[Patrick_Mucci]

aligning the tees other than at a centerpoint in the fairway ?

As diligent as I try to be, I have a very hard time with alignment.

On the tee, I try to be extra careful and try to use the tee or mowing patterns within the tee to help me.

Free form tees cause major problems for me.

Is it acceptable for the architect to deliberately mislead ?

To deliberately align the tee other than at a centerpoint in the fairway ?

Does the average and/or the majority of golfers work on alignment, or do they just get up and trust their eye to guide them, not understanding that often they're misaligned ?

[David_Tepper]

Pat M. -

I don't know whether it is "acceptable" or not, but there is no doubt a teebox alined at a slight angle to the center of a fairway can fool/confuse many golfers.

The tee box on #10 (used to be #1) at the Presidio in San Francisco is angled perhaps 15 degrees to the right of the center of that fairway. I have stood behind that teebox and watched hundreds of golfers miss that fairway to the right simply because they set up along the line of the teebox.

DT     

[Adam Clayman]

Is it too much, for an Archie to ask that the player to be aware? Even though it was probably the shaper who F'd it up.

Is the archies job to make sure you are aligned?   I'd say no.

I like idiosyncrasies that try to fool me.

Figuring it out is what it's all about.

[A.G._Crockett]

This always strikes me as either sloppy work or a cheap stunt in lieu of good GCA. 

It's not deception along the lines of a bunker with a high lip that is set back from the green that leads the player to play away from the best target by a decision.  Misaligned tee boxes just make it harder to line up and execute the intended shot.

[Tom_Doak]

No, it's not good architecture to misalign tees.

It is not good architecture to build rectilinear tees which can be said to "align" the golfer at anything.

[Jim Sherma]

I believe that this is called "home field advantage". It is amazing how this type of misalignment can "get" many very good players. And even when being aware how easy it is to make the same mistake over and over.

[archie_struthers]

  ;

I really like free form tees, rather than the squared off rectangles favored by many "purists" .  Although it may require a little more mowing
in the morning ,  they look so good when done right. 

You are going to have some wasted tee space , but so be it . I'm with Doak on this, I think!

[David_Elvins]

If the architect knows the direction the player will want to hit the golf ball, he ain't a good architect. 

[paul cowley]

Regardless of who designed the tees, or what their shape is...or even more importantly...who set out the tee markers on any given day...it's not that complicated. Just make sure you pick your proper line and stay behind the markers.

 Good designers don't rely on this kind of trickery...but bad shots from players needing an excuse helps promote the theory.

[Joe Leenheer]

The 10th hole at Oak Hill CC in Fitchburg, MA (D. Ross) is a shortish Par 5.  The tee box is aligned to the right which can lead the player to be blocked out on his second shot or even out of bounds if the miss is severe.

The first time I set foot on the tee is was forewarned.  I'd say I remembered 75% of the time.  I would always jokingly curse Ross as I watched my ball sail off to the right.

Call me crazy, but I kind of liked it.

On a regular basis I do my best to not allow the shape of a teeing ground, alignment of said ground, and placement of tee markers (other then making sure I'm in-between them) effect my alignment or mental approach to a shot.

[Sean_A]

If there is a natural teeing ground whose alignment doesn't quite fit the shape of the hole I don't mind.  The tee markers can always be angled to help the golfer out.  If the archie is building a tee box, I think it a reasonable request to align it properly.

Ciao

[Ally Mcintosh]

If there is a natural teeing ground whose alignment doesn't quite fit the shape of the hole I don't mind.  The tee markers can always be angled to help the golfer out.  If the archie is building a tee box, I think it a reasonable request to align it properly.

Ciao

I agree with this. If you are building tees that are square, rectangular or anything that resembles those shapes, it is best practice to align with the centreline of the fairway.... But if the natural shape of the ground is dictating a more free-form shape, then it is up to your greenkeeper to do that job for you...

[John Chilver-Stainer]

Should the Architect line up the Tee for the 250 yard drive or the 150 yard drive?
Particularly off-set tees from the centerline of the fairway can offer a variety of angles for different players

Should the Architect respect topography and construct tees to the contours of a side slope or rigidly construct a monstrosity in the line of play?

More often than not the cutting pattern on a Tee will be in the longitudinal direction, even on a free-form tee, is this also wrong if it’s not on line?

Players who can’t align themselves properly shouldn’t really be on the course – what do they do when they are on the fairway? 

I’ve deliberately aligned a Tee to the bail-out bogey option on a long Par 3 to illustrate the lay-up shot. It requires longer players align themselves without the aid of a tee line or cut line.

Maybe confused golfers can use their Laser Navigational Tool.

[Ally Mcintosh]

John,

I agree with you in principle, particularly in the case of free-form contours and in your good point about offset tees which are a must in any good design in my opinion.

