Split or Double Fairway Holes

[Mark Pritchett]

In the Wesikopf thread I asked if he incorporated holes with split fairways into most of his designs.  

Why limit the discussion to Wesikopf.  What are some of your favorite holes with split fairways?  Do you like the concept?  The first at Kingsley Club is a good hole that I would enjoy playing over and over.  The 7th at Holston Hills is one of my favorites with this concept.  

[Patrick Hodgdon]

14 at Pensacola Country Club is a great par-5 with a split fairway. Bill McBride can attest.

I would second the 7th at Holston Hills but I lipped out my eagle putt after knocking a 5-iron to 4 feet.

[J Sadowsky]

The most memorable I've played is #1 at Augustine:



But I bet that will change when I play Ballyhack:



The 7th at Rustic Canyon would have been of merit if the wind hadn't made the second fairway irrelevant.

[Jimmy Muratt]

Kinloch Golf Club features several holes that incorporate the split fairway concept.  Holes 2, 4 and 9 work very well.   The mid length par 4 2nd hole features and upper fairway on the left that provides a much better look for your approach into the green, particularly to a back right pin.  The driveable par 4 4th hole is, in my opinion, one of the best short par 4's anywhere.  The hole is approximately 300 yards and the two fairways are bisected by a creek.  You can either play safe to the right of the creek with a 180-230 yard shot and leave yourself with a short iron approach or you can play aggressively up the left side and have a run at the green.  More fun starts at the green, the back half of the green runs away so even short approaches are very tricky to a back pin.

The par 5 9th hole has been much discussed and can be quite maddening.  There certainly is a lot going on, some say too much, but it certainly makes you think and potentially over-think your strategy.  Playing aggressively to the right fairway off the tee shortens the hole by 20-30 yards and give you a much better chance of getting home in two.  If you go for it, you again are faced with the decision of how aggressive you want to be as you cross a wetland area.  Love it or hate it, it's a very unique hole in the world of golf.

[Joe_Tucholski]

The 7th at Rustic Canyon would have been of merit if the wind hadn't made the second fairway irrelevant.

Justin I guess I don't really consider 7 at Rustic to be a split or double fairway instead I think of it as a hole with a diagonal hazard (was it more like a double fairway before it was redone?).  The hole that I do think of as double/split fairway is the third hole and I've only played with a few people who have played to the left side.

Sorry I can't give a good example but another course that I played recently with a split fairway was Monarch Dunes.  The 10th hole is a split fairway but the left fairway is probably only like 10-15 yards.  I went for it but assume most people do not go for it.  Their course layout depiction doesn't even show the left fairway.  Going left cuts the yardage by something like 30+ yards but leaves you with a blind approach over a dune, going right is longer but you have a view of the green.

Here's a piss poor camera photo from the tee.


I like the idea of a split fairway but I can't recall playing a course with a split fairway where I really had to think hard about which fairway to go for (maybe it's because I have poor course management and a poor memory).

How big does a centerline bunker need to be in order to consider the fairway a split fairway?

[Jason Topp]

I have yet to see the concept work very well off the tee.  Almost always, the choice off the tee is not a difficult choice.  A bunker in the middle of the fairway generally works better because it creates four options instead of two.

I have seen some 2nd shots on par fives that work well.  11 at TPC Sawgrass is a fabulous hole in my opinion.

Jeff Brauer's Wilderness at Fortune Bay course has some double fairways that might be good (lower fairway with a tougher angle into the green v. a higher fairway with a better angle) but the only time I played the course it was with a guy playing his first round of golf so my focus was on getting him around the course rather than the architecture. 

[Patrick Hodgdon]

I just thought of another one. The 12th hole at Talking Stick North, "Red Mountain Gambler" is a great split fairway hole and was my favorite hole on the course.



From the tee you have to crush a drive down the left side to carry the waste area where it leaves you an easier, more open approach or you can bail out right but then have to carry the strip of waste in front of the green on the second shot.

[Bill_McBride]

I just thought of another one. The 12th hole at Talking Stick North, "Red Mountain Gambler" is a great split fairway hole and was my favorite hole on the course.



From the tee you have to crush a drive down the left side to carry the waste area where it leaves you an easier, more open approach or you can bail out right but then have to carry the strip of waste in front of the green on the second shot.

Love this hole too.  The waste area isn't the big danger when you bail right, it's the OOB right behind the green which is so in play from that angle.   Ask me how I know!   

[Tim Martin]

I`ll put 18 at Yale out there as one of the great double fairway holes.

[Jeff_Brauer]

I love them.  However, they are hard to design anywhere near 50-50. It seems over time, one fw gets the majority of play.  And, if now is anything like the great depression era, sooner or later, someone will question why they are maintaining a few acres of fw that hardly ever get used.......

[Mac Plumart]

12 at Askernish.  Par 5 dual fairway.  One with a blind tee shot to the fairway, but better view of the green.  One with great view of the fairway, but with a blind second shot to green.  Oh yeah, the greens is a bit elevated and slants away from you.  GREAT hole!!

10 at Reunion.  Par 5 designed by Mike Riley.  Upper fairway is lined with trees on the left and centerline bunkers on the right, it is the tougher of the fairways to hit.  But if you hit that fairway, your approach shot is down hill with no siginficant hazards in your way.  The lower fairway is pretty darn easy to hit and even if you pull your tee shot the fairway slopes will send the ball back to the fairway.  But your approach shot if over a pond guarding the green. 

On both holes you pick your poison on the tee box.  Do you want an easier tee shot and tougher approach or vice-versa?  I like them both a great deal.

[Matthew Petersen]

I agree that I tend to prefer a wide fairway divided by a center bunker or other hazard, but maybe I'm biased by thinking of a few split fairway holes I know well and don't like.

