Long Walks Between Holes

[Tim Gavrich]

Although it's a course that few people walk, Caledonia would have a couple longer green-to-tee walks--6 to 7 comes to mind as the first one.  The main ones are 8 to 9, and then 9 back to 10.  I am in the minority in liking that hole, and I'm probably also in the minority that believes it's a great walk to that tee and then from that green.

I am also a big fan of Crail as a walking course.  The only slightly annoying thing about it is that the toughest walk is from the 18th green to the clubhouse, which is pretty tiring at the end of the round.

[Anthony Gray]

Kyle - when doing the course rating at  THE RANCH, just for kicks we measured the cart ride from 11 to 12... it came out just a little less than a mile.

I still say that course is the one to bring the militant walkers into the light....  or darkness as it were... walking that would be beyond stupid.

And Rob, do you mean this picture? How Pat Mucci sees #6 at Pebble?  Always happy to trot this out....

  What Ocean?

[Tom Huckaby]

Anthony - it's more like "what views".  The Muccian Doctrine would have us believe that if it's not in play, it doesn't matter.

[Mark Pearce]

The walk along the beach to Crail's back holes is lovely and welcome, but this is a very rare instance.  There aren't many holes out there in which the quality of the hole justifies the long walk.  Usually, nasty terrain or housing is the reason.  Speaking of nasty terrain, folks love to play through huge dunes, but one side effect is that these dunes can often cause several longish walks in a round (and constrict play when the wind is up!).  Hence one reason that I welcome some flatter terrain when playing in these sort of dunes.  

Ciao

That walk at Crail has never struck me as a long walk, though I guess it may be, it's certainly always pleasant with the beach on one side and the cave on the other.  It's certainly less arduous than the walk back to the clubhouse after 18, but at least then a beer is within touching distance.

There's a long (and steeply uphill) walk through woods between (I think) the 11th and 12th holes at the Manor House at Castle Combe (an Alliss/Clark design).  When I was a member there I was still playing (field) hockey to county standard but even so needed a minute or two to get my breath back before teeing off on 12.  That course had a number of other long(ish) walks and was almost the only course I have played in the UK where if I played it today I might think about taking a buggy.

[Mark Bourgeois]

The better picture from that thread was the CPC 16 homage hole, the one with the spewing fountain in the middle of the lake.

Are Long Walks Between Tees, On Walkable Courses, Always Screwups?

[Mike Wagner]

If it had to be walked, Plantation Course would be the worst of all...

[Tom Huckaby]

If it had to be walked, Plantation Course would be the worst of all...

Nope.  Been to both.  THE RANCH AT SILVER CREEK (San Jose, CA) is worse.

Which has to tell ya something about said course, huh Mike?

 

[Brad Klein]

Or you can get the long hike out of the way really early, like at the outset with a cart ride, the way Doak did it at Lost Dunes. And while I haven't been there in 15 years, isn't it just about as long a trip back to the clubhouse from the 18th green at his Black Forest-Wilderness Valley Course?

[John Kirk]

Bandon Dunes has three medium length walks:  3-4, 6-7, and 8-9, that seem to have been avoidable.  Couldn't you have just put the next tee closer to the green, and still fashioned a fine golf hole in each case?

By the way, I just played Bandon Dunes for the first time in three years on Monday.  Absolutely delightful, a great complement to the other great courses there.

Stanford has short walks, but has the curious attribute of three steep uphill walks to the tee at the end of the round:  14-15, 16-17, and 17-18.  A great test of stamina; I always liked that.

[Mike_Cirba]

I know a course in PA that I've been accused of picking on that is literally 12 MILES from first tee to 18th green.

Top that! 

[Garland Bayley]

When old farts show up at Tetherow, they tell them it is a 9 mile walk around the course and try to sell them a cart ride.
Since we walked and played in just over 3 hours, I believe the walk to be less than 6.5 miles.
Mike, how accurate is your 12 mile length.

[Anthony Gray]

When old farts show up at Tetherow, they tell them it is a 9 mile walk around the course and try to sell them a cart ride.
Since we walked and played in just over 3 hours, I believe the walk to be less than 6.5 miles.
Mike, how accurate is your 12 mile length.

  Garland,

  6.5 miles. How long did you tell me Venice Beach was?

  Anthony

[Mike_Cirba]

Mike, how accurate is your 12 mile length.

Garland,

You have to see it to believe it.   

[Robert Kimball]

Kyle - when doing the course rating at  THE RANCH, just for kicks we measured the cart ride from 11 to 12... it came out just a little less than a mile.

I still say that course is the one to bring the militant walkers into the light....  or darkness as it were... walking that would be beyond stupid.

