Bighorn Cliffs Golf Course with judges' comments

[Garland Bayley]

In the following posts I will go through the holes of my design in the order the course was laid out. The course has a 12 hole loop, followed by a 6 hole loop with the 12th and 18th greens side by side. It may actually be a more interesting 18 to play 13 through 18 and then 1 through 12, but as you will see that is not how the course came together as I was laying it out.

For those that want the highlights, I think my best par 5 is #3, my best par 3 is #10, and my best par 4s are #7 and #11.

I hope you enjoy this. I enjoyed creating it, and Charlie has enriched our lives.

EDIT: I am adding the judges comments 3/24/09. Those specific to a hole will be added there. All judges comments will be posted at the end for those who have read the thread already and use the new button.

A nice routing, but unfortunately one too many greens sitting on the top of a hill.

I like the tees.

This routing need a lot of earthworks to actually become feasible.  There are many holes with awkward shots that are either uphill, blind or both, and a lot of green locations that are questionable, since they are often located on top of small mounds.  Large amounts of unnecessary work would be needed to correct the flaws of the routing.
In addition, I am not sure that a non-returning eighteen is the best way to go on this site.  I believe that two returning nines could have easily been created by using the features of the land efficiently.  In this climate, a golf course owner or operator will need all the rounds he can get to make a profit, even the nine-hole rounds! 
However, things are not all bad!  This routing offers, in my opinion, one of the most unique holes in the eight routings submitted in this contest.  I find that, with its gigantic fairway and its punchbowl green, the par four seventh offers two of the most intriguing shots on the course depending on your strategy. I believe that the hole could probably be made even more interesting with a few, cleverly placed bunkers in the fairway area.

Best Holes:   Hole no. 7 – Par 4
      Hole no. 14 – Par 4
      Hole no. 17 – Par 4

Note: #17 is intended to be a short uphill par 5.

[Garland Bayley]

1st Hole  418 388  368  308

The yardage marked 388, is really on the 418 distance. I thought I had moved the marker, when I changed it to 388, but it appears I didn’t.

01Top by Garland Bayley, on Flickr

The primary interest on the opening hole is the terrain to deal with in the landing area of the tee shot. Long hitters might be able to carry the ball far enough to get a boost on the far side of the hill intersecting the fairway.

EDIT: Judges comment

Holes no. 1 climbs a steep hill on the tee shots and will most likely offer blind approach shots for most golfers.  This might lead to slow starts.

01FromTee by Garland Bayley, on Flickr

The view from the left showing elevation change throughout the hole.

01FromLeftSide by Garland Bayley, on Flickr[

The view from the right showing elevation change throughout the hole.

01FromRightSide by Garland Bayley, on Flickr

Even though it is shorter to play the right side of the dog leg, a better view of the green for the approach shot may be had from the left side.

01ApproachFromLeft by Garland Bayley, on Flickr

01ApproachFromRight by Garland Bayley, on Flickr

Looking back from the green. Here we can see that an approach short or long is not good.

01FromGreenBack by Garland Bayley, on Flickr

[Garland Bayley]

2nd Hole  350  325  295

02Top by Garland Bayley, on Flickr[

The second hole traverses a varied terrain down to a bowl where the green sits. This hole will give most all players a chance to go low at least once in a while as the approach shots going wide on either side should be funneled back to the green. The low handicappers may not appreciate the hole giving higher handicappers a legitimate birdie chance, but the high handicappers will surely love it. May be handicap hole 18.

EDIT: Judges comment

Hole no. 2 offers a roller-coaster ride with a fairway that is heavily sloped and no clear idea of the direction the golfers are supposed to take.

02FromTee by Garland Bayley, on Flickr

The view from the left showing elevation change throughout the hole.

02FromLeftSide by Garland Bayley, on Flickr

The view from the right showing elevation change throughout the hole.

02FromRightSide by Garland Bayley, on Flickr

If the drive ends up short of the hill jutting in from the left, a limited view will be given on the approach.

02ApproachFromLeft by Garland Bayley, on Flickr

The better view for the approach is from the right.

02ApproachFromRight by Garland Bayley, on Flickr

Looking back from the green. This shows the green is not as far back in the end of the bowl like I planned. I believe my first layout of this hole had it right, but the drape even after Charlie’s repair didn’t work. My second drape didn’t get it positioned as well.

