A green divided

[Patrick_Mucci]

exponentially enhances the playing experience when the divider is a mound, ridge or spine.

An internal feature that serves as a divider puts substantive pressure on the golfer's approach, recovery and putts.

Hitting to the appropriate section of the green requires additional planning and skill.

Missing the appropriate section of the green makes two putting far more difficult.

Missing the green creates another set of dilemas depending upon whether or not the golfer has short sided or long sided his miss.

I think of greens like # 8 at Hidden Creek, # 1 at NGLA and the original 18th at Pine Valley as greens that embody this principle.

What other greens have a pronounced mound, ridge or spine within them ?

Why don't we see more of this seemingly simple but highly effective feature ?

[Ally Mcintosh]

why just a pronounced mound, ridge or spine?... why not a trough or valley?...

the 16th at north berwick is surely the most dramatic of its kind...

[Steve Burrows]

The 5th hole at Winged Foot East is a fine example.  The Donald Ross course at French Lick has as few examples, including two par-3's (the 6th and the 13th) which possess very pronounced separations, two or three feet of elevation change, that create some very intriguing shots.

[Matt_Cohn]

So, yay for Rees Jones?   

One observation is that when greens are divided up into sections, the architect often makes those sections themselves relatively flat, which actually makes putting easier because it's flat around the hole. Not always, but often.

[Jim_Kennedy]

We have 5 out of 9 that'd fit your bill.

Probably looked upon as overly engineered/ overly stylistic/ or not creative enough/ not unique enough/   for widespread use by various architects.

A few maintenance issues also.

[Mike Demetriou]

I've been trying to find the right forum thread to discuss the 6th at Riviera.  Or is the 6th too dramatic in terms of a divider, certainly more so than the 16th at North Berwick, no?

[Jon Wiggett]

Patrick,

I worked for John Chilver-Stainer who is a GCA as his second in command on several projects. John was some one who liked to build greens within greens often by deviding as you have described.

He often had to argue his corner against the critics much harder than less adventurous GCAs in order to realise his vision. What is interesting is that many of his courses belong to the most liked by players and often his best support in the end comes from his most bitter opponents at the start.

Such greens make a course on potentially boring sites challenging but many people have the perverse view that skill in golf is in the long shots not the short.

[JLahrman]

The 16th at Camargo has three areas.  The back of the green is raised above the front, and there is a gully dividing the back half of the green in two.  Best way to describe it is that it looks like the torso of a woman lying on her back.

[Wade Whitehead]

why just a pronounced mound, ridge or spine?... why not a trough or valley?...

the 16th at north berwick is surely the most dramatic of its kind...

The third at the Greenbrier's Old White has a dramatic Biarritz green that's probably sixty yards deep.  The trench in the middle has to be five or six feet deep.

WW

[Tim Gavrich]

Do multilevel greens qualify?  If so, Blue Fox Run Golf Course in Avon, CT, is a study in divided greens with nine two-tiered greens and one three-tiered green.

[Mike Hendren]

75% of the greens Jim Engh ever built.

[Chip Gaskins]

not too many greens have more going on than this....several tiers, valleys, troughs, spines, ridges...i would say there are about three biarritz greens in this one.



and the original

[Tony Gorski]

Here's the long par 5 - #10 at Erin Hills

[Bill_McBride]

and the original

The coolest thing about #16 North Berwick ("Gate") is that a caddie told me that putts from front plateau to back, or vice versa, should be played straight!  All the breaks down through the swale self-cancel.  With no group  behind us the last time I played there, we verified that advice for a few minutes.

[Sean Walsh]

The first on The Eden is by far the most pronounced ridge or spine I have ever seen.  It splits the green in two and makes a two putt from the wrong side extremely tough.  The fact you will never be approaching this green from more that 100 yards helps it work.

[James Bennett]

I thought Plainfield's 12th hole (the par 5) is a wonderful, understated variation on this theme.  The spine/ridge runs from front middle of the green to the rear of the green, with drainage falling left and right from that centreline.

James B