[Patrick_Mucci]

keys to architecture ?

Preventing the golfer from getting below the hole ?

I was thinking about GCGC and how well it's resisted scoring for over a century.
Why ? or How ?

Wide fairways, not excessively long, fairly flat, few elevated greens, breezes but not 2 club winds.
Greens that transition seemlessly out of the fairways.

Yet, it resists scoring.

Then the thought occured to me that the key to that resistance may be the difficulty the golfer has in getting below the hole due to the slope of many of the greens.

Some slope high left to low right, others high right to low left, others front to back, others back to front.

Is that a critical architectural challenge ?

Preventing or obstructing the golfer from getting below the hole, no matter how/what the method ?

[Jud_T]

Pat,

Interesting.  Do they consciously take this into consideration there in setting the day's pin positions?

[Ben Sims]

Pat,

I've recently had the idea that many of my favorite greens are those that slope towards trouble.  This means that the further you hit away from a bunker/collection area, the further above the hole you are. 

 

[Patrick_Mucci]

Jud,

Setting hole locations seems to be within the realm of micro architecture, I was referencing the macro element.

One of my favorite features is a fairway that cants one way with the green canting in the opposite direction

[Mike_Young]

yep.  It's a silent killer.

[Brad LeClair]

Pat:

Having had the great fortune to play my first round @ GCGC recently i can see your point about how the course has resisted scoring through time.  Like Shinnecock, each hole's test is obvious to you on the tee, albeit Shinnecock has a much more undulating piece of property to add to the challenge.  Aside from #1 and maybe #2, none of the holes could be considered "tricky."  While the land is generally flat and the fairways and greens are on the less undulating side of the spectrum, this allows the course to be set up for fast & firm playing conditions.  Also, the flat nature of the greens allows the super to get them up quite high on the stimp meter which amplifies the difficulty from playing above the hole.  

That being said, I had my best round of the season on the course and I would attribute it to two factors:

1) 14 out of 15 of the par 4's & 5's have open mouthed greens.  when getting into trouble every par 4 & 5 affords you the opportunity to play to 40-75 yards so you can get a wedge your hands and pitch it with spin.  
2) With fairways and greens on the flatter side, i found it easy to visualize and execute the these recovery pitches.  without humps or swales to have delicate pitches over the margin for error is reduced.  essentially the opposite of Sebonack.

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