Is Mounding...

[Eric Smith]

Cabot!!

[jeffwarne]

Count me as a huge fan of the mounding around 8 at Augusta Nat'l.

+1

Why isn't that feature and orientation a template?  Think of a 300 yards par four with the an extremely deep but narrow green angled at 45 degrees to the line off the tee with similar mounding running the length of the left-hand side of the green.  Maintain the mounding at fairway height so a tee ball can be chased over it with fairway long.  Imagine how dicey the chip would be if one came up short of the mounding while attempting to drive the green.  A timid pitch would catch the downslope of the mounding and run over the green.  Give the strategic, shorter hitter the option of leaving his drive way right with a simple pitch down the length of the green - not unlike the 4th at Spyglass without the ice plant.   How often to you see a bunkerless half-par hole.

Mike

Nice call Mike
simple and effective

[mike_beene]

The mound in front left of 4 at TOC makes that hole to me.

[Matthew Essig]

I love mounds in general, but there is one course that I cannot stand those f***ing things.

At Prospector in Suncadia, Arnold Palmer built mounds behind every green. On every mound behind the green is thick rough. The first few feet of the back of the green are sloping towards the front. If you go long, you are in thick rough with a downhill lie and trying to land the ball on a downslope. So, you might say, "don't go long!!" Well, on every hole there is either a 6+feet deep bunker(s) or a water hazard in front of the green (except #1 and #13). To add to this, the wind blows 10-25 mph almost every day other than the middle of summer. So, when trying to hit to a green downwind, all of the greens that are raised, so you have to land the ball on the green, causing you to almost always go over onto the mounds. When playing into the wind, you are hitting super long clubs in and it is hard to hit the green. It is almost like Arnold didn't know it blew a lot there. I am not sure I have ever played well there, except when it wasn't blowing.

Edit: I found a picture of the beautiful mounding on the course and the ridiculous mounds on the back edge of the greens:




**Reminder that pictures make things look flatter**
***The mounds aren't that big compared to some other mounds behind other greens on the course (probably because there is water in front of the green)***

**Reminder that pictures make things look flatter**
***The mounds aren't that big compared to some other mounds behind other greens on the course (probably because there is water in front of the green)***

[Mark Saltzman]

I like mounds.  Subtle.  Or not.

[Mike Hendren]

Count me as a huge fan of the mounding around 8 at Augusta Nat'l.

+1

Why isn't that feature and orientation a template?  Think of a 300 yards par four with the an extremely deep but narrow green angled at 45 degrees to the line off the tee with similar mounding running the length of the left-hand side of the green.  Maintain the mounding at fairway height so a tee ball can be chased over it with fairway long.  Imagine how dicey the chip would be if one came up short of the mounding while attempting to drive the green.  A timid pitch would catch the downslope of the mounding and run over the green.  Give the strategic, shorter hitter the option of leaving his drive way right with a simple pitch down the length of the green - not unlike the 4th at Spyglass without the ice plant.   How often to you see a bunkerless half-par hole.

Mike

Concept Drawing (including gratuitous top shot element for Mucci):



Bogey

[Mike Hendren]

Concept Hole - Pete Dye Version:



Bogey

[DMoriarty]

Similar to the Leven concept, where mounding just short of the green makes the direct line of approach more difficult and a drive to the side more ideal.

HJ Whigham's 1909 diagram: