Tricked-up

[Bill Gayne]

I've often heard the term "tricked up" used to describe golf courses and in particular greens. It's ranged from the Open at Shinnecock to a local course with greens that have a lot of internal contours. Generally I think it's used as an excuse for poor putting. Looking at the definition of "trick" this is what we really want?

1: a cunning or deceitful action or device
2: a period of work or duty
3: an attempt to get you to do something foolish or imprudent
4: a ludicrous or grotesque act done for fun and amusement
5: an illusory feat; considered magical by naive observers
       
Alister Mackenzie's ideas on camoflague was an attempt to trick consistent with #1, 3, and 5. Tricking in this manner is considered brilliant.

Tricking using definition 4 is not considered "fair" and has gone too far. Many of the pros at Shinnecock thought that the USGA uses definition 4. For you and your game at what point is the line crossed, when is "tricked up" bad rather than something you are looking for? What's your favorite "trick" using definitions 1, 3, and 5?

Thanks.

[Joe Hancock]

#'s 1, 3 and 5 are negated when golfers whip the ol' laser yardage gun out and point it at the flag stick prism.

Joe

EDIT: Ive always enjoyed the "deception feature", being something that appears to be guarding the fairway or green when in actuality it's function is to create a bad swing.

[Jfaspen]

I think if you look at camoflauging a hole, any decent player will figure out how that hole really plays sooner rather than later.  With what happened at the Open, the players knew how the course was supposed to play, but the poor overseeing of the course lead to TEMPORARY condtions which greatly increased the level of difficulty to such a point where it became more trickery and dependant on luck as opposed to strategy and dependant on skill.

jf

[A_Clay_Man]

Bill, Isn't it more than just the greens? More precisely, where the pin positions are for a particular day/event. And, isn't the normal 6,6 &6 set-up standard. 6 easy, 6 hard and 6 medium. When the ratio gets shifted to more than 6 difficult pin positions, you'll usually start to hear the whines a' crack'in.

Also, the maintenance aspect, or firmness, isn't really tricked-up, it just is what it is. The fact that it didn't rain, when forcasted, the Saturday night before Father's day, on a small section of Laang Island, doesn't really qualify as a trick. Other than by mother nature.

[Bill Gayne]

Adam,

I agree that it is more than greens. Deception is often found on tees and the areas surrounding greens.

As far as maintenance goes, I'm not sure how/if trickery could be created using definitions 1, 3, and 5. In my mind these types of tricks are created by the architect. However, maintenance can definitely create tricks using definition 4.

Bill

[Tyler Kearns]

Bill,

I'de have to opt for #3 - an attempt to get you to do something foolish or imprudent. Isn't that the whole idea of diagonal carries, attempting to lure the player into thinking they can carry a distance that is greater than their talent allows.

TK