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Steve Burrows

  • Karma: +0/-0
Sensory Golf
« on: October 30, 2006, 08:55:38 PM »
Sight and touch are the senses that appear to most affect the game of golf.  This may be a deliberate occurrence; golf seems to set itself up naturally for this.  Designers appeal to these senses by way of the forms they create and expose (the juxtaposition of grasses, bunkers, trees, etc.), and perhaps even in the forms they try to hide (e.g. cart paths).

However, the human body incorporates other senses that enrich our daily experience.  Taste, smell and sound are equally as important to our lives.  Do designers of golf courses consciously attempt to appeal to these senses as well?  For example, when routing a hole near a creek (which might primarily be a decision of strategy), do designers also consider the potentially soothing nature of the white noise from the water, or the possibility of drifting scents (good or bad) from neighboring plant material?  Might these also enrich a round of golf?  

And if the other senses are not purposefully planned for, why not?  Should the strategy of a given hole necessarily take precedence over a full, natural, outdoor experience; over our hours “of splendor in the grass, of glory in the flower?”  
...to admit my mistakes most frankly, or to say simply what I believe to be necessary for the defense of what I have written, without introducing the explanation of any new matter so as to avoid engaging myself in endless discussion from one topic to another.     
               -Rene Descartes

Aaron Katz

Re:Sensory Golf
« Reply #1 on: October 31, 2006, 09:18:09 AM »
Whereas we once worried only about eye candy, will we now have to deal with ear, tongue, and nose candy as well? :)

Steve, I don't know if it is worth sacrificing the best "pure golf" routing so that a hole takes the player closer to the babbling brook or the floral plants.  However, I think you are undoubtedly correct that the best playing experience exposes all the senses.  One of my fondest memories at Pebble Beach was tasting the salt water on my lips on the 7th green as a result of the spray kicking up.  And one of my favorite things about San Francisco Golf Club was the blackberry bushes between the 5th and 9th tees.

Jim_Kennedy

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re:Sensory Golf
« Reply #2 on: October 31, 2006, 09:49:48 AM »
Scott,
Golf has a lot of important sounds, like the rifle shot of a good drive, the crack of a well struck iron, the clatter of a ball falling into the cup and the chatter of your friends.
Smell and taste are interwoven to some degree. You can almost taste new mown grass when you smell it, same goes for fresh air. Isn't the smell of a hamburger on the grill intensified when you're out on the course?

As with everything else we experience, there is an order and a degree to which we use our senses.  I agree that sight and touch are the two senses that most affect the game. Sound follows closely, but I don't know how an architect could plan for the other two, except by making the course so interesting that it heightens our experience and we try to bring all our senses to bear to fully appreciate it.
"I never beat a well man in my life" - Harry Vardon

Steve Burrows

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re:Sensory Golf
« Reply #3 on: October 31, 2006, 12:16:04 PM »
Jim,

That is exactly my point.  Have past and/or existing designers truly tapped into all of our senses to provide for players a full experience?  Is it necessary?  Is it possible?  Or would such an intense experience be too much for us to handle?  Or are we shortchanging ourselves by not attempting such a goal?
...to admit my mistakes most frankly, or to say simply what I believe to be necessary for the defense of what I have written, without introducing the explanation of any new matter so as to avoid engaging myself in endless discussion from one topic to another.     
               -Rene Descartes

Bob_Huntley

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re:Sensory Golf
« Reply #4 on: October 31, 2006, 12:41:19 PM »
Is a player who is completely deaf, deprived of feedback when playing a bad shot?

Bob

John_Cullum

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re:Sensory Golf
« Reply #5 on: October 31, 2006, 01:00:50 PM »
Jim,

That is exactly my point.  Have past and/or existing designers truly tapped into all of our senses to provide for players a full experience?  Is it necessary?  Is it possible?  Or would such an intense experience be too much for us to handle?  Or are we shortchanging ourselves by not attempting such a goal?

The Mary Calder Golf Club in Garden City GA was built on the grounds of what at the time was the largest paper mill in the world. So the sensory perceptions were literally off the charts.

"Drifting scents (good or bad) from neighboring plant material"  takes on a meaning that you can hardly imagine at a paper mill.

And the "soothing nature of the white noise " was usually train cars linking.

Add to it the pedestrian layout of the nine holer and the generally poor conditions, and I doubt Huckaby or Shivas could come up with anything that could go beyond the experience of playing golf at the Calder.

Nevertheless, people played it every day, and continue to do so.

One of the really neat things is there are always slow moving trains around and you can go lay your coin on the tracks and get a really unique ball marker.

Okay Huck, top that.
"We finally beat Medicare. "

Gary Slatter

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re:Sensory Golf
« Reply #6 on: October 31, 2006, 01:07:30 PM »
I think Aviara in San Diego tried that approach.
Other than the many scents of the ocean and crisp pine/spruce mountain air, I don't look for other scents whilst golfing.  There are certainly some great city courses with difficult scents and sites, and have you every played a fine course near a pig farm?
Gary Slatter
gary.slatter@raffles.com

Jim_Kennedy

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re:Sensory Golf
« Reply #7 on: October 31, 2006, 02:27:47 PM »
Steve,
You asked if "...the strategy of a given hole (should)necessarily take precedence over a full, natural, outdoor experience..." to which I would answer yes, it most assuredly should be about the golf first.
As far as an "intense experience be(ing) too much for us"
I don't think you could get a sensory overload on a golf course.

"I never beat a well man in my life" - Harry Vardon

Tom Huckaby

Re:Sensory Golf
« Reply #8 on: October 31, 2006, 03:58:25 PM »
JC - there is no topping that.

Sounds very intriguing to me.  I'd play it in a heartbeat.

 ;D

Mike_Cirba

Re:Sensory Golf
« Reply #9 on: October 31, 2006, 04:06:00 PM »
Here you go, Sarge...without the sounds and smells.

http://tinyurl.com/y387vu

John_Cullum

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re:Sensory Golf
« Reply #10 on: October 31, 2006, 04:56:18 PM »
Thats great Mike. At the Calder, you can practically see the smells.

Maybe I can arrange a reverse outing.
"We finally beat Medicare. "

Joe Hancock

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re:Sensory Golf
« Reply #11 on: October 31, 2006, 05:55:34 PM »
At Kingsley, they have a fire pit right behind the clubhouse. They fire it up first thing in the morning so the smell of campfire wafts across the course during the day. I thought it was an odd touch at first, until a month later when canoeing with the family I smelled a campfire and was immediately transported back to Kingsley in my mind.

Joe
" What the hell is the point of architecture and excellence in design if a "clever" set up trumps it all?" Peter Pallotta, June 21, 2016

"People aren't picking a side of the fairway off a tee because of a randomly internally contoured green ."  jeffwarne, February 24, 2017

Dan Smoot

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re:Sensory Golf
« Reply #12 on: October 31, 2006, 09:10:25 PM »
My favorite golf sensory experiences.

My favorite home golf experience (Wyoming) is a real early morning round with the sun coming up over the hills casting long shadows with a crispy coolness to the air.  It sometimes is added with my favorite Wyoming sensory experience of being on a golf course following a good rain that brings the strong fragrance of sagebrush.  You might think I am crazy but I love it.  

My second favorite.  The approach up No. 3 at Pacific Dunes.  The sound of the ocean in the distance.  Gorse fully in bloom on both sides and the approach into a green sitting on the hill with the imposing right side bunker and the narly looking tree to the left.  Finally, capped off with the walk onto the green where you finally see the waves of Pacific Ocean breaking into shore.  This holds quite a thrill for someone living in the high desert of Wyoming.  

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