[Barry Samuels]

Occasionaly, I see reference to a golf course beeing "un-walkable, " as in the current thread about best riding experiences.  Why would any golf course be "un-walkable?"  Difficult and demanding, sure.  But really and truly un-walkable?  Please enlighten me.

[Keith OHalloran]

Go play the course at Foxwoods in CT. I am sure there are some people that can walk it, but the elevation changes and green to tee walks make it improbable. That being said, I love it.

[BHoover]

I'd say the same about Longaberger near Columbus. It's theoretically walkable, in the sense that almost any course is technically walkable, but I'm not sure anyone in his or her right mind would choose to walk it. I also think it's great fun.

[Jim Hoak]

They may not be literally "unwalkable," but in my opinion the single biggest catastrophe in modern golf course architecture is the huge distances in many courses from a green to the next tee.  To me, that is just about Strike Three in valuing any course.  I just can't personally get beyond that, because I value the walk in golf so much.

[BHoover]

They may not be literally "unwalkable," but in my opinion the single biggest catastrophe in modern golf course architecture is the huge distances in many courses from a green to the next tee.  To me, that is just about Strike Three in valuing any course.  I just can't personally get beyond that, because I value the walk in golf so much.

Sure, I get that. But does it mean that a course can't be fun by taking a cart?

[Nigel Islam]

It's GCA code for a Fazio course

[Tom Bacsanyi]

My home course is at 7500 feet on the side of a mountain.  I've walked 9 holes and it's felt like 18.  The worst green to tee walks aren't far apart horizontally but far apart vertically.  There is one hole where the tee is very close to the previous green in overhead view, but about 75 feet higher in elevation.  Brutal.  

[Bill_Yates]

As a critical part of one of my pace of play improvement programs at a golf course near San Diego, I created a Pace Rating for the course.  The course has a fairly short playing length (tee to green) of 6529 yards from the Blue Tees. However, as a course built to support a housing development over some hilly ground, it also sported an amazing total travel distance from greens to tees of an additional 5180 yards, or 2.9 miles! That's a 6.6 mile hike to play 18 holes. Maybe not "un-walkable" but not a lot of fun.

In fact, the very first time I played the course, when asked at check-in if I wanted a cart, I said,"No thanks, I like to walk." The guy behind the counter said, "OK, but you'll be the first to do it." I took the cart and was very glad I did.

[Jim Tang]

I played Sanctuary in Castle Rock, CO.  As close to unwalkable as you can get, and, I walk 95% of the time.  I agree with Tom.  These types of courses are brutal in terms of the vertical desent from tee to fairway or the vertical climb from green to tee.

[Jim Nelson]

In theory, any course is walkable.  But then there is practice…  I think many of the courses I would call unworkable are in the desert.  Combine the long, long, long greens to tee paths with the heat and yes, it might just be unwalkable.  Cascada in Boulder City outside Vegas.  Wolf Creek in Mesquite.  Incredible elevation changes with death marches between greens and tees.  Nobody walks them.  Period.

[Adam Warren]

I would dare anyone to try to walk Eagle Ridge in Louisa, Ky.  No way you can do it with the bag on your back or on a trolley.

[DMoriarty]

Occasionaly, I see reference to a golf course beeing "un-walkable, " as in the current thread about best riding experiences.  Why would any golf course be "un-walkable?"  Difficult and demanding, sure.  But really and truly un-walkable?  Please enlighten me.

Many courses are un-walkable simply because the operator does not allow walking. 

Other courses are practically un-walkable because the distance and difficulty of the walk between holes would make it very hard to impossible for a walker to keep pace with those in carts.   

Other courses are reasonably un-walkable because the terrain/weather/routing/elevation is such that walking the course in a reasonable time is beyond the physical abilities of many golfers.  Even moreso if we consider enjoyably walking the course.

[Nigel Islam]

Occasionaly, I see reference to a golf course beeing "un-walkable, " as in the current thread about best riding experiences.  Why would any golf course be "un-walkable?"  Difficult and demanding, sure.  But really and truly un-walkable?  Please enlighten me.

