Routings based on how you walk a property

[Frank Pont]

Tom’s response on the subject of the routing of Cruden Bay, giving me a friendly reminder of his quote in his book about the merits of its routing, got me thinking.

For those that do not remember his quote (pg 37): “The genius of all this is that the golf course (Cruden Bay) is routed the way you might be inclined to wander the property if there were no golf course there ”.

Funny enough I remembered the quote slightly different namely I thought it included “wander the property the first time if there were no golf course”.

The current routing, including the climb over the hill at hole 9, in my view indeed is how one would walk the property the FIRST time one would walk it. However, it is NOT the way people who walk the property all the time actually walk it.

I noticed this during the time when I was building the spare hole at the back of Cruden Bay's site, and I ran in to many people walking the course with dogs or just by themselves. NO One would ever walk over the hill of hole 9; everybody went through the narrow of holes 14 and 15.

So my question to you all would be, is there a difference between basing a routing on how one would walk a property the first time or how one would walk it many times later. Is one a better routing for the first time/one time visitor, and the other the better routing for the everyday member player?

[Tom_Doak]

Frank:

You are probably right that you should walk the property the way you would want to walk it every day.

However, walking partway on the same trail out and back does not work as well for golf as it does for dogs.

[Frank Pont]

Tom,

one notable exception to my observations were the man and dog on the cover of your Confidentail Guide, they were clearly heading up to hole 9 

[Melvyn Morrow]

Walk the property the way you would want to play it each day. The secret is to leave some stones unturned, to keep the Natural and to walk the course with the eyes of a golfer and not a dog walker.

Never walk like a Rambler or you end up selecting the land not fit for purpose and building a course like The Castle Course St Andrews.
- as natural as being part of the EU.

Melvyn

[Kalen Braley]

Walk the property the way you would want to play it each day. The secret is to leave some stones unturned, to keep the Natural and to walk the course with the eyes of a golfer and not a dog walker.

Never walk like a Rambler or you end up selecting the land not fit for purpose and building a course like The Castle Course St Andrews.
- as natural as being part of the EU.

Melvyn

Melyvn,

For the love of God...if there actually was one...can you please leave the Castle Course alone.

You've voiced your disdain for it at least 100 times.  Do you think the 101st time is going to change anyones mind at this point?

_____________________________________________________________________________________________

Back on point...

I've always wanted to test this.  Is it possible that Chris at DR or someone else elsewhere could have 100 people just wander the land with a GPS tracking device and see where everyone ends up?  Don't tell em where the 1st tee, nor the 18th green and just see what happens?

I think it would be an excellent experiment.

[Melvyn Morrow]

Kalen

Pity you did not understand my post, but just went into a rant. Only mentioned the castle as an example, the designer must have walked in some funny way to come up with that design when he first walked the flat to slight sloping farm land that is to date The Castle Course.

Melvyn

[Ally Mcintosh]

I have stolen Tom's quote myself on a couple of occasions (always giving the fella credit of course) because I think it captures the essence of a good routing and good flow in one sentence... And most importantly, one Clients and non-GCAs can easily identify with...

[Sean_A]

I always wondered about Tom's comments concerning Cruden Bay.  While I agree that most would be drawn toward the castle (#s 1-4) for a walk, for the life of me I can't figure out why folks would then cut back in on the 5th.  I would have thought most would follow the beach line - no?
Okay, so the course isn't all that far from the beach until halfway thru #6 - from this point I certainly wouldn't be going inland unless it was to head home.  Maybe, as Ally may be suggesting, I am taking the comments too literally.

Generally speaking, I think it would be very difficult to route a course as one would walk a property. 

Ciao

[Kalen Braley]

Sean,

I tend to agree here.

I look at a place like Pebble Beach.  If i enter the property near where the Lodge is...no way I'm turning inland to follow the route of the current #1.  I'm heading straight to the 18 green area and walking south towards the tee.

[Mike McGuire]

Perhaps you could also use this concept to establish the lines of an individual hole. How would you walk from this tee to that green.

Our 6th holes original routing was a gentle dogleg along a ridge. As tree planting and mowing straightened the hole over the years you now go down and up a big hill which seems unnatural -  going around slightly but on a gentle ridge seems like how you would walk it and makes for a better golf hole.