COLT Routings Feel Large... Why?

[Sean_A]

So many of Harry Colt's courses seem to be routed over fairly small properties of roughly 100-115 acres (including the house etc).  It is especially impressive that he was able to do this on the many hilly courses he designed.  However, these small property courses seem to yield consistently larger feeling courses.  I suspect one trick to achieving this sense of spatiousness is many uphill approaches.  Can folks who know Colt well or are archies explain some other methods Colt employed to impart such a stately aura to his many designs.  BTW, I think Ross also excelled at this skill and I suspect some of the same design tactics were employed. 

Ciao

[Peter Pallotta]

"Can folks who know Colt well or are archies explain some other methods Colt employed to impart such a stately aura to his many designs"

What a terrific question -- and stately aura is an excellent/evocative term.
We almost never get into the "how to" of design, the 'tricks of the trade'.

Peter
PS - from your tours, Sean, Colt didn't seem to hate trees -- and how he used them, I think, to frame vistas instead of golf holes was lovely.   

[Jeff Johnston]

V well put Sean - and 'stately' is exactly the mot juste for the feel of somewhere like Co Sligo (albeit I haven't been there post the recent Ruddy modifications).

Looking forward to thoughts on this.

[Jon Wiggett]

Excellent question Sean.


I have not played that many Colt courses but looking back at the ones I have played they were on whole quite small properties though many courses built around that time were sub 120 acres.


I would point to two things that struck me as ways Colt gave a a hole/course the feeling of space. Firstly, his use of bunkers of turn straight-ish holes into slight doglegs giving a hole the artificial feeling of extra width. Standing on the tee it is common to be faced with a hole of 300 to 400 yards that curves maybe 30 yards in its length played along a corridor averaging 50 yards across but looking as though it is 80 yards.


Secondly, Colt liked to play across swales and often raised the tee and/or the green to accentuate the effect. Playing across a dip in the land always gives the feeling of more room.


Like I said, I have not played many Colt courses so this is an impression gained from a small sample.


Jon

[Thomas Dai]

I believe I've read somewhere that HSC preferred to choose the location for the par-3's first and then plan the remainder of the routing around them? If so (??) does this have an effect overall acreage usage?
atb

[Adam G]

I have read the same. That is supposedly why his par 3s are so outstanding.


I found this particularly interesting given today's Yolk With Doak that The Fried Egg just posted (Yolk With Doak Episode 18). Tom and Andy talk about using par 3's as connectors. Tom explains that it is harder to route a long hole because you need the approach shot to work from more locations. He saves his par 3s for places where the shot only works from one spot (where he puts the tee) and not the surrounding 50 yards or more. Specifically, Tom says: "You can find par 3s all over a site if that's what you are looking for, but it's hard to prioritize them because you have to save some of those for the tough spots. If you see a hole that would be a cool par 3, the first thing you are thinking about is could I go back another 250 yards with a tee and drive it to where I am standing here and then hit this approach shot. And you are probably going to."


I immediately thought of the contrast of what Tom was saying with what I had read about Colt's routing style. I would love to see Tom elaborate on this a bit more with respect to Colt's style.

[John Mayhugh]

Jon's point about slight doglegs is a good one.

I think Colt also used bunkers and these slight turns to focus the player's attention on the hole he is playing and not to look around at what's adjacent. He was really good at triangulation and used that along with siting of par 3s to make it feel like the holes aren't on top of each other.

His routing at Saint Germain is especially clever. There, the course crosses a railroad bed to play holes 3-6 & 12-16, mostly surrounded by forest. The holes on the clubhouse side of the railroad are much closer together, but intricately routed so one doesn't feel crowded. I just took a look at an aerial view, and greens 3, 7, 10, & 11 fit into an area less than 5 acres, but the green sites are such that there's really no feeling of being crowded.

[James Brown]

Would I be wrong in asserting that many HS Colt courses have a much higher proportion of holes with long views down the hole you are playing, meaning that are constructed in a way that holds your eye on the hole you are playing?  I think of Sunningdale New that way.  You can see lots of holes from any given spot but your eyes are drawn to the length and breadth of the one you are playing. 


Some courses have what feels like the opposite version of long views.  Dornoch, Walton Health, Shinnecock,  Old MacDonald to think of a few. 

[Sean_A]

Thanks all. The bunker suggestion sounds interesting, but I am not sure I understand it. Can someone further explain?

I am not sure Colt was different in offering many holes with full views from the tee.

Ciao

[John Mayhugh]

Sean,
This doesn't exactly illustrate the point, but maybe makes another one.

The 2nd and 8th at Saint Germain mostly parallel each other. The 2nd (shown at the top) of the aerial turns a bit right, and the 8th (tee is by Google in the image) turns a bit left.

st germain aerial 2 8 by john mayhugh, on Flickr

From the 8th tee, mounding and bunkers (along with a wedge shaped area of trees) conceal the closeness of the 2nd corridor. The view on the tee suggests that the hole turns a lot.
stg 8 t by john mayhugh, on Flickr

When you look from behind the green, you can see both the 2nd and 9th fairways. Yet the green site mounding & bunkering end up providing a sense of greater isolation than there actually is. This is repeated to good effect elsewhere. Maybe it's the green complexes more than the fairway bunkering that focuses the player's attention away from adjacent holes.

st g 8 gr rear by john mayhugh, on Flickr

[Ryan Coles]

So many of Harry Colt's courses seem to be routed over fairly small properties of roughly 100-115 acres (including the house etc).  It is especially impressive that he was able to do this on the many hilly courses he designed.  However, these small property courses seem to yield consistently larger feeling courses.  I suspect one trick to achieving this sense of spatiousness is many uphill approaches.  Can folks who know Colt well or are archies explain some other methods Colt employed to impart such a stately aura to his many designs.  BTW, I think Ross also excelled at this skill and I suspect some of the same design tactics were employed. 

Ciao

I always wondered why such good land and what appear to be wide playing corridors ended up as relatively short courses.


St George’s Hill, Swinley, Sunningdale New, Wentworth east, are they really only on 100 or so acres? Anyone checked?


If so remarkable as even the tree encroachment in many of the above are well back from play. I’d be amazed if they were actually on such small tracts of land.

[Mark_Rowlinson]

Prestbury is about 110 acres including the clubhouse and there is no way of extending the course - it is surrounded by houses and a school. From the very back it plays at about 6,400yards for par 72. Yet in no way do you ever feel this is anything other than a full length course. If you get the chance do visit it. This is its centenary year.