Many courses are un-walkable simply because the operator does not allow walking. 

Other courses are practically un-walkable because the distance and difficulty of the walk between holes would make it very hard to impossible for a walker to keep pace with those in carts.   

Other courses are reasonably un-walkable because the terrain/weather/routing/elevation is such that walking the course in a reasonable time is beyond the physical abilities of many golfers.  Even moreso if we consider enjoyably walking the course.

Excellent synopsis, David!

[Tim Martin]

Take a crack at Tower Ridge in Avon Connecticut and get back to me after they unhook you from the oxygen delivery system.

[David_Tepper]

Clint Eastwood's Tehama GC in the hills above Carmel Valley is probably the least walkable course I have ever played. The steep terrain and the multiple ravines and canyons that must be played across make it a daunting walk. Just getting the course built on that property was quite a feat of engineering.

[Ulrich Mayring]

Unwalkable to me is a course, when I have no fun walking it. It has nothing directly to do with elevation changes or distances. But when there's a passage that I would love to hike even outside of playing golf, then I don't mind to have something like that on the golf course.

So I do not mind uphill struggles, if there is a reward at the top, such as a panoramic tee shot. But you can make me miserable, if you put a difficult hole that plays steeply uphill at the end of a strenous uphill walk. Or if you connect two holes with a bland stretch of asphalt.

That being said, I've made the experience that I actually got used to walking certain courses, which seemed little fun at first. Some walks lose their sting after the 3rd or 4th time and a feeling of familiarity sets in.

Ulrich

[Mike Nuzzo]

Silvertip!
Here was just one of the 17 long walks...

[Bill_McBride]

Silvertip!
Here was just one of the 17 long walks...

Looks like there could have been a nice dogleg right short par 4 with no walk at all. 

[Jaeger Kovich]

The 2 mike stranz courses in VA near Richmond have something like 9 miles of cart path and 13 miles of cart path... or something like that... as I was told when I asked about walking in the shop

[Tim Leahy]

I would think that Wente in Livermore, CA would be considered unwalkable. When they played a Buy.com tour event there they used carts to shuttle the players between greens and tees on some holes.

[Sam Morrow]

I would think that Wente in Livermore, CA would be considered unwalkable. When they played a Buy.com tour event there they used carts to shuttle the players between greens and tees on some holes.

I kind of remember that. The only other courses I remember the tour doing that at are Kapalua and back at LaCantera.

[Tom_Doak]

The 2 mike stranz courses in VA near Richmond have something like 9 miles of cart path and 13 miles of cart path... or something like that... as I was told when I asked about walking in the shop

When I took a cart to have a look around Stonehouse many years ago, it had one of those GPS systems on it that showed the distance to the next green ... when I pulled away from #9 green heading toward #10 tee, the distance changed to #10 green and it was 850 or 900 yards!

[Sean_A]

I could care less about this that and the other.  Golf is a walking game (and I consider the clubhouse as part of that walk!) so it shouldn't be a secondary consideration in design. The walk has to enhance the game or the course may as well be considered unwalkable.  Once we are moving away from a good walk, for whatever reason, we are now talking in degrees of less than ideal.  Sometimes the course is good enough to overcome the slight, sometimes not,  but in all these instances, a poor walk is less than ideal.  

Ciao

[Ally Mcintosh]

I could care less about this that and the other.  Golf is a walking game (and I consider the clubhouse as part of that walk!) so it shouldn't be a secondary consideration in design. The walk has to enhance the game or the course may as well be considered unwalkable.  Once we are moving away from a good walk, for whatever reason, we are now talking in degrees of less than ideal.  Sometimes the course is good enough to overcome the slight, sometimes not,  but in all these instances, a poor walk is less than ideal.  

Ciao

I agree with Sean.

In a list of priorities when looking at a routing, it is almost always my No.1 concern... Especially if taken in tandem with overall flow of the course...

[Thomas Dai]

What is walkable in winter may not be walkable in a hot/humid summer plus, what is walkable for some folk may not be walkable at all for others.
atb

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