Speed Slots - How are they designed?

[Dan Herrmann]

One factor I love is the occasional speed slot (turbo boost).

How much design thought goes into this type of feature, or is it designed in the field.   How much influence does a shaper have in this area?  (I'm assuming a shaper wouldn't shape such a feature unless the architect OK'd it)

[Tom_Doak]

I do not know if I've ever seen a "speed slot" that was shaped; or, if I have, the shaper did a great job of disguising it.

It's not really a matter of shaping because you need several feet of elevation change to make them work.  So, when you see one, usually it's the result of a good routing plan to get the slope in the right part of that particular hole.

I don't think of them often, but occasionally manage to work in a good one.  My two personal favorites are on the 7th at Lost Dunes and the 4th at Cape Kidnappers.  Amazingly, I manage to catch the slot on those holes almost every time.

[Wade Whitehead]

There are some fantastic speed slots at Ballyhack.  If he doesn't chime in, send Lester George a message for insight.

WW

[mike_beene]

the 6th at Plantation just right of the bunker is a speed slot I never saw until I looked back.Seems like a few feet right costs you 100yards.

[JC Jones]

There are multiple speed slots at Kingsley Club (#1, #6, #14, #17 and #18).  That can certainly be attributed to the great routing AND I believe, they are all there without the aid of a shaper.

[Chris Cupit]

Funny but we are trying to shape a speed shot right now on our eighth hole.  Mac was on sight and may not recognize what has happened in the last two days!  Anyway our eighth hole is a straightaway par 4 at 422 yards from the tips (Tee is long and hole can play 404-422).  The green was designed with a neat sideways horseshoe or thumbprint and the old fronting bunker was removed to allow and encourage a running approach.  Below is a couple of pics:

This is from about 130 yards out.  That bunker is a back bunker and there are three left bunkers.  Right is death.  Cart path "stub" on left has been removed


This pic is from the forward tees.  The new tee shot comes across the edge of this slope.


Here is the chute for the new tees.  465 yards and 505 yards   I know I hate yardage whores but for this hole and for the dozen guys who will ever play here, I gave in--I got tired of watching better ams hit 3 wood and wedge.  We do host a number of state tournaments so the tees will get used but I admit they are "ego tees" that I thought would be "cool".

Early clearing:  The single pine tree between the dozers is the back right of the forward tee.  It has been removed and the ideal line is just right of it.


Later with more tree removal and creation of short right "form".  Old 400-422 tee will be saved and is forward and right on this pic--just above the "s" in the cart path..


From the tips the right form is about 150 yards out.  It will contain a nasty bunker with fescues and native grasses up the chute and all in the front.  (The backside of that bunker may become a tee at about 370 for the guys wanting a reasonable length but who want to play the "new" angle.

On the left where the dozier and path are is where we are trying to create a saddle and a speed slot.  The path gets removed and routed way left out of play.  The hill now slopes sharply to the players right and kills drives carried about 265 yards.  We want to add another nasty left bunker at about 245 way left creeping out of the trees to about where the path is now.  Then have a small 5 yard saddle area that is "the slot".  We have to re-shape the slope so that instead of kicking balls right it propels them forward.  I take pics and you can see if we succeeded in a few weeks

I do think that most players from the tips will play the 465 tee which is far more reasonable.

465-505, uphill, blind, nasty bunkers surrounded by nasty native grasses and a creek along the right!  (It is a wide fairway and the re-shaped hump should prevent balls from kicking toward the hazard.  As much as I hate to "frame" a tee shot for better players, these bunkers will do that and help a little.

I know it sounds ridiculous but it will look cool, I'll enjoy it and nobody "has" to play back there   (except in competitions).

