Short game practice area

[Nick Cauley]

We are in the process of re-designing our short game practice area.  I always hear golfers commenting on the short game areas at other courses.

My Questions are:

What should be incorporated in a great short game area?
What courses have the best short game practice areas?

[Mark Manuel]

Nick,

Two bunkers, one for greenside practice and another for 10-20 yd shots.  Enough space for practicing up to 50 yard pitches.  Downhill, uphill and sidehill lies available at various distances.  A green big enough to practice pitch and runs along with the floppers.

That would be a dream.

[JeffTodd]

Nick, welcome. Here is a related thread from two months ago:

http://www.golfclubatlas.com/forums2/index.php?board=1;action=display;threadid=31336;start=0

[Trey Kemp]

Nick,

Here is my favorite short game area, it is located at Dallas National Golf Club.  There are 2 large putting greens, 5 short game greens, 6 bunkers, 2 teeing areas and an enless number of different types of shots that you can hit from 5 to 100 yards.  

[Bill_McBride]

Nick, Columbia-Edgewater in Portland, OR built a beautiful short game area a couple of years ago.  Here's a sketch of the big target green, which is maybe 100 yards from side to side and 60 yards front to back, with an acre of teeing areas at different elevations out front:



Here's an overview of the practice area ("Target Green") and the new adjoining par 3 course.



It's really the best short game practice area I've ever seen, and I'm surprised it doesn't get more use.  Or am I?  

[Nick Church]

I think I've posted this before... might even still have an image, too.

I really miss the acreage dedicated to the short game at my first club, The Bridegwater Club near Indianapolis.  The facility started out as just as practice facility, range, and 9-course.  Those features remained when they expanded to a full course and facility.

The short game area is incredible.  Six different greens, with one that has a dedicated teeing area for practicing short fairway pitches.  Two other greens share a shaved valley for pitching & chipping up slopes onto greens.

See the short game area in the upper left hand corner of this image:

[ChipRoyce]

Great question! I spend much more time out our short game range than on the actual full swing. Find it helps my tempo and scoring dramatically!

A couple things I see neccesary for a great short game area:

1) 1-2 putting greens.
Representative of the contours and speeds on the course and allow for putting only vs. putting & chipping.

2) Short game 'range'.
Area that includes 1-2 bunkers (short & long?) and fairway area to hit to a green (actual course speeds and firmness) from anywhere from 10-60 yards.

Key in both components is to make sure that many people can use each at the same time. Something I see is that not enough space is created for chipping and thus very disruptive to those practicing putting. Same for the short game range, folks in bunkers risk being hit by offline shots to the green by those hitting 30-50yd wedges.

[Tommy Williamsen]

I played the par three course at Colorado GC this summer.  It is not just intended to go and get a quick nine in but to practice on. Wish  I had some pics but it was just terrific.  

[Mark Smolens]

Every time I'm invited to play at Oak Park CC I make sure I get there an hour early to fart around on the short game area.  First they have a place to hit the 50-70 yard pitches, then on the other side of the path there's a bunkered chipping green with a myriad of options.  The short game practice area at Point O Woods looks nice, but during the two tournaments I've played there it was closed.

[Matt_Cohn]

I have a lot of experience with a very badly designed short game practice area. This was at the golf team facility at the University of Oklahoma.

The problem? The designer forgot that the front, sides, and back of a real green on a real golf course tend to be different. And, importantly, most short game shots are played from the front or sides of the green, and much less frequently from over the back.

The designer at OU tilted the green towards the near edge of the property - so, essentially, the area in "front" of the green was cut off within 5 yards by a berm and the property line. There was no room to play shots from in front of the green, where most short game shots actually occur.

The "back" of the green opened up to the driving range - except that it was higher by about 4 feet, and sloped away, and covered with rough, rendering it mostly blind and nearly useless. There was no place from which to hit realistic shots.

So my advice would be, construct your practice area to replicate real greens and real golf holes. An englarged version of something similar to a green on your course might be a good idea. Keep the front, sides, and back of teh green in perspective.

That will give you the chance to practice shots that you'll actually face on your course or any other golf coruse. After all, that's the whole point, right?

[Jimmy Muratt]

Below is my response to a similar question a year or so ago on practice facilities and also a link to that thread:

The practice area at Kinloch is tough to beat.  The short game area consists of three greens that are surrounded by various slopes, collection areas, and different bunker depths, so you can simulate practically any shot.  The greens in the short game area and on the range are maintained just like those on the golf course, so the ball reacts precisely as it should.  

The range itself is dual-sided with target greens, fairways, and bunkers.  The teeing ground was recently increased by approximately 40% so now no turf needs to be hit off more than once every few months.  On the back end of the range there is also a short par 3 built with fairway allowing you to tee off anywhere from 130 yards in.  Fairway bunkers of various depths are also present to practice that aspect as well.  

The teaching center is a really cool building on the range.  There are 3 heated hitting bays, all with video and launch monitors.  There is also a small lounge inside that also houses the library for the club.  Members from other clubs have provided numerous club histories from their courses, so it's a really neat place to take a break from practicing, watch a little tv, or do some reading.  

Old thread:  http://tinyurl.com/2esl4g

[Tommy Williamsen]

Jimmy, I agree that Kinloch has a great short game practice area.  The last time I was there I spent a wonderful hour messing around on it.

