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Tim Gavrich

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Re: Have you ever played a course with fairways that are too wide?
« Reply #25 on: May 01, 2013, 04:07:35 PM »
It could be argued that a couple of the fairways at Bulls Bay are so wide that one might be justified in wondering whether those holes would be worse off if the fairway was, say, 15% less wide. I'm thinking of holes 2, 8 and maybe 18.
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Jason Thurman

  • Karma: +1/-0
Re: Have you ever played a course with fairways that are too wide?
« Reply #26 on: May 01, 2013, 04:08:46 PM »
I wouldn't say I've played a course with fairways that are too wide, but I've played holes with fairways that are too wide. 14 at Wild Horse, for instance, is just arbitrarily too wide for me.

Like others, I like some sort of emphasis to be placed on the tee shot. When a fairway is too wide, the only challenge becomes hitting the ball on the shortest line. I don't care for holes that are so wide open that it's hard to pick an aiming point. Some good bunkering can make even the widest fairways work well though. I love the Dunes course at The Prairie Club, for instance, in spite of its 87 or so acres of fairway. I always felt like you still had to focus on every shot even though the fairways have lots of width.

Sometimes I think we put too much emphasis on angles. Watching guys play The Masters, its clear that having bad angles of approach into greens just doesn't hurt that much anymore. It's so easy to play the aerial game and stop the ball fast that width often risks only being strategic in theory but not in practice. On a more practical level, too much width is expensive to maintain. I might never stand on a tee and think "This fairway should be narrower," but I also don't have to manage a maintenance budget.
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Greg Tallman

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: Have you ever played a course with fairways that are too wide?
« Reply #27 on: May 01, 2013, 04:12:08 PM »
No single way to answer the question.

As one who see "the average golfer" daily I can assure you there is no such thing as too wide for most, particularly the younger 20 handicap who can still hit the ball 300 yards.

That said, and being somewhat selfish as one who hits the ball pretty straight, you cannot simply allow the guy who hits it 50 yards off line to find his ball with a good lie and free swing all day long. Even if you argue that he has a poor angle to the hole it's still not fair to the guy who hits it where he's looking all day.

Doak's now closed course at Bay of Dreams struck a pretty good balance and actually catered to the straight hitter on a handful of holes while allowing nearly everyone on earth to find their tee ball and have a go at it on about the same number. The 2nd and 18th put width to great use while the 1st and 12th seemed wide for the sake of width (though 12 was lengthy there seemed little in the way of preferred angle)

Heck I could argue the 18th on The Ocean Course at Cabo del Sol is too wide and ironically enough my proposed "solution" is added width.

Others

Good Width:
Diamante 8 and 15
Club Campestre San Jose 4
Desert Course at Cabo del Sol 6, 14
Ocean Course at Cabo del Sol 8, 10, 15

Bad Width:
Diamante 1 (generally give it the BOD as it is the opening hole and the width on the second makes up for that on the tee shot)
Muirfield Village 6
Pete Dye GC 17
Desert Course at Cabo del Sol 8


  

Sean_A

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: Have you ever played a course with fairways that are too wide?
« Reply #28 on: May 01, 2013, 04:20:26 PM »
One of the best uses of width I have ever come across is Pennard's 4th hole.  It is wonderful to see the discomfort this tee shot creates.


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