Water hazards above ground level and naturalness...???

[Emil Weber]

A couple of days ago, we played a very decent track in a team comp. The site was naturally beautiful, but very hilly, with aged olive trees all over.

After we had reached the highest point of the front nine, with some fine uphill holes behind us, we come to the long par 3 5th hole.
It is built into a sideways, right-to-left sloping hill, and the left side is defended by a small lake (maybe 80x30 yards).

As the water hazard is built into the hill, obviously there is lower ground in the immediate surrounding area to the left.

For me, that is the biggest architectural no-go. I absolutely hate it, especially as the course had a nice, natural flow until we came to that hole.

Waiting for the group in front of us to finish the hole, we sat on the very well manicured tee.

I said to my mates: "Why on earth did they built that water hazard. You'd never ever see a lake or a pond above the surrounding ground in nature."

One of them pointed to the finely groomed grass on the tee and said: " Well, you'd never see grass like that in nature either."


I had no idea what to say.

What should I've said?

Isn't any golf course in the world that regularly cuts greens, tees and fairways unnatural?


Sorry I didn't take any photos, I was busy playing one of the best rounds of my life  .

[Kyle Harris]

Could it be an irrigation pond? A lot of pressure issues can be mitigated by having the course above a good portion of the irrigation pipes.

[Don_Mahaffey]

Kyle,
While what you wrote is true, I'm not a fan of that approach.
Saving a little $$$ on pump size or booster pumps is usually nothing compared to the expense of building a lake in an area that requires extensive earth work. If you have to build a pond why not build it in an area that is a little more practical and can also assit with drainage? lakes benched into hill sides are ugly.

[Steve Lang]

   really need to understand all the surrounding area.. from lay of the land.. could it be there to intercept drainage coming onto the course or down the hill and protect areas below or downgradient?

[Emil Weber]

Steve: I mean something like this. Don't take it as an exact replication of the hole though... I took a piece of the topo map of the AAC comp and drawed the hole from my memory.