Designing for the mid-handicapper

[Chris_Clouser]

We often hear how architects and designers are building golf courses to challenge the best players.  We also hear quite a bit of lip service towards making the course playable to the high handicap player.  

Are the mid-level handicappers ever a concern when laying out a course?

Do any of the architects in the crowd ever put in something specifically for this level of player?  How would you determine where to put it?  

Or is it simply a function of the player playing from the correct tees and they will get to experience the best parts of the design?

[Adrian_Stiff]

Chris- I have one about to start which sort of fits this bill. Its 5500 yards par 67, with just one set of tees (the ladies will play off the same) very minimal bunkering (maybe just 16 in total). The emphasis will be on accuracy rather than length with a definite preferred route (good side) to each hole, with throw offs on the 'bad side'. I think it will end up being very enjoyable for the mid-handicapper and I am more concerened with the mindset of the 9-28 hcp range in the whole thoughtplan. Equally whilst I am not expecting the very low hcp golfers to rave about this, I still think some might.

[Jeff_Brauer]

Chris,

I think I tend to ignore tour pros who won't show up and prefer to design for the competitive golfer - 0-10 handicaps and mix features that reward those who use either accuracy and finess for them to be competitive.  Of course, length is its own reward.

More specifically, I think small to mid size greens, narrow and mid width fw and hazards near traditional landing areas are some of the things that typically reward accuracy.

Chipping areas, moderate difficulty hazards and moderate to highly contour greens are among the features that generally favor finesse.

Wide fw, bigger greens, deep hazards (requiring power to recover) and deep rough are among the things that reward length/strength (shamelessly assuming a corresponding deficiency in accuracy and finesse).

I don't know if that quite answers your question, but on Monday morning before coffee, its all I got!

[Doug Siebert]

If a course really does challenge the best players and is playable for the high handicappers, isn't it going to be a good course for the mid handicappers as well, almost by definition?  In my mind these are the in between guys who can't reach the lower handicap range due to one or more glaring shortcomings in their game (no length, or have no short game, or have a slice they can't get rid of...)

Some parts of their game may be low handicap quality while other parts may be high handicap quality.  So they can take advantage of the challenge to some parts of their game, but the places they falll short in won't result in crazy scores or playing out of pocket a half dozen times as may happen on a course that's not high handicap friendly.