The morning Sun

[Doug Ralston]

Do architects consider the position of the Sun for early tee times when they design a course. It certainly blind me.

Doug

[Wayne_Kozun]

It certainly blind me.

That reminds me of a good golf joke:

A priest, a doctor and an engineer are playing a round of golf at their club.  They start complaining about the pace of play due to an extraorinarily slow player in front of them.

They come across the Head Pro and they mention the problem.  He says that the player ahead of them is a firefighter and last year when there was a fire in the clubhouse the fireman lost his sight putting out the fire.  In recognition of his loss the club gave him playing privileges.

"Bless his soul" says the priest.  "I will pray for him tonight and perhaps the Lord will restore his vision"

"I have a friend who is an opthamalogist" said the doctor.  "Perhaps he knows of a surgical procedure that could restore his sight"

"That's all well and good", said the engineer, "but why can't he play when it's dark?"

[Tiger_Bernhardt]

Not all do, but they should.

[peter_p]

Not only does my course open with #1 heading east, the architect thoughtfully also oriented the driving range in that direction to ready you for the shot!

[Tommy_Naccarato]

It never hurt Riviera nor LACC.

[Tyler Kearns]

Doug,

I grew up playing a course that began due east, a real pain for us early starters. It is therefore always a consideration when I design golf holes.

Stanley Thompson mentions this in his pamphlet General Thoughts on Golf Course Design, although in reverse;

"As considerable play takes place in the late afternoon, if possible do not face too many holes into the west, because of the irritation of the sun".

TK

[Bill_McBride]

Tyler, doesn't the reverse have to follow?  If the late holes don't go west, they have to go either east, north or south.  The early holes will have to go west, north or south.  

I think.

[David Mulle]

This is my one pet peeve about Tall Grass.  The first hole plays into the rising sun and the 18th tee shot plays into the setting sun.

[Adam Clayman]

CPC plays into the sunrise, but only in January should it be a factor.

Shadow creeks hole all go north south to avoid this issue.

I realy dont see it as a big issue, since every time you look up, you see a bad shot.

[Ryan Farrow]

Oakmont plays to the east, actually the first 2 holes do. It always seems to me the sun rises so fast that there might only be a 10 minute window where the sun is a factor. Would you want to ruin a good routing for something that affects 1 or 2 shots of a group of golfers? Yea it sucks when you look up in the air after your shot and you can’t see how far into the other fairway you shanked it.


I’ve actually enjoyed loosing the ball in the sun thinking I lost a ball into the woods only to find it in the middle of the fairway.

[Doug Ralston]

Of course, north or south are not the only alternatives. If you divert the line just a little off the Sun, it really becomes a lot less of an effect.

I love being the first group out. There is a course in Dayton, OH, I do not recall which, that nearly blinded me. Seemed the Sun stayed on the horizon for the entire round, and we played 18 directly into it, which miraculously put us back at the clubhouse. *sigh*

Seriously, this is NOT a small consideration if you play early/late.

Doug

[Bruce Katona]

We try to orient #1,9,10 18 and the driving range north/south to avoid this, in a perfect world.  This eliminates issues with the rising or setting Sun.

We do have one course that starts out with #1 running East, but the hole plays into a big cut condition, with trees behind a raised green location, minimizing the effect of looking into the rising Sun.

[Kirk Gill]

Plant more trees !  

[Patrick_Mucci]

Doug Ralston,

It should be avoided, as should having the 18th hole heading west.

[Adam Clayman]

Avoided? Or, Make the attempt to avoid?

If the land really does dictate the best holes and routing, the wide angle in the sky the sun occupies is too large to ignore those routes.  

As illustrated above, many a great course has this situation and the few golfers who are fortunate to play into that sun on those courses should relish it, not think 'what a horseshit routing'.

Don't many older designs return to the clubhouse after the second, implying if the sun aint in your eyes on the frst it will be on the second. Illiminating more directions any routing can start because now west, is out too.

It all sounds too formulaic.

[Wayne Freeman]

I used to play Kapalua Bay every year, and first out the sun was directly in your face-  totally blinding you-  but how bad could things be when you're in Hawaii, soon to be right on the ocean-

           Wayne K.-    it's ---   ophthalmologist-  takes years to learn how to spell it.  One of my little ones used to make some spare change challenging people at parties to try to correctly spell it.  She never lost a bet!

[Patrick_Mucci]

Adam Clayman,

Since when is common sense and/or practicality formulaic ?