Hi again,
This comes up so often (because it's a fundamental question to people concerned with GCA) in so many subjects and bodies of threads that I'm considering just making a word document paragraph that re-states my thesis.
Pre-amble:
I never met or heard or studied an architect who cared about this, who thought very much of this contrast, or who designed-laid-out-constructed more than a couple of holes in their oeuvre with this concept in mind... It could be a general governance (or ethos) of a golf design, but such fancies are usually limited by property, budget, client, etc.
YET IT REMAINS TRUE THAT...REVEALED...
A "match-play" hole (or course) MORE REWARDS FORTUNE than SKILL.
A "medal-play" hole (or course) MORE REWARDS SKILL than FORTUNE.
A "match-play" hole (or course) is usually sporty and shorter; it(they) may be a blind; it is where quirk is most often found; it is often marked by outrageous contour in its green(s); it may have hidden bunkers or landmark bunker(s); a "match play" site is called "tame" and "easy" when it lacks it noted winds...a match play hole/course generally keeps an apt balance between alternate routes to an objective and obstacles which both players/sides must tackle, or pass safely. The alternate routes necessarily require playing width so match play holes/courses are broader and more open; if they have OB or hazard, there is usually a way to play away from it. In all of this, a match play course, seeks to level the relative advantage of the better skilled player by simultaneously:
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[/size]enhancing features of "fortune" (good or bad) that can grab a good or poor shot with disproprotionate, possibly opposite results.
[/size]enhancing features of "relativity"...you miss an inch, it's the same as missing by 30 yards.
[/size]enhancing features of "opportunity" in providing alternate routes (to the 2 and 3 shot holes) whereby a heroic execution is NOT a requirement for a score that can win/half the hole.
[/size]de-emphasizing length as a feature,
[/size]de-emphasizing penalty hazard (OB/Water) as a feature.
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[/size]Enough for now.
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[/size]cheers
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[/size]vk