The miracle of golf course design

[Dan Herrmann]

A couple of days ago, I was driving past Warwick county park, about 5 miles from Stonewall and French Creek here in PA.  It's mostly an undeveloped park with a lot of trees (mature and immature), scrub, some open fields, and a creek.  I couldn't help but think of the miracle that takes place when a golf course architect "sees" holes in such an environment.

I honestly have no idea how they do it.

And to think back to the days before topo maps and satellite images were used - wow!

Just how does a guy set foot on such land and start thinking "golf"?  And so many architects get "it" right - after all, you don't really get many mulligans when routing a course through such country.

Guys - it's an amazing art and science, and it just continues to blow me away.

[Philippe Binette]

seeing holes is one thing...

seeing 18 holes is another...

putting 18 holes together is another..

putting the 18 best holes together is the ultimate thing...

it's not a miracle... just inspiration and work

[Steve Kline]

It is mind boggling to me. I was standing on the 12th tee at Camargo last week. Behind the tee are fairly dense trees and a steep ravine. When I play the course I imagine most of the land was just like what is behind that tee and somehow Raynor was able to build a fantastic golf course. You can see why at the best courses the builder/architect spent a lot of time on site wandering the property.

[Jeff_Brauer]

It's hard to walk a fully wooded property.  Really, you are always looking down if moving, just to avoid tripping over a log, stick or snake.  At Colbert Hills, which was paritally treed, I had the advantage of a helicopter at my disposal.  When we got to a tee site, we would rise just above the tree line so I could see what the next open field looked like.

Frankly, the first run is usually done on a good topo map and perhaps that is the real magic of it.  I posted a link on TePaul's topo map thread and that site had a small section on how to read topo maps for anyone interested.

[Melvyn Morrow]

Golf course design has evolved and incorporated so much these days, yet IMHO the key to the design is still the routing and that concept has not changed in nearly a couple of hundred years. Perhaps that fundamental consistency is the miracle of golf course design

Melvyn

[Carl Rogers]

Two incidences of interface:

1. At the Bay of Dreams, TD told me that the 11th hole (short par 4) was in his words "problem child" because of its steep terrain and the cut and backfilling effort needed to create it.  In the larger routing scheme, the course had to get from the top on the 10th to the bay (I think that was the 15th or 16th).  He said it was easier to have 1 problem rather than 18.  TD, please correct my recollection.

2. Lester George told me and Scott Weersing, while at Ballyhack, that when he walks a property, he wants to initially locate the most dramatic or extreme features and get a feel beyond the topo map whether it is possible to have some golf elements in and around the features in some manner.  Lester or Scott, please correct my recollection.

[Jeff_Brauer]

Some of my critics have said that "If its a good Brauer design, its a miracle!"

I try to ignore that, of course.

[Craig Van Egmond]

With this economy right now its a miracle that any golf courses are getting designed here in the US..

[Michael Dugger]

Golf course design has evolved and incorporated so much these days, yet IMHO the key to the design is still the routing and that concept has not changed in nearly a couple of hundred years. Perhaps that fundamental consistency is the miracle of golf course design

Melvyn

For once I agree with you, Mr. Morrow.  I too believe the routing is the single most important element in a golf course.  If a piece of property has a story to tell, then I think the golf course designer's job is to tell it in the most compelling fashion possible.

And that is where so many uninspiring golf courses fail.