[Patrick_Mucci]

What's the best architectural optical illusion that you've seen on a golf course ?

And, WHY ?

The bunker at # 14, the par 3 at Hidden Creek is one of the best that I've encountered because it's difficult to tell if the bunker is a fronting bunker or a rear bunker, and that uncertainty affects your tee shot to a good degree.

[Jeff_Mingay]

Pat,

Every shot at St. Andrews  

[Joe Hancock]

Pat,

The 17th green at The Heather Course, Boyne Highlands. It's an RTJ course. The green is built into the side of a very large hill. The surrounding elevation changes and the scope of the distant hills makes it one very tough read, no matter how many times one plays it. The green looks like it's sloping hard from left to right, and yet most putts break hard to the left. I've misread 20 footers by 5 feet of break on that green, and it's not just because I suck!  

I like deception bunkers too, but once you know the real deal, they don't have the same effect.

Joe

[Gerry B]

One of the better ones IMHO is the second shot over the Quarry on # 16 at Merion. Always seems to play much  longer than it looks (for me anyway)- even after the caddy has warned me time and time again.

[Jeff_Brauer]

Fazio's 12th Hole at Shadow Creek.  

He oversized the bunkers close to the tee, and gradually downsized them to a very small green with a tiny flagstick.  This creates a forced perspective, and even when I was 140 or so from the green, I clubed for 160, and flew it, despite my partner - and the sprinkler marker - telling me not to.  The small flag was the real key, as it makes the tiny green seem another 20-30 yards away.

The previous hole is supposedly the reverse - a bigger green and frontal bunker than you should expect for a short par 4, to make you underclub, but that one didn't work as well for me, perhaps because we have seen plenty of oversized bunkers in modern design.

[Patrick_Mucci]

Jeff Brauer,

The huge bunkers at ANGC fooled me, their size makes them look closer then they are, and tempts you to want to try to carry them.

Spacial relationships, like the ones you mentioned can combine to deceive the eye.

[A_Clay_Man]

The third at SFGC. Past the raised Tarantula, the left greenside bunker complex, is invisible from the center of the fairway. With the right green front open, the aggresive golfer, that challenges the leftside, over the Tarantula, is flirting with a deep sea of sand. While I diidn't fall for the illusion, I considered it a wonderfuly refreshing approach to GCA. So I may be biased, as to why.

[Bob_Huntley]

The par 4 17th at the MPCC Dunes course. A somewhat elevated green with a bunker some twenty paces in front of the green. The shot seems to require a club some two or three shorter than it actually takes to get up.

There is a similar hole at The Nantucket Golf Club. Both the work of Rees Jones.

[Tom_Doak]

The best cross bunker illusion I can remember seeing was on an uphill par 4 at Swinley Forest -- the sixth hole, I think (or possibly the seventh, it has been 22 years!).  It looks like it's right on top of the green, but it's a full sixty yards in front.

My favorite illusion is the bunkering Don Placek came up with on the 18th at Pacific Dunes.  There is a narrow cut in the bunker at the front right of the green, which blends into the bunker way at the back right by the pro shop.  From the 150-yard mark, they look like they're the same bunker, even though they are about forty yards apart, and one is in front of the green, and the other behind!

Unfortunately, the winter winds have torn about two feet of sand out of the front bunker, so you can see a bit of grass between the two now.

[Robert Mercer Deruntz]

ISeawane has several great examples--the front bunker on the par3 14th appears to be greenside and makes the hole seem much shorter. On my favorite short hole in Metro-NY, the par 4 4th, the water channel and centerline bunkers create a confusing visual.  Those who can drive the green usually end up left in a tricky greenside bunker.  Oftentimes, a couple rounds later the player discovers the water channel. The green is not very large, but an elevated tier on the right side of the green near the water channel makes the green appear much larger from the tee.  This is truely one of the great short par 4's!                                                              Though not effectively large, the bunkers on the par 3 14th at Inwood make the large green seem tiny.  Standing on the tee, the player only sees a flag waving over the flashed up bunkers with JFK and NYC to the right and over the green.  It is devilishly difficult to hit at the right and back pins because of the bunker visuals.

[Patrick_Mucci]

Robert Duruntz,

The backround and bunker visuals on # 13 aren't shabby either.  Add in the wind off the bay and it's a neat corner.

Tom Doak,

I remember that look, was it accidental or planned ?
If it was planned, how do you go about ascertaining the bunker configuration/shape/depth to achieve that look ?
Trial and error would seem time consuming and costly.

[Tom_Doak]

Patrick,

There was a shallow scrape in the ridge on the greenside bunker.  Don looked at it for a long time ... the better part of two days ... before deciding to build the back bunker (which is completely out of play) to create this illusion.  We've done similar things on other courses, but it was pulled off far better there.

So it was intentional, but not exactly "planned" ... it's the kind of thing you only come up with when you have several sets of keen eyes working on a project.