02FromGreenBack by Garland Bayley, on Flickr

[Garland Bayley]

3rd  520  480  440

03Top by Garland Bayley, on Flickr

The third hole is a short par 5 with a double dog leg. Trying to reach in two from the fairway would have to be done with a blind shot. However, the long hitter can play to the right and try to carry to the top of the hill there. Doing so would give a shorter approach with a visible target, albeit from the rough.

EDIT: Judges commnet

Hole no. 3 offers an interesting tee shot to a diagonal fairway that falls away from golfers.  Golfers who will attack the corner of the dogleg will have a much better view of the hole, and a shorter route to the green.  Not bad.

03FromTee by Garland Bayley, on Flickr

The view from the left showing elevation change throughout the hole.

03FromLeftSide by Garland Bayley, on Flickr

The view from the right showing elevation change throughout the hole.

03FromRightSide by Garland Bayley, on Flickr

Trying to cut the dog leg for a second shot to the green leaves a short ball on this slope.

03RightRoughApprox280FromBackTee by Garland Bayley, on Flickr

A long drive in the fairway leaves the green blind, but leaves this view of the fairway passing through the low point between two hills for a second shot.

03SecondShotView by Garland Bayley, on Flickr

The third shot gives a good view of the target. Shortcutting the dog leg from the tee would give a similar view, albeit from the rough.

03ThirdShotView by Garland Bayley, on Flickr

Looking back at this snake like hole from behind the green.

03FromGreenBack by Garland Bayley, on Flickr

[Garland Bayley]

4th  264  219  190  160

04Top by Garland Bayley, on Flickr

The judges saw this with only the 219, 190, and 160 yardages listed. I am undecided as to whether those are the proper yardages with a bunker added to left front of the green to make a Redan, or to extend it to it’s full length so the tee is closer to the last green. At 264 yards, I would be tempted to mark the par on the score card as 3.5. A 3 would be called a chick, and a 2 would be called a chickadee! A 4 would be called a mushy (similar to a bogy), and a 5 a mucky.

EDIT: Judges comment

Hole no. 4 appears to be a long par three to a very tough green located on a high mound with steep fall offs everywhere.  This will be a very difficult hole for most golfers.

04FromTee by Garland Bayley, on Flickr[

The view from the left showing elevation change throughout the hole.

04FromLeftSide by Garland Bayley, on Flickr

The view from the right showing elevation change throughout the hole.

04FromRightSide by Garland Bayley, on Flickr

The view from the back of the green shows how it naturally falls away from the right front corner.

04FromGreenBack by Garland Bayley, on Flickr

[Garland Bayley]

5th  450  440  420

05Top by Garland Bayley, on Flickr

This is one of the two pivotal holes in the development of my routing. I decided I had to have a way into and out of the far corner of the property from the club house. Therefore, I chose a green site in the corner, and decided I wanted to route the hole to it from the pond on the left. Many of you realize that I object to the use of ponds on golf courses. If there are ponds on the property, then I want the players to have to deal with them from a perfect lie. Therefore, this hole has a carry from two of the three tees over the pond. The third tee retains most of the length of the hole, so although it does not cause one to cross the water, it is not a wimp out choice either. Once that was decided, I chose a site for the next green. From the topographic map, it looked to me that the best place to approach either green from would be the area where I placed my first bunker on the course. The holes leading to this hole had interesting and challenging enough terrain that I did not feel there was any necessity for a bunker.

EDIT: Judges comment

I am not sure that the green of hole no. 5 is in the perfect location.  High points appear to be good spots to locate greens until you realize how tough it makes them.  Another thing is that you will most likely need to entirely shape the top of the mound to create a green that will be receptive.  I am also not too sure about the location of the right side fairway bunker.  Why put a bunker there and not on the front left of the green?  Tee shots will be deflected to the left side of the fairway unless a good fade is hit off the tee.  The slope alone in the fairway will do the job.

05FromTee by Garland Bayley, on Flickr

The view from the left showing elevation change throughout the hole.

05FromLeftSide by Garland Bayley, on Flickr

The view from the right showing elevation change throughout the hole.

05FromRightSide by Garland Bayley, on Flickr

I tried to capture the look of the approaches from each side, but I must have had the camera too high in the air to show it successfully.

