Lengthening a hole to make it easier

[AKikuchi]

I know in the past there have been discussions here about whether shortening a hole can have the impact of making it more difficult (due to strategic choices, hazard placement, psychology, etc.). I was wondering though if anyone could share any specific cases where a hole was lengthened with the goal of making it easier, whether in the context of professional golf or otherwise. I'm not familiar with any examples, but I would like to hope they exist.

[Mike_Clayton]

Not that its been by much but three of the great short 4s on the Melbourne sandbelt have been lengthened in recent years - in fact the new tee at Victoria's 15th opens today. 10 at Royal Melbourne, 3 at Kingston Heath and Victoria's 15 are maybe 10 yards longer now but the ball had effectively shortened them over the years arguably making them more dangerous holes because they are now reachable for the longest hitters.
Lengthening them has perhaps had the effect of removing some of the temptation to play the reckless shot.

[Kevin_Reilly]

One hole at Olympic comes to mind...using the back tee on #5 (rarely used) arguably makes the tee shot easier, because one doesn't need to worry as much about hitting a drive through the fairway into the rough or treeline left.  From the normal tees, generally, the tee shot must work left to right to hold the reverse camber fairway on the dogleg right.

[Tom_Doak]

At High Pointe I deliberately designed two of the shorter par-4's [the 5th and 7th] as holes where you might not want to hit driver from the tee, because a long hitter might wind up with a downhill lie [on #5] or a blind shot out of a hollow [on #7] for his half-wedge approach shot.

A few years after opening, someone recommended they add a few back tees to get the course up closer to 7,000 yards, and guess which two holes they lengthened?  They made it so the short hitter had trouble getting to the crest of the hill on #5, and "rewarded" the longer hitter on the short par-4 by making it easier [relatively] for him.

[Doug Siebert]

Psychologically, I don't like a par 5 where I have to lay up off the tee (due to running out of fairway, intervening water hazard, whatever) so lengthening it to where that wasn't necessarily might make it easier in some sense.  Making a driveable par 4 or reachable par 5 longer so it must be played in regulation might make it easier, especially if one decides there's no point in hitting driver off the tee and plays a club less likely to find trouble.

But when you get down to it, given that you can always play a shorter tee shot from the "shorter tee" to where you'd play to from the "longer tee", it is hard to argue that shortening can ever truly make a hole easier.  It is only made easier in our minds, or within the limits of one's biases as to how the hole should be played.

[AKikuchi]

Not that its been by much but three of the great short 4s on the Melbourne sandbelt have been lengthened in recent years - in fact the new tee at Victoria's 15th opens today. 10 at Royal Melbourne, 3 at Kingston Heath and Victoria's 15 are maybe 10 yards longer now but the ball had effectively shortened them over the years arguably making them more dangerous holes because they are now reachable for the longest hitters.
Lengthening them has perhaps had the effect of removing some of the temptation to play the reckless shot.

Thanks Mike- short par 4's were the first thing that came to mind, and those look like excellent examples. In looking at pictures of the 10th at Royal Melbourne, that does seem like a rather intimidating view from the tee. It is not hard to imagine an extra 10 yards tipping the scales in favor of the conservative shot. Out of curiosity, how long is the carry over the hazard in line with the green there?

-Alan

[AKikuchi]

At High Pointe I deliberately designed two of the shorter par-4's [the 5th and 7th] as holes where you might not want to hit driver from the tee, because a long hitter might wind up with a downhill lie [on #5] or a blind shot out of a hollow [on #7] for his half-wedge approach shot.

A few years after opening, someone recommended they add a few back tees to get the course up closer to 7,000 yards, and guess which two holes they lengthened?  They made it so the short hitter had trouble getting to the crest of the hill on #5, and "rewarded" the longer hitter on the short par-4 by making it easier [relatively] for him.

Not having any direct experience with those sorts of situations, I always wonder what the discussions look like in. I would imagine that there’s at least some thought given to balancing a.) the “benefit” of getting the course up to 7k yds against b.) the effects of the changes on the relative difficulty of the hole for different players; the architect’s intent; etc.

Speaking generally though, there is sometimes the appearance that the process of lengthening a course doesn’t involve much serious thought, and that is taken for granted that more length is a clear benefit regardless of where it is added. But I wonder how often it is really that simple, where the other factors are summarily glossed over.

A lack of appreciation for the short par 4, combined with the fact that those holes are likely to be the easiest (on paper) to lengthen, makes the sort of outcome you describe unfortunately unsurprising.
-Alan

[Mike_Clayton]

AKituchi

The carry on the 10th west bunker is about 240 yards - but like the carry across the bunker at Barnbougle 4th it's a really long 240 yards.
It's an easily reachable green for long hitters but extraordinarily hard to hit and stay.