Chamblee rant on current architectural trend

[Michael Morandi]

We have wide fairways and fast and firm conditions at my club. The hole location dictates where to hit the fairway because a fairway hit might mean you have to carry a string of bunkers to make the green  or shape the shot around a cypress tree. Few tee shots are intimidating and can lull the player into not thinking strategically.

[Mark_Fine]

William Flynn once stated that great architecture demanded and tested first and foremost Accuracy followed by Carry and then Length.  Forget what Brandel has to say even though his points have merit for the professional game, I think most of us would agree that the way golf is played today has turned this around. First and foremost is now Length followed by Carry and then Accuracy.  This is especially true for the professional and highest level players. 


Be clear, I am totally for smart use of width (can’t name a single course I have worked on where we didn’t add width somewhere on the golf course as most courses playing areas tend to shrink over time).  But we are not designing golf courses for tour player.  As I said in my example about the guy I played with at Lehigh, you would screw up the golf course for the other 99% of us if you designed things for players like him. 

[Thomas Dai]

If the greens are soft elite players are gonna hit approach shots close. Now firm the greens up, really firm them up and things change as accurate tee shot positioning has more consequences with offline tee shots bouncing and rolling further sideways if wide short grass is present.
Atb

[Mark_Fine]

Thomas,
Very true about firm conditions for most of us. The approach shot for example into our 2nd hole at Lehigh (336 yard slightly up hill par four) is very demanding from even just 80 yards out when the greens are firm and fast.  Actually some members complain when they can’t hold the green with their short iron shots.  However, the guy I played with hit his tee shot in the greenside bunker     It was a pretty easy up and down.   Granted this was not only a long tee shot but a pretty accurate one.  I guess he could have hit 5I and had half a sand wedge.  This is the game pros and top amateurs play these days.