"Micro Undulations"

[Tom_Doak]

Lou -

In my experience, good players complain much more about "fairness" than the "average Joe" does.

Only from good players have I ever heard the complaint that a bad shot got a good kick and was unfairly rewarded.

[Lou_Duran]

TD,

I think you are right.  Good players tend to bitch a lot about any number of things including a bird chirping on the back swing (as a good friend did many years ago after he dunked his tee shot into the lake at Scarlet's #8).  Perhaps it has to do with preserving the self-confidence needed to play well.

Those difficult lies may not cause the already self-doubting double-digit handicaper to cry out in anger.  But probably not knowing any better- after all, the good players generally knock it on the green from the fairway- I wonder if deep down inside, this poor chap doesn't just loose a bit more hope which eventually drives him away from the game.

I am not a believer that one course can be all things to all players.  I think that one of Jeff Brauer's strengths is that he often builds golf courses which look much harder than they play.  For the most part, people like succeeding, and the vast majority of players have real handicaps in the double digits.

It seems to me that incorporating "micro undualtions" into fairways would be a subtle way to toughen a course.  This would be perfectly good for some private clubs and tournament courses, but perhaps not for the rest.

A possibility might be to make the longer, tighter areas which the high handicapper seldom frrequents more lumpy.  Personally, I don't think that punishing a longer, more precise shot and subverting a risk/reward relationship is a good thing.  

[A_Clay_Man]

I believe I know how to manufacture these micro undies on existing golf coures. Forget to aerate for a decade. At least thats how the genius at PG did it.

[ForkaB]

Lou (et.al.)

If the undulations are properly "micro" (i.e. changing slope every few feet or so) long drivers are no more punished (or rewarded) for their lies than short ones--either can find themselves on an upslope or downslope, or even a flat piece of non-undulation.

As Forrest Gump once said:

"Lies on courses with micro-undulations are like a box of chocolate, you never know what you're gonna get."

[Tom_Doak]

Rich,

The sixteenth fairway at Pacific Dunes is just like that, and all of the undulations are natural.

You would not believe how many people tell me they don't like that feature, and they can't understand why I would not have flattened out some part of the fairway to define a better target area for the tee shot.

The answer goes back to that post about "dilemma" holes.

[BCrosby]

I don't see the downside to them. Other than the whinning about bumpy cart rides. I simply don't get the "fairness" argument.

They are easy to build (if "build" is the right word), easy to maintain, add golfing interest, add aesthetic interest and facilitate drainage.

Bob



 

[ForkaB]

Rich,

The sixteenth fairway at Pacific Dunes is just like that, and all of the undulations are natural.

You would not believe how many people tell me they don't like that feature, and they can't understand why I would not have flattened out some part of the fairway to define a better target area for the tee shot.

The answer goes back to that post about "dilemma" holes.

Thanks, Tom, although as I don't think I hit the 16th fairway in 4 tries I can't really comment intelligently......

[Tom Huckaby]

Shhhh!
Rich, OK, you listening?
Now that it's just you and me, I'll clue you in on the secret to to #16 PD, in the summer wind.  Tom Doak doesn't want anyone to know this, so it's just you and me, OK?  I'll get put on triple secret probation if this gets out and man my heart can't take that.

Don't try to hit the fairway.
This is a rare hole where the sucker play is the conservative one.  Just bang it at the left side of the green.  Hit it well, you can reach.  Hit it not so well, it just does down in one of the same hollows your layup would have anyway.  Only risk is going too far left, into the bushes, but that takes a pretty big pull.  You can avoid that.

OK, don't tell anyone.

Oh and by the way, if you do this, watching it roll over all those cool humps and hollows - check that, micro undulations - is really fun.

TH

[ForkaB]

Tom H

Is there a left side to the 16th?  All I can remember is the cabbage on the right..........

[Tom Huckaby]

Rich:

Stick with me, we'll go places. Here's another dirty secret about the golf hole - the miss right isn't all that bad.  In fact way right is better than middle of the fairway in some cases.  Oh sure, you can't mash it too far into the cabbage.  But methinks that is caused by aiming straight at flag, instead of farther left.  Absent a horrid unlucky bounce - which can happen but doesn't often - the entire fairway "breaks" right.  So one aims left, the ball rolls right, voila, bob's your uncle you're putting or chipping or at worst, down in the hollow short right where damn hear all layups aimed at the middle go anyway.

I love the golf hole.  The MU's (that needed an acronym) are very neat.

But if there's a dilemma on that tee shot than I'm Bob Huntley.

[Paul_Turner]

The lack of micro movement at Royal Birkdale, when compared with other links, is what makes it so boring (for a links at least).

[Sean Leary]

Paul,

Would you say the same thing about Turnberry? Isn't that the biggest knock on the Ailsa?