[Mark Johnson]

The things that just bother you and prevent a course from being one of your favorites.

I'll start.  Here are mine

In no particular order

1) Tee shots which require you to hit under trees covering the fairway

2) Any hole whose line of play required you to aim at another green in close proximity

3) Risk / Reward holes with no logical place to lay up or play space

[Dan_Callahan]

Just encountered one at Shining Rock, a new public in Mass that was 4th on Golf Magazine's 2010 list of best new publics (which, coincidentally, shows how few courses are being built these days if Shining Rock came in 4th ... it's not very good).

Anyway, the pet peeve is getting off a green and then having to double back and travel all the way down the fairway of the next hole to get to the tee. It's almost ok on a par 3 because the distance isn't brutal (such as the 17th at Dedham). But it's brutal and really crappy routing on a par 4. Because of a few very poor decisions such as this, Shining Rock is virtually unwalkable.

[Mark Saltzman]

1) Forced lay-ups

[Peter Pallotta]

Doglegs so severe that I'm hitting a shorter club off the tee than I am into the green. Forget strategy or fairness, it's just unseemly, and also very ugly.

Peter

[JESII]

blah bunkers all over the place...

[jeffwarne]

blah bunkers all over the place...

blah bunkers at the perimeters of every fairway

[Matthew Sander]

Bunkers to challenge on the inside of a dogleg where the mowing lines allow rough to extend well beyond the backside on the carry line. As a matter of fact, I think this situation had its own thread on here somewhat recently.

This spring I played RTJ Sr.'s Otter Creek in Columbus, IN. Nearly every dogleg had a bunker on the inside of the elbow, and numerous times I thought I hit a perfect drive directly over the bunker or even its inside edge. Time and time again I would walk up the fairway expecting to see a ball only to find it caught up in rough well beyond the backslope of the bunker...

Now, I'm not always for fairness on the golf course, but when a bunker is set at a location and a distance that says "challenge me", I think there should be some sort of reward for executing the shot.

[Joe Stansell]

Ribbons for fairways.

[Mike_Young]

Holes where the greens are before the tees on each hole.

[Ian Andrew]

1. Containment Mounds
2. Target Bunkers
3. Two different bunker styles
4. A predicatable finishing hole
5. Ponds
6. Trees directly in play
7. Island Greens
8. Area Drains in Fairways
9. Squeezing the landing area
10. Wide greens with fronting bunkers

Why?

The answers for each are all here:

 http://thecaddyshack.blogspot.com/2007/11/10-things-i-hate-1-containment-mounding.html

[Mike Nuzzo]

Mark
I wouldn't call those pet peeves
I'd subtract 2 doak points for each occurrence - doubt any one of those courses makes it to a 4
Cheers

[Sean_A]

There are three things I see a ton of that I despise.

1. The wall of green tree lines. It is terribly ugly and could never remind of a forest - which is what I spose clubs are trying to imitate - if they are thinking at all about the goal of trees.  It is paticularly irksome when fantastic specimen trees are buried in the wall of green.  

2. The lack of balanced hazards/features which invariably means bunkers plopped everywhere.

3. Muirfield like rough lining fairways.

Ciao

[Scott Weersing]

The things that just bother you and prevent a course from being one of your favorites.

I'll start.  Here are mine

In no particular order

1) Tee shots which require you to hit under trees covering the fairway

2) Any hole whose line of play required you to aim at another green in close proximity

3) Risk / Reward holes with no logical place to lay up or play space

I think it is a maintenance issue if there are trees over the fairway. The course designer has little control over the maintenance of the course.

As for no. 2. there are exceptions. For example, you hit over the no. 3 green when on the no. 4 tee at Ballybunnion Old Course. http://www.ballybuniongolfclub.ie/oldcourse.html

3. Yes, I would think that no. 15 at AGC would be considered a hole with very little space for a layup. I think most island greens would fit in this category.

[jeffwarne]

The things that just bother you and prevent a course from being one of your favorites.

I'll start.  Here are mine

In no particular order

1) Tee shots which require you to hit under trees covering the fairway

2) Any hole whose line of play required you to aim at another green in close proximity

3) Risk / Reward holes with no logical place to lay up or play space

I think it is a maintenance issue if there are trees over the fairway. The course designer has little control over the maintenance of the course.

