, so I never really got to see what the hole really looked like.  If anyone else has played it I would like to get their reaction.  Overall I liked the course except for the oasis they created at the lower end of the course and the 10th hole seemed to be unplayable.  The rest of the course was quite interesting and included a short par 4 where the green was on a hillside surrounded by rocks.  

[redanman]

There are actually several of these in the AZ desert as I remember, but the one at Desert Highlands was the first there and is pretty good.  #14?

#10 at Apache Stronghold, for example

The one at Royce Brook is quite good, as is that course.

[Patrick_Mucci]

Ran,

Would you call the 8th at National a split fairway ??

[Mike_Cirba]

Patrick;

I'd be willing to bend the split fairway definition to include the Bottle Hole.  I say that because I wanted to include one I saw recently that has a mid-fairway bunker feature that similarly creates two distinct options.

At Barefoot Resort in SC, Davis Love created a cool split fairway hole on the 16th, I believe.  The hole plays at around 400 yards, and was into the wind when I played there.  Right smack in the center of a WIDE fairway is a nasty, deep, fescue laden principal's nose bunker complex that makes the golfer choose between options.

1) Play safe to the left, but leave a much longer, semi to full blind approach.
2) Attempt to carry the bunker, which appeared extremely risky when I considered it.
3) Play to the narrow strip of fairway right of the bunker, which runs along a marsh.  If this route is successfully skirted, it leaves the best approach of the three.

One other split fairway I saw recently is at Steve Smyers' Blue Heron Pines East, on the par-five 4th hole.  There, a HUMUNGOUS church-pewed, 130 yard long, deep bunker sits right in the middle of the fairway in the driving area.  One could play left, and much longer, or try to run the ridge between the bunker and a rough depression on the right.

[Frank_Pasquale]

The split fairway I remember at Blackwolf run is the 8th on the River Course.  It's an absolutely spectacular par 5, where the split fairway comes into play on your layup.  You can safely lay up on the lower left fairway, which is wider, or the more daring shot is to the upper right fairway.  Of course, if you take the "easier" layup to the lower left, you have a more difficult time judging the distance for your third, and also a harder time holding the green (even with a wedge).  From the upper right fairway, you have an easier approach.  This is a good example of risk/reward.

Other split fairways I can recall include the 13th at Bethpage Red, and Wild Wing Avocet in Mytle Beach has one, I think its the 16th or 17th.

[joe zaepfel]

The 16th hole of Kapalua's Plantation is split.

[Steve Wilson]

The 7th at Holston HIlls.  Drive the ball far enough in the left hand (upper fairway) and the tee shot will gain up to 50 additional yards leaving a much shorter shot to the green.  

Interestingly enough, there is a story that the two fairways were designed by Ross because the Holston River (pre TVA days)would often flood the lower fairway making it unplayable for a time.  Practical considerations produce a strategic variant?

And no one has weighed in one Rich Goodale's offering of the holes on the Old Course.

[BillV]

A thought

Is a Principal's nose or Hell bunker enough to create a split fairway?  Functionally it does.  Split fairways are another way of making an extremely wide strategic fairway in reality.

Nicklaus, by the way has several split fairway holes in Colorado, two or three in fact on one course in Avon (Near Vail) Country Club of the Rockies, statring with the second or third hole and I think 7. (The course also has about 7-8 valleys of sin, too). There are also a lot of others, maybe the thin air encourages it....

Castle Pines GC 2,3?
One at Ptammigan
CC@CP 4, 15
Ute Creek 15 (RTJ,JR sleeper)
I think there's one at Keystone and Sanctuary may have one

[aclayman]

Frank Pasquale- I think the hole you make reference to is called Hell's Gate. An absolute all time favorite of mine, which I have commented on before. If I remember correctly I wrote about the gunsight from the tee and how if you hit it too far you don't get the left kick which opens up the rightside you talk about. It is one of the few world class Par 5's that I have ever played where I had good chances for eagle.

But,
How about the ninth hole there, could that be considered a split faiway?

This shortish par 4 is one of the most beautiful, the most risk reward hole one could ever see. I'll bet I have played it ten times and can't wait till I play it again, with my new strong grip I feel Like I could drive the green, which is situated just to the left of the Sheyboygan River. Otherwise a safe play to the ferleft will leave a mid to short iron in. There is a bail out as I recall to right of the fairway bunkers and short of the green as the river has a subtle curve to the right, then sharp to the left behind the green. Awesome

[John_D._Bernhardt]

I love them but the value of the land certainly effects how many one would find. i am surprised here to see as many new ones as we have.

[DB3]

Mr. David Wigler:

 I would have to respectfully disagree about the 12th at Talking STick.. The botton line is you can hit driver out to the right and still be left with a sand wedge into the green,  and the green slopes toward the wash or green side bunker, not the O.B.  Also playing as far down the left side of the right fairway, leaves almost as good an angle to the green as the left side. And takes O.B out of play.  I love Talking Stick North, and played Tour School there in 99, but the split fairway on the 12th is useless. I don't know of anyone that played down the left side.  Besides it is a Pine Valley hole down the right side. The more you bail right the longer and harder shot you have, the closer you get to the wash on the left the shorter and easier shot you have.  Just not worth going left . OB left and wash on the right with a max 25 yard wide fairway just isn't worth it.  the bottom line is if  you can get a Sand Wedge in your hand by going right, and if you can't get SW close from the right you have no businees playing down the left in the first place.  
  A course where the split fairway does work, is Todd Eckenrode's 4th at Barona Creek.  A great example of a split fairway, where the penalty if you screw up is to be in a fairway bunker.  If you manage to hit a good enough shot to hit the left fairway you are left with a short iron approach..  If you opt for the bigger right fairway the best you can hope for is a mid iron approach, but if you screw up at least there is a chance for recovery.  Stroke and distance is to big of a penalty for a split fairway.

