[Bill Brightly]

My apologies if this article from Golf Course Architecture magazine has been discussed here before but I found it so powerful. Mike Malone's thread entitled "what topics haven't been beaten to death" prompted me to make this post.


GCA-75-Insight_Slow_swing_speed.pdf (provincelakegolf.com)


Little analyzes the ball flight and rollout when a golfer with driver swing speed of 65 mph, and those with 95 mph driver swing.
The 65 mph golfer hits a 7 iron 93 yards in the air with 13 yards of rollout. The 95 mph golfer carries the ball 152 yards with 4 yards of rollout.


To me, this has extremely significant implications to an architect trying to design a golf course for golfers of all abilities, not just single digit men. 13 yards of rollout is 39 feet, so greens with front-center bunkers become extremely problematic for low ball hitters who cannot generate height and/or backspin.


When we talk about golf courses and golf holes we love, do we consider how playable they are for low swing speed golfers?

[JC Urbina]

Bill,


Nice highlight on Arthur Little's  work on forward tees as it relates to swing speed.


Mike Keiser is a big believer in Arthur's work.  We used his charts to lay out the forward tees,  first at Old Mac and then Pac Dunes.  Mike and Ken and I went for a walk on a few occasions  to find appropriate locations for the Royal Blue tees on Old Mac.


I still use the notion of swing speeds to start any story regarding distance and where tees should be laid out.




Something worth talking about Bill, well done!

[Ally Mcintosh]

I’d suggest that on firmer greens, those rollout figures are much larger (for all swing speeds).

[Thomas Dai]

It’s not just distance either.
As intimated in the OP, trajectory, or rather lack of it, and the need for it, has a huge impact as swing speed declines.
So does height of cut. The longer the grass the more strength needed.
Even bunker shots require a level of strength, especially from softer sand.
Atb

[Charlie Goerges]

The longer the grass the more strength needed.

According to my sources, this is more of a double-edged sword. If the height of cut is higher, the option exists to dry out the turf more because it will be more resilient (which might end up a wash for required strength). Now if we're only talking about long rough, then yes, it is pretty bad for slow swing speeds.

[Jeff_Brauer]

It's funny, but I credit Arthur with opening my eyes about course length, but he credits me for opening his.  I was interviewed by the WSJ in April 2008 (9?) for an article called "A Tee To Far" and he contacted me after that, so he may be right.  But, I know I didn't develop the idea myself, either, and can't recall exactly where it came from.  My only contribution to this current article was reviewing it for Arthur with an eye toward readability.

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