[Agman]

I"m sure this has been dealt with here before, but where did the idea come from? Whose idea was it? When and where was the first to wear the tag?

Thanks...

js

[Kyle Harris]

A slogan from the Robert Trent Jones, Sr. firm was, "Give your course a signature." I think this started the "signature course" trend.

[Robert Kimball]

Yes, this topic seems to come up quite a bit from time to time..... umm huh (trying my best Sling Blade imitation for Mike Young).
To feed the fire, what are some of the best-known Sig holes around? 17th@Sawgrass...17th at St. Andrews....10th@PVGC, 5th@Mid Ocean...15-17@Cypress...16th@ANGC....18th@Harbour Town...16th@Pasa...any others?

[Brian_Ewen]

Its like an actor uttering Macbeth  

[Forrest Richardson]

Kyle is correct, RTJ, Sr. promoted the concept, but mainly as it relates to entire courses. In my ON COURSE dictionary I credit SIGNATURE COURSE to Jones, but had fun with SIGNATURE HOLE...

signature hole
A hole promoted heavily as representing the whole course; refers to the architect’s “signature”, but prompting the question of what to make of the remainder of the holes

[Dale_McCallon]

I know that "signature hole" is a blasphemous phrase on this site, but I've never quite understood why.  From what I've seen, a signature hole is just a hole that looks good in photos.  Maybe it is not the best hole on the course, but it is very visually appealing.  They seem to be the classic drop shot par 3, or maybe a cape style tee shot.  

I don't think a course singling out one hole for advertising/clubhouse photos, etc is doing anything different that any other marketing executive would tell them to do.

[Forrest Richardson]

I agree, Dale. I think you've knocked on the sensitive part of the GCA noggin. It has become a widely used nomenclature in golf course marketing. Here, however, "widely used" things in golf are often thrown out the door like a stinky dog.

[Paul Jones]

To tag along to this thread...

Who came up with "Championship Course" for courses that never held a Championship?

[Forrest Richardson]

Paul — As I recall, it became poular in the 1970s.

championship course
A course on which a championship is played, especially a major championship; often misused to mean a course of regulation par and length regardless of whether a championship has been held upon it

We did our best to define some of these...check out:

http://www.golfgroupltd.com/golf_course_terms.html

[Ryan Farrow]

Sorry for the OT post but Forrest, the new website looks pretty damn nice. Was that an in-house job.

[Forrest Richardson]

No, it was created by a Richardson, though. My nephew, Brian, is a creative director here in Tempe.

Like many of my peers, our website has been an on-going process. The old one was tired...the new one, at least, is mostly updated. Please forgive any errors, the guys have a few things to clean up.

[Tom Dunne]

Like many of my peers, our website has been an on-going process.

Forrest,

This reminded me of something I saw today that I found very amusing. It appears--at least on this test run of a website--that the Dye family have enlisted the services of Cicero as their copywriter.

Check it out:

http://www.2element.com/dye/pb.html

 

(sorry for the OT post, agman. back on track, back on track...)

[Forrest Richardson]

Lorem ipsum dolor...I know it well. Having spent 15 years in graphic design, being featured in CA, and owning one of the first Mac's...it brings back memories.

Thanks.

[Agman]

So, as I was asking, if Jones began advertising "signature courses," how did that devolve into the signature hole. And does anybody know to what hole the term was first described and when?

Thanks.

js

[Forrest Richardson]

Ron Whitten would know...if anyone. My suspicion is that it will be a difficult matter to research. I think you would do best to accept that RTJ, Sr. was responsible for his SIGNATURE COURSE movement.

[Tim Gavrich]

I don't think that the "Signature Hole" concept is negative, personally.  In terms of marketing, it is an effective way for courses to prompt prospective customers to identify them.  When most golfers play TPC Sawgrass's Stadium course, the 17th is in the back of their minds all day, because over the years, that hole has been the face of the golf course.  Whether or not it's the "best" hole on the golf corse is irrelevant to at least 95% of the golfing public.  It's very intimidating, and is therefore iconic.

Does every golf course have a "signature" hole?  What's so bad abut the concept, for those who dislike the concept?

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