In thinking about strategic usage of OB, and thinking about various courses I have played in the past, I immediately thought about my college course, Rutgers GC, in Piscataway, NJ.
Situated on a tight piece of property, OB is used on eight of the holes on the first nine, to rather poor effect, along with the architecture of the course.
Although the property is small, there is some minor elevation change throughout the property, and the necessity to fit 18 into a tight piece of property might make a fun exercise in redesigning the golf course.
Many of the holes are rather short, befitting a small piece of land bordered by a residential neighborhood, academic buildings, and the sports complex.
On several of the holes, internal OB is used between holes; while I can see the merit in the thought process behind it, probably to pressure the golfer to hit it straight, recoveries can be affected by the presence of this internal OB. It is at this point that I feel it is almost gimmicky.
For my bit of armchair architecture, I would re-orient the approach angles to several of the holes by making the player flirt with the OB on several of the holes bordering the course boundaries (push play to the outside of the course) for the optimal angle in to the hole.
As it stands now, there is nothing to be gained from flirting with the OB. I feel a judicious use of it would create a fun challenge to many of the holes on the course.
If anyone's in my area and wants to play this season, please let me know. It's short, not too challenging, but makes for a fun round, and there's the promise of a Fat Cat afterwards.
(local Rutgers college trash-fare)
(disclaimer)
My apologies if I'm a bit more disjointed than normal, I've just returned from a very mediocre first date, helped along with copious application of Newcastle Brown Ale
Needless to say, I was excited by the prospect of coming back to my friends on GCA