[ed_getka]

John/Tiger nailed it on the head. Bandon Dunes is the best I have seen. Chipping and putting greens. Regular full shot area. 3 greens for short to mid iron work. 2 greens about 70 yards apart to work on all manner of pitch shots. Also, bunkers in the pitching area to work on sand game. Open area about the size of a football field with all kinds of humps and rolls to work on uphill/downhill/sidehill lies. This field is oriented to hit shots into the 3 greens mentioned above. Beyond compare in my book. The only downside is it is excruciating to ever come off the golf courses to hit balls!

[BCrosby]

The best I've seen is at the UGA course. In addition to the usual massive range it has -

-bent and Bermuda practice greens
-a practice area for uphill, sidehill and downhill lies
-a practice area for shots out of the rough
-lots of bunkers, short game areas.
-lots of video facilities

I've never seen a place where you can practice so many different kinds of shots.

Why the UGA golf team isn't having a better year can not be blamed on their practice facility.

Bob

[Carlyle Rood]

The practice facilities at Sea Island Golf Club are outstanding with vistas of the ocean.  I don't know whether Rees Jones, or Tom Fazio, or someone else designed those facilities.

Michael Riley renovated the practice facilities at Culasaja Club in Highlands, NC.  It was a very difficult site.  The course is located in the Appalachian Mountains and required blasting some rock out.  He then utilized the rock to make these beautiful, white rock retaining walls.  I may have some photos of the work at home.  It was really outstanding work on a resistent site.

[Robert Thompson]

Yep, no doubt about World Woods, as far as I can tell. The Legends golf courses in Niagara Falls, Ont. also have splendid facilities that I've rarely seen touched.

R

[John Foley]

Hands down, Berkley Hall. Better than World Woods & Bandon Dunes which are world class. Suprised no one has mentioned the new complex at Kapalua.

Interested to know if anyone can quote how much some of these major facilities add to the cost of the course developments.

Robert - The Legends is very very good, only downside is that it's a haul over to the first tee's at Usshers Creek & Battlefield.

[Jimmy Muratt]

The best practice facilities that I've seen are at Kinloch Golf Club near Richmond, VA.  They have a two-sided range with grass tees that are identical to the fairways on the golf course.  The greens are also well bunkered and are maintained to the same standards as those on the golf course.  There is an indoor teaching facility as well with garage doors that open to the range and it has all the high-tech instruction equipment and video set-up.  

The short game area is tremendous as well.  There is a large putting green and an entire chipping & pitching area consisting of about three greens I believe.  There is also about a 100 yard hole near the back of the range so you can work on your wedge game.  

It's the type of practice area where you don't even miss playing, you can have just as much fun practicing.

Can someone go into more detail regarding the practice facilities at Friar's Head?  I've heard some very good things regarding their putting green and Par 3 course.

[Steve_Roths]

Did anyone look at those pictures of Meldrum House's practice facilities.  It looks like Sheep Ranch out in Oregon.  That would be a fun place to practice.

As far as best facilities goes, I have heard good things about Nanea in Hawaii.  I think the driving range can be used as a par three course as well.  

[Brian_Gracely]

Can anyone think of a good justification for adding bunkers, even pseudo-bunkers, to a driving range?  I can understand practice greens or chipping areas, but on the practice range??  

My club is rebuilding the practice range and the GM has this silly idea that the members would benefit from the asthetics of hitting long shots over bunkers    

Is there some bit of sanity that I'm missing here, or is this just completely wasteful?  I know that when I used to work the range growing up, I would have hated to pick balls out of those "bunkers" at the end of the day.

[BCrosby]

UGA just won the SEC championship, beating UF by a stroke. I am certain their excellent practice facility was the difference.

Brian -

I have no idea why people put bunkers out on the range. Fazio redid the practice facility at Cherokee about five years ago and carefully built seven or eight bunkers in the landing areas. Balls collect in them and stay there for days because they have to be picked up by hand.

The irony of ironies is that the bunkers he built out on the range are better than the bunkers he built for the short game area.

Bob

[Jimmy Muratt]

Brian,

I think that bunkers add a tremendous amount to the practice facility.  For me, I find that I am much more focused on executing the shot rather than just beating balls.  It is mainly psychological but so is most of the game itself.

For example, a range that I practice at alot has a green that is about 185 yards away.  It has a deep bunker guarding the right side of the green.  I always try to aim at the left side of the green and fade it in there.  That's a shot I probably wouldn't practice if that bunker weren't on that hole.

[james soper]

world woods is very complete. last time i was at jupiter hills, pro bill davis indicated they were re-doing the practice area. i would be interesed in finding out how the final product turned out.

[Bill Gayne]

I second what Carlyle says about the practice facilities at Sea Island. The chipping areas, practice greens bunkers, and range are very good. For a resort model, this is an excellent facility.

Sea Island does have bunkers in the driving range. Jimmy is right on in that it helps to provide definition for the practice shot. For instance if you want to practice drawing a ball over the corner of a bunker you can do it. I would recommend angling the bunkers to the practice pin so you can adjust the shape of the shot. I've seen bunkers on ranges and they are nothing more than small perfectly round circles in front of a flagstick. These type of bunkers on a range are a waste of time.

