Most natural courses

[Max Prokopy]

Leadhills and the Scottish midlothians is about as natural as you can get.  I put my greens fee into a slot and the only human interventions were electric fences to keep sheep off the "greens", some tee markers, and I think there were some ball-washers but I forget.


Stateside, Ashfield community club in Massachusetts is along those lines.  The ultimate in no-frills golf (though they did mow 1-2 times per week).

[Dan_Callahan]

Tough to get more natural than Cruit Island.

[MCirba]

Sherwood Forest (MD)

[Joe Bausch]

Sherwood Forest (MD)

We sure had a fun day, for sure!


Photo tour:


http://www80.homepage.villanova.edu/joseph.bausch/images/albums/SherwoodForest/index.html

[MCirba]

Sherwood Forest (MD)

We sure had a fun day, for sure!


Photo tour:


http://www80.homepage.villanova.edu/joseph.bausch/images/albums/SherwoodForest/index.html

Herb Strong au naturel.

[Tom_Doak]

My list of GB&I animal grazed courses is as follows. There may be the odd omission or mistaken inclusion and animal grazing is seasonal.

Westward Ho!/RND
Askernish
Lahinch (Ire) (the famous goats!)
Pennard
Southerndown
Brora
Sutton Coldfield (tagged cattle)
Machrihanish Dunes
Clyne
Kington
Cleeve Hill
Knole Park (Kent) (deer)
Yelverton
Appleby
Tavistock
Minchinhampton Old
Beverley & East Riding (Yorks)
Baildon (Yorks)
Halifax Yorks)
Wrangaton (1st-9) Devon)
West Monmouthshire (South Wales)
Merthyr Tydfil
Painswick
Durness
Church Stretton
Lobden (Lancs)
Mulranny (County Mayo, Ire)
Gweedore (Donegal, Ire)
Otway (Donegal, Ire)
New Forest (Hampshire)
Bramshaw (Hamps)
Burley (Hamps)
Isle of Harris
Fair Isle
Fort Augustus
Kingarrock
Knighton (Mid-Wales)
Machynylech (Mid-Wales)
Holywell (North Wales)
Barra
lona.
Benbecula
Colonsay
Royal Guernsey
Cockermouth
Ullapool
Traigh
Gairloch
Lybster
Helmsdale
Bonar Bridge
Portmahomac
Newtonmore
Raey

There may be others and since I put this list together a while back some courses may have subsequently stopped using grazing.

Atb

Thanks for that list.  The one I did not expect is Royal Guernsey.  Wish I'd gotten there now but I just didn't have enough time to day trip it from Jersey.


If Royal Guernsey has sheep then does the course on Alderney?  I would have thought that one was much more likely to be grazed.

[Thomas Dai]

Thanks for that list.  The one I did not expect is Royal Guernsey.  Wish I'd gotten there now but I just didn't have enough time to day trip it from Jersey.
If Royal Guernsey has sheep then does the course on Alderney?  I would have thought that one was much more likely to be grazed.

The course at Royal Guernsey, which is on common land, is grazed by cattle. Not sure if there's animal grazing on the Alderney course.
Looking at my listing again I'm a bit surprised how many animal grazed courses there still are in GB&I. Mind in times gone bye there would have been a lot more and in times gone way, way bye most probably were.
Animal grazed courses, even some ex-grazed ones, have such a delightful grass sward, the perfect height-of-cut (nibble/munch) for fairways.
Wish there were more although obviously not necessarily suitable for some locations especially where hungry critters might wish to eat them as they graze or take a nap. I believe there might have also been the occasional case of animal theft, ie rustling, from courses on common land.
atb

The best mowers doing what the best mowers do best ......


A old friend chewing the cud ........

[Mike Bodo]

Hard to get more natural than the cow pasture, sand green courses at Downs Golf Club and Tipton Golf Course in Kansas. Love the tribute paid to it and the locals who volunteer their time to maintain and preserve these gems by Liam Tangum and the guys at No Laying Up!


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PfcGhEMSzpw

[Tommy Williamsen]

It doesn't seem as if Raynor moved much dirt at Fishers Island, and they still do not irrigate the fairways.

[Dónal Ó Ceallaigh]

I think you could probably add Dunfanaghy to the above list. The only greens that look like they might have had some work done on them are the 6th and 17th, but it's also possible they are totally natural. Every other green is at the same level as the fairway and looks as if they were just cut. Dunfanaghy was also an "animal grazed" course in the past. If my memory is correct, cattle used to graze the fairways beyond the second drain that crosses the course (so from the 2nd green onwards to the 13th tee) in the 1980s, as all the greens from the 2nd to the 13th were fenced in. Of course the few bunkers they have added are not natural.

[James Reader]

My list of GB&I animal grazed courses is as follows. There may be the odd omission or mistaken inclusion and animal grazing is seasonal.

Halifax shouldn’t be on this list I’m afraid.