05ApproachFromLeft by Garland Bayley, on Flickr

05ApproachFromRight by Garland Bayley, on Flickr

Looking back from the green we can see the bunkered plateau that would have been best to approach 5 and 6 from.

05FromGreenBack by Garland Bayley, on Flickr

[Garland Bayley]

6th  346  336  316

06Top by Garland Bayley, on Flickr

The creation of the 5th hole pretty much determined the 6th hole. From that point, I found the 7th through 17th holes. Thinking that the 17th ending near the club house might be my 18th, I tried to route 5 holes out to where I had begun. I found 4 holes I really liked, so I changed the location of the 17th green some and tacked on the 18th hole at the end.

When I measured what might be typical drives on this hole, I found that the existing bunker would only penalize the weakest players, so I added the fairway bunker to the right of this fairway. The terrain clearly dictates that it is advantageous to be to the right, so strategically it is best to challenge the fairway bunker on the right.

EDIT: Judge's comment

The same comment applies to the green of hole no. 6.  I am not too sure I understand the idea behind this hole.  It does feel like it has potential, but the steep uphill slope and the absence of bunkers to create strategy leave me wondering what could have been created. (See hole no. 14 of routing 008 for what I would do there....)

06FromTee by Garland Bayley, on Flickr

The view from the left showing elevation change throughout the hole.

06FromLeftSide by Garland Bayley, on Flickr

The view from the right showing elevation change throughout the hole.

06FromRightSide by Garland Bayley, on Flickr

The hill that can be seen here clearly will make driving to and approaching from the left very challenging. Only a very long drive to within perhaps 50 yards of the green would make this a line of charm.

06ApproachFromLeft by Garland Bayley, on Flickr

It is easier to drive to an easier lie on the right for the approach, but it brings sand into range.

06ApproachFromRight by Garland Bayley, on Flickr

The view from the back shows how the diagonal slope of the hill in the fairway adds interest to the hole.

06FromGreenBack by Garland Bayley, on Flickr

[Garland Bayley]

7th  392  354  296

07Top by Garland Bayley, on Flickr

After laying out the first two holes, I found the following landform available for use in the next hole.

07CentralHazard2 by Garland Bayley, on Flickr

07CentralRidgeHazard by Garland Bayley, on Flickr

Once I determined that I could use it as a diagonal hazard, I laid out one of my favorite holes on the course, the 7th. Having succeeding in finding decent holes 5 and 6 first, followed by this hole, I began to think I might find an interesting course on this landscape.

EDIT: Judge's comment

Hole no. 7 is unique and very interesting.  The extremely wide fairway gives an incredible amount of options to golfers.  The left side of the fairway is the most obvious way to go off the tee, but the bunker in front of the green will make the second shot tougher.  I would prefer to try to carry the linear mound on the left side of the fairway to set myself up for an easier approach.  Hopefully, it will be possible to drain the low area in which the green is located; otherwise, this might be a nightmare for any superintendant.

07FromTee by Garland Bayley, on Flickr

The view from the left showing elevation change throughout the hole.

07FromLeftSide by Garland Bayley, on Flickr

The view from the right showing elevation change throughout the hole.

07FromRightSide by Garland Bayley, on Flickr

If the golfer chooses not to cross the central ridge, then he is faced with a approach over the first green side bunker on the course.

07ApproachFromLeft by Garland Bayley, on Flickr

However, if the golfer crosses the ridge, he finds an open green front to play down into. The problem is that the golfer has to correctly choose what portion of the ridge he can cross. Taking the safest crossing to the right opens up the possibility of the ball bounding down to a much lower elevation that is found on the right side of the hole back there.

07ApproachFromRight by Garland Bayley, on Flickr

The view from behind the green below and the view from the tee probably best show how short right off the tee can lead into a depression that will add distance and give a poor view of the target.

07FromGreenBack by Garland Bayley, on Flickr

[Garland Bayley]

8th  196  181  128

08Top by Garland Bayley, on Flickr

Continuing logically around the outside of the property, a pond rears its ugly head to be dealt with. Since I am strongly disinclined to place a pond near an approach shot (a small stream is an entirely different matter) the next hole would finish short of the pond and be a par 3. Also, as a contrast to the extremely wide 7th hole the 8th hole was made narrow on purpose.

