What features make golfers the most uncomfortable and

[Cassandra Burns]

Patrick and Racetrack,

Me too!  Getting myself aligned is one of my biggest challenges.  But I must be weird, because I appreciate "misaligned" tee boxes.  Maybe because I'm usually more observant of them than others, which gives me an edge!  But they still make me uncomfortable, because they do challenge my alignment.

[Cassandra Burns]

Technically are the trees features? The ones in Kansas certainly are intended to act like'em.

Weakest design elements? Trees and water.

But they're so pretty!  

In the summertime, I *really* appreciate the shade I get from the trees, and just seeing the water helps cool me off.  

Is water really that weak a design element?  Would a forced carry be that much different if it's over a gorge, or a field of tall grasses?  Is water a better "design element" if it's natural as opposed to constructed?  Are creeks and rivers better than ponds, marshes or lakes?

I don't know, I think water has its place.  Then again... a couple or three years ago, I was playing my first round of the year and I was amazed to be one under through four holes... and then I came to the water hole.  It was only 120 yards.  I shanked four straight balls into the drink and ended up taking a 12.  I think I played bogey golf the rest of the way out.  If only I'd known about the drop area!

[Doug Siebert]

My dad is driven crazy by misaligned tees, he'll even correct their alignment after he tees off (especially after a bad shot, I guess as a way of emphasizing that it was the misaligned tees that caused him to hit his shot where they pointed him)  They don't really bug me though, I don't even look at where the tee markers are other than to make sure I stick my tee in the ground behind them.  Whether I can get myself aligned properly is all about how the hole looks to my eye.  On some holes I can't seem to get myself aimed properly no matter what I do, and it certainly has nothing to do with the markers!

One of my pet peeves I haven't seen listed here is trees that overhang the fairway, especially if they are on the high side of a sloping fairway because I either have to aim at the edge of the treeline to keep my ball into play, or play down the center and let it bounce down into the rough on the low side.

[Lloyd_Cole]

Clumpy, gnarly rough close to a green. We get plenty of it up here in New England and it's almost impossible to hit any kind of finesse shot from, for me anyway. I eventually practiced and practiced and I can play a sort of deliberately heavy exposion type shot which will at least get the ball on the green, but near the hole?

Pat, Cassandra - Alignment troubles - me, too. Frankly the golf game is difficult when it comes to alignment and I've been a lot better since I've given up worrying if I'm aimed perfectly. When do I make a perfect swing anyway?

[Patrick_Mucci]

What courses have had their tees misaligned intentionally ?

[M. Shea Sweeney]

The blind shot has some have mentioned.

In particular the blind greenside bunker shot. When all you can see is the very top of the flag.

The player is nervous about potentially leaving the ball in the bunker, possibly on the lip, short of the hole, long of the hole, etc.

Very hard to judge the distance of the shot.

[Tim Bert]

One hole that I've played where the tees are a bit cock-eyed from the line of play is Wintonbury Hills #5.  I don't know if that was the intention or not, but I've got one friend that is driven nuts by the tees on that hole.  He rarely hits a solid shot on that hole.

Features that make me uncomfortable are:
1) uneven lies, particularly fairways which have a natural slope that tends to leave the ball below my feet.
2) First holes with a forced carry on the approach (I suppose the tee shot would do it as well, but I alsways get a strained feeling when I need to hit a crisp, well-struck iron shot over water or some other forced carry to start my round.)
3) a bunker on the opposite side of the green from another hazard.  Nothing makes me tighten up on a sand shot than seeing water, wetlands, OB, etc on the other side of the green.  

[Chris Moore]

For me, it is less-than-full shots from tight turf to a green above ball-level.  Anything can happen.  

[Phil McDade]

What courses have had their tees misaligned intentionally ?

Pebble Beach is reputed to have misaligned tees (SI, when I was suscribing to it, ran an insider's feature with comments from a tour caddie who mentioned the misaligned tees at Pebble prior to Open there in 2000).

[Jim Nugent]

Not an architectural feature, but I think the wind makes most average golfers uncomfortable.  They don't know how to club themselves or control their ball flight.  

