Long green to tee walks on classic courses

[Ally Mcintosh]

As always, I'm sure this topic is to be found deep in the search function...

...But talking about Worplesdon on another thread reminded me of the things I like and dislike about the course... One thing that falls in to the latter category is a fairly long walk between 14 green and 15 tees...

What classic courses have some long green to tee walks?... How long are they?... and (speculation) why do you think they were necessary in the design?

[Sean_A]

As always, I'm sure this topic is to be found deep in the search function...

...But talking about Worplesdon on another thread reminded me of the things I like and dislike about the course... One thing that falls in to the latter category is a fairly long walk between 14 green and 15 tees...

What classic courses have some long green to tee walks?... How long are they?... and (speculation) why do you think they were necessary in the design?

Walks that bother me:

Pennard 17 to 18 - a driving range was created where the old 18th fairway was.

Cavendish 8 to 9 - a stand of trees is in the middle of the course - I don't now why Dr Mac didn't go through it

Cruden Bay 8 to 9 - Presumably so the drive wouldn't be blind and one has to walk up the hill anyway - I hate the 9th hole!

Tenby 14 to 15 & 16 to 17 - military took over three holes for target range

Camberley Heath 3 to 4 and 13 to 14 - road

New Zealand: 3 to 4 walking a bit back on yourself - I don't know enough about routing a course to say why
                     9 to 10 cross a road & 11 to 12 cross a road - not bad walks, but ...

Old Town 3 to 4: cross the parking lot - not nice

Grosse Ile 9 to 10 cross a road - not nice  It may be worse that the walk in from 18 cross road and so folks in the house can't see the action - I think the clubhouse used to be on the road where the halfway house/pool is

Ciao

[J Sadowsky]

Van Cortlandt Park Golf Course has a rediculous walk to 4 holes and back on the back 9, but I don't think those holes were part of the original design.  I think they were built in the 1940s or 1950s when they put up the highways.

[Matt Bosela]

I haven't played the course yet but one of Canada's greats, Cape Breton Highland Links has a very long green to tee walk from what I've heard but I hear it's a beautiful stroll through Ran's profile on this site.

[Fred Yanni]

I am not sure what some people's definition of long walk between holes is.  My definition would be if you can put another par 3 or more in the space it takes to walk to the next tee.

Off the top of my head the walk off of the 9th green at Yale to the 10th tee seems long and certainly not obvious as what direction to head  for a new player (played alone my first time and had no idea where to go).  Or the walk could just seem long because I bogey that hole every time I play it.

After playing you realize why the holes are laid out they way they are.  MacDonald and Raynor do a great job taking advantage of the topography for the placement of the 10th green and 11th teeing ground.

[Ally Mcintosh]

I am not sure what some people's definition of long walk between holes is.  My definition would be if you can put another par 3 or more in the space it takes to walk to the next tee.

I think anything under 50 yards is desirable and anything under 100 yards is acceptable as long as there are not more than one or two walks per round at that mark. Anything over 150 yards should be avoided at almost all costs unless there are some serious site limitations.

[Scott_Burroughs]

Said many times before, Highland Links in Canada has a long walk that is supposedly gorgeous.

Eastmoreland in Portland has one from I think #13 to 14 along a public road.

Bethpage Black from #1 to 2 and from 14 to 15.

The walk at Cypress Point from 14 to 15 tee isn't that short, but you don't care one bit.

[Anthony Gray]

   The one at Cruden Bay has got to be the most beautiful. What a reward after getting to the top with the sea,beach,course and castle all in view. Unforgetable.

   Anthony

[Melvyn Morrow]

All paths lead to Heaven unless you ride then Hell awaits at the other end of the Housing Development

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LCmsruMf-Eo&feature=related

Compromised Design is reflected by long walks between Greens and Tees. One day will the designers have the right Balls to test their Clients ridicules notions as to what a golf course should look like uuuuummmmmmm NO.

Melvyn

[David_Tepper]

As noted above, the long walk along the river on the back-9 (between the 14th & 15th holes, I think) at Highland Links (one of the great courses in the world) could be over 200 yards, but it did not bother me in the slightest. It is a beautiful walk and I am guessing Stanley Thompson realized it was better to have the walk than to try to fashion a hole into an awkward space. Nothing wrong with that at all.

[CJ Carder]

16 green to the new 17 tee at The Old Course?   

[Chuck Brown]

As we all know, there are some plainly unwalkable green-to-next-tee walks in golf, especially with newer courses.  So I can't imagine what the "longest" might be.

But this thread asks about classic courses, and right now one that sticks out for me is the again-altered Oakland Hills South Course.  Where almost all of the classic locations remain, if only because they don't have the space to move more tees than they already have.  And so it is for the most part a delightfully walkable, if long, course with a lofty 9 on the Doak Scale.  One of the tees that has been 'movable' is the 8th tee; and the walk now, from 7 green (which itself was the only green moved by RTJ back in the 1950's) to the newly-moved 8 (championship) tee has to be about 280 - 300 yards.  It is ridiculous.  Nothing else like it on the entire course.  On virtually every other hole, you could toss a golf ball underhanded from the green to the next tee.

[Dan Herrmann]

It's not a classic, and it's not a green to tee, but the 18th green at Rees Jones' "Broad Run (nee Tattersall) is over 3/4 mile as the crow flies away from the clubhouse.   Needless to say, one does not walk this course.

Oh yeah, the Highlands Links walk IS fantastic.