[Michael J. Moss]

Uncle Joe,
I've been to the top of the mountain top...and in terms of mimicking nature when necessary, you and Mike have spoiled me.

[Tim Gavrich]

Mike Strantz built a 70-foot high hill on which he sited the clubhouse at Bulls Bay, then routed most of the holes on the course up, down and around it. What man-made golf features are larger than that?

[Ross Harmon]

Doesn't Pound Ridge have a par five with a house sized boulder about 150 out from the tee?  I recall it being a long hole but was laughing so hard when the ranger said it was owned by Wang & Wong I forgot the hole number.

#13. I'm guessing your house is bigger than a VW Beetle though. 

http://www.poundridgegolf.com/course/hole-13

[Scott Weersing]

Perry Dye built a course with lots of mounds to separate fairways back in 1992 with Cypress Golf Club in Cypress, CA.

It was a flat site so he created lakes on many of the holes and used the dirt to create mounds.

http://www.golftop18.com/cypress-golf-club-deceased-review.html

Fortunately, the course closed in 2004 and replaced with a mega church.

https://maps.google.com/maps?oe=utf-8&client=firefox-a&ie=UTF-8&q=los+alamitos+race&fb=1&gl=us&hq=race&hnear=0x80dd2ef11f500b25:0xd485614680a1eafb,Los+Alamitos,+CA&ei=6nteUqSZHsmiyAHN_ICoBg&ved=0CBsQtgM

[Michael Wharton-Palmer]

Jason,
Excuse the spelling, I was going to use the word "abortion' but mid writing thought that would be too politically incorrect and came up with the amalgamated version of that word and aberation..
That been said, I simply picked out the worst hole on the course to make a point.
I believe I COULD HAVE PICKED ABOUT 8/9 THAT FIT THIS TOPIC.
I am just one of those people who do not consider a massive budget and the modern day ablilty to move hundreds of thousands of tons of dirt to create a landscape as anything that resembles good golf course architecture,
To me Whistling Straits IS the marquee example of what this topic asks.
But like anything else on this site....an opinion.

[Josh Tarble]

Michael,
That's funny you have that opinion of WS...I believe I have read you are an excellent player, and every good player I know (that has played it) absolutely loves WS.  I myself think it is absolutely fantastic.  It is unbelievably bold and big, but there are many subtleties to the course as well.  I do agree that it is not a links course, but if you go in not expecting a links course, the playability and the strategy to it are excellent.  (Again, as you said, we all have our own opinions.)

[Michael Wharton-Palmer]

Josh,
As a shot making experience it is both challenging and thrilling,I will not dispute that at all.
It places demands on all aspects of your game and leaves no shots untested.
In that respect as with all Dye courses it does the job, I just cannot get past the "overdone" nature of the whole exercise.
A more subtle look with the respect to the bunkering and landscape and I belive it could have been a much better looking piece of architecture.
As a test no doubt superb though.
Because of its shot making demands and the strategy needed to work your way around I would at least make it a Doak 6.5

[Ed Brzezowski]

Doesn't Pound Ridge have a par five with a house sized boulder about 150 out from the tee?  I recall it being a long hole but was laughing so hard when the ranger said it was owned by Wang & Wong I forgot the hole number.

#13. I'm guessing your house is bigger than a VW Beetle though. 

http://www.poundridgegolf.com/course/hole-13

I was forced to play from the back tees, I just recall it being bigger than the pic. Typical guy issue regarding size i guess?

[Josh Tarble]

Josh,
As a shot making experience it is both challenging and thrilling,I will not dispute that at all.
It places demands on all aspects of your game and leaves no shots untested.
In that respect as with all Dye courses it does the job, I just cannot get past the "overdone" nature of the whole exercise.
A more subtle look with the respect to the bunkering and landscape and I belive it could have been a much better looking piece of architecture.
As a test no doubt superb though.
Because of its shot making demands and the strategy needed to work your way around I would at least make it a Doak 6.5

I think that's a fair critique, but I look at that WS is a big, bold, over-the-top course.  It doesn't apologize for doing so or try to be something it's not...golf needs some subtlety and it needs some over the top to balance out.  Definitely fair to not like it though.

That being said, when over-the-top is not done properly, it can get really bad in a hurry.

[Michael Wharton-Palmer]

Harmony between the two of us, what a joy to be on gca where differing opinions can live together

[Mike Schott]

Frank Lloyd Wright designed a few architectural masterpieces that were engineering disasters.

Mainly because of the inferior materials available at time of construction.

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