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Joe Perches

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Back 'n' Forth courses
« on: May 10, 2007, 03:22:43 PM »
I thought Brentwood CC in West Los Angeles was the model for this phrase.  Something like 14 holes straight ahead holes aligned one next to the other, 6 fairways side by side by side by side by side by side.   How, umm, fun.  These holes are almost always upwind or downwind.

Brentwood CC aerial

Is there a course with more holes aligned in the same direction?
« Last Edit: May 10, 2007, 03:23:27 PM by Joe Perches »

Brent Hutto

Re:Back 'n' Forth courses
« Reply #1 on: May 10, 2007, 03:41:16 PM »
I can't recall the name of it but I played a course up around Pittsburgh once that had the two most boring holes imaginable. The fairways were parallel, either long Par 4's or short Par 5's (so boring I can't recall which). You teed off from a ridge down into the bottom land and then the approach was back up onto a ridge. Then you walked 30 yards to the left of the green and teed off the ridge down into the bottom land and the approach was back up onto the original ridge. I think I made a bogey on the first one and just put a ditto mark for the second...

Kalen Braley

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Re:Back 'n' Forth courses
« Reply #2 on: May 10, 2007, 03:42:02 PM »
Joe,

Very inspiring indeed.  It reminds me a bit of Firestone CC...

John Nixon

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Re:Back 'n' Forth courses
« Reply #3 on: May 10, 2007, 03:43:50 PM »
« Last Edit: May 10, 2007, 03:45:31 PM by John Nixon »

Doug Ralston

Re:Back 'n' Forth courses
« Reply #4 on: May 10, 2007, 03:44:22 PM »
Kalen, yes.

Isn't Firestone just 16 holes back and forth and two along the back?

Doug

Jason McNamara

Re:Back 'n' Forth courses
« Reply #5 on: May 10, 2007, 06:36:02 PM »
Warwick Hills (the Michigan Buick tournament) is similar, iirc.

cary lichtenstein

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Re:Back 'n' Forth courses
« Reply #6 on: May 10, 2007, 06:45:25 PM »
Lots of Chicago courses are like this
Live Jupiter, Fl, was  4 handicap, played top 100 US, top 75 World. Great memories, no longer play, 4 back surgeries. I don't miss a lot of things about golf, life is simpler with out it. I miss my 60 degree wedge shots, don't miss nasty weather, icing, back spasms. Last course I played was Augusta

Joe Perches

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Re:Back 'n' Forth courses
« Reply #7 on: May 10, 2007, 07:29:31 PM »
Are these "Back 'n' Forth" courses built in this style because of physical space and layout limitations or other limitations?

Other courses like Tallgrass are built on a smallish rectangular sites and seem to avoid the parallel holes layout.

What percentage of these these "Back 'n' Forth" courses are merely indifferent, indolent architecture?

Ally Mcintosh

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Re:Back 'n' Forth courses
« Reply #8 on: May 11, 2007, 05:13:14 AM »
the best example i can think of in ireland where a course is let down by back and forth holes is 'st.annes' on bull island in dublin (links course immediately adjacent to 'royal dublin')... the setting is spectacular (being surrounded on three sides by water) but the run of seven holes from 11 to 16 are tight straight up and down holes with small dune formations between each... in fact, they are so tight that play can be almost unsafe... the course is redeemed by a fantastic 17th and 18th and granted the original space to work within must have been very confined but still... disappointing...

Mark_Rowlinson

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Re:Back 'n' Forth courses
« Reply #9 on: May 11, 2007, 07:16:53 AM »
I can think of one course local to me, Bramhall, not Bramall Park, which has two tracts of parallel holes: the 1st, 4th, 10th, 18th and 9th; the 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th, 11th, 12th, 13th, 14th, 15th, 16th and 17th!  Yet it is not at all a dull course, with tons of variety and many memorable holes.  I don't know which architects have been involved in the design, but the club's 70th anniversary booklet detials the many trials and tribulations of the acquisition and loss of umpteen parcells of land, particularly in the inter-war years.

The championship course at Bromborough has a spread of 11 parallel holes - again it's a good course.

The 9-hole course at Cheadle (dating back to 1885) is essentially 5 parallel par-4 holes with three of the four par 3s running at right angles to them.  That's the shape of the land they have.  You couldn't do much else, really, but it's a nice course, if rather restricted.  They credit R Renouf as the architect who was presumably a relation of Tommy Renouf, one of the Jersey School, who was professional at Manchester and, later, Stockport, designing a number of courses in the area.

Chester is really 17 parallel holes with only the par-3 3rd at right angles to them.  It's not a great course but it is more varied than my desciption might imply, as there is a cliff running the length of the course with a number of holes making good strategic use of it.

Davenport is quite a recent course (1973) yet no-one there knows who designed it!  Like Chester it is in two tracts of essentially parallel holes, but because these run across rising ground there is rarely a feeling of monotony.

An aerial of Delamere Forest (sorry, it's fuzzy on Google Earth) would reveal that all but two or three holes run in the same (or opposite) direction, but I don't suppose you'd notice!  It's a gem of a course (Fowler).

Actually, looking at my old Cheshire book I notice there are dozens of courses with a large number of parallel holes.  On of the few on which you really notice it, though, is Upton-by-Chester and I'm afraid dull architecture and a rather plain site have to answer for that.

David Ownby

Re:Back 'n' Forth courses
« Reply #10 on: May 11, 2007, 10:12:48 AM »
I believe the back nine at East Lake in Atlanta six holes that run basically parallel to one another. I enjoyed the course, but found that stretch of holes to be very monotnous. (To be fair, it might have had something to do with the heat and humiditiy the day I was there).


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