[Peter Pratt]

At the risk of oversimplifying, it seems that most of the best golf courses I've played have a preponderance of greens with back-to-front movement. (I recognize that many courses have portions of greens that route balls from one side to another, but the prevailing movement is back to front. Perhaps my memory is just failing me...


Are there courses in which more than a few holes have significant side-to-side movement?

[Tom_Doak]

El Saler in Spain had a lot of long greens where one side was a high tier and the other side lower.  It stuck out because it is pretty rare.


Lots of courses have greens tilted to one side; Garden City is example A.

[Mike_Trenham]

The way Flynn routed his courses his portfolio probably is a good place to start; many of his greens tilt to one side as well as back to front.

[David_Tepper]

The Olympic Club Lake Course has a number of side-tilt greens, is not too surprising given how the course is routed across such a sloping property.

[Terry Lavin]

Flossmoor CC in suburban Chicago has several of these side to side tilted greens, starting with the ingenious first green. It also has a front to back tilted green with a blind approach (the 12th, a great two shotter).

[Keith Grande]

Obviously due to drainage, most greens are sloped back to front, but I have found that many mountainside courses attempt to offset water runoff by tilting against the sideslope, to make the holes puttable, even though the overall pull will be towards the valley. 


Occassionally, on holes that run downhill to greens that follow the terrain to run front to back, similarly, there is sometimes a bank or hill built into the green, such that if you are behind the hole, the putt looks downhill, even though the overall putt is uphill against the terrain.

[David_Madison]

Mid-Pines has a number of such greens, as most of the site is on a tilted piece of land and Donald Ross set his greens very softly on the property. #'s 1, 5, 6, 7, 9, 10, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, and 17 have large sections of the green or in some cases the entire green with significant side tilts that are the predominant slope or movement.

[Garland Bayley]

Vernon Macan was against back to front slope, so he built front to back, left to right, and right to left. I haven't inventoried the holes of his that I have played, but at KP we learned that Marine Drive CC in Vancouver has only left three of his greens intact. I was able to identify one front to back sloping green from its similarity to a green at Pendleton CC that I had played in the same trip. The course I most paid attention to was Salem CC where I could see that the growth of trees had ruined his intention of having the ball coming in curving from the side, essentially ruining the hole. Searching the website should find the photo tour and my commentary on the course.

Eventually, Mac had to modify his avoidance of back to front by popular demand according to his biography Just Call Me Mac.

[Mike Schott]

The current greens at Oakland Hills South have a lot of side to side movement.

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