EDIT: Judge's comment

Hole no. 8 is another long uphill par three that feels very similar to hole no. 4.

08FromTee by Garland Bayley, on Flickr

The view from the left showing elevation change throughout the hole.

08FromLeftSide by Garland Bayley, on Flickr

The view from the right showing elevation change throughout the hole.

08FromRightSide by Garland Bayley, on Flickr

The view from behind the green shows a generous area to land shots short of the green on and perhaps run them on. A shot hit will all carry and a bit long can be big trouble.

08FromGreenBackl by Garland Bayley, on Flickr

[Garland Bayley]

9th  645  600  530

09Top by Garland Bayley, on Flickr

Since I don’t use ponds near green approaches, there was little golfing ground of interest trying to route a hole along the border of the property. However, looking ahead to the upper corner of the property I could see a very short par 3. Since I wanted the challenge of making an interesting short par 3 for the best par 3 category, I routed a long hole to get me to the area of that par 3. It does cross the pond from the back to tees using the perfect lie obtained there, and some golfers may find an interest in that. I planned to heavily bunker the short par 3 so I began to think of the hill at the end of the hole as “Bunker Hill” (interestingly the website had the Capilano thread done about this time and after getting the name Bunker Hill in my mind, I found there is a hole at Capilano named Bunker Hill). Traversing up the hill there are a series of fairway bunkers to begin to set the tone, and to encourage play away from the property boundary. If I had more time, I think the best way to improve this hole would be to create more interesting bunkering along the way. As it is, I think it is the weakest hole on the course.

EDIT: Judge's comment

Hole no. 9 feels like a long, uneventful climb to the top of the hill with yet another green perched on top of a mound.  This is getting really repetitive, as well as too tough for almost any quality of player.

09FromTee by Garland Bayley, on Flickr

The view from the left showing elevation change throughout the hole.

09FromLeftSide by Garland Bayley, on Flickr

The view from the right showing elevation change throughout the hole.

09FromRightSide by Garland Bayley, on Flickr

After the drive, the bunkers are shown along the left guarding the property boundary and the shortest route. They probably will have more interest for the somewhat random hitting high handicapper than for the low handicapper who has plenty of hole to play with.
 
09SecondShot by Garland Bayley, on Flickr

After the long traverse, the green is pretty wide open for the approach with bunkers helping contain the misses of those that have struggled to get there.

09ThirdShot by Garland Bayley, on Flickr

From behind the green, you can see how the three shots of this three shotter move from plateau to plateau.

09FromGreenBack by Garland Bayley, on Flickr

[Garland Bayley]

10th  120  105  85

10Top by Garland Bayley, on Flickr

The 10th is a short par 3 that can be pretty easy, but also pretty dangerous. The tees were positioned so that the higher handicappers would have a better angle into the green that slopes down to the left towards a fairly steep embankment. There is a bunker all along the left side of the green to catch shots that might otherwise run over the embankment. Pin positions near the left edge, and especially one furthest right should be able to keep this from being an easy birdie for the scratch golfers.

EDIT: Judge's comment

I would have preferred hole no. 10 to be a little longer and with a back tee slightly closer to the green of hole no. 9.  As it is, a good portion of the green complex is semi-blind, and it is tough to define the target.  The green could have been more interesting if it had extended towards the edge of the cape on which it is located towards the back of the proposed green.

10FromTee by Garland Bayley, on Flickr

The view from the left showing elevation change throughout the hole.

10FromLeftSide by Garland Bayley, on Flickr

The view from the right showing elevation change throughout the hole.

10FromRightSide by Garland Bayley, on Flickr

The view from the back shows that I probably didn’t complete the high right side bunkering as well as I intended (actually, I was uncertain how stamping a bunker across the rough/fairway line would work out so avoided testing my users skills trying it out).

10FromGreenBack by Garland Bayley, on Flickr

[Garland Bayley]

11th  270  255  235

11Top by Garland Bayley, on Flickr

It turned out that there was room for another interesting golf hole on top of Bunker Hill. With another dangerous green location near the embankments going down from the hill, an interesting short par 4 was created. If the green were left bunkerless, then I believe few people would attempt to reach in one. Therefore, Bunker Hill lives up to its name by having the 11th green surrounded by four bunkers.  If 270 yards is too short for the plus handicappers, then I guess they will have to play it as a par 3.5.

