Shortest aggregate green-to-tee walks among American courses

[Tim Gavrich]

I presume this is true of all of us, but I am a big fan of golf courses where one can tumble off a green and onto the next tee. I think having an extended pause and a walk between one hole and the next dissipates a sense of continuity and intimacy that my favorite course routings seem to have.


That's why it makes no sense to me to place the next tee box 40 yards away when it could be 5 or 10 yards away, especially if that tee box will be on the back side of the previous green. The risk of getting hit by a shot from the group behind doesn't strike me as a big one, since golfers overwhelmingly miss short of pin-high, and it takes incredibly little effort to just be alert to players on the nearby hole while teeing off.


Naturally, there are environmental and terrain-based hindrances to doing this on a lot of sites, but I've seen countless holes where there didn't appear to be an excuse other than the architect not taking the extra time to get players from green to tee in minimal steps.



Among classic courses I've played, Pine Needles does a great job with this (especially since it crosses a couple roads), as does Secession on the modern side.


Having looked on Google Maps, it looks like Old Elm in Chicago would be a contender for the title, as would Friars Head.


What (other) courses out there have the shortest total green-to-tee distance? Bonus points if the 1st tee and 18th green are super-close to the clubhouse patio.

[Carl Rogers]

A little surprised you did not mention Mid Pines .......  I wonder how much work Kyle Franz did  on this topic at MP.

[John Kavanaugh]

I can't stand having to wait to either putt or tee off while another group plays out. Take a few steps and get out of the way.

[PCCraig]

Interesting thread, Tim. I did a not-so-scientific calculation on my home course (Town & Country in St. Paul) which I always thought had some of the shortest green-to-tee walks around (It's hard not to when the whole 6500 yard course sits on about 95 acres). I came up with total green to tee walks totaling 595 yards. I did the same deal at Old Elm and came up with 525 yards. Both courses have a "long" walk from 9 green to 10 tee (T&C - 158 yards / OEC - 123 yards).

[Garland Bayley]

Teeing off behind the green is not a good idea. At least one architect, Macan, explicitly designed for the courageous who would go over the green, and let them have the easiest recovery.

[David Wuthrich]

Wannamoisett in RI would get my vote

[Doug Siebert]

For what tees? If you limit to it to the 'regular' tees, the ODG golden age courses that haven't been able to (or have somehow resisted) being lengthened over the years are most likely to have those nice short walks.

I thought of T&C when I read this thread, but then remembered a few fairly long walks (at least by comparison to the others) on holes that were obviously using a tee built decades later.

[Jon Cavalier]

Interesting thread, Tim. Old Elm is certainly a contender, as is Friar's Head (the only walks of any length are the "stairway to heaven" from 13 green to 14 tee and the skybridge from 14 green to 15 tee, and the scenery on those walks tends to overcome the distance). Others that come to mind are Myopia, Garden City, Chicago and NGLA on the classic side, and Pac Dunes and Old Mac on the modern.


Old Elm also has a tee shot directly over a green - the tee shot on the par-4 15th plays directly over the par-3 14th, which should always be clear as the same group just vacated it. Here's a look:








Lovely place, Old Elm.

[BHoover]

Brookside CC has very short green-to-tee walks. Probably not the shortest by any means, but the shortest of courses that I've played.

[K Rafkin]

Are we counting courses that have short walks to the 7500 yard tee boxes, and 80+ yards extra to the 6500 tee boxes?

[Alex Miller]

I agree the shorter the better! I believe my armchair entry from a couple years ago reflected that (though Ron Witten thought 25 yards was often too dangerous  ).


I don't have an answer for you, but probably important to note that not all walks are created equal. Backtracking, which allows the player to drop their bag along a path they'll cross later, is a nice way of lessening the strain on a golfer's round even if the distance shows up as something substantial on google maps.

[Doug Siebert]

Are we counting courses that have short walks to the 7500 yard tee boxes, and 80+ yards extra to the 6500 tee boxes?

I find 99% of the time it is the other way around. Walking the back tees is almost always a good workout as a result.

[K Rafkin]

Are we counting courses that have short walks to the 7500 yard tee boxes, and 80+ yards extra to the 6500 tee boxes?

I find 99% of the time it is the other way around. Walking the back tees is almost always a good workout as a result.

On classic courses 99% sounds about accurate, but thats not the case with many modern courses.  However, many modern courses were built for the golf cart which pretty much exempts them from this discussion.

[Joe Hancock]

Are we counting courses that have short walks to the 7500 yard tee boxes, and 80+ yards extra to the 6500 tee boxes?

And furthermore, would it be prudent to have a separate category for clubs that were originally designed as, and still are, men-only clubs?

[Cliff Hamm]

All Donald Ross courses come to mind - Triggs in Providence RI might be a candidate

[K Rafkin]

Are we counting courses that have short walks to the 7500 yard tee boxes, and 80+ yards extra to the 6500 tee boxes?

And furthermore, would it be prudent to have a separate category for clubs that were originally designed as, and still are, men-only clubs?

Sounds good to me.  As long as we are creating all these sub categories up...How about a shortest aggregate green to tee walks for the sub 5000 yard ladies tees?  Now, thats a list I'm curious to see. A pleasant walk in the 7000 yard ballpark can become a golf cart course golf for the 99% of women that are/should be playing that distance.  I wonder if walkability is important to women golfers?

[Adam_Messix]

I think Seminole would be on the short list. 

[Sean_A]

Does the walk include from the house to the 1st tee and from the 18th to the house...so 19 (or 10 or 13 even) walks?  For me it should be and is important.  Just about every course I know there is at least one walk which is awkward or longish.  I would guess that anything under 600 yards (32 yards per walk on average) is pretty damn good and anything under 500 yards is awesome...perhaps too awesome and maybe a bit dangerous. I am not going to measure, but I think Little Aston does very well...maybe 650 yards of dead walk.  My guess is that my home club is about 900 yards of dead walk.  I reckon the Ross course I grew up on is maybe 800 yards...not bad with four road crossings.


Ciao

[Jerry Kluger]

Ballyneal has some really short walks

[BCowan]

Brookside CC has very short green-to-tee walks. Probably not the shortest by any means, but the shortest of courses that I've played.

    I've heard nothing but rave reviews of Brookside I'm glad you mentioned it. 

[David Whitmer]

Inverness would have been a contender prior to the Fazios' work in the 70s. The original holes were very close to the previous ones. Now you have longish walks from 3 to 4, from 4 to 5, and from 6 to 7. Still an easy walk though.

[archie_struthers]

 




Playing the daily tees , Pine Valley is fabulous in this regard. Only the walk between 11 and 12 is more than a chip shot , and it's seems longer because it's vertical .

[Joe Sponcia]

Holston Hills has to be up there.  I'll try and remember to take pictures next time...but they near perfect.

[jeffwarne]

The Bridge has gone from 1120 feet yards to about 520 yards and 4-500 vertical FEET less of green to tee hikes.
to Black member tees-even less to championship tees


and Google earth won't help you(yet) as its not up to date

[James Brown]

Penn State White Course is pretty good on this except for one green to tee walk across a road.