Novelty items on golf courses

[Tim Gavrich]

I must say, I like them.  I mean stuff like the noose hanging from the tree at Oak Tree, the wind-thing at Sand Hills.  I mentioned the mining tunnel at Pete Dye as well.  I feel this kind of item can enhance the atmosphere of a golf course.  Of course I wouldn't want to see anything like it if it isn't necessary, but when it is used nicely, it adds a nice little flair element to an already-nice experience.

[Joe Hancock]

I just got a million new golf ideas after driving from Nashville to Atlanta on the Interstate.....I'm going to start selling fireworks in our pro shop.

Joe

[Bill_McBride]

Joe, is that for those who run off a few birdies and want to celebrate?  

One of the "novelty items" I like is authentic covered bridges.  Not as fond of pseudo castles, but the authentic ruined castle on the right side of the 7th fairway at Pennard is magic, as is the view of the ocean below on that hole.

[David Neveux]

There is an old train track that runs right through The Gailes course at Lakewood Shores in Oscoda, Michigan.  For some unknown reason I really love it, I suppose I just think that it's neat and something you rarely find on a course, especially in Michigan.

[Jason McNamara]

I just got a million new golf ideas after driving from Nashville to Atlanta on the Interstate.....I'm going to start selling fireworks in our pro shop.

That's a relief - based on that signage in that part of the country I was worried you'd open another Rock City.  

Jason

[Kyle Harris]

Around the Philadelphia area, there are a few courses with old family cemetaries on them. Cherry Valley CC in Princeton, NJ has one just behind the 16th green dating from the 18th century.

Occassionally (and admittedly more freaky) you'll come across an isolated grave on a golf course. Especially eerie when it's in the woods to the right of a hole and your slice finds it - found that one out during my third time looping through Lookaway. It's to the right of the ninth fairway.

[Forrest Richardson]

Verde Valley Club (c. 1890s and built by silver miners in Jerome, Arizona, many from scotland) had a hole which played under a conveyor and aqueduct. The course no longer exists thanks to Phelps Dodge, a mega-mining company that planned to develop the area but never got around to it. A treasure lost.

[Craig Van Egmond]

The noose at Oak Tree is no more, the result of our more politically correct times.

[Mike_Cirba]

A couple that come to mind.

Wachesaw Plantation in SC has the stone foundation remains of "Richmond Plantation" just along the 15th tee.  After playing the hole and heading to the 16th tee, one passes a preserved slave cemetary that is chill-inducing.

On the 13th at Inniscrone, Gil Hanse incorporated a old historical dirt road enbankment on the left side.

There's also a historical road crossing at Gulph Mills.

Lee's Hill in VA was the first course I knew of that incorporated Civil War trenches and some other artifacts of the time into the design, which was done by Bill Love of Ault & Clark.  I understand that other courses in the region have incorporated a similar theme since then.

[PThomas]

The noose at Oak Tree is no more, the result of our more politically correct times.

I guess to be politically correct they'd have to hang an electric chair or some vials with lethal drugs, huh???

[Forrest Richardson]

It is never used because they could not find a golf course architect to administer the noose.

[Rob_Waldron]

How about the railroad car / bridge at The Mountain Course at La Quinta.

The University of MD has an interesting ladder next to the 7th tee which is used to determine when the fairway is clear.

The 20 foot periscope at Meadow's Farm GC in Virginia.

The traffic light on #10 tee at Bethesda CC in Maryland

[Ian Andrew]

I think the (I hope I get the name right) Mound Builders Club in Ohio may be the most facinating of all. Any aerial shots of this course will blow you away. I admire the architect for leaving the mounds alone, which was the right thing to. It's one course I have always wanted to see.

[Jeff_Brauer]

It is never used because they could not find a golf course architect to administer the noose.

Forest,

Isn't there an old saying that they hang the golf course architect rendering in the clubhouse because they can't find the golf course architect?

Back on topic, isn't there an air force course with old planes on it?  Fazio left a natural rock cave in the 18th fw at Barton Creek.


We interviewed for a job in Arkansas, next to an air force base that had bunkers that stored atomic bombs (at least at one point)  In Atlanta, we kept some old civil war trenches in places (and in some cases were required to)  

Railroads artifacts seem plentiful, and at the Quarry, we left remnants of rr tracks, fueling stations, etc., but they wouldn't let me keep the rails crossing the first fw, or even its cart path.

If you count constructed novelties, I have my Giant foot print bunker at Giants Ridge (I wanted a whole series of them to suggest the giants movement, but that got nixed) as well as cat paw bunkers at K State.

Legend has it on a few courses by steamshovel Banks that the steam shovel is still buried somewhere on one of his courses.  We had a track hoe catch on fire at Lake Jackson, and I desparately wanted them to leave it in the woods as a relic.  Also, the reputed trail to Stephan F. Austins ranch ran though the third fw, and I wanted to keep that.

I am batting less than .100 on keeping funky items on the golf course, I guess, but I do like them.  They give a sense of place.......

