What do you believe?

[Chris Hughes]

It is that time of year.  We all have different thoughts and beliefs which is what makes discussions and debates fun (most of the time  ).  Thought I would share some random things in no particular order that I believe.  Maybe others will do the same.  Happy Holidays to all! 

- Temptation is one of the most important aspects of great design
- Most golfers will never understand GCA but they do understand what is fun
- The cost of golf (too much land required/too much maintenance) needs to come down to continue to grow the game
- Shorter more cleverly designed courses will start to appear and create a trend
- Wall to wall green/over watered courses will be a thing of the past for most all golf courses
- Trees will make a comeback on certain designs (but be more thoughtfully selected and placed by golf architects vs committees)
- Great holes always have some distinctive feature that makes them special
- Very few courses deserve to be restored, but every course deserves at least a close look at its evolution
- Width used properly can create options and options create interest and interest is what makes for great golf
- It is easy to over design a golf course.  Less can be more and everything in moderation
- Dramatic car chases in movies are exciting but two hours straight of dramatic would suck.  Same goes for golf course design.
- Bright white sand makes bunkers look even more artificial then they already are.
- Dormant Bermuda is a wonderful playing surface.  Winter overseeding needs to be far more limited in its use.
- The mindset of pristine sand/raking of bunkers adds unnecessary costs.  This will change and the PGA tour/USGA need to lead by example.
- I am all for relaxed rules if it makes the game more fun for more golfers
- Play it forward and give players more teeing options to do so
- Bunkerless courses or at least designs with very few will become more common in time and greens will reduce dramatically in size
- A major professional tournament will be contested on a 6500 yard or less golf course in the next ten years and it might change the direction of golf/design.

That one jumps out at me.


Back when Gil was building the Olympic course in Brazil there was a thread somewhere that included a few aerial shots of the course in-construction, but kind of near completion -- the differences between sand color in various parts of the golf course was stark, really noticeable!  (from pretty darn white all the way to brownish and clay color)

At the time there was some concern about the course being finished on time due to the Woukish "Don't Stop the Carnival" nature of how things go there in Brazil and a comment was made along the lines of "did you run out of bunker sand half way through the project"...??

Gil personally responded and said "oh no, we are simply using whatever sand is naturally occurring at each bunker location -- the sands play differently but we view that as part of the challenge"...I just thought that was fantastic!

Really irritates me when I hear members complain "our bunkers are so inconsistent"...my response is "well we could cut the grass the exact same length everywhere if you like" which is usually met with a perplexed look...then I follow with "assessing different lies is part of the game" and that's generally met with complete indifference, then we move on down the line.    

Always amazes how many "golfers" think really fluffy beach type sand is optimal...

[Joe Wandro]

Make the fwy contour meaningfully relate to greens!

[Tom_Doak]

Really irritates me when I hear members complain "our bunkers are so inconsistent"...my response is "well we could cut the grass the exact same length everywhere if you like" which is usually met with a perplexed look...then I follow with "assessing different lies is part of the game" and that's generally met with complete indifference, then we move on down the line.    

Always amazes how many "golfers" think really fluffy beach type sand is optimal...

At Childress Hall, the superintendent [and our client] planned to bring in consistent bunker sand for the course.  I asked why not just use the sand that was already there?  [This is how Sand Hills and Ballyneal and Tara Iti and lots more modern courses have done it.]


They thought it would be too heavy and inconsistent, so we got the client to go out and hit some bunker shots in a bunker we had shaped on the 6th hole.  His first couple of shots were duffed, because he had a lot of bounce on his sand wedge . . . I suggested changing to a pitching wedge, and he quickly got the hang of it, and it saved him about $500,000.


My real objection was that if they put imported sand into the bunkers, it would all blow out of there within a year or two.  Eventually they will have to start topping off the bunkers that get eroded, but if they can do it with sand from on site, it will continue to save them $$$$.


Plus, I think that a bunker should be a hazard, and you shouldn't pick the sand that makes it easiest to play a recovery shot.

[MCirba]

Sad how many modern day golfers have been led to believe that bunkers should offer perfect, uniform, consistent lies and are simply an alternative playing surface requiring a slightly different technique with a specialized club adapted to that purpose.

[Mark_Fine]

I would guess 90% of my projects are driven by bunkers.  Most of the time it is because they are not draining well and/or they are inconsistent.  It is a shame so much money is spent on trying to make them perfect.  As I stated in my initial post I have never liked bright white sand period, regardless of how it plays. 

[Peter Sayegh]

[quote author=Mark_Fine link=topic=70521.msg1695455#msg1695455 date=1639933102
 
- Most golfers will never understand GCA but they do understand what is fun
- The cost of golf (too much land required/too much maintenance) needs to come down to continue to grow the game
- Shorter more cleverly designed courses will start to appear and create a trend
- Trees will make a comeback on certain designs
- Dormant Bermuda is a wonderful playing surface.  Winter overseeding needs to be far more limited in its use.
- The mindset of pristine sand/raking of bunkers adds unnecessary costs.
- I am all for relaxed rules if it makes the game more fun for more golfers.


I believe in-and hope for-these tenets Mark.

- Play it forward and give players more teeing options to do so
- A major professional tournament will be contested on a 6500 yard or less golf course in the next ten years and it might change the direction of golf/design.

Mark, players do not need to be given more teeing options. The options are in there in the ground-designed or otherwise.

As for a tournament/major golf being contested on a 6500 (or less) yard course, I've advocated/demanded for this for thirty years and I believe it will happen before 2035.

Hell, if MLB can play games at Williamsport and the Field of Dreams, tournament golf should seek the same "idealism/romanticism" while keeping in mind it's a competition.