[peter_p]

alligators. signs that say beware of rattlesnakes.

Golf feature - blind holes. Fallaway greens.

[Cassandra Burns]

The lack of a place to go to the bathroom at the point on the course furthest from the clubhouse.  That's very uncomfortable.

Patrick, my home course has several "misaligned" tee boxes.  On 2, a short par 4, the tee box is parallel to the road OB left.  As such, it points about 10-20 degrees left of the fairway - into the rough and the one big tree left.  Most usually see this and overcompensate, hitting their drives into the single row of trees right.  This isn't a bad place, actually, as long as you can hit an 80-100 yard low running punch shot between the unimposing bunkers 20 yards short of the green.  On many occasions, the golfer overcompensates the next time around, trying to draw the ball and hooking it left into the rough, the tree, or even over the road.

On the 3rd, a 90 yard par 3, the narrow tee box runs along that same road, to a two-green complex.  Rarely is the shot square to the tee box.  The greens are small, and long is no good, placing a premium on accuracy for what should be an easy shot.  This hole yields fewer birdies than you'd think.

The 4th, a short par 4 with a sharp dogleg left, the tee box points down the right side of the first 100 yards of fairway.  Most end up hitting their drives well through this short area into the sparse trees right, and the bombers go down a hill into a tall grass hazard.  Tee hee!  The well thought out strategy is to aim 30-40 degrees left of the tee box alignment, and anyone hitting the ball more than 200 yards needs to draw it as well.  Not that I'd recommend going more than 200 on this hole, which brings a shallowish valley with thick rough into play.

All three are short holes, so I defend the teebox misalignments.

Cassandra

[Matthew Hunt]

Car Parks and Houses on the left are great fun as my best friend is a Leftie slicer

[Patrick_Mucci]

Cassandra,

As the amount of play increases, many clubs have sought to expand their tees, and when doing so, they also realign them.

Since alignment gives me so much difficulty, I don't object.

[Adam Clayman]

 Is water a better "design element" if it's natural as opposed to constructed?  Are creeks and rivers better than ponds, marshes or lakes?

C.B., You forgot oceans,  

I wouldn't pre judge a constructed water feature, but I do like the natural ones very much. Agree that they have their place. I think a meandering creek that comes into play, more than once, through the green, is my personal favorite. ala 13 ANGC.

In the marketplace there are many examples of where water features and trees have been used to "spruce up" a benign design. Then there are those which are just ill-conceived to begin with. Throw in the ridiculously elaborate, out of place water features, and you have most of the point I was trying to make.

[Phil Benedict]

Shots where there is no place to bail out.

[Patrick_Mucci]

Shots where there is no place to bail out.

Phil  Benedict,

How often do you confront that situation ?

And, is it mostly water hazard related ?

# 17 at TPC stands out.

[D_Malley]

did merion ever realign the 3rd tee which used to point right at the front right bunker?

[Phil Benedict]

Shots where there is no place to bail out.

Phil  Benedict,

How often do you confront that situation ?

And, is it mostly water hazard related ?

# 17 at TPC stands out.

Patrick,

On my course two of the 14 driving holes have no bailout.  They are similar tee shots in that if you reach the trouble on the outside of the dogleg (one left, one right) you are screwed - a lost ball is a real possibility although there is no water involved.  In both cases the problem at the outside of the dogleg is dense woods with undergrowth.  The inside of the dogleg on one of these holes has lots of big trees which block the approach while on the second hole the inside of the dogleg is out of bounds.

As an aside, the easiest drives for me to hit are doglegs where I can take a line on which I cannot reach the outside of the dogleg, which enables me to use the length of the fairway as my landing zone as opposed to the width of the fairway.

[Norbert P]

What courses have had their tees misaligned intentionally ?

The 6th at Barnbougle, which is really #3.  They were placed perfectly to the 3rd fairway but I thought, "That's wrong" so I hit a beauty to the 6th fairway.  Then realized that the path took me to #3 which is where I should've gone but the shot of whisky was good so I didn't care.