Golf Digest Armchair Architect Contest

[Joe Schackman]

Apparently the winning hole has a legit chance of being built:

http://golfdigest-armchair-architect.squarespace.com/

[Carl Rogers]

there is not a real commitment to build the hole of the winner.

[David Sucher]

Too bad can't visit the site (rules seem to say "NO!") and I understand that it is a working site with heavy equipment etc etc so makes sense

But I'd like to suggest perhaps management could open up the course one day a week, Sunday, for three or four weeks? Maybe not feasible but just throwing out the idea.

Maybe even charge people (us wannabe designers) a visit fee to raise $$$ for some good charity?

[David_Elvins]

Too bad can't visit the site (rules seem to say "NO!") and I understand that it is a working site with heavy equipment etc etc so makes sense

But I'd like to suggest perhaps management could open up the course one day a week, Sunday, for three or four weeks? Maybe not feasible but just throwing out the idea.

Maybe even charge people (us wannabe designers) a visit fee to raise $$$ for some good charity?

ARMCHAIR Architect Contest.


Call me a traditionalist but surely it is inferred that this armchair is located in your house?

[David Sucher]

Call me a traditionalist but surely it is inferred that this armchair is located in your house?

That may be so.
But I am playing with the Contest, offering a variation on the theme, to see if on-site visit might produce more exciting designs and perhaps one more likely to be actually built.
Obviously there a fairness question - someone in Hawaii may not be able to visit as easily as somebody in Chicago, putting them at a disadvantage.
That aside, why not modify the rules? Obviously management will decide & I am simply putting in my two cents.

[David_Elvins]

But I am playing with the Contest, offering a variation on the theme, to see if on-site visit might produce more exciting designs and perhaps one more likely to be actually built.

Removing the armchair from an armchair contest is kind of like removing the basketball from the game of basketball. 


I understand innovation, but innovation in golf has rarely been good, IMO.

[PCCraig]

Seems like a fun exercise. I'm going to try to enter. I'm sure some people will go all out with CAD designs and the like (and apparently 5-page introductions?), but I figure it might be fun to draw something out and write a brief explanation of the hole. It'll certainly make my first play of the course in 2018 more interesting.

[Carl Rogers]

In the contest info (that I can find), they do not make a statement whether the course is a walking only course.  I will have to e-mail them that question.  I can see why the question of where to hide the cart path is such a big "problem".

[PCCraig]

I think the whole complex is going to be walking only.


After the end of the contest, it would be fun for everyone to post their submissions. Would be neat to see what everyone came up with.

[Andrew Buck]

I think the whole complex is going to be walking only.


After the end of the contest, it would be fun for everyone to post their submissions. Would be neat to see what everyone came up with.

Fun piece of land, and I bet they're hoping someone submits something close enough to the hole already designed that they can just say they modified it. 

[Ben Hollerbach]

I think the whole complex is going to be walking only.


After the end of the contest, it would be fun for everyone to post their submissions. Would be neat to see what everyone came up with.

Fun piece of land, and I bet they're hoping someone submits something close enough to the hole already designed that they can just say they modified it.

I'd have to assume that's the case.

This was Kidd's preliminary routing, I'm unable to find the preceding or following holes from the contest so it looks like the final routing has been changed.

[Andrew Buck]

looks like 15 to me

[Ben Hollerbach]

In the prompt, they say that the hole preceding the contest hole is the par 3 13th and the hole to follow is the par 5 15th.

[PCCraig]

In the prompt, they say that the hole preceding the contest hole is the par 3 13th and the hole to follow is the par 5 15th.

It's the spot where 15 is above, but the tee box for the next hole (16?) has changed. It's possible the routing's changed. After looking at the topo map, and then the initial routing, I can't say the initial design makes a whole lot of sense.

[Bob Montle]

When you enhance the image (above) to show the contour lines it appears the 16th green above is the 13th green in the contest, and the 17th hole above is the area for the new 14th hole in the contest.

The (new) 15th tee area is missing in the conceptual drawing.

[Andrew Buck]

I'd suggest it could be the 5th hole on the routing as well, but the preceeding green has moved.

[Alex Miller]

When you enhance the image (above) to show the contour lines it appears the 16th green above is the 13th green in the contest, and the 17th hole above is the area for the new 14th hole in the contest.

The (new) 15th tee area is missing in the conceptual drawing.

I agree with this. It looks like there's been some rerouting but the original 16-17 are the 13-14 for the contest.

[Matthew Essig]

When you enhance the image (above) to show the contour lines it appears the 16th green above is the 13th green in the contest, and the 17th hole above is the area for the new 14th hole in the contest.

The (new) 15th tee area is missing in the conceptual drawing.

I agree with this. It looks like there's been some rerouting but the original 16-17 are the 13-14 for the contest.

I agree that original 16-17 are 13-14 in the contest.


Is it bad then that the hole I envision in my head looks eerily similar to the original?


Pro: I am thinking like an architect
Con: Isn't original...

[Alex Miller]

When you enhance the image (above) to show the contour lines it appears the 16th green above is the 13th green in the contest, and the 17th hole above is the area for the new 14th hole in the contest.

The (new) 15th tee area is missing in the conceptual drawing.

I agree with this. It looks like there's been some rerouting but the original 16-17 are the 13-14 for the contest.

I agree that original 16-17 are 13-14 in the contest.


Is it bad then that the hole I envision in my head looks eerily similar to the original?


Pro: I am thinking like an architect
Con: Isn't original...

Yes, that's generally the hole I envisioned as well... at first. Not dissimilar to Kapalua's 17/18th in concept.




I may post an entry, but this contest is not the way to get the best possible hole/course for the site. If there are opportunities to, say move the tees of the next hole closer to the ridgeline on the right, then maybe the best combination of holes 14 & 15 are routed completely differently than what's already in place.




It's an odd contest... They want something unique, but with a very fixed routing, but not necessarily too detailed... They're going to get dozens (hundreds, thousands?) of the same golf hole! And it doesn't mean it's the wrong hole to build either. Building a triangle element (3 holes) to a routing would've yielded some interesting and diverse results, but I don't know about this.