Design can hamper conditioning !

[archie_struthers]

 
Playing in a skins game at Stone Harbor  (Muirhead et al)  GC in Cape May County NJ yesterday my cart partner remarked how bad his lie was on multiple holes. He has plenty of club head speed but was right that the shots were quite difficult for anyone to pull off.  Invariably the lies and questionable conditioning  was most likely due to the drainage in the area of play. There are lots of unnatural knolls and mounds at Stone Harbor and short of misters or meticulous hand watering there would appear to be little that could have much effect on same.

They have been doing some nice work improving conditions at the club and have done some nice architectural "softening " that looks and plays much better. However the mounds and swales created in Desmond's moonscape transition areas from playing area , generally to frame the hitting area are really hard to  play off and maintain. Pretty good reason to think maintenance when designing and building because the fix is expensive and time consuming.   

[Tom_Doak]

Who has time to think about mundane things like conditioning when you are channeling Jason and the Argo?


(That was supposedly the inspiration for #7)

[Peter Pallotta]

Archie -
I've found myself thinking about this when it comes to greens.
I've played courses where the greens, year after year, come out of winter in worse condition than those at other courses.
I don't know if (or how) the design of those greens play a role in this. Usually it's the superintendent who gets all the blame.

[SL_Solow]

More often, conditioning can adversely impact architecture.  Courses that are kept too soft diminish ground game options and reduce the impact of undulations in green complexes.

[Tom_Doak]

Archie -
I've found myself thinking about this when it comes to greens.
I've played courses where the greens, year after year, come out of winter in worse condition than those at other courses.
I don't know if (or how) the design of those greens play a role in this. Usually it's the superintendent who gets all the blame.

A lot of possible factors in play:


Shade issues
Grass cultivars
Particle size of greens mix


I was talking with a course owner today who said a leading soils expert came in years ago to look at his course, pulled the cup out of the hole at the first green, and told him the greens would never be firm because the particle sizes were too uniform.  25 years later, he is ready to fix that by rebuilding them all.

[archie_struthers]

 


Again it was a simple observation prompted by my playing partners lies on a couple of holes but just want to say that the ownership at Stone Harbor has really tried to improve the golf. Same with most of the clubs in our area , a sign that a robust golf economy here is spurring more investment in the product.


The architectural improvements are obvious on the last two holes where tees were knocked down dramatically. The new effect is quite good and makes for a much easier tee shot on the 18th hole. I have an affinity for  slightly uphill tee shots in general so it really works for me.


it's nice to see the work going in at Stone Harbor, Union League and The Shore Club (Wildwood cc)

[Thomas Dai]

Designing just about anything, not just golf courses, without thinking about how it’s going to be looked after when in use is likely to produce an unsatisfactory outcome.
Atb

[Tommy Williamsen]

This is six at Westward Ho! This fairway impacts conditioning.