EDIT: Judge's comment

I find hole no. 11 to be quite interesting.  It appears to be a drivable par 4 that begs the players to try to reach it with their tee shots.  However, I wonder if even the lay-up might be too difficult considering the severe slopes of the hogs back fairway.

11FromTee by Garland Bayley, on Flickr

The view from the left showing elevation change throughout the hole.

11FromLeftSide by Garland Bayley, on Flickr

The view from the right showing elevation change throughout the hole.

11FromRightSide by Garland Bayley, on Flickr

For misses by those trying to drive the green, we can see the perils from behind the green.

11WhereDoMissesGo by Garland Bayley, on Flickr
 
And, from in front of the green.

11WhereDoMissesGoFront by Garland Bayley, on Flickr

The approach left for those that wish to play to the wide fairway and wedge in looks like this.

11ApproachFromLayback by Garland Bayley, on Flickr

From behind the green, it is apparent that it would be a good idea to take a bit of the center ridge line out of the fairway and level it off a little.

11FromGreenBack by Garland Bayley, on Flickr

[Garland Bayley]

12th  363  353  315 287

12Top by Garland Bayley, on Flickr

The distances on the course submitted to the contest are not the distances I originally created the holes to. My original creation started at length of approximately 6900 yards from the back tees to 6100 yards from the middle tees. I modified some of the lengths to move these two numbers closer to a more typical 6600 and 6300. One of the changes was to move the middle tee back on this one. However, I have decided I prefer the original distance of about 315 yards. Since this hole runs all downhill off of Bunker Hill, the purpose is to once again raise the question of trying to reach the green with the drive. At 353 yards, that might be just too much for the middlen’ golfer. The whole hole runs away from the golfer including the green.

From the back tees, the drive is somewhat blind as the green cannot be seen from the tee.

EDIT: Judge's comment

I wonder if hole no. 12 actually works the way it is shown on the plan.  The tee shot appears to be directed at a diagonal fairway sloping away from the golfers who have no clear idea of where to hit their tee shots to stay safe. The wider part of the fairway on the left is simply not in play for anybody, and the tee shots have to be aimed way right in order to have hopes of landing in the fairway.  It could be a good hole, with a bit of work.

12FromTee by Garland Bayley, on Flickr

From the forward tees, the drive is not blind and the green can be seen from the tee.

12FromShortTee by Garland Bayley, on Flickr

The view from the left showing elevation change throughout the hole.

12FromLeftSide by Garland Bayley, on Flickr

The view from the right showing elevation change throughout the hole.

12FromRightSide by Garland Bayley, on Flickr

If hitting a half pitch shot is not the golfer’s forte’, then he might not want to drive to close to the green and try to hit such a shot into the green at the bottom of this view from the slope shown above it running down to it.

12DownHillSlopeToApproachFrom by Garland Bayley, on Flickr

The view from the back shows how the hole runs downhill through the green. Not as clearly shown is how the fairway runs between two higher points on either side of it.

12FromGreenBack by Garland Bayley, on Flickr

[Garland Bayley]

13th  214 180  180  140

13Top by Garland Bayley, on Flickr

The Unified Theory of Golf says the time between the shot and the result is ascertained is the key, or words to that effect. At the 13th you have the choice of stepping off the green, teeing it up, hitting your shot over the blind hill in front, and then striding breathlessly up the hill to find out the result. Or, you can trudge to the top of the hill, survey all that lays before you, and hit your shot with near instant gratification of viewing the result. Myself, I am for delayed gratification so we have the option of a blind par 3 as the 13th hole.

EDIT: Judge's comment

Hole no. 13 simply does not work because of the strong uphill slope directly in front of the tees.  Not only will the green be completely blind from any of the tees, but the slope might even block a few shots.  I know the 5th at Prestwick (Himalayas) works, but the land here is quite different.

This comment puzzles me, because as far as I could see when I designed it, only the back (labelled alternative) tee on the routing submitted would be blind. I think this must be a place where the topographical map did not match the site. I could not make the software work well enough for me to verify my draped hole matched my design on the topographical map as I laid them out and draped them.

