Tee Box shapes

[Matthew Schulte]

I am curious about this group's preference on tee box shapes.

Which do you prefer and why: Rectangular or irregular shaped tee boxes?

When is one style the obvious choice?

What is the relationship between bunker style and tee box shape?

Lastly, can you think of an example where the tee box shape seemed inappropriate for the golf course and why was it inappropriate?

[Tom_Doak]

I personally do not like tees with square corners, for two reasons:

a)  They stand out as foreign in the landscape; and
b)  They have to be aligned to a specific point, thus telling the golfer where to hit the tee shot instead of making him figure it out.

The weirdest place I've ever seen rectangular tees is on the Plantation Course at Kapalua, otherwise a terrific course.  The entire golf course is built on a steep slope, which lies diagonally to the line of many holes; so in order to get a bunch of flat, rectangular tees they had to make massive fills at the downhill corners.

Differently-shaped tees would not only have fit into the landscape more easily, they would have required a lot less work.

[mikeyolympic]

i'm a big fan of square edges of tee boxes. riviera, bethpage, east lake...a lot of great courses have very sharp square tee boxes. i like them because they make the course seem more professional... they might look foreign, but to a player, that just means the aesthetics and conditioning of the course is superb. what's wrong with tee boxes aligning the tee shots for the players? isn't golf already hard anyways? =)

[Jim Thompson]

I take the position of the little recognized golf expert Huey Lewis on this one;  "It's hip to be square!"

I'm often confused by those who feel square tee grassing lines are unnatural.  They are as unnatural as the perfectly flat hitting surface they provide.  Currently seeding 50 individual tees I can attest to the difficulty of making anything “flat”.  I agree that the perfectly square tee pedestal is unnatural.  The teeing surface is the one place where man most abandons / impacts natural contour and feature, accordingly if man is going to show himself in nature why not just be honest about it? Make a square pedestal with a flat surface and square off the grass line ala Raynor’s geometric standards.  If you want a new project to look like a long-standing property make rounded / free form pedestals but square up the grassing line.  If nothing else it gives the impression of weathered square tee pedestals still being maintained to the “old standard” increasing the nostalgic vibe.

Psychologically, I feel the complete / finite quality of square tee complexes evokes a sense of dominion over nature and the environment, kind of a "last meal" before being thrown to the trials and challenges of the hole.  We all know what square is.  As a result seeing something that is complete / standardized re-enforces the manicured status of a property and makes it more identifiable like post stamp greens or perfectly round pot bunkers.  Also I find myself at times wondering if the alignment of the tee isn’t one of those dirty architect tricks.  Baiting me into aligning right or left toward unknown trouble, similar to greens that are intentionally graded to break away from the water / ravine.

Stylistically I’m a fan of square tees used in conjunction with low sand bunkers.  It always makes me feel like the course is old and established, inherently British.  I often find mounding in flat country and flat greens in rolling areas to be convoluted to the eye.  The Hurdzan chart of “Beauty and Ugliness” (Golf Course Architecture, Design, Construction & Restoration. Figure117a) comes to mind.  Free form tees are tolerable in circumstances where a great deal of the fairway seeding line is visible, otherwise they tend to lead to dreaded target / directional bunkers.  A good rule to me would be to finish grade features with equipment based on the general contour of the land.  On flat terrain make everything with a D8 or larger, gentle roll D6, very active terrain break out the D4s to finish the job.

Just an opinion…

Cheers!

JT

[Andrew_Roberts]

I like parkland courses with framing trees to have square tees.  I believe it looks better, but on an open site, I believe anything goes.  
Either way consistency is best, either all square or irregualer.