Why is "Target Golf" An Epithet?

[Sam Kestin]

I hear the phrase "target golf" all the time and it's almost exclusively used as a pejorative. Never in my life really heard it used as a compliment or as part of a flattering discussion of a particular course.


Anyone have any idea why this is?


Isn't a huge component of the game the ability to both select the proper target (balancing the risks/rewards of your choice) and then execute by hitting the ball to that target?


Given that--why does it seem like generally the term "target golf" is used with such disdain?

[Sven Nilsen]

Sam:


With "target golf" there is no selection, the choice has already been made for you.


Hope that helps.


Sven

[Jason Topp]

Isn't a huge component of the game the ability to both select the proper target (balancing the risks/rewards of your choice) and then execute by hitting the ball to that target?

Yes - but the term target golf means, at its extreme, that there is no decision involved.  Imagine a course where every shot is to an island.  Essentially each shot is a pass fail test as to whether or not you hit the target.   Such a course would be the ultimate target golf course and would provide little interest to most who play it.  Those who can easily hit the targets will not be challenged and those who cannot make the needed carries or hit it straight enough will probably not finish their round.

A strategic course involves targets but also involves a multitude of different strategies that could lead to the lowest score for any particular player.  Such a course consistently tempts the player to hit a bold shot but punishes the player who tries and fails.  A strategic course provides interest to all levels of player because the short hitter or the wayward player will be disadvantaged, but can overcome that disadvantage on the right day by selecting better targets and executing more effectively than someone else. 

[Jason Topp]

Sam - both types of holes can be exciting.  Before they narrowed number 11 at Augusta National Amen corner was an example of a strategic hole (11), a target hole (12) and a heroic hole (13)(heroic refers to a hole where one must carry something but the task becomes much more difficult if one is more aggressive.) 

These categories are not perfect descriptors - there is some choice of target on 12 at Augusta.

[Sam Kestin]

These seem like reasonable responses but I feel like I hear the phrase used all the time to describe courses that have strategic choices.


A lot of Pete Dye golf is described as "target" golf but if you look at a lot of those holes generally there are some choices involved. Even the island green at Sawgrass--depending on the hole location there are varying degrees of risk/reward involved with taking it on. You could argue that there is "no choice" here because you have to hit the green (or it's in the water) but at the higher levels of the game I'd still consider that to be a "strategic" hole.


Front hole locations or hole locations in the back corner require you to choose a line or a distance that you feel comfortable with. For the front hole locations--if you're taking a number that gets you to pin high--the green is significantly more narrow than it would be if you're taking a number that gets you 10 yards beyond pin-high on the top level. For the holes located in the back corner--you're dealing with a section of the green significantly more narrow and more shallow than the main middle section.


I'd think that an island green one-shot hole would be considered the epitome of no-choice target golf--but even in this example there are still choices to be made.


Obviously, a lot of this changes if you're a 25 handicap and you're just standing on the tee hoping like hell your ball ends up dry.

[George Pazin]

When I hear "target golf", I think of aerial, drop and stop golf. Flat lies and stances, the only real question is, what's my yardage?


Might not be what others think, but it does encapsulate why I consider it an epithet.

[Matthew Essig]

When I hear "target golf", I think of aerial, drop and stop golf. Flat lies and stances, the only real question is, what's my yardage?


Might not be what others think, but it does encapsulate why I consider it an epithet.

+1

IMO, target golf is not that there are no choices; target golf is that choices other than going at the hole don't matter. If one can aerial, drop and stop the ball, why go anywhere but right at the hole? Strategy goes out the window.

[Peter Pallotta]

I wish I was good enough to play target golf. A little hump in the fairway on a C&C course that subtly signals the line that opens up an easier (if longer) approach shot would be a lovely target to be able to hit. So would the centre of the fairway short of a flanking bunker on a Tom D course, when the pin is set back on a contoured green that allows for a long iron run-up approach -- that would be a wonderful target to hit has well. So many targets, so little talent, so much hope, so little likelihood of success: the human condition, I tell you, the stuff of great drama. It is always about the "targets" we set.

Peter 

 

[V. Kmetz]

Everybody has said it in a correct, yet different way, but here's another:


The value of "straightness, straight-line, center-point accuracy" is what a "target golf" hole/course demands...think archery or a firearms course, where there is a bulls-eye...the farther from the center one is, the worse the performance.


This is most often thought of on green approaches. but it means something to tee shots as well. It is commonly associated with penal and confining design, where the punishment for an un-centered hit, can be woods or OB or water or sand...on both sides of that "centered" target. There is little tacking to one side or trying to allow for the best place to miss, if it's not in the center, it's no good.


When I think of "target golf," I think of TPC Sawgrass (as an interesting thought provoking, oft-heroic example) and the original Trump National course in Briarcliff Manor (as a desultory, unfriendly, penal example).


In target golf, most often you hit it where the architect has directed, on each successive shot... or you need a hot putter.


cheers
vk

[Matthew Petersen]

I suppose it's because I have lived in Arizona for nearing on two decades, but "target golf" makes me first think of desert courses. Islands of green grass dotted among the desert.


Such holes and courses can offer strategy but as Sven said in the first response, a huge degree of choice is taken away from you.


