I was just looking at the Hidden Creek course profile, and the following passage jumped out at me:
"In an attempt to give every hole immediate visual impact, many modern architects in the past two decades defined the green to such a clear degree that it inadvertently became an easier target. In the case of the 14th, Coore & Crenshaw could have been easily highlighted the green through the placement of mounds and bunkers. Instead, they kept the 14th green as an extension of the fairway with the green even slightly below its surrounds in spots and no bunkers down its left side. From the tee, the golfer is hard pressed to determine where on this 51 yard (!) deep green the hole actually is."
I say this under the assumption that HC's flags all look the same, and that there's no indication of where the pin is on a green:
Why is it preferable that the player can't tell how far onto the green the pin is situated? If it is not possible to estimate whether a pin is, how is that in the spirit of the game?
I have no problem with visual deception, but if the success of your shot comes down to pure guesswork, I don't see how that makes the shot "fun" or "interesting." Three different types of pin/flag (for front, middle, and back) does not seem unreasonable, or detrimental to the integrity of the game
Thoughts?