13FromAlternativeBlindTee by Garland Bayley, on Flickr

Or, the tee shot after the trudge.

13FromTee by Garland Bayley, on Flickr

The view from the left showing elevation change throughout the hole.

13FromLeftSide by Garland Bayley, on Flickr

The view from the right showing elevation change throughout the hole.

13FromRightSide by Garland Bayley, on Flickr

From behind the green we can see how one might feed the ball off the hill on the right onto the green.

13FromGreenBack by Garland Bayley, on Flickr

[Garland Bayley]

14th  350 330  320  286

14Top by Garland Bayley, on Flickr

The 14th asks the question can you bomb it far enough to get a great stance and lie, or can you find a way to get your ball close to the hole without hitting a bomb off the tee? Also, with the green falling away slightly behind a central bunker, did bombing your tee shot get you all you wanted? I am hoping this hole will take a while for players to figure out.

EDIT: Judge's comment

I like hole no. 14.  It is quite simple but very effective at using the left to right slope that crosses the fairway.  A draw to the top of the hill will open up the view to the green nicely perched on top of the small rise.  Good job.

14FromTee by Garland Bayley, on Flickr

The view from the left showing elevation change throughout the hole.

14FromLeftSide by Garland Bayley, on Flickr

The view from the right showing elevation change throughout the hole.

14FromRightSide by Garland Bayley, on Flickr

The central bunker in front of the green asks exactly how are you going to get your ball on the green in reasonable shape? I don’t think anymore questions (bunkers) need to be asked here with the green sitting in a saddle.

14ApproachToSaddleGreen by Garland Bayley, on Flickr

Leaving the green we ask, the scorecard made it look like this would be an easy one, what happened?

14FromGreenBack by Garland Bayley, on Flickr

[Garland Bayley]

15th  570  530  470

15Top by Garland Bayley, on Flickr

The 15th has an interesting landform available to add interest to the hole. There is a fairly steep drop off along the right side which is on the inside of the dog leg. The Tiger golfer may wish to challenge this shorter side, but there are two greenside bunkers on the right side to further complicate things for him.

EDIT: Judge's comment

Hole no. 15 could be interesting, but it lacks details to evaluate properly.  However, I feel that, once again, the green on top of the hill could be problematic.

15FromTee by Garland Bayley, on Flickr

The view from the left showing elevation change throughout the hole.

15FromLeftSide by Garland Bayley, on Flickr

The view from the right showing elevation change throughout the hole.

15FromRightSide by Garland Bayley, on Flickr

The view for the second shot shows that probably the interest of the hole could be increased by routing it closer to the drop off on the right.

15SecondShot by Garland Bayley, on Flickr

As a par 5, this hole probably could stand some additional bunkering to guard against this third shot.

15ThirdShot by Garland Bayley, on Flickr

The view from behind the green gives a further view of the hazardous terrain on the inside of the dog leg.

15FromGreenBack by Garland Bayley, on Flickr

[Garland Bayley]

16th  451  419  370

16Top by Garland Bayley, on Flickr

The 16th is a long par 4 with a line of play that requires some accuracy to reap the available benefits. There is a fairway bunker that leaves a narrow left side of the fairway and a wide right side. Being on the left of the bunker gives a better view of the green, but brings the left green side bunker more into play. Being on the right side of the fairway bunker obscures some of the view of the green behind the hill there, but lessens the effect of the green side bunker on the approach.

EDIT: Judge's comment

Hole no. 16 offers another uphill tee shot to an undefined target.  The green location has potential, but, again, there is a lack of info to evaluate the rest of the hole properly.

16FeinTee by Garland Bayley, on Flickr

The view from the left showing elevation change throughout the hole.

16FromLeftSide by Garland Bayley, on Flickr

The view from the right showing elevation change throughout the hole.

16FromRightSide by Garland Bayley, on Flickr

Approach from the left side is shorter and avoid the hill obstruction on the right.

16ApproachFromLeft by Garland Bayley, on Flickr

Approaching from the right is longer, has the hill obstructing the view, but moves the bunker to the left generally out of  the line of play.

16ApproachFromRight by Garland Bayley, on Flickr

The view from behind the green clearly shows the line of charm for any right side pin is the most direct route on the inside of the dog leg.

