[mike_beene]

Wouldn't 4 at Oakmont be shorter playing down the 5th fairway?Not suggesting an ob,but this would disrupt pace of play if people started trying it.

[Patrick_Mucci]

I have played 3 golf courses that have interior out of bounds between two holes... and in all cases I believe it applies to one hole. 

Is this something that the architects do as a design element/ hazard or do they come later when "safety issues" arrise?

Architects are rarely involved in that decision, the club is.

It is primarily a safety issue, and, in some cases the condition has been brought about by being able to drive the ball farther.

Seminole and Pine Tree both have internal out of bounds.
At Seminole it's on # 3 and at Pine Tree it's on # 7, and it should be on # 1 as well.

[Sean_A]

There are some instances of interior oob in the UK, but very few thank heaven.  One of the reasons I object to interior oob is it punishes the guy who hit a really bad shot and the punishment in no way makes play any safer - which is the ONLY good reason I can think of for creating interior oob and even then I would say blindness must be included with play down the wrong fairway to create interior oob.  I do think Americans are a bit loopy when it comes to safety issues on the course, but then Americans are a bit loopy with engaging lawyers and using courts to gain satisfaction or even de facto steal money through the courts by suing. 

Look, if Painswick, which allows public access to those not playing golf, can have the craziest setup in the world with their 8th and 9th hitting into each other blind on a shared fairway then the rest of this stuff is just girlie boy talk.

Ciao

[Adrian_Stiff]

Not quite the same topic but an interesting solution to avoid an internal OOB...

I used to play at a fairly non-descript course in Cambridge. They had a similar situation when a par 4 which plays as a 90 degree dog-leg right, could be straightened.

On that hole there is a brook which runs in front of the green and then across the dog leg. So rather than introduce OOB, they made a local rule that you had to cross the brook twice with separate shots. So you played over the brook to the corner of the dog-leg, then to the green over the brook again. I thought it was quite a clever solution.

Unfortunately the hole was subsequently ruined by the need to put a drainage ditch in the fairway to avoid flooding in winter, right in the lay up area and blind from the tee because of the trees.

Attached picture shows the hole, with the blue line indicating the brook and the red the line of play with 2 shots crossing the brook.

I am pretty sure you cant have this as a local rule. It is just not part of playing golf 'to have to play across a brook twice'. So it breaks the rules of the game.
Pretty much the two reasons for internal out of bounds are; Safety issues to protect a side or area and; to protect a holes intended route where perhap's trees may be have been lost or are too young/small to defend.

[jeffwarne]

I know of four courses in South Dakota that have an "in the air" OB that's designated by a flag pole.

In three cases, if you hit it on the "wrong" side of the pole, you are OB even if the ball lands in bounds.

At the other course, you have to play around right side (IIRC) of the pole, if you hit it left of the pole, you are required to play backwards and correct your mistake, like a sailboat that misses a mark.

In one case the issue is safety, due to people playing backward up the preceding hole. Another is a combination of safety--the tee shot would be over a school yard-- and maintaining some difficulty in the hole--it's a par five that you could reach with driver, wedge if you cut the corner. The corner is only 150 yards off the tee.

The other two are purely about adding distance to a hole that has no tree or other obstacles to prevent cutting the off 100 or more yards on a dogleg.

All four are stupid.

K

The first hole at North Wales has aeriel OB to protect a neighborhood and the integrity of the hole.
An excellent course not the least bit marred by an unusual start

[Mark_Rowlinson]

Conwy has an internal OOB on the left of the 9th fairway to prevent today's big hitters from using the 8th fairway to get on the 9th green in two (about 540 yards by the dog-leg route, probably 490-500 via the 8th). I think it is a safety issue rather than one of protecting par. They have planted bushes on the left of the 9th medal tee to make it fairly impossible to hit the 8th fairway, but from the forward tees it is emminently feasible.

[Sean_A]

Conwy has an internal OOB on the left of the 9th fairway to prevent today's big hitters from using the 8th fairway to get on the 9th green in two (about 540 yards by the dog-leg route, probably 490-500 via the 8th). I think it is a safety issue rather than one of protecting par. They have planted bushes on the left of the 9th medal tee to make it fairly impossible to hit the 8th fairway, but from the forward tees it is emminently feasible.

Mark

My last go at Conwy I discovered this oob.  I was incredulous and as leader of the band declared the oob null and void.  Several of us took 8th hole route, not because we were clever, but because there was a 25-30 mph wind coming from the right and none of us fancied hitting toward the crap on the right to stay in bounds.  To be fair, I usually ignore internal oob because its the stuff of nonsense.

Ciao

[jonathan_becker]

I know of four courses in South Dakota that have an "in the air" OB that's designated by a flag pole.

In three cases, if you hit it on the "wrong" side of the pole, you are OB even if the ball lands in bounds.

At the other course, you have to play around right side (IIRC) of the pole, if you hit it left of the pole, you are required to play backwards and correct your mistake, like a sailboat that misses a mark.

In one case the issue is safety, due to people playing backward up the preceding hole. Another is a combination of safety--the tee shot would be over a school yard-- and maintaining some difficulty in the hole--it's a par five that you could reach with driver, wedge if you cut the corner. The corner is only 150 yards off the tee.

The other two are purely about adding distance to a hole that has no tree or other obstacles to prevent cutting the off 100 or more yards on a dogleg.

All four are stupid.

K

I played in a jr tourney in 1996 at Carroll Meadows in Ohio.  This was the only place that I had heard of "OB air" until I had read this thread.  When youre 16 years old and you hear "OB air", I couldn't believe it.  Even though I finished second, I never went back.

[Damon Groves]

Santa Anita in Arcadia CA has an internal OB at the right side of the fairway on number 13 at the dogleg and it borders the far right end of the fairway of 14 coming back. Clearly was put in later by the course management and is only there for a safety issue. The design and routing are fine and it clearly was put in by some overcautious people. In 300 or so rounds on the course I have yet to see someone come close to hitting anyone. Interestingly it does make 13 and especially 14 a little of a challenge as you do not want to flirt with the OB so brings some strategic decisions into play.

[Norbert P]

Should #8 at Chambers Bay have OOB stakes on the right edge?

[Bob Jenkins]

Norbert,

Re #8 Chambers, do you ask because of the difficulty some have of going down the hill to get to their ball? It can take a lot of time and if OB, re-loading from the tee, knowing a ball over the edge had to be OB would presumably speed things up.?

Many are not fond of #8 and I was thinking that if the green were lowered and the tee for #9 was also moved down with some fill in front of the green to allow some options, it would make that corner more palatable. That would, however, reduce the sunlight on the the green on 8.

Bob Jenkins

[Mark_Rowlinson]

One of the most famous of all internal out of bounds is the 1st at Royal Liverpool:

[mike_beene]

If it were still distance only wouldn't number one at Hoylake be a better hole?

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