[Phil McDade]

Dan:

A really good one can be found at Ozaukee CC (suburban Milwaukee), a Langford/Moreau (1921); I'm pretty sure, knowing what I do about L/M courses, that this was found and not manufactured. This is the par 4 13th hole, plays at 449 from the tips, and I'd estimate hitting the speed slot potentially gives the player a 50-yard advantage over a drive that does not. Must be hit with a draw, which of course accentuates the placement of the speed slot on this hole:

Notice the slant to the fairway, and the high right "shoulder" of the fairway along the right side:


Here's a closer look, with the speed slot to the right. Notice how the player opting for a drive middle of the fairway, or left side of the fairway, will find a flatter landing area, or perhaps even an unfortunate bounce into the left rough. Those finding the speed slot along the right side of the fairway will see their ball much further along, with the slight turn of the fairway left benefitting the ball that hits the speed slot with added distance.

[Greg Murphy]

Like speed slots? Sagebrush has em on just about every hole, but the uphill first, and the little par three before the Hideout and the par four leaving the Hideout. It's quite a blast. And no, I can't imagine any were "shaped".

[Doug Siebert]

Speed slots are a good example of why bunkers should be in the fairway, not the rough.  The best speed slots are often the backsides of fairway bunkers.  Makes for a nice bit of a risk/reward in playing for it.

When I was 16 or 17 and had only been playing for a couple years my home course didn't have working sprinklers, and there were a couple summers of drought (the impetus they needed to replace them I guess)  The 18th hole is a dogleg left of 449 yards, and I wasn't really long enough to get home then unless I hit a perfect drive (sad that its now a wedge if if I hit a perfect drive over the trees in the corner, but that's another story...)  But there used to be a fairway bunker about 30 yards short of the green, and I determined if I hit an iron just over that the ball would bounce right onto the green, and I used that on many occasions.  Perhaps that's where my interest in GCA and F&F conditions first originated

[Dan Herrmann]

Doug,
Well said.  Gil built a great speed slot just over a huge* fairway bunker on our 6th hole.  Pure risk/reward.

* This bunker was originally drawn to be a tribute to Hell's Half Acre, but was softened because, well, people like me play there

[Steve Kline]

I'm really surprised to hear that speed slots aren't shaped. I would have thought most of them were because I would think the green sites are picked first and then you're kind of stuck with the terrain in the fairway unless you shape it.

[Paul OConnor]

Chris,

The new hole seems perfectly fair to me.  505 yard par four out of a tunnel, uphill, blind, with a creek right, and lots of nastiness left, what's not to love?

Thank god for the new speed slot!! 

Paul O'C

[Tom_Doak]

I'm really surprised to hear that speed slots aren't shaped. I would have thought most of them were because I would think the green sites are picked first and then you're kind of stuck with the terrain in the fairway unless you shape it.

Steve:

A few of the green sites are probably picked first, but you still have to pick where to play the hole from.  So if there's a downslope toward the green 150 yards away, I can make a 400-yard par-4 and give the 250-yard hitter the speed slot; or I can make the hole 350 or 440 if I want to give a different player the edge this time.  Of course, which I choose will probably depend a lot on which of the three options would put a tee closest to another good green site.

[Sean_A]

The best speed slot I know of is an odd one.  The 10th at Pennard doesn't go up n' over, it just goes down for the drive.  There is a slot in the fairway which will not only increase the roll, but increase the roll and turn the corner of the dogleg and over the land bridge.  Usually (for me) it requires a 3 wood type club layup down the right middle as a driver will often carry too far and not take the turn.  I once recall Brad Klein saying there was no place to drive on this hole - I guess he didn't find the speed slot.  Its fun to wonder (as its difficult to see) if the ball made the turn or ended up in the drink or in the rough through the fairway. 

Ciao

[Gary Daughters]

Chris,

That hole eats my lunch to start with.

Anything you can do to put some teeth in #5?

[Darren Gloster]

I do not know if I've ever seen a "speed slot" that was shaped; or, if I have, the shaper did a great job of disguising it.

It's not really a matter of shaping because you need several feet of elevation change to make them work.  So, when you see one, usually it's the result of a good routing plan to get the slope in the right part of that particular hole.

