[John Kavanaugh]

I recently read somewhere that natural gravitational flow does not compare equally to unnatural.  Does the unconscious eye of some golfers lead them to be the one in the group who gets all the good bounces?  Or could learning how to determine a natural route to a given spot make us all seem to be a bit more lucky?

[JESII]

A very wise local superintendent once told me..."Never mess with Mother Nature!" in the context of redirecting the route of a creekbed whose carry length was under debate as fair or unfair.

[Peter Pallotta]

JK - I think the word "inevitable" or maybe "inexorable" is a bit better, as in "water inevitably flows downhill" or "the laws of gravity are inexorable".  And I think the answer (to the first part of your question) is yes.  To borrow from an area/field that I had some experience with years ago:

the skill (and challenge) lies not in grading an artificial feature (like a backyard concrete patio, or a driveway) along the site's natural slope; that's relatively easy after a while. No, the real skill and challenge comes when the homeowner wants that artifical feature to be level to the horizon even though his whole backyard (and entire neighbourhood for that matter) slopes gradually or dramatically left to right or back to front. In that case, no amount of small-scale tinkering or tie-ins will change the inexorable flow of water.

In the same way (sort of, kind of) no amount of final shaping or tie-ins or even substantial earth-moving can "outweigh" or "outdo" (for lack of better words) the site's/region's natural contours and slopes....and so there too I think "friction is arbitrary".

On the 2nd part of your question, I don't know -- MY unconscious eye has never lead me to the good bounces, but that's not to say that it doesn't for other golfers...especially those golfers who have been to the site while the course was under construction and thus know what is un-natural or not.

Peter

[John Kavanaugh]

P,

I believe that despite what we were taught in school, friction may be arbitrary.  I am seeing a randomness from person to person that is difficult to explain.  Certain individuals get good bounce after good bounce.  This may be due to a subconscious ability to see the natural flow. 

[Jim_Kennedy]

".....learning how to determine a natural route to a given spot....."  is how you learn to play golf in New England, or in other areas with hilly/sloped terrain.

[Sean_A]

JakaB

Judging by how golfers attribute luck to bounces a huge percentage of the time, I can only agree with you.  A great many players do not pay attention to the lay of the land and thus cannot hope to take advantage of gravity and contours.  Mind you, I do believe that on the clever gravity courses, only experience will really do.  The visuals are often hard to make out - to the point where one must step back and taker a wider view of what is happening.

Ciao   

[Ben Sims]

John,

Whether it's romanticized in print or not, there's a reason we've read about Bill Coore looking for animal trails when routing a golf course.  It just makes sense.  Animals instinctually follow the path of least resistance and most safety.  

I think the fluidity of naturalness should be the driving force behind how a course moves.  That one idea--in and of itself--should be reason enough to try and minimize friction.

So, no, I don't think it's arbitrary. 

----BREAK----

BTW, Don Mahaffey is helping me develop a way of turning this idea of friction, gravitational flow, and interaction with mother nature into my masters thesis.  Somehow we're trying to translate the relationship between disturbing mother nature, and how well a course drains and grows a sustainable playing surface.

[Peter Pallotta]

JK - sorry, I mucked up the thread and confused myself by trying to correct (wrongly) your use of arbitrary, but luckily (and accidentally) I think I knew what you meant even as I was changing the meaning.

Ben - that's a great (and I think important) thesis and subject; good luck and all the best with that.

My wife is an avid garderner, and lately has been moving beyond simple 'naturalism" (in look and design, e.g. using only native species, planting randomly), and is trying now to understand and use nature's own interconnections (e.g. complementary plants) and principles (e.g. water flows, the different lights/seasons) to create a totally self-sustaining and site-appropriate little eco-system. This is an area that 'has legs' as it were, in gca and well beyond.

I wish Joe Hancock was still posting here - what he did over a few years at his own course (NLE) in terms of the health and sustainablility of the turf was really impressive.

Peter

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