Too many "Cape-Like" tee shots at the Ocean Course?

[David Stewart]

Recent threads about the design elements of the Ocean Course and the thread about the problem with Cape-like tee shots got me thinking. Are there too many of these bite-off-as-much-as-you-can holes at the OC? Almost every driving hole has the fairway set at an angle to the tee, with sand, swamp, or water the penalty for taking an over-aggressive line. Is this a good design feature because it keeps the player constantly thinking, trying to choose the correct line? Or does it get repetitive and give the bomber who can cut the corner too much of an advantage by getting not only a shorter approach, but often an ideal angle? Discuss...

[Tim Liddy]

This is the main criticism I hear from tour professionals, the repetitive nature of the tee shots on Dye courses played on the tour. Some players love them, some do not. As Mr. Dye says: "Some like vanilla and some like chocolate".

[Matthew Petersen]

As opposed to the straight away nature of somewhere like Firestone?

I'll take TOC, thanks.

[Howard Riefs]

The different tee sets at TOC have varying angles for tee shots. They're primarily not stacked one-before-the-next on a row. More forced carries for the back tees; fewer for the shorter ones. Thereby...

For those playing the Tournament (tips) and Ocean tees, there are a handful of these "cape-like" tee shots.

For those playing the Dye and Kiawah tees, it's not an issue.


Hole maps...

http://www.kiawahresort.com/downloads/pdf/the-courses/13OC%20Hole-by-Hole.pdf

[Brent Hutto]

I can't conceive that anyone would truly prefer all the water and "sand areas" at the Ocean Course to be laid out along one or both sides of each (straight) fairway as is the norm at most lesser courses along the coast. How can a steady diet of decisions about what angle and/or shape to take for an oblique carry be less interesting than a steady diet of "Slice it and you hit houses, hook it and you're in the water, hit it dead straight or it's a penalty stroke". Because that's the alternative.

It beggars the imagination that on a forum which at times seem dedicated to concepts like "decisions" and "strategy" and "playing positional golf to gain advantageous angles" there would complaints that at the Ocean Course there are a lot of holes requiring, you know, making strategic decisions about the proper angles for gaining positional advantage into the difficult-to-hit greens.

[BCrosby]

I can't conceive that anyone would truly prefer all the water and "sand areas" at the Ocean Course to be laid out along one or both sides of each (straight) fairway as is the norm at most lesser courses along the coast. How can a steady diet of decisions about what angle and/or shape to take for an oblique carry be less interesting than a steady diet of "Slice it and you hit houses, hook it and you're in the water, hit it dead straight or it's a penalty stroke". Because that's the alternative.

It beggars the imagination that on a forum which at times seem dedicated to concepts like "decisions" and "strategy" and "playing positional golf to gain advantageous angles" there would complaints that at the Ocean Course there are a lot of holes requiring, you know, making strategic decisions about the proper angles for gaining positional advantage into the difficult-to-hit greens.

What Brent said.

[William_G]

I can't conceive that anyone would truly prefer all the water and "sand areas" at the Ocean Course to be laid out along one or both sides of each (straight) fairway as is the norm at most lesser courses along the coast. How can a steady diet of decisions about what angle and/or shape to take for an oblique carry be less interesting than a steady diet of "Slice it and you hit houses, hook it and you're in the water, hit it dead straight or it's a penalty stroke". Because that's the alternative.

It beggars the imagination that on a forum which at times seem dedicated to concepts like "decisions" and "strategy" and "playing positional golf to gain advantageous angles" there would complaints that at the Ocean Course there are a lot of holes requiring, you know, making strategic decisions about the proper angles for gaining positional advantage into the difficult-to-hit greens.

What Brent said.

+1