[Nick Cauley]

Does anyone know how much land is used at these courses with the short game areas? We have an area that is capable of holding shots up to 75 yards. Do you need to have a shot any longer than that?  We meet with the architect on Thursday, I wish to incorporate the best features found at other courses.  I appreciate all the comments and pictures.  

[Anthony_Nysse]

Nick,
  I know that we chatted about this a little a couple weeks ago. I would make sure that your chipping area has options for uneven lies (uphill and downhill)  and make sure that the green is similar to your greens at SQ, meaning have a backstop or two. I'd also make sure that you have a bunker in the 40-50 yard range as that's the hardest shot in golf. I would think that 35,000 square feet should do it, though if you have more land, make it bigger. Can you do something like this....

http://good-times.webshots.com/photo/2938316140061904185rFBWoJ

Tony Nysse
Asst. Supt.
Colonial CC
Ft. Worth, TX

[rjsimper]

Faldo's Shadow Ridge in Palm Desert (Marriott) is one of the best I've seen.  2 large putting greens with real contours similar to the course...large fairway areas and rough areas around the green, multiple bunkers at varying heights of lips, and 100 yards of fairway turf between the two greens from which you can hit any number of shots with wedges to either green.

[Joel_Stewart]

My Questions are:

What should be incorporated in a great short game area?
What courses have the best short game practice areas?

I was just at Stanford Golf Course the other day and they are building what looks like one of the most amazing practice areas I have seen.  Its "L" shaped and is on about 70 acreas.  Its designed by RTJII who lives close by and is an alum.  Whats amazing is that certain areas of the practice area will have different grass, so if the team is going to Florida they can practice on Bermuda.  I want to say they 3 or 4 different types of grass.  I wish I could get an ariel or plan to put up but its comprised of about 7 different greens and maybe 20 bunkers and allows players to practice North-South or East-West or opposite.  Only golf team members and special alums are allowed to play, no students.

[Tom Huckaby]

Joel - re Stanford - are you talking about the new area created out past the first hole?  I had heard this was being done, hadn't heard it was completed.

They always had a pretty cool separate part of the existing range set out for golf team... but this area sounds FANTASTIC.

I need to start canvassing the "special alums" I know.

 

[Joel_Stewart]

Its more to the right of the 2nd and new 3rd hole.  The bad side is they needed to revise the course on 2 holes which to the loyalists of George Thomas is somewhat disappointing.  When I played there about a month ago it was almost finished, just letting the grass grow in.

[Tom Huckaby]

Joel - cool - I get where it is - thanks.

What I don't get is why adding this necessitated revising two holes.  What holes got revised?  Or are you talking about 3 and 4, which got very much revised due to the widening of Sand Hill Road?

That did disappoint the Thomas loyalists I'm sure... but I also can't see what else they could have done.

TH

[Jason Topp]

I've found Arthur Hills courses to often have excellent short game areas.  This is one in Florida that is massive:

[Tim Copeland]

This is one we did at Isleworth.  Max distance is 100 yds......bunkers have sand from Isleworth, Augusta and TPC Sawgrass.  Space was limited.......permits are supposed to be forthcoming this year and it will be expanded.  Smyers was the architect....along with a host of Isleworth pros.....one notable.



 

[Sam Morrow]

There is a great facility at Willow Creek Country Club, north of Houston. It's right next to the clubhouse and provides you every possible shot within about 80 yards.

[Mark_Fine]

Nick,
Gook luck with your new practice area.  I've been involved in the design of eight or nine of them in the last few years.  It is one of the areas courses are spending money on    

Best advice I can give you is make sure that the design replicates the types of shot shots your golfers will find on your golf course.  Also, it should "fit in asthetically as if it were part of the original design".  Maybe this is a pet pieve of mine, but I frown on seeing ulta-modern looking practice facilities next to old classic golf courses.  When this happens, the next thing you know, your golf course will become afflicted with the disease

Good luck!
Mark

[M. Shea Sweeney]

Carnegie Abbey has a nice short game practice facility.(however for my 4 months there I saw around 3 or 4 members acctually use it )

It was great for my Juniors. The set up consisted of 4 different tees with 3 different greens. The tees surrounded the greens which provided a variety of yardages. I would set up tournaments for the kids to play, and set up a 9 hole course accordingly. It was great because the kids were acctually able to play the course and score. Maybe their parents should take notes.

I think that a good short game area relys on the grees. If the greens are tricked out and most importantly slope away from the player than that green is nooo good. The player is not able to see results. I also like to see bunkers. Place them greenside to offer the player bunker practce. This also provides a challenge for the player, and he is not just beating balls.

If I were designing one and had the space, I would include a couple bunkers in between the tees and greens to practice those longer bunker shots.

Mowing is important. Fringe, Tight lies, rough, fairway, create it all--give the player the opportunity to practice what is out there.

[Jon Spaulding]

Joel - cool - I get where it is - thanks.

What I don't get is why adding this necessitated revising two holes.  What holes got revised?  Or are you talking about 3 and 4, which got very much revised due to the widening of Sand Hill Road?

That did disappoint the Thomas loyalists I'm sure... but I also can't see what else they could have done.

TH

The new practice area is to the right side of the 2nd fairway and behind the "new" 3rd tee. I saw no changes to the 2nd hole other than the new tee.