Mounds

[Thomas Dai]

Mounds, and I don’t mean loads of mounds set out in the manor of containment mounding or massive Dolly Parton-esque or Don King one’s, are imo fine features and can present interesting playing characteristics, call for different thinking, shotmaking skills etc.


Different shapes with subtle lines, different sizes, different heights, sometimes topped with smooth grass or longer grass. On and around greens, within fairways, even in front tees. Lots of different versions.


There are some great mounds about - 18th fairway at Royal St George’s, in front of the 4th green at TOC are a couple of examples that easily come to mind. Some very subtle ones too such as in front of the 7th green at Burnham and Berrow.


So the question is, is mounding used enough? I stress not in a containment sense but as say individual or group features whatever size and height may be appropriate?


Thoughts?


Atb

[Tom_Doak]

Thomas:


There was such an overkill of mounding on American courses in the 1980's that one of the things I strove for in building my first course was "no mounds".


Now that we are over that era, I am starting to grow fond of them on older courses, where the grasses have nativized and they look like they've been there forever.  I'm still not a fan of them on new courses, generally.


But I guess I would also have to differentiate between the natural dunes contours found on links courses and "mounds" built later.  I have no clear notion of whether the mound in front of the 4th at St. Andrews is a natural feature or not.  Surely any contours in the 18th fairway at Sandwich are natural, though? 


A favorite such contour of mine is the mound in the fairway on the 2nd hole [the former 5th] at Yarra Yarra in Australia.  There is a carry bunker on the right off the tee which isn't too far, but if you just squeeze to the side of it, there is also a contour in the fairway that will steer your ball to the right side of the fairway ... or further away to the left, if you don't hug the bunker close enough.  And the approach shot from the left is FAR harder than from the right.  I presume that mound was added to the design by Alex Russell, though I don't know for sure.

[Kyle Harris]

I presume that mound was added to the design by Alex Russell, though I don't know for sure.

Is this lack of certainty a contributing factor to your fondness for the mound?

[Tom_Doak]

I presume that mound was added to the design by Alex Russell, though I don't know for sure.

Is this lack of certainty a contributing factor to your fondness for the mound?

I started to say yes, but in reality, no.  Either he put the mound there, or if it was there, he used it brilliantly.  I suspect the former because there are a bunch of parallel holes there and there wasn't much room to maneuver to get the mound in the right place.

[Jim Hoak]

Mackenzie loved mounds, especially around greens on Par-5’s.  Nice feature to protect on second shots going for the green.

[David_Tepper]

The mound short & left of the green on the par-5 12th at Royal Dornoch really makes the hole.

[Mark Pearce]

The mound short & left of the green on the par-5 12th at Royal Dornoch really makes the hole.

That's the example that first came to mind for me, too.  It defines the strategy of the hole from the tee.  And if laying up, brings the fairway bunker 100 yards short of the green on the right into play.  Indeed, the interaction between that mound and that bunker is a great example of separate hazards co-operating.

[Thomas Dai]

In the hope of learning more I've tried to find a photo of the 2nd ex-5th at Yarra Yarra.
Best I could come up is this - hope it's the right hole (!!!) not the best view either - and the renovation plan.
Is someone has more appropriate photos perhaps they could post them




Some investigation following a thread on the Jockey Club in Argentina - see http://www.golfclubatlas.com/forum/index.php/topic,42257.0.html -
produced some interesting photos of mounds. The more so given the apparent flatness of the original site.
A couple of Jockey Club photos as examples - I'm not sure of the hole numbers - quite severe mounds in many ways, but I'm sure there are lots of subtle ones as well, although they probably don't photograph as well.




Mounds without sand nearby. Very effective. A challenge to playing strategy and thinking plus shot-making skills and presumably much easier to construct and less costly to maintain than sunken or semi-sunken pits containing sand!?


Sometimes less is more.


atb