[TEPaul]

Most of the split fairways I've seen are good and they get better to me depending on what the playable meaning of them are.

I think Tom Doak mentioned that the concept is best when the alternate options are able to be used by as many golfers as possible.

I've never been that crazy about #15 Seminole but thinking about it now it really does have plenty of strategic meaning. In other words once you've made the choice on the tee of which way to go the strategic progression of shots and strategies on down the hole hang together really well. The reason to make the tee shot choice is whether or not you want to risk going in the first pond by taking the right hand fairway. The entire hole, by the way is set up perfectly to turn directly into the strong prevailing wind and make the carry over the first pond problematic sometimes for even good players. If you choose the left hand fairway you're very much playing way out away from the turn of the hole and sacrificing a ton of distance for your second and third shots. What I've never liked about #15 is the palm trees that sit in a line right down the bunker scheme that divides the right and left fairways. I think those palm trees make you have to play the second shot far too wide to the left. If they weren't there it might tempt the golfer who drove the ball left off the tee to try to carry the second pond anyway or at least to get into the narrower fairway just to the left of the second pond. For the golfer going left off the tee and left on the second shot the green is fairly well protected by the big greenside bunker on the left. So all the options on the hole hang together very well depending on what you choose with the  tee shot. It would be more interesting and tempting though if they would remove those palm trees.

NGLA's #8 is a great looking hole with the center bunker line dividing the 65yd wide fairway and presenting the golfer with a distinct "in your face" choice. We had the discussion about the meaning of which way to go on this hole as it relates to the approach to the green about a year ago. Some thought that the left fairway was very advantageous. Personally, I think it might have some advantage but not that much so to me the deal with this hole is simply if you feel like hitting your tee shot to the right side of fairway or the left side of the fairway. All you're really thinking about is that you don't want to hit the ball into the middle of the fairway because that's where the bunker line is.

This hole is a real split fairway but it actually becomes more interesting because it's a split fairway only for a certain distance. The last bunker is perpendicular to the narrow center line scheme and offers the big hitter the additional option of carrying the last perpendicular bunker and getting beyond the split and out into the middle of a 65yd wide fairway. There is a distant additional bunker sitting way out in the fairway at probably 310+yds that some really long hitters might have to think about. I believe that to make "the Bottle hole" even more interesting would be to narrow the fairway down way out there near that distant bunker. This would make a player like Tiger have to combine real accuracy with distance if he used a driver! And it would also return the strategy to the hole more inline with the real meaning of "the Bottle" hole which was the look of the neck of a bottle way out in the fairway BEYOND the split created by the center line bunker scheme. Necking the fairway down properly way out there would have meaning for the really long player from the tee and also other players who happened to catch the center line bunkers off the tee as to where to try to lay up with their second shots!!

[BillV]

Tommy

Thte two holes that you chose to illustrate show several points well.  Neither, however really offers an option to most players.  The NGLA Bottle hole, which I dearly love, requires such a greater distance to reach the left fairway that it almost negates going there as does the left fairway's extra length at 15 Seminole for shots 2 and (then mandatory) 3. (Damned trees again!)

In the Bottle hole's case, it is probably better to discuss the hole from the tee (I remember discussion lately, but my recollection is short on detail as to its exact location)that was once more in a position to allow a choice as there is not as much of one now.  That tee would make the line of charm bunkers more like a Principal's Nose or Hell Bunker.  As it stands it is still one of the singularly exciting holes in golf.

As to the comment on the comment of Rich Goodale regarding St Andrew's Old Course, that is just a case of extremely wide strategic nature fairways, rather than a split, no?

[T_MacWood]

Three shot holes seem particularly well suited to split fairways. Two that come to mind are 14-The Golf Club and 9-Victoria National.

The long 14th splits the fairway on the tee shot, take the safer long route to the left of a mamouth bunker and the hole becomes a very long double dogleg, setting up an awkward angled second that must negotiate a lake. If that shot is successfully executed -- most likely safely away from the water to the right -- the angle of the third is most difficult, forcing a shot that may have to go around or under trees to a small green sloping away. The bold drive over the fairway bunker straightens the hole, minimizes the lake, may provide an opportunity to reach the green and set ups a straight foward third to a green sloping from right to left.

The 9th at VN splitts the fairway near the green, providing a choice on your second shot. The agressive second to relatively narrow fairway, flirts with water and large bunker, but sets up a simple third because the green is banked toward the approach and will most likely feed down to the hole. The second that plays to the wideside away from the water and sand, sets up an extremely difficult approach to a green sloping away from the golfer and tword the water behind.

Intimidation, the shortest distance between two points is a straight line and the inconspicuous, but deadly, diffiulties prestented by safer angles of attack are among the features of a well designed split fairway.

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