As for no. 2. there are exceptions. For example, you hit over the no. 3 green when on the no. 4 tee at Ballybunnion Old Course. http://www.ballybuniongolfclub.ie/oldcourse.html

3. Yes, I would think that no. 15 at AGC would be considered a hole with very little space for a layup. I think most island greens would fit in this category.

If you mean 15 at ANGC, there is more space to lay up then there is fairway on most holes on most courses.
The layup could be from 60-150 yards on the left rough side, 60-150 yards straight or right,or all the way around to pin high on the right (where many players go)
the smarter players know which angle to take for certain pins and weather conditions.
It hasn't been dumbed down like most layup areas which become defined by hazards, not preferred angles
Couldn't imagine a larger layup area

[Bill Seitz]

Holes where an approach from a fairway bunker is blocked by trees.  If I'm in the bunker off the tee, that should be punishment enough.  If a hole is designed such that trees block the approach from a poor tee shot, that's also punishment enough. I don't see the need to hammer the guy who hit a poor shot with two distinctly different obstacles.

[David Cronheim]

Things I hate (in no particular order):

1. cart paths too near to green:

so decent, but slightly off-line shots go way, way out of play or, worse, into a hazard or OB

2. cart paths near out of bounds:

my home course, Deal, has hedges down the right sides of a few holes and the geniuses doing the redesign decided to put cart paths next to the hedges. Shots that land in bounds sometimes roll and trickle across the path OB. I find it enfuriating.

3. tight drives off a 1st tee:

they slow down play so much because everyone wants to take a mulligan

4. par threes with trees that overhang or are in play and force you to shape a shot around the tree(s).

5. elevated fairways that cant away so that shots roll or bounce out of them

This is a particular problem when courses play fast and firm as well struck shots end up being repelled and ones that hook or cut in from the burnt out rough are the only ones that stay in play

[Tyler Kearns]

Water on the outside of a dogleg.

TK

[PCCraig]

Trees in play, narrow fairways that leave rough between hazards and cover alternate playing angles, and shallow useless bunkers.

[Chip Gaskins]

1) water
2) sharp edges (railroad ties)
3) the use of tall rough as an architectural feature

[Lou_Duran]

Both are issues with rules, but play a large role in design and how the course is played:

OB

Boundary types

[Doug Wright]

Totally blind hazards
Holes where an approach from a fairway bunker is blocked by trees (same as Bill Seitz above).
Overly encroaching trees generally (especially impeding tee shots and most pine trees anywhere).  

[Michael Wharton-Palmer]

The use of huge bunkers and/or man made water hazrads as a source for " toughening " a golf course...this is neither clever nor good architecture...because anybody can make a golf course tough using those particular "hazards"

Varying styles of bunkers on the same golf course......a  single sod bunker on a golf course is stupid!!!!

Greens with massive undulations that run at modern day speeds.....why??.....when did the  automatic three putt become a respected form of defense for a golf course...another cheap shot to me

The use of converted five pars into par fours...why??...par is just a number why doesan"easy" par five of 510 yrads have to become a difficult 4 par...really who cares?

Three pars that require removing a headcover....unless it is a hybrid...

[JC Urbina]

Ian,

I am surprised you thought having several styles of bunkers offending.  If the land forms and weather conditions dictate different types of hazards why would that be a negative.  In certain parts of the Scotland they used almost anything to stabilize dunes land.  On one of my favorite Scottish courses Western Gailes, the bunkers have, grass face, wood fence slats, tires, planking and some they just let blow around and end up being sand flashed depending on the time of the year.  I don't think it takes away from the experience.

[Jim Colton]

Walking only courses where you finish a hole, drop your bag at the start of the fairway, walk back 150+ yards and hit back towards where you started.

[David Cronheim]

I should add to my list that I also HATEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE (is that strong enough) the use of fescue and tall "native" grasses on so many golf courses where they are so obviously out of place. It makes a greenskeeper's job easier because he doesn't have to maintain the area, but it slows down play and results in far too many lost balls.

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