Part II: Factors that make a course worth studying?

[Ran Morrissett]

If there is no strategy, forget it. But what gives a course strategy? What makes it worth perusing, especially without a golf club in your hand? 1. the green complexes first and foremost - featureless greens and surrounds ruin any layout2. wide fairways/alternate routes (Dye has finally started to figure this out at Whistling Straits).3. firm playing surfaces - for that reason, I rate Kapalua Plantation course highly because the ball rolls and rolls and rolls there much more so for example than my experince at Mid-Ocean where the bermuda grass will never encourage but so much bounce4. variable weather (strength of wind and changing directions)5. continual risk/reward dilemmas (Royal Melbourne is a supreme example)6. a variety of hazards that the golfer must confront in all sorts of manner (ridges, humps, hollows, creeks, burns, hills, scrub, etc. - the richer the variety, the better the overall experience). 7.FAIRWAY bunkering (bunkers surrounded by fairway) - Principal's Nose et al8. diversity in the length of holes to ask the golfer for a variety of shots9. Deception and subtlety10. Charm - if a course/place isn't charming, why bother studying it?If I was an owner, my sole marching orders to the architect would be to give me a course worth studying.

[John Sessions]

The impracticality of losing a golf ball should be one of the factors - it is far easier to build a "two sleeve" course than it is one where you struggle to lose a ball.

[T_MacWood]

Asthetics. No matter how stragecialy sound a hole might be, if it is not visually appealing, chances are it won't be influencial.

[TEPaul]

Ran:This is an excellent topic and list-I'm printing it for future reference.I'm particularly interested in #7. I'm on the lookout these days for holes that have and make good use of Max Behr's so-called "lines of charm", the definition being break up the line of instinct (direct line) to create lines of charm. This does not include simple carry or cross bunkering.I can't think of much around though. Two examples that come to mind are a hole at Blue Heron Pines, NJ by Stephen Kay, #7 I think, a short par 4 that from the tee seems to be bunkering everywhere. There are much larger fairway areas than at first appear but it takes playing the hole to understand and you really have to have exact yardages. At first it was very annoying but it may grow on you. It is also driveable. The much better example is C&C's #12 at the new Easthampton G.C. This hole is visually so different than most anything in new construction. The look harks back to classic Europe and I believe C&C have brilliantly used simple minimalism, natural geometry and a small but mental "line of charm" concept with a small bunker complex in the middle of a ninety yard fairway. Add in prevailing wind use and green orientation and you have a hole that I predict is really going to make a name for itself, and if it does it will help bring classic strategy back to new construction.

[Ran Morrissett]

Tom,The best example of a fairway bunker that I know (and the most significant bunker built since 1900) is to be found at the 4th hole at Woking - it played a dramatic influence in UK architecture at the time and that thinking spread across the world.

[TEPaul]

I'm certainly aware of the Woking bunker, having read much about it and its influence on later design.Let's hope a hole like #12 at Easthampton might have similar influence on "The Renaissance".

[Adam Clayman]

Bump...for obvious reasons.

[BCrosby]

Tom,The best example of a fairway bunker that I know (and the most significant bunker built since 1900) is to be found at the 4th hole at Woking - it played a dramatic influence in UK architecture at the time and that thinking spread across the world.

It was the inspiration for a bunker that MacK and Jones originally built in the 11th fairway at ANGC. Jones was very much taken by the Woking bunker. It went NLE at ANGC as of 1939.

Bob

[Tom_Doak]

What is the obvious reason?

It's interesting to note that Bill Coore's 12th at East Hampton is in fact a pretty close copy of the 4th at Woking ... apparently Tom Paul did not know that in 1999.

Also interesting to note that Ran dismissed Mid Ocean because it wasn't firm and fast when he played.  Mid Ocean still has no fairway irrigation, and in most summers it is firmer and faster than most of the UK links ... a real challenge considering all the hills and the cants of the fairways there.

[BCrosby]

Agreed about Mid-O.

The forgotten 6th hole (as you climb to the tee you're still under the spell of the famous 5th/Cape Hole) appears to be a bland, fill-in with a big, wide fairway and few interesting features. But holding the fairway is virtually impossible unless you find a narrow slot on the left. You get huge runoffs into the right rough. Recovering from there back up to the green requires a great shot.

The 10th is another underestimated hole at Mid-O. It is all about contours and bounces. Another hard fairway to hold. A great hole made even greater because you just visited the best halfway house in golf.

Bob

[Tiger_Bernhardt]

Ran you layed out the basic framework of what makes a course worth studying. I think all courses have something worth studying, even if it is to dismiss things. Plus most all courses have some feature that is intriguing even if limited to that fact situation. I find shot making and/or strategic options as well as green complexes are number 1,2 and 3 for me with routing and land useage next.

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