However, IF the architect is deciding to build rectangular(ish) tees, then deliberately deceiving by setting each of them (say) 5 degrees off the centreline, is not something that I think any architect would do. Following the ground most certainly, doing it once in a while like in the case you stated then OK… And the difficulties do come with offset tees for sure… But deliberately as deception? I don't think so…

Another reason to stick to free-forms to be honest...

[Mark Chaplin]

Working on the theory that Pat doesn't play new courses but mainly younger courses in the 70-100 year old bracket. It maybe fair to assume a good many "misaligned" tees were perfectly aligned to the original fairway shape.

[Rich Goodale]

Tee misalignment is in fact one of the few remaining arrows in the architect's quiver.

Like Pat, I am old enough to know better, but seemingly both of us are so inherently stupid that we get fooled by this trick daily.  Vive le trompe d'oeil!

Rich

[Tony_Muldoon]

I have the pictures somewhere.

TEC

First rectangular tee lines you up at a carry able bunker that obscures half the Fairway-according to the Scoresaver I paid for.  Only problem was the year I played they had grown the hidden area as rough for the Irish Open, as I discovered when I got to my tee shot.

Second tees are circular.

Third tees are rectangular again, but aligned so far right that following their direction would aim you down the road adjacent to the course.

I started to ignore them after that. 

[Ally Mcintosh]

I have the pictures somewhere.

TEC

First rectangular tee lines you up at a carry able bunker that obscures half the Fairway-according to the Scoresaver I paid for.  Only problem was the year I played they had grown the hidden area as rough for the Irish Open, as I discovered when I got to my tee shot.

Second tees are circular.

Third tees are rectangular again, but aligned so far right that following their direction would aim you down the road adjacent to the course.

I started to ignore them after that. 

Good or bad architecture, Tony?

[Jeff_Brauer]

There is nothing obligating the archie to line up the golfer.  Not only that, but the sad fact is most golfers unknowingly align too far right anyway.  As one pro told me, they line their left shoulder up with the target, when it should really be aimed left of the target for the ball to be aimed at the target.  Of course, many also get fouled up on mowing stripes, angled tee markers (sometimes even on a perfectly aligned rectangular tee) and just generally not paying attention, so there are times when I wonder how they complain about the gca "messing up their alignment.

That said, over time, I do it anyway, not really feeling that I am trying not trying to encourage a bad shot, or hurt the golfer for "nothing" rather than a bad shot.  Call me a softie, if you must......

Technically, I even try to make the round tees line up if I can.  Golfers tend to line up over the furthest point of the front curve (or the "bow of the ship" as I call it) and if it points to the target, the golfer is more likely to aim that way.  If it aims right, they aim right. 

[Phil McDade]

Aren't several tees at Pebble Beach slightly misaligned?

[Mark McKeever]

I think its a great and easy trick to really mess with a players head.  I see it on tons of Donald Ross courses.

Mark

[Tony_Muldoon]

I have the pictures somewhere.

TEC

First rectangular tee lines you up at a carry able bunker that obscures half the Fairway-according to the Scoresaver I paid for.  Only problem was the year I played they had grown the hidden area as rough for the Irish Open, as I discovered when I got to my tee shot.

Second tees are circular.

Third tees are rectangular again, but aligned so far right that following their direction would aim you down the road adjacent to the course.

I started to ignore them after that.  

Good or bad architecture, Tony?

Good is not the word.

I get a strange thrill when I realise I’ve been tricked, it's like a magician having me pull his card out of my pocket.  It requires subtlety, craft and distraction. You build a story to conceal what's going on.  In the Magic world the saying is that the trick you see is not the trick we’re doing.  When I can see the trick and there's no punchline where's the magic?

I think like most 'effects' used sparingly it has it's place.  If I were designing a course I might be tempted to adjust the angle of a tee on a dogleg slightly towards the line of the green.  It would reinforce the mistake so many of us are going to make.

[Bill_McBride]

No, it's not good architecture to misalign tees.

It is not good architecture to build rectilinear tees which can be said to "align" the golfer at anything.

So do you just align the tee with the fairway centerline?

[Brent Hutto]

I don't think it particularly detracts from the quality of the course or the architecture. But it sure as heck doesn't add anything to it!

[Patrick_Mucci]

Working on the theory that Pat doesn't play new courses but mainly younger courses in the 70-100 year old bracket.

It maybe fair to assume a good many "misaligned" tees were perfectly aligned to the original fairway shape.

The 8th tee at GCGC, 113 years old is aligned to the left, into the bunker and woods left of the bunker.
I think holes like # 8 and # 10 have had the tee and/or fairway altered over the years.

Would you consider Friars Head, Sebonack, Sand Hills, Bandon Dunes, Pacific Dunes, Hidden Creek, Galloway National, Trump West Palm Beach, Bedminster, Westchester, Twisted Dune, Hamilton Farms, Bayonne, Liberty National, Atlantic, Old Marsh, Medalist and Sherwood, old courses ?.

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