John Kirk, Tom Doak, et. al.,
Does is make sense to design a very difficult course in such a remote location ?
After you've played it a few times, what's the lure to return ?
Isn't it the, "it's a nice place to visit, but you wouldn't want to live their" syndrome ?
I would think that a sporty, fun to play golf course would be the ideal product, not a back breaker.
What are your thoughts ?
Patrick,
I've tried to answer this post four times, and there is some magical combination of keystrokes on my computer which causes the form to reset. So here's a quicker answer.
In general, I agree. It would be demoralizing to join a club, and never be able to reach your typical range of good scores with a well played round. But I think the true nature of demoralization has more to do with the number of instances where a disappointing result is encountered. For a sand hills type of course like Dismal River, I would say the most demoralizing things that could happen are:
1. Having to make a difficult walk in the native areas looking for a ball. Especially if you can't find it.
2. Having to make a difficult walk into a bunker to play a shot, especially if you have to rake it afterwards. Both 1. and 2. are time consuming and tiring.
3. Hitting a second putt that ends up nowhere near the hole. It's OK if I misjudge the first one, but if I hit a good second putt and can't get it close, that's BS.
Generally, I feel self conscious when I take lots of time playing the hole. I'm holding up the parade.
I played Sand Hills three times last fall. In our foursome there were two low handicappers and two mid handicap players. The wind was calm, but we still spent lots of time in the native areas looking for balls. We had to hurry other aspects of the game to keep up. That was my only real disappointment with the Sand Hills experience. On the other hand, I suppose one might feel demoralized if they hit a wedge approach to the first hole, misjudged the uphill, and watched it roll 60 yards backwards when it came up short. To me, that's more amusing than disappointing.
The natural sand hazards at these sand hills courses are much more difficult than your typical country club course, and I say that's a good thing.
In my experience, most of the courses considered the greatest in the world are very difficult. I thought Sand Hills was really tough, but also also very enjoyable. Same thing with Merion. I think the golf architect has to be clever to present difficulty while pleasing the player at the same time. Harking back to Gene Greco's post, it's a subtle and non-trivial art.
But back to your point, Pat. Not every course should be backbreakingly hard. Mostly, Dismal River and Ballyneal will be played by older guys who can afford to, and generally we don't play the power game. Dismal River will be hard, but the 6750 yard length of the second tees suits my current game. Ballyneal won't be too difficult, unless the wind blows hard. Plus I can't tell you how the short game will be until the dry turf is optimized.