16FromGreenBack by Garland Bayley, on Flickr

[Garland Bayley]

17th  502  480  421

17Top by Garland Bayley, on Flickr

The 17th is a short up hill par 5 with a bunker set up to challenge the inside of the dog leg. If a player wants to get home in two on this hole, it may be of significant value to successfully challenge this bunker as all of the front except for the very right front corner of the green is guarded by a bunker.

EDIT: Judge's comment

Hole no. 17 is interesting, even if I believe the fairway should wrap more around the right fairway bunker to entice the players to carry it.  However, we would need to confirm this on site, as the second green could come into play on the tee shot.  The fairway could also extend to the right side of the green to allow more recovery options for golfers trying to carry the front bunker to get on the green.

17FromTee by Garland Bayley, on Flickr

The view from the left showing elevation change throughout the hole.

17FromLeftSide by Garland Bayley, on Flickr

The view from the right showing elevation change throughout the hole.

17FromRightSide by Garland Bayley, on Flickr

This view from the landing area shows that some thought should be given to the placement of the second shot since banging it straight up the middle probably well not work out too well.

17ApproachFromCenter by Garland Bayley, on Flickr

The view from behind the green shows how well the front of  the green is covered by the bunker, and how much room there is around the green for positioning the second shot that cannot make the green surface.

17FromGreenBack by Garland Bayley, on Flickr

[Garland Bayley]

18th  383  353  283

18Top by Garland Bayley, on Flickr

The 18th plays all down hill with a central bunker in the fairway, and a green that lies at the bottom of the hollow there. It is drawn as a bit of a dog leg, because as a novice I was unsure about how much distance to provide for clearance from balls being played on 17. I intended for it to be a straight hole as the players will have to dog leg around the central bunker complex. There is a short sharp downslope just beyond that bunker complex that if reached can propel the balls closer to the green. However, with a central bunker guarding the front of the green, and no back to front slope to hold approach shots, getting too close may mean being unable to get the ball close to the hole unless driving accuracy is very high and the ball is positioned to the side where the flag stick is.

EDIT: Judge's comment

Hole no. 18 feels a bit weak as the finishing hole.  It is also pretty far from the clubhouse area.

18FromTee by Garland Bayley, on Flickr

The view from the left showing elevation change throughout the hole.

18FromLeftSide-1 by Garland Bayley, on Flickr

The view from the right showing elevation change throughout the hole.

18FromRightSide-1 by Garland Bayley, on Flickr

Approaching from the left will open up most of the left side of the green.

18ApproachFromLeft-1 by Garland Bayley, on Flickr

Likewise, approaching from the right will open up most of the right side of the green.

18ApproachFromRight-1 by Garland Bayley, on Flickr

The view from behind the green shows the slope that could aid balls to run out closer to the green.

18FromGreenBack-1 by Garland Bayley, on Flickr

[Garland Bayley]

For those of you that have been wondering why this thread is titled Bighorn Cliffs Golf Course, it is because I love a picture Norbert took along I-85 in his travels between Portland and Walla Walla while he was helping build Wine Valley. The picture is below and if I will it will with Norbert’s permission grace the cover of my scorecard.

[Charlie Goerges]

Wonderful routing study Garland! One thing I've noticed is that you put actual thought into the strategy of your holes (as have most of the other contestants), which is not something I've really ever thought to do. (I'm speaking of the earlier 3-hole design exercise from early last fall when I talk about my own designs.)

I've got to run, but I hope to see some of the judges weigh in on this thread.

[Jim Colton]

Garland,

  Nice work.  Good job on the bunker placement.  Very well thought out.  I like the 15th hole and the use of that ridge.

[Brendan Dolan]

Garland,

I thought your 7th was quite interesting as, that esker that plays a prominent role in the strategy of your hole was used in a similar way on the 17th at Erin Hills.  It seems like you put a lot of work into your routing.  Well done!

Brendan

[Garland Bayley]

Bump for those who might choose to look at this at work.

[Ian_L]

Hi Garland, after looking at your design a second time I found many similarities in our routing (my design is #007).  Our first 7 holes cover nearly the exact same terrain, and your 8-12 loop follows a similar route as my 13-18.  I like your hole #10 better than my par-3; I stuck my green way out on the "peninsula."  My only question is, would the hole be blind from your tee placement?