Please. I'll call b.s. on this one, unless you can provide me with examples of doing this. Just because an architect acknowledges the existence of carts, or even is willing to try to maximize the experience for the cart golfer doesn't mean he'd want to create obstacles specifically to prevent walking golfers from enjoying their experience. I've played a few of these courses, and I haven't seen it.
Kirk, While it sounds like Engh may have moved away from this somewhat at Pradera and newer courses, I think that, like many modern architects, Engh's general approach and preferences necessarily create obstacles and hardships for the walking golfer.
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Elevated tees. At Black Rock he demonstrates a strong preference for elevated tees, and from pictures and descriptions of his other courses, this is not limited to Black Rock. A strong preference for elevated tees often means uphill hikes for the walking golfer. Elevated tees may also mean longer walks between holes, because the architect needs to find an elevated tee. And it means the kind of tees Garland points out.
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Trough Fairways. Engh has a general preference for concave fairways, which means the walking golfer has to climb down into them. While this may not seem like much of a chore, it gets old, and at Black Rock there is no often no easy way in except to walk down the path More importantly the walker eventually has to get back out . . .
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Bowled green sites. At Black Rock even climbing in and out of them or walking around them was work, as sometimes they were quite steep and a large majority of the holes were bowled. While they may not be quite as common on the newer courses, they are apparently still part of his repertoire, with six at Pradera, according to Engh.
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Finding "Inspiring" Holes. As Engh says, he is not going to give up a chance at creating another inspiring hole for the sake of preserving walkability. The corollary is that sometimes going the extra mile for the inspiring hole may making walking much more difficult or even impossible. A good example of this is at Black Rock, where the course takes a substantial out of the way trek at the beginning of the back nine, dipping over the top of the ridge and down below the rocks for a few holes before climbing back over. Most would characterize this as the inspiring part of the course, but it feels a bit disconnected from the rest, and it certainly isn't conducive to walking.
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The Golf Cart-Path Experience." While many of the above go hand and hand with the "golf cart-path experience," designing for the cart-baller makes it easy to exaggerate all of the above. A high path and a low course makes for nice views of the course and the surrounds, thus creating an added bonus for high tees and relative concavity, and making the walk more difficult.
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Unwalkable terrain and Carries. Like many others, Engh seems to like to have the golfer hit over things like lakes, canyons, native or other unwalkable features. This means the walker has to go around.
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Housing. Not an issue solely for Engh, but courses that incorporate housing are generally tough on walkers. More distance between holes, and much of the higher land goes to the house. Not sure how this impacts Engh as he apparently prefers the troughs anyway.
I'll post a few pics of the kinds of things I am talking about below.