Can great greens and surrounds make up for ho hum holes?

[Tommy Williamsen]

I played a Domald Ross course the other day.  Thirteen holes were pretty special but about five holes were just so so.  There were no fairway bunkers and the holes were built on very flat ground while the rest of the course had hilly terrain that was very interesting and encouraged the player think.  The holes on the flats were pretty boring until you got to the greens. Can a great green complex save an otherwise boring hole?

[Scott Weersing]

Yes, great or interesting greens can save a hole or a routing. For example, if you play a course where are the greens slope from back to front, then you will look for bunkering, routing and elevation change to make the course interesting. What happens when you have flat land? The designer can slope the greens left to right, right to left, and front to back to add interest. My favorite designer, Tom Doak, has lots of interesting greens with very few being like another. Riverfront GC has a variety of greens that slope in different directions or has a ridge or depression through them. So does Common Ground with some interesting greens.

[Tommy Williamsen]

I thought I'd try this old thread again. I'll change it a bit though; can great greens and surrounds make up for ho hum holes?

[Don Mahaffey]

I thought I'd try this old thread again. I'll change it a bit though; can great greens and surrounds make up for ho hum holes?

I'm not sure what you mean by "make up". But if I'm in a world where golf courses are scarce and there's one with uninteresting land but "great" greens then I'd be willing to play it a lot. You basically described most of the 2nd tier golf in TX minus the great green's part.

[Matt_Cohn]

I mean, half of the holes at Winged Foot are pretty ho-hum from tee to green.

[Sean_A]

Relatively few courses are terribly exciting tee to green. Certainly once you have seen a decent number of courses it is fairly rare to come across many highly interesting fairways/fairway features. So yes, greens and surrounds can absolutely turn an average course into something very good.

Ciao

[Thomas Dai]

I've often pondered the potential of a course on absolutely flat, open and totally featureless terrain but with 18 of the most severe, evil, interesting, challenging green complexes imaginable. Green complexes where you absolutely must be in the correct spot to hit an approach shot close (or even near) to the flag.
The challenge of such might even be enhanced by not, repeat not, having any specific target to line-up on or aim at from the tee.
Ought to be even more challenging if the green complexes and putting surfaces were really firm.
Kinds sounds like a few yee olde period courses if their fairway hollows and bunkers and streams etc were filled-in and their fairway humps etc flattened.
Dream time!

atb

[James Reader]

I’m not sure the question makes sense for me. A hole with a great green and surrounds can never be a ho hum hole.

[JESII]

I’m not sure the question makes sense for me. A hole with a great green and surrounds can never be a ho hum hole.

Agree with this completely!

[archie_struthers]

 


Piling on!  If the greens are great the hole can't be ho hum.

[Phil McDade]

Try this on for size:


https://www.golfclubatlas.com/forum/index.php/topic,53797.msg1237532.html#msg1237532


The 10th at Raynor's Blue Mound G&CC, in suburban Milwaukee, maybe the best example I've seen of a great green making up for a ho-hum hole over fairly dull terrain.