While I was playing a ho-hum round of golf this morning on a less than ho-hum course with power lines running across two fairways, I started trying to compile a list of courses I've played with power lines that are either in play or at least running through the course property.

I came up with 4 off the top of my head, and I think my favorite it Wintonbury Hills.  They did a nice job of keeping the lines out of play and also routing the course in a manner where the power lines don't stick out like a sore thumb even though they are cutting right through the property.

So here's my question to the group - what is the best course (or your personal favorite) designed on land with power lines?

I seem to remember seeing it on a PGA Tour course.  I wanna say it's one of the courses in the Canadian Open rotation, but I'm not completely sure.

Dick Kirkpatrick's new Copetown Woods course, near Hamilton, Ontario has power lines running through it. I've only seen Copetown recently, under snow cover but look forward to getting back there for a game in the new year.

Hopefully Dick will jump in here to discuss the challenges those power lines presented during the routing phase of the development.

Shuttle Meadow, an old Willie Park Jr. design in Kensington, Ct., has the same powerlines crossing the fairways on the par-5 3rd and 8th holes and they are in both cases easily in play.

Low-key powerlines are also in play on the 10th at Inwood, a 110-yard par-3.

Hi Dale,

The 4 courses I mentioned are in three different cities around the country.  Just a miniscule percentage of the courses I've played.  The power lines today just made me think of this topic.

The course I played today did seem to be a bit of an architectural wasteland.  It was the first course I've played in a new city for me - Nashville - which I've heard described in unfavorable terms as a golf town.  I'm not going to judge the entire area based on my first experience.

Rock Creek near Portland OR has power lines alongside the ninth hole. Both towers and lines are in play.

The TPC at Snoqualmie Pass has powerlines after the 1st green and may be one of the better tracks. Contrary to Rock Creek, you get definite vibes from the power here. Real high voltage.

Power lines are in play on a couple of holes at Crooked Creek in Atlanta.

Of all the man-made objects that exist in, on or around a golf course, they have to be the worst.

Bob

There is a leading candidate here in the Pacific NW...

Desert Canyon in Orondo, WA is a pretty good high-desert type track with some power lines prominently featured on a few holes.  While it would take a bid pull/slice to hit them, you can literally feel the buzz from the lines well in advance of getting to them.  They are part of the system that carries power up from the Columbia River.  If you are the paranoid type, you would swear that these power lines are super-charged and capable of great harm!!

There is a course in Sydney where the power lines run through the course & across a short par 4 where a lay up is encouraged. I’ve seen someone play a perfect lay up on this hole only to see it ricochet off a power line & into knee high rough to become lost. Yes, he got to replay the shot with no penalty, but he wasn’t happy about the lost ball.

The great thing about power lines on a golf course is the ambience they give. On the course I mentioned before, if the lines are wet with dew or rain they give an audible buzz that is extremely noticeable. I’ve played there a couple of times & on each occasion the lines were buzzing. All I could think was, “Am I going to need to call Erin Brockovich one day!”

Graham Cooke's new Fox Creek in Dieppe, New Brunswick has power lines running along side one of the holes on the front nine (maybe 6 or 7?)

They run down the right side of the entire hole, sharing one clearing in the forest.

I thought it was a shame; a real eyesore on an otherwise attractive layout.

Firestone (South) is the PGA Tour course that has them, although they're not in play, and they try like hell to keep them off TV.

Eight or ten years ago I was starting to think that EVERY 500 acre site that was left had a power line running through it.  We had a run of them, including Quail Crossing and Riverfront.  It is really hard to design around them, especially with a housing element involved, because usually the development wants to have a golf hole as a buffer between the houses and the power lines.

I hadn't seen a power line on a site again for a long time until Tumble Creek and Rock Creek, which both have them in the distance; trying to route so you never look at them is tricky, because if they aren't right next to the course they aren't on the map and you can't see if you're aimed right at them or not.

None of these are a match for the huge towers which dominate many of the newer courses in Japan, those are unbelievable.  But you'll never see them in the pictures of the courses because they are PhotoShopped right out of there!

Tim,

There is a particularly offensive set up High Power Lines that rips across Pennsylvania and New Jersey that can be seen/played under on the following courses:

Meadowlands, Blue Bell Country Club, Horsham Valley Golf Course, Fairways Golf Club, Bucks County Country Club, Lookaway Golf Club, The Ridge at Back Brook, and Stanton Ridge Country Club.

The latter two being in New Jersey. I think the power lines also make an appearance at Mainland Golf Course in Montco, PA.

Also Rancocas GC in NJ, #7 and #11.  I once was playing in a sixsome (middle of winter, empty course) and 5/6 hit the power lines on #11, a par 3 which was playing about 135, I would never have believed it if I weren't one of the unlucky five.  

One of the most amazing displays of ball striking I've seen was from Jody Rosenthal (now Anschutz), playing for Tulsa in a college tournament hosted by the U of Texas twenty years ago.  The ninth hole ran under a high power line and they had the rule that you had to play the shot over if you nicked the wires.

She was in the fairway with a six iron and looked at the power lines like they were in her way, and sure enough, she hit the bottom wire with her shot.

So she dropped a ball, went through her routine, and hit the wire again in the same spot.

So she dropped again, changed to a five iron, and got it under the wires but missed the green a bit wide.  It's the only time I ever saw her get mad at anything.