[Thomas Dai]

What design feature do you dislike the most?

Hopefully dialogue will not focus on a design feature that particularly effects your own personal game but rather types of feature that effect all players, irrespective of age, strength or sex.

Me? I'm not fond of forced carries, prefer streams to ponds....and I absolutely detest fountains in lakes.

atb

[Ryan Coles]

Over zealous tree removal.

And

Shots that demand the ball be bounced in, whilst the approaches are unsuitable. Either much softer than the green or too sloping.

[Carson Pilcher]

Forced carries.

[Matthew Petersen]

Not too big a surprise: Waterfalls.

I guess if you happen upon a natural one, that's OK. Otherwise, what a complete waste. I'm not entirely anti water hazard, but the waterfalls drive me crazy. Such a waste of resources for something that means nothing to the actual playing of golf.

[Jeff Taylor]

Trees that narrow the line of play off the tee.

[Matt Bielawa]

Trees situated between a bunker and the green.

[Matthew Rose]

Forced layups.

Especially on longer holes where you may hit a longer club with your second shot than you did off the tee.

[K Rafkin]

Learning to play the game while growing up in florida ive grown to dislike water in all its forms, especially when it comes into play on every hole.

That being said i absolutely hate standing on a tee box lined with trees so tight that it prevents your ability to aim anywhere but straight down the fairway, and even then you still have a chance of hitting a tree 30 yrds away with your driver.  This feature becomes increasingly annoying the further you play back.

[Lou_Duran]

Trees situated between a bunker and the green.

Water protecting the front of the green on holes where the drives are guarded on both sides by bunkers.

Fairways where the landing zone is on a downslope and the green is elevated.

Downhill lies in deep bunkers with high lips.

Perched greens with steep slopes on both sides and the back.

Fairways routed around trees which guard the low side of the fairway.

Narrow bunkers with pitched edges.  Greens that slope away into said bunkers.            

[JLahrman]

Are waterfalls and fountains design features? Particularly fountains, assuming the pond would still be there anyway.

In addition to not being a fan of trees that make playing corridors into hallways, I do not like it when they frame a hole in general. In other words, a hole becomes a dogleg left simply because trees are planted to create that shape to the hole (whether they are a huge impediment or not).

[RJ_Daley]

I don't care for trees covering or adding to the penalty of a bunker or water hazard.  Trees that catch a shot and drop them into a hazard seems the double whammy to me.  

I don't like the maintenance of conifers, particularly spruce and arbor vitae that allow the branches to grow all the way down to the ground rather than have 18 inches to 3 feet trimmed up the trunk to allow the ball to be found, and to be chipped out at least a few feet if not a bit of a swing back to a fairway some feet or yards away.  

I don't like turtle back small greens without any decent pinable areas.  

I don't like blue grass rough more than 2.5 inches.  

I don't like greens without any collar cut, even if only 22 inches at least oe mower width.

I don't like courses with repetitive runway tees extending 50 yards and more.

I don't like courses with rows and rows of artificial mounds  buried elephants aside all the hole corridors for FW separation.  

I don't like near dead flat greens.

[Chris DeToro]

Definitely the fountain in the pond...

[Tom_Doak]

Man-made water hazards.

[Ben Baldwin]

Manicured bunker edges. 

[Ryan Coles]

Manicured bunker edges. 

Ben

Which courses / bunkers that aren't manicured is it that you do like?

[astavrides]

Over zealous tree removal.

This goes against Golf Club Atlas orthodoxy and may need an explanation.

[Ryan Coles]

Puts me in a small minority here I'm sure, but I'll come out of the closet and say that as long as a Club is managed sensibly in financial terms, I like water features, gardens and flowers. They look nice. And perversely, I like things that look nice.

What first attracted me to golf was the beauty of the surroundings in contrast to what I saw around me every day. The golf is more important, but I don't think a good course and beautification are mutually exclusive.

[Ben Baldwin]

Manicured bunker edges. 

Ben

Which courses / bunkers that aren't manicured is it that you do like?

I guess that is a bit of an "open to interpretation" type of statement.

I'll clarify with pictures.

What I like:

or

or

What I don't like:

or


I also do like stacked sod, even though most have the uniform edge look I don't like, the stacked sod is the "added character" type of feature that I like in bunkers...


Maybe my statement should have said ...  Bunkers with NO CHARACTER.

[Ryan Coles]

Over zealous tree removal.

This goes against Golf Club Atlas orthodoxy and may need an explanation.

Some tree removal is necessary and some courses have been completely transformed for the better. Secondly if tree removal benefits the health of the turf, again I don't have a problem. Ditto for heather regeneration on heathlands.

What I object to is the almost default viewpoint that all tress = bad. And taking them out for the sake of it. Not every course can be walton heath or shinnicock. If you're a parkland course on the edge of Wolverhampton, built on clay, relatively poor design, compromised by local houses or say a road, the "beauty" of the mature specimen trees and how they change through the seasons, is probably one of the few redeeming features.

A balance is needed. Entrenched anti tree mentality might be fashionable here. It is not shared by most of the market and those who pay the bills.

[Ryan Coles]

Ben

Thanks for clarifying.

What are the courses in your 2nd and 3rd pictures?

[Dave McCollum]

Trees planted in a row to provide separation between fairways, or like soldiers standing in line.

[Ben Baldwin]

Ben

Thanks for clarifying.

What are the courses in your 2nd and 3rd pictures?

#2 is Old MacDonald at Bandon
#3 is Southern Dunes in Az

[Ryan Coles]

Ben

Thanks for clarifying.

What are the courses in your 2nd and 3rd pictures?

#2 is Old MacDonald at Bandon
#3 is Southern Dunes in Az

Thanks - ironically both are about as manicured as you can get. They are stylised eye candy. Not really any more morally high brow than a water fountain or a flower bed.

I think they look great by the way.

[Greg Taylor]

Bunkers cut into the top of mounds.

Teeing areas that dont align to the general line off the tee.

[Morgan Clawson]

OOB just a few feet off the fairway.

And worse than that would be OOB just a few feet off the fairway with a cart path next to propel balls OOB.

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