[Pete_Pittock]

Very few greens have a difficult hole location near the middle of the green.  Thus we find many holes cut toward the edges, especially during tournaments.

Beyond discussing the 6th at Riviera with the center bunker. are there other good examples?

[Alex Miller]

15 at LACC, 2 at Rustic, 4 at Rustic all have humps in the center of the green that make the default "safe" play toward the middle of the green a dicey proposotion. I'd say it's an excellent defense when done right.

[Mike Nuzzo]

Wolf Point 7th green has the major feature in the middle, flag is pictured toward the front looking back at the hole:


Wolf Point 15th green has swales grabbing into the left side of the green, picture is looking back towards the tee of the one shotter:


The first green while gentle, has the high point in the middle - no containment mounding here, flag is on left side of green:


Cheers

[Garland Bayley]

If I remember right, 15 at Witch Hollow is one where you don't play to the middle of the green. Seems there is a similar green on a drivable par 4 at Charbonneau too.

[Patrick_Mucci]

Very few greens have a difficult hole location near the middle of the green.  Thus we find many holes cut toward the edges, especially during tournaments.

Beyond discussing the 6th at Riviera with the center bunker. are there other good examples?

Pete,

Your classic "horseshoe" or "thumbprint" green.
The double plateau and plateau and any green with horizontal or vertical spines.

Some greens, like # 1 at NGLA have a vertical spine with bowls at the foot of the spine.

I think the issue you bring up, the migrating of the defense from the center to the perimeter of the green, is largely due to increased green speeds.

You just don't see greens with substantive defensive features at their centers.

# 8 at Hidden Creek would certainly be an exception, but, it's a rare exception as I think modern day architecture has abandoned center defenses due to the increase in green speeds

[Tom_Doak]

The 10th hole at Royal Adelaide is a good one, a shelf through the middle of the green that's hard to stay on.  I guess the 12th at St. Andrews would be similar, although you're hitting different sorts of shots into the two greens.

One feature I really like is having a slightly steeper section in the middle of the green ... something between 3% and 4% ... so if you get above the hole the downhill putt is VERY speedy, but you won't go rolling off the green, you'll just leave yourself a bit more of a comebacker than you expected.  I've tried this a couple of times recently and no one has noticed yet.

High Pointe had a couple of crowned greens, similar to Mike's 1st at Wolf Point ... I really haven't built a green quite like that since.

[Niall C]

Pete

A couple of years ago I spent a week watching the best golfers of Europe playing the par 3 17th at Castle Stuart and by far the hardest hole position to get at was the middle of the green at the bottom of the bank/slope that goes across the green diagonally from front right to bacl left. From memory I don't think anyone got within 10 feet.

Niall

[Jeff_Brauer]

Nicklaus used to build a big green with a very small, almost imperceptible knob in the front center guarding the middle pin.  John Fought built a few of those, too.

[Niall C]

Jeff

That was a James Braid design feature too although he tended to have the nob slighlty to one side.............hang on, this is turning into a Paul Whitehouse sketch 

Niall

[Ally Mcintosh]

If you study Eric Iverson / Renaissance GD's set of nine greens for the front nine of the Old course at Rosapenna, you will notice that each one is a variation on the same theme... Two or three subtle mounds placed within the green surface with one always placed near the front either left, middle or right and that one being the primary influence on determining the best play.

[Mike Hendren]

Gil Hanse simply used a smallish pimple slightly offset in the center of the 8th green at Capstone Club.   Amazing what impact it has on the precision required for the approach.  IMHO a perfect example of why pedestrian greens should not be excused or tolerated.

Bogey

[Thomas Dai]

The 5th green at Beau Desert has a noticeably raised middle section, but the 14th green on the same course has a more subtle hump in the middle. Very nice both of them, one obvious, one less so, and there are 16 other greens at BD that are also pretty nice.
atb

[John Percival]

Pins positions on the 9th @ Oakland Hills South are very difficult to access at the wings, but are relatively level (when finally getting there).
The center of the green has an almost ferocious slope back to front that makes putting from below the hole imperative. Even putts pin high face a severe swing and sometimes pick up speed and run well below the hole.
Apologies for the lack of pics.
There may be some from an earlier post on the course.

[Carl Nichols]

The second hole at Bald Peak Colony Club (Ross; NH) has a very pronounced hump in the right middle of the green; I think some players refer to it as a buried coffin or body, or something like that.  In any event, being in the middle of the green but on the wrong side of that hump makes a two-putt pretty difficult . . . especially if you're above the hole and on the wrong side of the hump (the green slopes pretty hard from right to left)

[Phil McDade]

I think this is a good example -- the 10th at Blue Mound G&CC: http://www.golfclubatlas.com/forum/index.php/topic,53797.0.html

[Guy Nicholson]

16 at Pasatiempo? At least on the depth axis. I'm not sure any of those tiers are a bargain, mind you.

[Brett Hochstein]

12 at Franklin Hills has a simple two tier concept (low front, high back), but it stands as more difficult in the center than any other like it that I've seen.  The reason is probably because the lower tier is pretty slick itself running back into the fairway.  A hole cut in the middle just at the bottom of the ridge is impossible from all but about 15% of the green (on the green and below the hole).  Upper tier--dead.  Left or right--can't hit it high enough off the ridge to make it or leave it close.  Staying below the hole and pretty well in line is the only chance of a make or easy two putt.

[Mike_Young]

(9at Seapines and 14 at ANGC

[Norbert P]

 
  16th at North Berwick

There's a design in my sketchbook where the pinnable center of green slopes away from shooter to encourage the ball to roll out.  So, hopefully, a choice of left or right is provoked.

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