Had a conversation on twitter recently about whether the next trend at the new Bandon-style resorts might be “cross-country” putting courses. That is, courses that are similar in length to all the new par 3 courses that are being built, but that only allow a putter, forcing you to plot your way around with the ball on the ground.
So for example, you could have holes that range in length from 50 to 200 yards, and they could have some bunkers to avoid and tons of humps and hollows and land movement to navigate through and help provide extra propulsion. There’d also be blind shots and a lot of situations where the proper play is not obvious, or where your ball disappears from view or runs away in unforeseen directions. You’d have a lot of slopes, hills, valleys, and pathways to choose from off the tee, but not a lot of certainty about which combination of options were best to get you to the hole most efficiently.
The holes wouldn’t have pars on the card, but taking anywhere from 2 to 4 shots to reach the “green” would be commonplace. In many cases, you’d have to think very hard starting from the tee shot which routing you’re going to take to the hole and which “targets” you’re going to aim for with each shot.
The idea is to provide an experience that very few golfers ever have: playing multiple consecutive shots on the ground, using only feel and instinct and strategy. I think it’d be incredibly eye-opening for a lot of players, especially those that think “ground game” is only something that happens occasionally on the last shot before a ball goes in the hole. Make the entire hole be ground game and give people a new appreciation for what the ball does when it’s rolling on interesting terrain.