[Evan Fleisher]

Not sure if these qualify, but what about...

* The stone wall on "The Pit" at North Berwick





* The anti-tank cement barricades around the exterior (but on the shoreline) of the #1 course at Gullane



For former is actually an integral part of the hole's design, creates a bit of quirk and is a hoot to play!  The latter is just an interesting artifact from WWII and does not impede onto the golf course proper...but was really neat to see anyway!

I'd say I have to agree with the first sentiments stated in this thread...if used approriately on the grounds or in the design because the "novelty item" was already there (historical significance) and had some special meaning to the club then I say let it be!  Otherwise, it is possible that a "contrived novelty" for the sake of being novel may not have a rightful place.  Hard to judge until you see them in context...

[john_stiles]

The submarine periscope on 1st hole at Elie certainly qualifies.

I think there is also an old WWII 'pillbox' / lookout post or such on the North Berwick course although it is well out of play.

There is a 'very large' barn (converted to rain shelter, indoor practice area) on the course interior at The Olde Farm in southwest Virginia.

[Mark_Rowlinson]

17th tee of Royal Jersey (Channel Islands) stands on a German wartime bunker.  Conwy (North Wales) has remnants of the wartime defences built to defend the harbour where they were building a substantial part of the Mulberry Harbour.  There are periscopes at Elie, Whittington Heath and (still?) Aberdovey.  The left hand edge of the 9th hole at RAF Waddington near Lincoln was (when I played there) a redundant Vulcan bomber.  There are the Martello Towers at Felixstowe Ferry built to keep Napoleon at bay.  The old sheds over which the drive at the 17th TOC was played are replicated by a part of the hideous Old Course Hotel - who allowed that to be built!  There are military armament factories beside Shaw Hill and Alsager Golf Courses and explosions during the back swing can be pretty off putting (NIck Dougherty came from Shaw Hill and managed to survive). The military gunnery ranges beside the York Golf Club at Strensall can be quite distracting, as also the bombing ranges near Hornsea in Yorkshire.  Until recently there was a military rocket launching post in the middle of a fairway at Hartlepool!  Unfortunately it had been taken down before I became involved in the place.  There is a short par-4 dogleg at Heaton Park in North Manchester where the brave, attempting to reach the green in a single shot hit out over a gypsy encampment - you don't top that shot!  The low flying aircraft taking off and landing over Royal Troon can be almost in range of a skied shot - there was a 747 doing circuits and bumps when I was last there and you felt you could almost touch it.  At Antrobus, near Warrington, there are dozens of little pools and ponds, fenced off because they are owned by local angling societies and there can be some awful moments when a wayward shot fells an angler's toddler.  At Glyfada in Athens there's a little Greek church in the middle of the course and play is frequently interrupted by wedding parties making their way across the fairways to the church.  Portal in Cheshire has a bunker shaped like a dinosaur's foot, because bones of a dinosaur's foot were unearthed while constructing the bunker.  At Carden Park in Cheshire and Forest of Arden in Warwickshire you play over a ha-ha, a ditch sunken so that effectively forms a barrier for deer, sheep or cattle, yet does not interrupt the view.  Is it an aqueduct under which you play at Tryall?  There are courses in Spain and elsewhere routed through orange groves, so that all dog-legs are right angles.  You play through olive groves at Tsada in Cyprus and I imagine there are courses routed through vineyards as well.

[Tom Huckaby]

There are military arsenals beside Shaw Hill and Alsager Golf Courses

Funny that word should come up today.  In a trying year, all was right with the world yesterday for us Gunners.

Now back to your golf course discussion.

 

[Mark_Rowlinson]

Tom, Unfortunately I changed it!  So sorry to queer your pitch, as they say.  

[Marty Bonnar]

There are military arsenals beside Shaw Hill and Alsager Golf Courses

for us Gunners.

 

I think you'll find the correct appelation is: GOONERS!

http://www.arsenal-land.co.uk/

FBD.

PS Well done last night - esp. as Mr Posh Spice plays for the opposition!

[Tom Huckaby]

Martin - Gooners it is for the fans, my bad. I'm just so damn excited we won that game I've lost track of the terminology.  And hey, I've only become a fan THIS season.  Nice timing, eh?

Mark - you can run but you can't hide.  Your original text is immortalized in my quote.

 

[PThomas]

there's a monument to killed pilots on Turnberry, I belive

[Marty Bonnar]

Can anyone seriously beat a periscope...



FBD.

[jg7236]

I forgot what golf course it was.  The course was located in southern Ohio not far from Lancaster Ohio.  We used to play this old course a few times a year in our high school matches. Adjacent to the golf course were working oil drills that echoed thru the woods.  

Isn't there a Hurdzan/Fry course in th eastern part of the US that has remnants of a old stone stucture or a cemetery on one hole?

[RJ_Daley]

Taking a boat to get from tee to green is a bit of a novelty...

[Tags:]

Tags: