Have you ever seen this ?

[Patrick_Mucci]

Have you ever seen the 18th green at Inverness ?

It has a most unusual feature.

The green is canted high right to low left, but, the upper fringe is a 60 degree vertical slope down to a hollow that could be described as U or V shaped.

Balls coming to rest in this area pose an enormous problem to the golfer.... what club to hit, and how to hit it.

Some members recommended a punched 4-iron into the shaved vertical fringe.

We tried everything from putter to 3-wood and every iron in between.

Many shots stayed in the hollow, others went to far, usually off the green, and a few shots stayed on the green.

This feature existed, in a more benign condition, on other holes.

Has anyone seen this configuration before ?

Was this part of the Ross design or did others create this configuration ?

To get a better idea of the feature, watch the Senior Open at Inverness in a few weeks.

[jonathan_becker]

Patrick,

I played Inverness last week and have a few photos of what you described in your initial post from 2003.  I came across this thread while searching for other photos of the club. 

Other than this hole, I have never seen this feature.







 

[Mark Pearce]

I used to be a member of a 9 hole course in Hertfordshire called Chorleywood that had similar hazards (less sharp definition on the green edge, narrower) as a hazard on several greens, as a replacement presumably for sand bunkers which they were not allowed as the course is on common ground.  I always tried to use a pitching wedge but older members went with something far flatter faced, some even with putters.

[Steve Kline]

That area looks like an old bunker. I wonder if it was originally. Left of the 14th green at Bandon Trails used to be like that except it was all fairway height.

[Bill_McBride]

I used to be a member of a 9 hole course in Hertfordshire called Chorleywood that had similar hazards (less sharp definition on the green edge, narrower) as a hazard on several greens, as a replacement presumably for sand bunkers which they were not allowed as the course is on common ground.  I always tried to use a pitching wedge but older members went with something far flatter faced, some even with putters.

Much the same effect is created by the "eyebrow" sleepers buried by several greens at Rye, and I hear they have been replicated at Castle Stuart.  One is forced to chip or pitch over the little eyebrows, putting is not an option.

Wish I could find a photo to post.

The vertical ridge behind the green at Inverness seems equally artificial and man-made.

[John Chilver-Stainer]

I've seen this.



One way of playing the ball is to strike it on the equator with the leading edge of a sand wedge. The idea is the ball deflects off the bank into the air and on to the green - if your lucky!!!!

[Jason Topp]

Kington presents a bunch of similar challenges:

Coutesy of Sean Arble:

[Patrick_Mucci]

Jonathan,

Thanks for the pictures.

I've never seen a configuration like that, before or since.

Steve Kline,

Ross's 1916 Blueprint doesn't show a bunker in that location and photos from the late 20's and 1931 US Open don't show a bunker in that location, neither do photos from the 1993 PGA. hence, I don't think it was ever intended as a bunker and I don't think it was ever presented as a bunker..

It's a very unique feature.

[Mark McKeever]

Jonathan,

That is a really neat feature but I can't say I have ever seen it used before on any courses I have played. I imagine it is VERY difficult to maintain?

Mark

[Chris_Blakely]

I wonder if that feature was left over from the 9 hole course that was there before Ross reworked Inverness??

Chris

[Matt_Cohn]

Patrick:

Yes! I was at Inverness in 2000 and I remember being really surprised by this feature. At first I thought that it was something Arthur Hills had added, but it's an original feature, right? It did seem a bit strange, although effective as a "hazard".