I don't think of them often, but occasionally manage to work in a good one.  My two personal favorites are on the 7th at Lost Dunes and the 4th at Cape Kidnappers.  Amazingly, I manage to catch the slot on those holes almost every time.

Tom,

Can you tell us some more about how the speed slot on number 17 at Ballyneal was discovered.  Did you find the green site first?  The tee location?  Did the speed slot present itself immediately and was it a major reason for how the hole turned out?

Also whilst not a speed slot in the truest sense it can have a similar effect, the large ridge/mounds on the 1st hole at Barnbougle Dunes in the driving zone that run down the fairway, was that ridge completely natural or shaped to play the way that it does.  I seem to remember there were some drainage problems early days on that low lying area of the 1st and wondering if the ridge was introduced to help that problem at all.

[Eric Pevoto]

Dan,

Wasn't the cross bunker supposed to be in the second shot landing?

That speed slot is great because it tempts you closer to the bunker left.  And in that means a decision and at least a 1/2 shot penalty.   Fun.

[Anthony Gray]

I do not know if I've ever seen a "speed slot" that was shaped; or, if I have, the shaper did a great job of disguising it.

It's not really a matter of shaping because you need several feet of elevation change to make them work.  So, when you see one, usually it's the result of a good routing plan to get the slope in the right part of that particular hole.

I don't think of them often, but occasionally manage to work in a good one.  My two personal favorites are on the 7th at Lost Dunes and the 4th at Cape Kidnappers.  Amazingly, I manage to catch the slot on those holes almost every time.

  No 7 at Cape Kidnappers seems to be the perfect example of a "speed slot".Agreed?

  Anthony

[John Kirk]

No mention of Sand Hills yet.  Power boosts for the strong player on holes #1, #14, and #16.

Old Macdonald #4 (Hog's Back) has an elaborate one.

[Tom_Doak]

Tom,

Can you tell us some more about how the speed slot on number 17 at Ballyneal was discovered.  Did you find the green site first?  The tee location?  Did the speed slot present itself immediately and was it a major reason for how the hole turned out?

Also whilst not a speed slot in the truest sense it can have a similar effect, the large ridge/mounds on the 1st hole at Barnbougle Dunes in the driving zone that run down the fairway, was that ridge completely natural or shaped to play the way that it does.  I seem to remember there were some drainage problems early days on that low lying area of the 1st and wondering if the ridge was introduced to help that problem at all.

Darren:

The first half of the first fairway at Barnbougle was re-shaped significantly to try and deal with drainage issues.  It was all very low.  I bet we did more work on #1 and #2 fairways than on the rest of them put together.

The Ballyneal hole was more complicated.  Actually the green location for #16 meant that the tee for #17 would be where it was; then I located the green site.  But the landing area was different than today.  The left-to-right bank from the middle of the fairway was there, but it was formed by a ridge of dunes down the middle of the fairway, and it fell away just as hard to the left.  We had to cut the tops off those dunes and melt them into the bowls on the left to form the high side of the fairway ... but the speed slot WAS there, I just had to make the left half work around it.

I'm surprised that there have been so many examples cited from my own courses, since I really don't think about this concept all that much except when I'm doing a routing.  I became fond of the idea reading Bobby Jones' ideas for Augusta National; he described four ways to reward a good tee shot, and this was the first of the four.  Augusta has a lot of speed slots, with #10 being the mother of them all. 

Sebonack has a couple of good ones as well ... #3 and #11.  Old Macdonald has them on #4, #15, and #16 if you are long enough off the tee.