And Rob, do you mean this picture? How Pat Mucci sees #6 at Pebble?  Always happy to trot this out....

Thanks, man!! That always gives me a chuckle.

[Kyle Henderson]

Bandon Dunes has three medium length walks:  3-4, 6-7, and 8-9, that seem to have been avoidable.  Couldn't you have just put the next tee closer to the green, and still fashioned a fine golf hole in each case?

By the way, I just played Bandon Dunes for the first time in three years on Monday.  Absolutely delightful, a great complement to the other great courses there.

Stanford has short walks, but has the curious attribute of three steep uphill walks to the tee at the end of the round:  14-15, 16-17, and 17-18.  A great test of stamina; I always liked that.

Pacific Dunes has a hefty walk to the 12th tee as well, but if I have to hike somewhere, it might as well be on that glorius stretch of Oregon coastline.

[K. Krahenbuhl]

Kapalua Plantation, Tournament Course at Redstone and Weaver Ridge in Peoria, IL are a few that come to mind.

[Bill_McBride]

What irks me is courses that are obviously designed to be carts only and where the routing obviously reflects that decision from the start.

A good example is the two courses at the RTJ Trail in Alabama at Opelika, the Grand National's Lake and Links courses.  I really had a good time playing both courses, but there were some bridges across the eponymous lakes that yielded at least four treks of about a mile each.  No way you could walk, and the routing planned that from day one.

The Judge at Prattville is the same, with a 100' climb from 18th green up to the clubhouse via a corkscrew wood bridge reputed to cost $1M.   

[Mike_Cirba]

While we know better today, apparently some times long walks were added on purpose!

...and, more importantly, they were added by guys like Hugh Wilson, George Crump, Robert Lesley, Ab Smith, and if memory serves, even Tillinghast bought into their fallacious reasoning! 

[Tom_Doak]

Kyle:

When we first laid out Pacific Dunes, the 12th tee would have been combined with the 5th tee, not a very long walk at all from #11 green.  But we became worried that some guys would play down #4 fairway to get to #12 green, so we had to move #12 tee inland and extend the walk.

It still wouldn't be that far if you could cut across in front of #5 tee, but obviously that's dangerous and interrupts play.  So we routed the path around the back of #5 tee, figuring that as long as people were looking at the ocean they wouldn't count that part of the walk against us.

[Carl Johnson]

The walk out and then again back from the old nine to the new nine on the Barassie Links at the Kilmarnock Golf Club (near or in Troon) is a minus, but otherwise it's a fine course.  You play three old nine holes, then the nine new nine holes, and then return to the old holes to finish the last six.  The two parts of the course are different in character, not in itself a problem, but the long walks between the two nines added nothing to my enjoyment of the course.  Off hand I cannot recall how long the path is, but you notice you're making a trip.

[rchesnut]

The Bandon Trails 13/14 walk/ride is the worst that I've experienced.   Up to that point, the course is just a fabulous walking course, and the introduction of a shuttle ride in that kind of setting is unfortunate, it really interrupts the flow of the round.  Not to mention the fact that the hole you're walking to, #14, is my least favorite hole at the entire resort.  I don't mind a long hike on a nice day to a hole that's special, but working that hard to get to that hole just makes the experience even worse.   

[Tom Huckaby]

The Bandon Trails 13/14 walk/ride is the worst that I've experienced.   Up to that point, the course is just a fabulous walking course, and the introduction of a shuttle ride in that kind of setting is unfortunate, it really interrupts the flow of the round.  Not to mention the fact that the hole you're walking to, #14, is my least favorite hole at the entire resort.  I don't mind a long hike on a nice day to a hole that's special, but working that hard to get to that hole just makes the experience even worse.   

Rob - I'd say one's feelings about 14 determine one's feelings about the walk/ride to get there.

You don't like 14, so the walk sucks.  Totally understood.

I like 14, so I find it to be a lovely jaunt through the forest; a prelude to the tasks to come.

 

[Anthony Gray]

  Tom,

  Again I agree. There is anticipation with that walk and you now an unique hole awaits you.

  Anthony

 

[Peter Ferlicca]

Two courses in San Diego that is awful are the Crossings at Carlsbad and Santaluz.  The crossings at Carlsbad has a hole where you must trek back the whole distance of the par 4 you played and then tee off parallel to it, and Santaluz is just meant to be riding course, just way to much uphill walks in between the greens and tees to walk.

[Mark Smolens]

The ride to the top of the mountain for the 1st tees at Boyne Mountain takes at least 15 minutes (don't recall the names of the two courses).  It's got to be well over a mile.  Can't actually imagine how long it would take to walk with a golf bag, but that's way more exercise than I'd be interested in. . .