[Brian_Gracely]

UGA just won the SEC championship, beating UF by a stroke. I am certain their excellent practice facility was the difference.

Bill,

Congrats to the Dawgs!  The kid that won the individual championship, Brendon Todd, is a local kid from Raleigh who won 3 state championships and the AJGA Rolex last summer.  He's really an excellent player and a name to watch in years to come.  I had the chance to play with him last summer in an interclub match and was seriously impressed.  Great short-game to go along with the rocket-launchers that all the young kids have.  

[James Edwards]

Following on from Mr Krystynak, Woodhall Spa in Lincs, is the home of the English Golf Union and has some great practice facilities.  The English National Squad practice there as well as the county squads in the winter time.  They are about as advanced on practice as anywhere else in the country.

[Jim Franklin]

1. Friar's Head
2. Pine Valley
3. Dallas National
4. World Woods

[Jimmy Muratt]

One other thing that we haven't mentioned that makes a tremendous difference are the range balls.  It's a little different hitting new Titleists as opposed to somewhat round objects with no remaining dimples.

[Gerry B]

Jimmy:

See my thread - it was mentioned

[Carlyle Rood]

Can anyone think of a good justification for adding bunkers, even pseudo-bunkers, to a driving range?  I can understand practice greens or chipping areas, but on the practice range??  

Michael Riley, the golf architect I worked for last summer, was an advocate of them.  They help create depth visually, and they make practice more entertaining.  He will place bunkers around greens, and then arrange the greens so that the bunker edges can mimic a fairway.  I've seen it work quite successfully.

He would engineer them a little uniquely from bunkers on the golf course, however.  The front of the bunkers would be graded with the grass to allow you to push balls out of the bunker without a lip interfering.

At Governors Towne Club, he created target bunkers.  I think he may have seen them at David Leadbetter's practice facility?  Basically, these are small, round bunkers at distances such as 30, 50, 70, etc. yards.  If you're working on your short game, it's outstanding feedback for practicing.

[ForkaB]

Who cares?

A golf course having the "best" practice facility is like a baseball park having the best batting cage.  Let's tell it like it is--whatever you call them, they are just glorifed driving ranges, and peripheral--if not irrelevant--to the game of golf.................

[BCrosby]

I have noticed that the center of society in the afternoons at my club seems to be gravitating to the practice range. People gather there to talk, help friends with their swings (sic), compare drivers, recount rounds and so forth.

Benches have been put out. There is a move afoot to serve drinks on the range. It is a more pleasant gathering spot (assuming good weather) than a dark men's grill with a blue light TV blinking in the corner.

It think it is a terrific trend. Is it happening anywhere else? If it is, it suggests that there are a whole new set of considerations that ought to be included in designs for practice facilities. I think the trend ought to be encouraged.

Bob

[jim_lewis]

Rich:

I take it that you will not be contributing to this discussion, right?  Oh, maybe you intended your comment as a contribution. Thanks, but apparently some folks do care.

Jim

[michael j fay]

I vote for the practice facility at Double Eagle. Huge multi-sided range, pracice green with bunkers, fairway bunkers and a nice putting green.

[ForkaB]

Hi Jim

My post was a contribution.  In case I was too subtle, let me state my position more clearly:

1.  Practice facilities have absolutely nothing to do with golf course achitecture
2.  Stating so is a valid argument
3.  If you don''t like it you can lump it!

Peace and love

Rich

[jim_lewis]

Richard:

Thanks for clarifying your earlier post, which began by posing the question, "Who cares?" (presumably about the topic of best practice facilities).  I speculate tht many people care. In that post you also assert that practice facilities are "....peripheral..if not irrelevant..to the GAME of golf"

Your clarifying post seems to make a different point, which is that "practice facilities have absolutely nothing to do with golf course ARCHITECTURE".  In response to that point, I suggest that if we made the effort, we could identify many examples where courses have been routed, or re-routed, to accommodate a practice facility.  Of course, the same is sometimes true of club houses and even tennis courts.  When that happens, there is often a negative impact on the architecture of the golf course, which makes them relevant, unfortunately.


Your humble servant

Jim Lewis


ps:  Don't worry about being too subtle.

[ForkaB]

Hiya, "Crusty!"

My two points were inextricable--anything irrelevant to the game of golf is, ipso facto, irrelevant to GCA, no?  Or, do you want to argue that GCA includes things not relevant to the game of golf, i.e. clubhouses, early bird specials, quench wenches, club logo cocktail glasses and ball washers?  I thought not......

Vis a vis your point that it is relevant in that land otherwise useful for golf is being taken for nerarious uses (i.e. driving ranges), should this thread not morph into asking whether or not places like Pine Valley, TPC, Friar's Head, etc. could be much better golf courses if they hadn't dedicated all that fine land (not to mention money and intellectual capital) to such peripheral uses?

Unsubtely yours

Richard

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