[Adrian_Stiff]

I have just put in two on my latest course, which was built on flat land but using landfill. I had just made an area of about 40-50 yards long at about 1 in 10 slope, so a ball would shoot forward seems very straightforward just to create a kinda power pad, both 'speed sots' are at about 230-280 from the tee. I struggle to get the benifit from them, but one of the holes at 330 yards is getting regularly driven, I also shaped it to collect the balls from both sides, one strongly the other just slightly. I was out with John E Morgan a few weeks ago and he made the green with a 3 wood, some of these tour guys are hitting it close to 400 now in the UK with a bit of roll, on the other hole which is 490 par 5 he was playing just a ful sand iron second shot, I think he hit it well past the power pad. Speed slots need dry fairways to work ofcourse, I think they run hand in hand with firm and fast and courses that heavily irrigate their fairways or maybe even bermuda would not get the same result.

[A.G._Crockett]

At my home course (Crystal Falls in GA, by Denis Griffiths) the 8th hole had a speed slot on both sides of the fairway.  The decision has been made to let the rough grow farther out on the right side of the hole, which effectively takes away that slot.  Great decision, IMO, because the left side speed slot requires the tee shot to carry two large bunkers and flirt with a hazard beyond.  The reward has always been greater on that side, but the risk even moreso, so most opted to play down the right side. 

Now real choices must be made, and that is what makes speed slots such great features.

[Kevin_Reilly]

No mention of Sand Hills yet.  Power boosts for the strong player on holes #1, #14, and #16.

John, I thought of #16 when I saw this thread title (that is my favorite tee shot on the course) but I had no idea that there was also a speed slot on #1.  I think I teed off with a 3 wood every day and just tried to avoid hitting through the fairway.  Can you describe the line that gets the turbo boost so I can picture it better?

[Tim Nugent]

I guess different people have different definitions of just what a speed slot is.  Those pictures posted IMO are of a speed slot but rather a a kick slope.  Same with a slope on the backside of a bunker. I view a speed slot as just that, a slot on a narrow decline, mostly, but not always slightly concave. Like Tom D explained, they are not usually completely manufactured as the topography needs to be sympathic.  However, given the proper topo, one can enhance or shape out a speed slot.

The reason why they aren't as noticable or prevalent is primarily due to their sublime nature.  A "Local Knowledge" thing.  Unlike other features, they aren't necessarily visually evident.  Another reason is lush, soft conditions and the high trajectory of modern equipment tend to negate them.  Where I like to employ them is not for the big hitter but closer to the tee for the average hitter to get a little helping hand while giving the big hitter the opportunity to get driver distance with 3-wood accuracy ie, the reward isn't super-long drives for them but the ability to get driver distance with safety of a 3-wood off the tee.

Speed slots can also be employed near greens on drivable 4's, long 3's or 4's to help the short hitter, or short of par 5, 2nd landing areas.  Different architects probably have different reasons or stategies for employing them.  Tom seemed to let on that he will shuffle the deck and give diffetent players the opportunity depending on who it would best benefit at that point in the round - evidently taking into account what the preceeding and following holes offer.  My take is slightly different.  I treat them as equalizers for the shorter hitters - I don't feel the long hitters need any help.  If I do set one up where the long hitter can take advantage of it, you can bet that a miss will result in a disadvantage worse than the gained advance of hitting it.

[BVince]

I do not know if I've ever seen a "speed slot" that was shaped; or, if I have, the shaper did a great job of disguising it.

It's not really a matter of shaping because you need several feet of elevation change to make them work.  So, when you see one, usually it's the result of a good routing plan to get the slope in the right part of that particular hole.

I don't think of them often, but occasionally manage to work in a good one.  My two personal favorites are on the 7th at Lost Dunes and the 4th at Cape Kidnappers.  Amazingly, I manage to catch the slot on those holes almost every time.

If I remember correctly #2 at Ballyneal also had a "speed slot" as well.  I know that the fairway is almost entirely downhill but I remember Mr. Clayman advising me to favor a particular side as it produced more rollout on the drive.  After just a few rounds I think it was the difference of me hitting an 8 iron into the green vs. a PW into the green.  Did you and your team consider a specific driving line that would produce an advantage if struck correctly?  I think it is a very interesting method for adding a strategic option on a hole where the driving area is generous to begin with.