Best Routings

[Michael Chadwick]

On a recent Instagram post about Perry Maxwell's Old Town Club, a well traveled individual commented that it was the best routing he'd played. It got me thinking about a few different ways we might be able to discuss routing.


The distance from green to the next tee as well as directional variety are elements typically brought up when discussing a routing. What else do you consider integral to what makes a routing great?


In Old Town's case, the double green of 8 and 17, and the resulting shared teeing area of 9 and 18, is a distinguishing trait. Taking on the risk of creating a repetitive return to the same area (the left to right hillside played on 7, 8, and 17), Maxwell does it in such a way that's entertaining and welcomed, because the area serves as a hinge point connecting the nines, and there's a unique experience had in approaching the same landform in a round but from a slightly different angle.


I can think of two other elements I particularly like as a golfer. One is satisfied with OTC's 8/17 green and 9/18 tee, and that's crossing traffic. Especially for a members course, I quite like courses where there are clusterings of greens and tees, to the point that on a first loop you might not be entirely sure where to turn next. Not only does it mean a good architect prioritized that area, but I then get to trust the initial direction I'm going to take, knowing that I'll eventually return and continue in what should be an equally engaging way later on. William Flynn did this to great effect at Lancaster. