[Jason Topp]

Played in a match play event on a course in which we played a reversible nine instead of the normal back nine.  Map from the scorecard below: 



Link to Google Maps - reversible Nine is North of the highway:

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=Fox+Hollow+Golf+Course,+Minnesota&aq=0&sll=41.021355,-77.047119&sspn=4.649413,9.129639&ie=UTF8&hq=Fox+Hollow+Golf+Course,+Minnesota&hnear=Fox+Hollow+Golf+Course,+St+Michael,+Minnesota+55376&ll=45.223388,-93.582079&spn=0.008479,0.017831&t=h&z=16

  In this instance, I thought the concept did not work at all.  A perfectly decent nine holes could have been built on the land.  Instead, the course consists of an awkward and disjointed nine.  One green to tee walk consists of walking right through the landing area for the tee shot on the prior hole.  Vidually, it was very difficult to decipher where to hit a shot but I don't think the course would be more interesting with repeat plays.

The nine we played (gold) must be the better course.  The reverse nine appears to have been abandoned. 

It was not the ideal day to play any course.  The temperature reached a high of 37 degrees and the wind blew 20-25 miles per hour and we had flurries. 

I had a great time.  A tight match with enjoyable playing companions doing something stupid made for an enjoyable morning.  Nonetheless, I am unlikely to advocate for the proliferation of reversible nine hole courses. 

Anyone played a reversible course that worked?  Even the Links Trust appears to have abandoned the reverse Old Course.

[John_Conley]

Jason, Double Eagle in Eagle whatever Minnesota worked pretty well.  I played nine holes there once.  It alternated daily at the time. 

The scorecard you show is probably Fox Hollow.  I heard they added a 3rd nine.  The original 18 is one I like a lot.  Haven't seen it in 20 years, but I did enjoy playing there.  Agreed...it doesn't make sense to do that in that instance.

Small town.  9 holes only.  Makes sense to me.  If I'm not mistaken, they would shotgun and stop for 15 minutes or so after nine holes to reverse it.  A great way to get in 18.

Of course, a small-town 9-hole could also add a couple tees to give the course a lot of flexibility.

[Adam_Messix]

Flynn did a reversible nine hole course for the  Rockefeller family at Pocantico Hills.  Given the limited traffic the course received, it worked really well.  The course is smaller in scale than what you would typically see from Flynn, but it is similar from a stylistic standpoint.  There is one double green for 6 and 12.  I really liked the par 3 holes there, particularly the uphill 9th.  Fun place.

The only way a reversible course is going to work in this day and age is for it to have really limited play. 

[Tom_Doak]

Jason:

I've always wanted to try my hand at a reversible course, but I say that understanding that it would be EXTREMELY hard to pull off.  The real trick is that all the golfers (and especially everyone on GCA) would try to determine whether the course was better clockwise, or counter-clockwise ... and if either one is clearly better, then the reversible aspect is compromised.  So, it's almost like you would have to deliberately make some holes better in each configuration.  And it would only have a chance to work on certain kinds of topography ... if the site is very undulating there would be a lot of blind shots.

[Jason Topp]

Jason:

I've always wanted to try my hand at a reversible course, but I say that understanding that it would be EXTREMELY hard to pull off.  The real trick is that all the golfers (and especially everyone on GCA) would try to determine whether the course was better clockwise, or counter-clockwise ... and if either one is clearly better, then the reversible aspect is compromised.  So, it's almost like you would have to deliberately make some holes better in each configuration.  And it would only have a chance to work on certain kinds of topography ... if the site is very undulating there would be a lot of blind shots.

Tom:

It would be fun to see a course that implemented the concept well.  My perception is that in this instance it was forced and did not work.  The complexity of the task became apparent as I was navigating the course.  It also seemed to me that the maintenence expense would be significantly higher than that of a nine hole course because of all of the extra tees, greens, fairway area and bunkers. 

[Tim Nugent]

Jason, I'd have agree with Tom, very hard to pull off.  Specifically, getting the greens to receive shots from multiple directions.  I would think that they would be somewhat larger than ave.  However, the maintenance aspect wouldn't necessarily be that much greater as it would give tees "rest periods".  And if you managed to get it so the 9th and PPG could be interchanged, those could also be rested.  Of course, the double green model of St. A's would be a good starting point.

[Charlie Goerges]

I'll post something I put together on the idea with images from a reversible par 3 course near me.

[Charlie Goerges]

Here's what I've got on a local reversible par-3 course. It’s the reversible 9 at the Cragun’s Resort. It’s a RTJ Jr. design. I think the logistics behind it are worth examining and the concept/execution worth discussing.

I’m going to be showing the photos in pairs (except for one where both holes play from essentially the same angle) the same green from the two different tees.

The aerial is below. The red arrows begin at the upper right and move clockwise around the driving range. The blue arrows represent the counter-clockwise holes. The clockwise (red) holes will be shown first in each case as that's the order I played it in the day I took the photos.






First green:







Second Green:






Third green (both tees play from a similar angle, the counter version plays from about 20 yards to the left):





Fourth Green:







Fifth Green:







Sixth Green:







Seventh Green:







Eighth Green:







Ninth Green:

[David_Tepper]

GCA-er Jon Wiggett is building a reversible 9-hole course as we speak north of Inverness, Scotland. It is due to open this summer.

http://brahangolfbuild.blogspot.com/

[John_Conley]

http://www.golfdoubleeagle.com/

Here you go, Jason.  Yes.  I think the benefit does outweigh the cost.  Just not at Fox Hollow.  Why not build a third nine like Braemar did and create three configurations for your 18 hole round?

If you haven't played it, I think you would enjoy Double Eagle.  Admittedly, I didn't see it the reverse.  Pretty cool though, and downright brilliant.  Even if you don't think it is a great idea, Joel gets props for figuring out how to make it work.

[Dan Kelly]

Why not build a third nine like Braemar did and create three configurations for your 18 hole round?

Braemar would have been better off doing almost ANYTHING other than building that god-awful third nine. Is there a worse nine holes in the Twin Cities? Not that I've played.

What I WISH Braemar had done with that land was build an 18-hole par-3 (or "executive") course. They might have been able to pull that off, without making everyone who played it miserable.

[Dan Kelly]

New Richmond Golf Club (New Richmond, Wis. -- at http://www.nrgolfclub.com/course_information_wisconsin_golf_course_new_richmond.htm) has a Reversible Nine that was growing in the last time I played the main course.

Thirteen years ago? Yikes. Time to get back there. I like the original course, and ought to try that Reversible Nine.

Any of you played it?

[Rick Shefchik]

New Richmond Golf Club (New Richmond, Wis. -- at http://www.nrgolfclub.com/course_information_wisconsin_golf_course_new_richmond.htm) has a Reversible Nine that was growing in the last time I played the main course.

Thirteen years ago? Yikes. Time to get back there. I like the original course, and ought to try that Reversible Nine.

Any of you played it?

Yes. Once. Interesting experience, but I didn't see any reason to play it again if there was a regular course I could be playing.

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