This thread got my attention about over contoured greens. I get to spend some time in Hilton Head Island and played Heron Point at Sea Pines soon after it was redesigned a few years ago by Pete Dye. I told Cary Corbitt, Director of Sports for the resort that Heron Point might be the toughest golf course on the island (by several shots). Many of the green surfaces were so severe that I felt the average resort player would not finish holes and would just pick up. I said frankly that I’m not sure they’ll want to come back.
I just played Heron Point again last week and Pete had since been in and soften many of the greens. Apparently golfers were avoiding the course because it just wasn’t any fun to five putt and it got old playing ping pong back and forth across the green complexes. As a low handicapper I enjoy a challenging golf course, however, I am not a big fan of overly contrived greens. They definitely “defend par” but when carried to an extreme, can be downright goofy. Like any design feature, if overused, it can get tiresome.
The redesign of the redesign by Pete at Heron Point has turned out fantastic. There is still plenty of interest and contour to challenge the best golfers out there yet the average resort players (who are mostly looking to finish all the holes) have a better chance to do so. Apparently the course is getting much more play so that is the best indication of success.
I have not yet played Old Mac so have no on course comment. I would have guessed with greens that large, pin locations would not be an issue. By the way, one definition of a good "match play course" (there are many) is a course where very high scores on holes are possible and to speed up play, golfers just pick up and take loss of hole in their match. They are not worried about total strokes. Merion was set up like that a few years ago. If you missed the fairways, the rough was literally knee high and almost always resulted in a lost ball or unplayable lie. I myself called it a great "match play set up". If you mess up one hole, it's only one hole. Pick up and move on to the next one and try to do better.