Phil,

I don't know what the situation at Shadow Ridge and PGA West was, but oft times "water hazards" are requirements that weren't the course architect's idea!

For example, Rod Whitman and I have laid out a course on Vancouver Island (that should start construction this year). We would never design an artificial pond as a hazard for the sake of, say, guarding a green. But there will be no less than eight artificial ponds at this particular course mandated as part of the storm water management plan for the surrounding residential development (of more than 1,000 home lots, plus condos, etc.).  

There's nothing Rod and I can do about it, other than try to make the ponds appear as natural as possible and integrate them into the design of the golf course in unique and interesting ways. I look at it as a challenge.

I can imagine a student of golf architecture coming out there when the course is ready to play asking, "What were Whitman and Mingay thinking?!?! Eight ponds... I thought they had a traditional design philosophy!"

They weren't our idea  

It's the unnatural hazards they put on desert courses and in Florida that I object to as well.  I have to quarrel with Raes Creek or the Pacific Ocean, for that matter.

Gentlemen,

I agree 100%.

If I went through my entire life not designing a single course featuring an artificial water hazard, I'd be a happy man. However, there are and always will be situations (as described above) when an artificial pond or two (or eight!) are mandated.

Even Bandon Trails has an irrigation lake in play!

Again, I consider our situation on Vancouver Island an interesting challenge. We'll see what transpires!

Writing in Routing the Golf Course, Dr. Ed Sadalla comments on Perceived versus Actual Difficulty:

...It is important to note that difficulty of a hazard and the excitement it generates do not always go hand in hand. Many of the difficulties in golf are mental, not physical — subjective, not objective. One can distinguish between the actual difficulty of a hazard and the perceived difficulty of the hazard. Hazards with high perceived difficulty catch the golfer’s attention, stimulate the imagination, and produce an emotional response. Water is an example of a hazard with high perceived difficulty, even on holes where it is easily avoided. Water often compels fantasies of failure in the average golfer. Peter Dobrineiner, a British writer, put it succinctly: “Water creates a neurosis in golfers, the very thought of this harmless fluid robs them of their normal powers of thought, turns their legs to jelly and produces a palsy of the upper limbs.”

On many occasions, however, hazards with high actual difficulty have low perceived difficulty. For example, deep rough is a more difficult problem for most players than is a shallow sand trap. However, a green with prominent bunkers tends to attract more attention and elicits more apprehension than a green surrounded by rough. The former is more visually interesting, more exciting, and tends to be perceived as more hazardous, although the green surrounded by deep rough is likely to add relatively more strokes to the scorecard.

This is one reason why Riviera is sooooo good.


Jeff F.

Marc,

The hazard to the right of that fairway is just the sort I object to.  All it does is inspire fear.  The only strategy is to avoid it.

Jim,

I don't like fescue that's too close to the playing corridors, which is the same thing as heather (which I have very little exposure to), or dense woods other than on the borders of the property.  Basically, I don't think a marginally off line shot should result in a penalty or lost ball unless it's because the player failed to execute a risky shot (eg taking too aggressive a line on a Cape).

I like the pond on the 9th at Hotchkiss, which was there before the course.  And I've lost a few balls in the woods on that hole as well, but I don't blame Raynor for that.  There's lots of room on the rest of the course.

     Belvedere GC in Charlevois MI has one lake for irrigation between the 13th and 15th holes. You don't even know it is there because it is hidden. Behind a large berm which seemed to be a natural hillside with mature trees.
     The 8th at the Reserve Vineyards (Cupp) has a large lake on the right side on the 2d, 3d shots on the 570 yard hole.
Give that the left side is mounding with tall grass where a ball can be Lost, the safer shot is toward the water as that does not incur a stroke and distance penalty.