What kind of walk do we really want? (The Good Walk Spoiled Fallacy)

[John Kirk]

It's nice to be able to see your tee shots.  Watching the ball is a primary pleasure of the game.  But walking to a high spot to tee off can be overdone.  Once your eyes are above the tee shot landing areas (and any ridges that obscure the view), you should be able to see the ball.  People are about 5-6 feet tall on average.  Therefore, in most cases you don't need more than 5-10 feet of elevation above the fairway to have a good clear view.  The recent popularity of drone photos has shown how much people like an overhead view of a course.  The ground level perspective challenges the player to judge distances and hazard sizes.  You could argue the severely elevated tee takes away some of the visual tricks the architect can utilize.


Let us walk uphill a little to see what we are doing.  Minimize the long hikes to "drone" elevation for the cartographic view.

[Ira Fishman]

John,


I agree with you , but as always there are exceptions. The walks up to 5 at Blackwolf Run River and to 15 at FH are definitely worth it.


Ira

[Bruce Katona]

Here's where folks like Tom D & Jeff B can dust off their landscape architecture skills - the walk from practice green/tee to #1 tee and the walks from tee to the next green.


These walks do not need to be long, but as you're taught in school, you walk through exterior spaces, not from one to the next - there are no exterior "hallways". 


Think of each hole as a room (there could be sub-rooms within that one larger room). When you finish hole #1, there is not a drab hallway to Hole #2, but another space which connects the two rooms.  Modulate the space between holes, plant a focal ornamental, open a view to some object someone will notice as they go from green to tee.


Thats what makes the design extra special and memorable. IMHO.

[MCirba]

You can never go wrong with Larry David.

[John Kirk]

John,


I agree with you , but as always there are exceptions. The walks up to 5 at Blackwolf Run River and to 15 at FH are definitely worth it.


Ira

Hi Ira,

I agree.  The walk to Friar's Head #15 is wonderful.  I haven't been to Kohler, WI.

In the case where the architect has a property with good undulation, I'll assume the starting and ending point for each hole has limited options for the tee shot.  When they have a choice of teeing areas, then I'd argue against the longer uphill walk for a dramatic downhill tee shot, and for a shorter walk to a tee where a level or modestly downhill view of the landing area is achieved.  Most of the time.


Routing a golf course must be a blast, figuring out where the greens and tees go, and gauging the pros and cons of each potential hole to achieve an optimal routing for both walking and playing golf.  A dreamy job for those that earned it.