[Thomas Dai]

My list of GB&I animal grazed courses is as follows. There may be the odd omission or mistaken inclusion and animal grazing is seasonal.

Halifax shouldn’t be on this list I’m afraid.

Thanks for pointing this out James. Correction made above.
If folks are aware of any others that should be out or in let me know and I will revise the listing.
atb

[Marty Bonnar]

Maybe Dunaverty?
Dai, could you maybe order the list alphabetically, please? Would make life a bit easier!
Cheers,
M.

[Joe Bausch]

It doesn't seem as if Raynor moved much dirt at Fishers Island, and they still do not irrigate the fairways.

The other course on the island may be an even better candidate.

[Tim Martin]

It doesn't seem as if Raynor moved much dirt at Fishers Island, and they still do not irrigate the fairways.

The other course on the island may be an even better candidate.

Good call professor! That 2nd hole is a stunner and fits the land perfectly.

[Cal Carlisle]

Kahuku Golf Course on Oahu doesn't have irrigation. It sits on a sand base right next to the ocean. Its location provides it just the right amount of water. It's very playable even after a good amount of rain.

[Steve_Lovett]

Baltre/County Louth?  I haven’t been there in 25 years but found it “found”.  But you could say the same about more than a few British Isles courses in the seaside dunes. Tom Doak is right: few, if any USA courses fits the entire criteria.

Baltray is the next level down (in terms of naturalness) than the courses Tom mentions. Whilst it is very much found with minimal fairway work, it has quite a few built greens and many tweaks over the years.


However, it’s close. There are a lot of other links courses that fall in to the same bracket as Baltray. And then a lot that have had significantly more work done to them.


Baltray have just hired M&E, their 3rd or 4th choice of architect in the last 15 years.


Spey Bay could be added to Tom’s list.

Sorry - who is M & E.


I played Beltway as part of a two-week trip to Ireland/Scotland and it was the most pleasant surprise of our trip.

[Ben Malach]

I know Mike Young isn't going to self promote, but I would say the Fields Club in Lagrange, Georgia.


It's a very simple golf course mowed with a gang unit in the fairways and limited water/fertilizer outside of the greens.


It's one of the truly special places in golf.

[MCirba]

I know Mike Young isn't going to self promote, but I would say the Fields Club in Lagrange, Georgia.


It's a very simple golf course mowed with a gang unit in the fairways and limited water/fertilizer outside of the greens.


It's one of the truly special places in golf.

I need to get there.  I still miss his course at Long Shadow.

[Garland Bayley]

Mulranny

[David_Tepper]

Lincoln Park in San Francisco is a very natural layout. Hard to imagine much dirt was moved other than to smooth the green surfaces and tee boxes.


Whether by intention or neglect, the course in maintained in a fairly natural state. 

[James Brown]

Has anyone every developed a measure of naturalness?  Something where we could put courses on a spectrum. 


Digesting these comments so far, I would say a 100% natural course with no irrigation and no contouring of any kind and no mowing might be a nice novelty to try out once or twice, but not the kind of place I would really find interesting.


For example, I was just scanning the Mach Dunes website and they were promoting the fact that they utilized goat grazing as a supplement to “some mowing.” 


I have always thought of Brora as the most natural course in the world.  At least in terms of melding natural with an actual constructed work.  Not a lot of electric fences in nature, but I don’t think that’s the point.   

[Ian Mackenzie]

What are the Most natural/least constructed/Most "found" courses?
AND minimally maintained with minimal artificial irrigation other than greens



What are some in each region?



USA
Uk/Ireland
Australia/NZ
Rest of world

I visited here last June - the TD design in France: https://www.segolfclub.com/?lang=en


Does not use chemicals nor does it have irrigation.
Granted, it's also in the middle of some of the best vineyards in the world...;-)

[Garland Bayley]

Has anyone every developed a measure of naturalness?  Something where we could put courses on a spectrum. 


Digesting these comments so far, I would say a 100% natural course with no irrigation and no contouring of any kind and no mowing might be a nice novelty to try out once or twice, but not the kind of place I would really find interesting.

Haven't seen Mulranny have you.

For example, I was just scanning the Mach Dunes website and they were promoting the fact that they utilized goat grazing as a supplement to “some mowing.” 



I have always thought of Brora as the most natural course in the world.  At least in terms of melding natural with an actual constructed work.  Not a lot of electric fences in nature, but I don’t think that’s the point.

You don't find Brora "interesting?"

[john_stiles]

You can see a number of the infamous fill pads at Fishers though the fairways are probably not watered. Fishers has a few but probably not as many fill pads as many Raynors.  Anything Raynor always strikes me as the opposite of natural and the holes are always fun to play.


Dunaverty in my only play, long ago, seemed very natural.


Many of the older public courses in East Tennessee are very natural, they just didn't move much dirt, and bunkering was very very minimal.  Had more to do with budget than anything else I guess and having to move clay as well.   When I played a lot of those,  clover lies were some of the best.