TD writes:
"It's only the best drivers of the ball who want you to be punished immediately... so that your superior iron play or short game can't bail you out."
Interesting observation. Could it be expanded as another way to think of the distinction between penal and strategic gca?
With penal architecture the organizing principle is to punish missed shots immediately. With strategic architecture the organizing principle is to defer punishments for missed shots.
I don't buy this distinction. Plenty of strategic courses also punish missed shots immediately.
Take, for instance, The Trophy Club in Lebanon, IN. It's an excellent Tim Liddy design that offers as much interest off the tee as any course I've ever played thanks to its strategic principles. It's chock-full of holes that offer wide corridors, but also meaningful angles of approach to be gained by the player who drives closest to the bunkers, broken ground, and water hazards that encroach into the preferred sides of fairways. If you want to reach the 2nd green in two, you'll need to hug the stream off the tee. A tee shot up the gut of the 9th risks finding the centerline hazard if it's not hammered. There's plenty of room up the middle on 15, but if you can challenge the bunker guarding the dogleg you'll be left with just a flip-wedge. On each hole, plenty of width exists to accommodate the guy who doesn't want to risk the hazard or lacks the length to carry it - the architecture is undeniably strategic rather than penal. But each of these holes (and many others on the course) offer a very exciting tee shot for the player who wants to take on the challenge, and immediate punishment for the player who overestimates his ability.
It's interesting to hear Tom Doak's thoughts on this, as I don't find a course like Ballyneal to be as exciting from the tee as it is from the second shot onwards. Finding "position A" may take a lot of savvy and local knowledge, but "position C" is usually good enough and there aren't many tee shots where I watch in suspense as the ball skirts danger. 13 is easily my favorite tee shot on the course, just because of the excitement of watching a well-struck ball head toward the bunkers in the distance where a gentle fade or odd bounce can either spell disaster or leave a 50 yard pitch to the flag. I love the idea of accommodating weaker players while demanding intelligence from the better player, but damn if I don't also love when the danger is readily apparent but still irresistible to flirt with.