[Peter Pallotta]

I think the average golfer's limitations are why "presentation" and "aesthetics" can go hand-in-hand with strategy and options (and are not, on good courses at least, merely eye candy). Effectively blurring the fairway/rough lines, for example, or integrating the greens seamlessly into the surrounds, are symbolic (for lack of a better word) of a broader and more nuanced measuring stick, one that allows for/reflects the average golfer's limitations but more importantly offer opportunities for some golfers to make up for their (usual) average/poor shots with (rarer) excellent and imaginative shots -- with most of those shots being recoveries in one form or another.

At one end of the design spectrum, you have the presentation and aesthetics of naturalism, which seems to say: "There is no architect here to punish and mock your average play, but if Nature herself is telling you to avoid that one dense stand of trees or that cliff edge down to the rocks you'd be well served to pay attention and act accordingly."     
Peter         

[Paul Gray]

Niall

Best to generally disregard Ryan and his views. He runs a club which seems to have made every effort to remove any possibility of strategy from the tee. He is a man seemingly stuck in the mentality of the mistakes of post war/1980's architecture and dismisses anything else as pretentious. Dismissing the notion of 'the right side to miss on' is merely one such example.

[Doug Bolls]

I play a lot of golf on public courses in DFW, and since I am a single, I play with a lot of different golfers.  My observation is most lost golf balls are lost off the tee box.  That suggests to me that hitting the ball into the correct part of the fairway is very hard for the average golfer - and the driver is the hardest club to do it with. 
I have chosen to abandon my driver in favor of a 3-wood(metal) and move up one set of tees.  Placing my tee shots in the correct part of the fairway and avoiding the rough/tree line is a lot easier in this situation.  While I do give up some distance, I am very seldom in the wrong place on the fairway.
Granted, I am not usually playing with low handicapped players - but of the players who miss a bunch of fairways and lose quite a few golf balls, it almost always happens off the tee box.

[Thomas Dai]

So you stand on the 1st tee of a course you haven't played before, no course planner, no satelite gizmo's, no rangefinders etc. You tee one up and wack an absolute ripper perfectly down the left side of the fairway coz that seems to be the best line from where your standing on the tee.


You then walk forward for a while and......what!....some cunning architect bloke has hoodwinked you into playing down the wrong line entirely and hitting the wrong length shot as well! Your ball's in the gunch with no shot line to the pin.


Do you:


A) Curse the god damn architect as the most evil person ever born and announce to the rest of your fourball that all his courses should be ploughed up and turned into farmland?


B) Log onto GCA and post a detailed account with photos describing the fascinating and intriguing features of the course and the genius of the architect concerned?



Atb

[Niall C]

If you need a caddy/strokesaver/viewfinder to play a course, I doubt it's that good.


Niall

[Kalen Braley]

So you stand on the 1st tee of a course you haven't played before, no course planner, no satelite gizmo's, no rangefinders etc. You tee one up and wack an absolute ripper perfectly down the left side of the fairway coz that seems to be the best line from where your standing on the tee.


You then walk forward for a while and......what!....some cunning architect bloke has hoodwinked you into playing down the wrong line entirely and hitting the wrong length shot as well! Your ball's in the gunch with no shot line to the pin.


Do you:


A) Curse the god damn architect as the most evil person ever born and announce to the rest of your fourball that all his courses should be ploughed up and turned into farmland?


B) Log onto GCA and post a detailed account with photos describing the fascinating and intriguing features of the course and the genius of the architect concerned?



Atb

Thomas,

From the perspective of the high handicapper, I probably don't even care because I'm still feeling proud of myself of hitting that ripper tee shot, exactly where I was aiming to boot.  In the gunch or not, I'm turning to my playing partners and saying "Did you see that tee ball?  Did you see that f'ing awesome laser-like tee ball?"   

[Paul Gray]

If you need a caddy/strokesaver/viewfinder to play a course, I doubt it's that good.


Niall

Can't agree with that. And I'm sure you've played many fine courses which have been anything but 'all out there in front of you.'

[Niall C]

Paul

It's perfectly possible to have a course that has blind or semi blind drives and approaches without the need for a caddy to get you round. Yes, there will be shots you would play better or not at all on repeat visits but is that not what subtlety is all about ?

Niall 

[Paul Gray]

Paul

It's perfectly possible to have a course that has blind or semi blind drives and approaches without the need for a caddy to get you round. Yes, there will be shots you would play better or not at all on repeat visits but is that not what subtlety is all about ?

Niall

Agreed. Or at least I think we are.

It's really just a question of degrees then.

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