[wsmorrison]

William Flynn used the downhill topography on the par 3 3rd at Rolling Green and par 3 4th at Cascades combined with contours in the green surrounds, the toplines of greenside bunkers, and a false front to give the overwhelming impression that the green slopes severely from back to front when in fact the green slopes front to back.  Certainly on the tee you get this impression but likewise everywhere you stand on the green.  Only if you get down to green level off the green surface can you begin to understand what is really going on.  I have seen a number of excellent players play these holes and even after putting the ball from the front of the green way past the hole (it looks distinctly uphill) they hit tentative putts back towards the hole (shot looks like a very quick one downhill) and come up well short.  For a seemingly easy hole to figure out, it has the opposite green characteristics and it is awfully hard for even the experienced player let alone the newcomer.  I would certainly like to see more of holes like these where there are intentional perceptual miscues built by the architects of today as they are fascinating designs and make you think on each shot.

Another wonderful optical illusion by Flynn is the left fairway bunker complex on the 6th at Indian Creek.  There is a sort of slight pyramid shaped topline on the first bunker combined with the other 3 bunkers in this complex along that seemingly combine with the 3 green side bunkers to make it look like one giant bunker field with no place to drive the ball.  In fact, there are considerably more than 100 yards to land the tee shot.  Even after you know this, there another interesting facet to the tee shot.  If you take the correct line over the middle of the bunker field (into what looks like certain trouble) you get the benefit of a turbo boost.  If the ball is off line a bit to the right or fades (for us righties) the different slope kicks the ball to the right (into the rough if off line enough) resulting in lost distance.

[Bill Gayne]

The 12th at ANGC. The optical illusion being the flag stick showing no wind and there actually can be wind currents present between the tee and hole.

[A_Clay_Man]

How does optical illusion, differ from counter intuitive?

[Donnie Beck]

I like the 6th hole at the Hay Harbor Club on Fishers Island. It is a short down hill 157 yd par 3. The lip of the front bunker hides the entire aproach area from your sight. It is very deceiving. The bunker looks like it is right next to the green, but it is actually 20 yds short of green. Pretty cool stuff!!

[Scott_Burroughs]

No particular hole in general, but bunkers in the center 30 to up to 100 yards short of a green that appear to be directly fronting the green are terrific examples of optical illusions that f*&% with your mind.  Principal's Nose bunkers are an example.

[BCrosby]

Ross's wonderful foreshortening bunkers are another example.

I've played hundreds of shots over them and they mess with your mind time after time after time.

Bob

[Pete Lavallee]

When playing Pasatiempo, I always stop 30 yards short of the 17th green and marvel at how this wickedly sloped surface appears to be faily level. The Good Doctor disconnected the putting surface from the general slope, from the houses on the left down to the 18th tee, with a tiny swale on the left that seems to break up the overall slope line. Once you've played the hole, and realize just how much break there truely is, the player will always aim well left of the pin. I'm sure every first timer will end up right of his intended target on this hole.

[Paul Perrella]

Pat,

      I hope you won't think I'm crazy, but the first time I stood on the 3rd tee at Garden City I asked my host if I could carry the bunker in the middle of the fairway. He assured me I was not seeing what I thought I was. You would be better to elaborate than I if you know what I'm talking about.

 Paul

[Tommy_Naccarato]

I was going to say the 18th at Pacific Dunes. Some really masterful work there. Not only does that bunker tie-in so well with the bunkering the back on the hill, in addition to what my eyes saw is another two or three bunkers right of the greenside one!

Bandon Dunes #14 is another great hole where I felt from the tee, the line of the hole went past the dune on the other side, only the hole turns right to the green playing in front of the dune, and the line of the bunkering there should have tipped me off, but it didn't! Not a single hole like it on the rest of the course, and that was refreshing!

Like Jeff Mingay, I think much of the charm of the Old Course is in its deception, and my favorite decpetion there is without doubt the second shot into Hole o' the Cross-In #13 where if your not careful you literally are aimed at the wrong pin of the biggest green in the world!

At Friars Head, I think the biggest deception for me is not paying attention to the lay of the land and how holes tend to follow it so much that you literally line yourself up directly at certain bunkers placed thorughout the course. My meaning is that if you do realize where your at in relation to the shot on any fo the par 5's going in or out of the dunes, its going to be a long, FUN day!

All of the places mentioned are like a roller-coaster ride for me!

[Tommy_Naccarato]

Pete, Good one!

I forgot to add Pasa in there myself. #3 for me, as well as #11 are very decpetive how far uphill they are actually going.

[Mike_Cirba]

Donnie Beck;

Does anyone know who designed the Hay Harbor course?  Does it bear any of the MacDonald/Raynor trademark features?  

Thanks for any info.

[Donnie Beck]

Mike,

I have been tring to figured that one out for years. No one seems to know. It is a great little track with some interesting holes, but definately not Raynor/McDonald.

[TEPaul]

The best architectural optical illusion I've seen on a golf course was last year spotting this really big radio tower behind #18 green at NGLA as I approached the tee. I was really surprised by it and I asked my caddie when it went in and how the club could let that happen. He said he couldn't see it. I hit my drive and when I got up to it I asked him again when it went in and how the club could've let it happen. He said he still couldn't see it. When I got up alongside the clubhouse I could see it was the flag pole.

The reason it was the best optical illusion I've ever seen on a golf course? Because my eyes really suck, that's why!

[Tags:]

Tags:

[Tags:]

Tags:

Call to undefined function theme_linktree()