C&C have split fairway par 5s that are fairly similar off the tee in #16 at Colorado GC and #14 at WeKoPa Saguaro. In both cases I think the island fairway which would be a more direct route is virtually pointless as it's too hard to hit.

As for #12 at Talking Stick North posted above, I like the hole but still am not convinced that playing left is a good enough option to make the hole really good. The carry either needs to be a bit shorter or there needs to be some more room to avoid the OB which is set so hard against the left side.

[Garland Bayley]

I've gone left with good success at 3 & 7 Rustic and 10 Monarch Dunes.
I'm a lefty. I aim center and the ball goes left. As far as I could see, far left at 7 Rustic was the best angle of approach.

My two times at MD, I thought I had great drives. The first time, I got home in two from the left into a very strong wind. The second time, although I thought my drive was good from the tee, I drew a hellacious lie up against a small steep mound. Were it not for that random result, I would have had pretty good overall success there.

I like the 17th at Bully Pulpit for split fairway.

[Kalen Braley]

I've always thought the 4th at Circling Raven was done well.  Going right is a lot safer, and you get a better angle in...but also comes with a longer approach required to the pin.

Going left means a shorter approach, but then the approach is partially blind and you have to interface with the hazard more.  Subtle but effective.





A side view:

[J Sadowsky]

I've gone left with good success at 3 & 7 Rustic and 10 Monarch Dunes.
I'm a lefty. I aim center and the ball goes left. As far as I could see, far left at 7 Rustic was the best angle of approach.

My two times at MD, I thought I had great drives. The first time, I got home in two from the left into a very strong wind. The second time, although I thought my drive was good from the tee, I drew a hellacious lie up against a small steep mound. Were it not for that random result, I would have had pretty good overall success there.

I like the 17th at Bully Pulpit for split fairway.

The wind at #3 actually took BOTH fairways out of play at Rustic Canyon.  I was on the green in 1 (3 putt par.  Doh.).  My playing partner hit 3 wood well over the green and then ended up in a greenside bunker with his 5W second shot.

[Bradley Anderson]

The 15th at Shoreacres and the 7th at Holston Hills.

http://golfclubatlas.com/forum/index.php/topic,46182.0/

The upper fairway at Holston Hills leaves you with much less bunkering to carry to the green, but from that angle the putting surface is obscured by mounding infront of the green. Very cool.

[David Kelly]

The 7th at Rustic Canyon would have been of merit if the wind hadn't made the second fairway irrelevant.

Justin I guess I don't really consider 7 at Rustic to be a split or double fairway instead I think of it as a hole with a diagonal hazard (was it more like a double fairway before it was redone?).  The hole that I do think of as double/split fairway is the third hole and I've only played with a few people who have played to the left side.

As Joe and I talked about it last week, the old NLE 7th hole at Rustic Canyon was a real double fairway hole.  In it's new configuration all but the very longest hitters have no business trying to hit that small patch of fairway on the right.  You are basically risking a ton of problems to change your approach from a 9/PW to a SW. The angle improves for some pins but is worse for back left pins.

As for #3 at Rustic Canyon, straight at the green is the play a lot of times but if the pin is back and you want to lay up off the tee I think the left side gives you the better angle.  Middle and front pins are better from the right side.  Unfortunately the tree overhang  on tee box kind of takes the left fairway out of play.

Put me down as a big fan of #12 at Talking Stick North as well. It is one of the few alternate fairway holes that works imho.

[Mark Saltzman]

I've always thought the 4th at Circling Raven was done well.  Going right is a lot safer, and you get a better angle in...but also comes with a longer approach required to the pin.

Going left means a shorter approach, but then the approach is partially blind and you have to interface with the hazard more.  Subtle but effective.





A side view:

Shows what I know.  I thought going right was the dangerous route (as you have to carry the bunkers) and the bailout was left. 

[Kalen Braley]

I thought left was more dangerous because...

1)  If you pull it when going left, you go in the swamp/hazard and you have to take a drop.  If you pull it when going right, ur still "OK" in the bunkers.
2)  If you go right, you can still find and play your ball even if you miss the fairway right.
3)  There is more room over to the right, even though the pics don't do a good job in showing it.
4)  The further you get towards the green on the left, the more it pinches in.  This is not the case when going to the right.
5)  The approach is slightly blind from the left, coming in from the right, you can see everything.

[Ronald Montesano]

Justin,

You've lit my fire. The 4th at Ballyhack is a terrible example of a split-fairway hole. There is so much room up to the left that the right fairway sliver should never be a consideration. I've needed tranquilizers when discussing that hole, as I consider it the only flaw on the course. There is no way that a ball intentionally hit at that needle will stay aboard, unless the ground is saturated by Noah's flood.

Tim,

Oh, yeah! Great split fairway hole at Yale, split sideways, top to bottom, front to back, awesome hole.

 

[Michael Dugger]

It can work.

One that makes me scratch my head is 6th at Tetherow.  Might be a wee bit severe.

[Mark Pritchett]

Can't believe we forgot about #5 at Cuscowilla. 

[Leo Barber]

17 Paraparaumu Beach.  Judged by some to be among the best half dozen holes in Australisia (world atlas of golf)

[Howard Riefs]

My nomination for a debatable double fairway:  8th at The Bull at Pinehurst Farms

http://www.golfclubatlas.com/forum/index.php/topic,48749.msg1100097/topicseen.html#msg1100097

[Anthony Gray]

  The one I have liked the most was the finishing hole at St Andrews 2000 near Pattaya Thailand. Desmond Muirhead. A centerline hazard off the tee on this par five then a split fairway on your second shot with a dramatic elevation difference between the fairways. Pretty cool.

  Anthony