My interest in architecture stems from a naive dream. I used to think someday I'd be able to build my own course ala Crump or Fownes. It's a dream that has long since given way to reality, but here are some of the characteristics of my dream course, which I still fantasize about while loading t shirts of the Super Bowl winning Steelers
:
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Functional, but discerning, width: The whole course will be mowed down to fairway height - not Augusta fairway height, but short grass nonetheless. Will it make the course too easy? See next point.
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Angled greens with a good bit of contour/slope: I don't know if this will be sufficient to challenge Tiger, but it will be more than enough to challenge me and my guests! Coupled with the bone-dry conditions (can't afford irrigation!
, I think it will keep things interesting.
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No water reasonably in play: My biggest pet peeve on any course. Sure it artificially inflates scores, but that's not what my course is about! I believe in the recovery shot. Seve will love my course (and be welcome to play it anytime!). Similarly, there will be virtually
no trees!
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No forced carries: but many heroic carries! In other words, there will be an option to use putter off the tee, if so desired, but there will also be looooooong, Matt Wardian carries that will reward the golfer with an advantageous position.
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No elevated tees!: Screw the golfer who wants to see everything! The folks playing my course will have a few cracks at it, so whatever they miss the first time, they'd better pick up on the next. For this reason, I'll also add
no bulldozing to avoid blindness.
I'll also throw out some generally accepted things that I couldn't care less about:
1)
Par 3s that box the compass - Is the wind in your area so uniform that this really matters? Are you so good at reading the wind that you find par 3s in the same direction boring? Not in my experience on the first count, and I doubt it on the second (unless your name is Tiger Woods - who will be welcome at my course! Tiger and all of our foreign posters are all honorary members - the rest of you have to suck up
Not to me, but someone of my choosing).
2)
Using every club in the bag - I play the game inconsistently enough that this is highly overrated. I'd rather a course offer me the option of a high soft 7 iron and a low running 7 iron on consecutive par 3s than offer me a stock 4 iron and a stock 9 iron, one on each nine.
3)
Dictated shots: It will be up to the golfer, not the architect (or Hootie Johnson
), to decide how he will play each hole. I flat out don't care if you hit half lob wedge into my par 4 that I'm hitting a hybrid into, and I similarly don't care if you're left with a fairway wood while I'm smacking my 8 iron!
I'll share some more characteristics later, but I'll leave you with two questions:
1) Would you want to play my course?
2) What characteristics would your course possess?