Two new courses in the Atlanta area, two different designers but some strikingly similar tendencies.
One leans toward mounding, the other toward dig outs (probably not a gca term), but in both cases the lines tend to be straight and geometric as opposed to flowing and irregular.
The tendency was especially noticable on the course I played yesterday, which also had a lot of oval-shaped pot bunkers especially around the greens. Some leaned this way and that, but again the overall impression was of geometric regularity.
As if to emphasize the motif, at least one of the greens was built like a series of connecting plates, which I found to be interesting.
Coincidentally or not, both courses feature abundant bunkers within the confines of the fairway. On one they add strategy, on the the other they often seem pointless.
I found it intriguing that both architects seemed to be trying very hard to make distinctive visual and playability statements and both did so in a strikingly similar fashion.
Does any of this sound familiar? Something of a trend or mere coincidence?