I, and many here, think one of the things that makes golf great is the potential for the recovery shot. You can hit a bad drive but with some luck and good play you might still make par or win the hole from your opponent. Target golf eliminates that opportunity to a very great extent. An island target means that missing the target leaves you with no chance (or depending on what surrounds the target perhaps only very little chance) for recovery.

[Tommy Williamsen]

Probably the best "target golf course" I know is Pine Valley.

[Dave August]

Would you say that target golf is excessively penal?

[Michael Blake]

Given that--why does it seem like generally the term "target golf" is used with such disdain?

Because it's mostly used by mid to high handicappers to explain why they shot an awful score instead of blaming themselves. 

[Rick Emerson]

Sam - both types of holes can be exciting.  Before they narrowed number 11 at Augusta National Amen corner was an example of a strategic hole (11), a target hole (12) and a heroic hole (13)(heroic refers to a hole where one must carry something but the task becomes much more difficult if one is more aggressive.) 

+1. I think this is a great example. Even the courses most of us think are the best courses around here have the occasional target golf hole. The perfect example is the Macdonald/Raynor short hole with trouble everywhere but the green. It seems most common on short par 3's. ANGC 12, Barnbougle 7, the postage stamp, even RMBW 5. It even seems to work well on a short tight 4 where if you go for the green you better hit the green and if you lay up with a shorter club you still better hit the fairway, then hit the green. It seems any shot where you must hit the fairway or green or it will take an excellent recovery to not lose a shot is target golf. Thus the occasional target golf hole can make a golf course more interesting or strategic. It's when too many holes are "target golf" that a course becomes too penal and loses strategy and interest. Target golf like most things is best used in moderation.

[Martin Lehmann]

Apparently there is no clear definition, so the question is excellent.


To me, the key factors of target golf are 'predictability' and 'repetitiveness'. Target golf is like throwing darts at a darts board. It's straight forward and the number of different factors the player has to deal with is limited. No surprises, little creativity needed, shot making unimportant. Just hit that ball with the right club to the right yardage over and over again, and you're fine.


Target golf is played on soft, lush, overly watered golf courses, versus golf that is played on 'real' golf courses that are firm & fast. Preferably in areas where the wind blows and condition vary from one part of the day to the other.

[Thomas Dai]

It seems that over the years the expression 'target golf' has evolved into meaning 'hit-n-stick' as per soft, very green overwatered courses, the sort of courses many posting herein are not generally so keen on. I prefer the term 'darts on grass' to describe this sort of golf.


Once upon a time, and it's still how I personally perceive the term, 'target golf', meant something a bit different..... with every shot being aimed at a target, whether it be a tee-shot or a long putt on anything in between or after, as in this is the 'target' you are aiming at, this is the 'target area' you hope to land the ball on, this is the 'target area' you hope the ball will either bounce and roll out to or will stop on, this is the 'target area' just below the cup you hope to stop your approach shot, pitch, chip or long putt at.


Atb

[Sean_A]

Interesting, I don't think of target golf as necessarily aerial dominated.  I think of it more as areas which must be hit regardless of how.  Meaning there are fairly small areas which you must be in to advance the next shot without much grief.  For me, target golf is usually defined by tree lined fairways.  Strict aerial play is part of this concept, but it all depends on the course design.  Bottom line, I think of target golf as penal golf....the sort of game I grew up with and I suspect nearly every 50 something from the US is very familiar with. 


With tree clearance all the rage, it will be interesting to see if the bones of many courses are really much good. Trees have defined US golf for so long that I suspect there isn't much in the way of good design on a huge percentage of modern end courses.  However, I am sure a few crackers will be revealed and admired as excellent design. 



Ciao

[Carl Rogers]

Isn't Harbortown 'Target Golf'?  I have always enjoyed watching the course on the tube.  I hope to get down there this year.

[Steve Lang]

   Because most golfers really can't control their ball flight...


Once one learns a course, its all about target golf, hitting over a ridge or mound on the fairway or to a bank in the green, etc.. to score well or simply to play one side or another of the fairway depending where the pin is...

[Jeff_Brauer]

Links golf is still target golf....it's just that your target may be 40 yards short and/or 20 yards left of the green.....and probably much smaller than the green, if its firm and fast, and you need to take advantage of ground contours a certain way. 

[Sean_A]

Links golf is still target golf....it's just that your target may be 40 yards short and/or 20 yards left of the green.....and probably much smaller than the green, if its firm and fast, and you need to take advantage of ground contours a certain way.

If everything has the same definition the definition is meaningless.  I think we can all agree that sometimes links can be a very different sort of game than the usual fare, however that diference is defined or delineated.  For just this reason I don't use the term target golf because like shot values, few can agree on the meaning.


Ciao 

[Jeff_Brauer]

Sean,

Well I understand the point.  A related point is why do we have to classify architecture into neat little niches?

[Sean_A]

Sean,

Well I understand the point.  A related point is why do we have to classify architecture into neat little niches?

For me, its not about classification, but more about description.  Its a hopeless cause, but it seems to me that it would be much easier to describe courses if everyone used the same language. 


Ciao

[Cristian]

I always thought that target golf is golf where there is hardly any relevance to what will happen to the ball after it lands; soft landing surfaces (both greens and fairways) with little effect of contours. 'Darts on grass' is exactly the metaphore that came to my mind.

Most of the definitions above describe penal golf, which is not the same, or at least that is what I always thought.