Courses without lost balls

[Nigel Islam]

Camargo

[Mark Pritchett]

You go get your ball from under the trees and in most cases hit a recovery shot. 

[Paul Gray]

You go get your ball from under the trees and in most cases hit a recovery shot. 

Assuming that was for me, thanks Mark.

[Daryl David]

If you lose a ball at Gamble Sands you should hang your clubs in the garage for two weeks then quit the game for good.   

[Paul Gray]

If you lose a ball at Gamble Sands you should hang your clubs in the garage for two weeks then quit the game for good.   

That did just make me laugh. Thanks. 

[James Boon]

Gweedore-WIDTH and sheep
Mulranny-Sheep
Northwest
Dunfanaghy

The sheep keep the rough down enough at Brora that its tricky to lose a ball. There are a couple of small burn crossing the course which might mean a lost ball, but they are generally easily found in the clear water.

Cheers,

James

[Bruce Katona]

Our good friend Archie Struthers Twisted Dune is a plave where loing a ball is quite a challange, as the fairways are certainly wide enough, though there are 1-2 shots to be played over water where a very poorly struck shot may get wet.

[Stephen Davis]

Old Mac.

This was my exact thought. I have played many rounds there and don't think I have ever lost a ball. I don't even know where you could lose a ball.

edit: The only place I can think of is short right of the tee on 17

[Garland Bayley]

Gweedore-WIDTH and sheep
Mulranny-Sheep
Northwest
Dunfanaghy

The sheep keep the rough down enough at Brora that its tricky to lose a ball. There are a couple of small burn crossing the course which might mean a lost ball, but they are generally easily found in the clear water.

Cheers,

James

Nothing wrong with Burnham&Berrow that a few hundred sheep couldn't fix.

[Garland Bayley]

Old Mac.

This was my exact thought. I have played many rounds there and don't think I have ever lost a ball. I don't even know where you could lose a ball.

edit: The only place I can think of is short right of the tee on 17

I hit a long approach to 18 with my lefty slice headed way left, and I thought I might lose the ball. Turns out the ball was on the green. Punchbowl hurray!

[Stan Dodd]

Duff House Royal is tough to lose a ball and it has wonderful Dr. Mac greens.

[Tim Bert]

Pinehurst #2 is the only course I have played where I felt in no jeopardy of losing a ball or spending an unnecessarily long amount of time having to look for a ball.

The people that cite Kingsley, Sand Hills, Ballyneal, Old Mac, etc play a different game than me. It is certainly possible to play a round at those course with one ball and I have probably accomplished it at 3 out of 4 of those locations.  That being said, pulling it off and it being the norm are two different things. Rarely have I played a round at any of those courses where someone wasn't looking for a ball for some period on multiple holes. Old Mac probably less looking than the others but there are a few places to sure fire lose a ball there... Gorse on 11, gorse right on 15, left on 17 quickly come to mind.  The other three all have enough penal rough that if you are offline and miss the generous fairways it may take some searching.

[Matt MacIver]

Agree with Tim's comments above.

Most of the courses cited are classics, I'm guessing in general architects cared more about the concept back then - the first featheries where expensive and time consuming to make, and with golf ball evolution we've seen golf course devolution. I'm guessing very very few modern GCAs rank "lost balls" in their top ten design criteria, pre- site and client input.

[Doug Siebert]

Sand Hills

I lost a couple balls my first time around there - and I had a caddy!

[BCowan]

Battle Creek CC. 

[James Bennett]

Royal Adelaide, as long as it isn't spring when the rough is very thick. 

I would expect you would lose a ball perhaps one round in every ten, perhaps less frequently than that.  In Spring, it probably falls to one round in three.

[Mike_Clayton]

James,

Pretty hard to lose a ball at Royal Melbourne.

[David_Elvins]

James,

Pretty hard to lose a ball at Royal Melbourne.

For you or me?

Try hitting a sliced or blocked tee shot on 2, 4, 6, 10, and then over-correcting and hooking on 11, 12, 14, and 17.  That's 8 balls gone.

[Sean_A]

Pinehurst #2 is the only course I have played where I felt in no jeopardy of losing a ball or spending an unnecessarily long amount of time having to look for a ball.

The people that cite Kingsley, Sand Hills, Ballyneal, Old Mac, etc play a different game than me. It is certainly possible to play a round at those course with one ball and I have probably accomplished it at 3 out of 4 of those locations.  That being said, pulling it off and it being the norm are two different things. Rarely have I played a round at any of those courses where someone wasn't looking for a ball for some period on multiple holes. Old Mac probably less looking than the others but there are a few places to sure fire lose a ball there... Gorse on 11, gorse right on 15, left on 17 quickly come to mind.  The other three all have enough penal rough that if you are offline and miss the generous fairways it may take some searching.

I agree with this general idea.  Folks are way over-stating the no lost ball courses.  It makes me think we don't need fairays wider than 20 yards    Besides, is no lost ball possibilities really a positive attribute?  

Ciao

[Marc Haring]

Seems like we can now include every golf course in the World.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LxBIo4Gzhf8

[Brent Hutto]

I can think of courses where you hit a golf ball into a water hazard or OB or other place where it won't be found but where you still won't spend time sifting through deep, thick rough looking for balls all day.

Losing a ball because you slice one 40 yards and it goes out of bounds is one thing, as is hitting a shot 130 yards when you needed 135 to get across a water hazard. Losing a ball that bounced four yards off the fairway into knee-deep hay and you never found it after searching for five minutes is quite another.

[Garland Bayley]

... I'm guessing very very few modern GCAs rank "lost balls" in their top ten design criteria, pre- site and client input.

Well if they don't then they should. Searching for balls adds time to a round. Golf is reported to be losing participants due to the length of time required to play a round. Searching for balls is one player independent indicator use in rating courses for a length of play.

So, if the GCA's client wants customers, that client should rank "lost balls" high in their design criteria.

[Marc Haring]

I have a dream that one day, one day, there will be a golf course where there will be no lost balls but where those off line will have an impossible shot to the green and where a par will only be achievable with deft short game and superior levels of consciousness, skill and nerve, where fairways are infinite, where green complexes are; well complex and a par sometimes only realistically obtainable with a shaped tee shot to a wide fairway where only the perfectly executed shot will yield success.

i.e. RTJ's original concept for ANGC?

[Mike_Clayton]

Dave

How much wider do you need those fairways? 60-80 yards isn't enough?
BTW - No one slices anymore. Everything right is a massive, from the inside, block. Slices have to start left and who does that with a modern driver?

[JMEvensky]

BTW - No one slices anymore. Everything right is a massive, from the inside, block. Slices have to start left and who does that with a modern driver?

Mark Calcavecchia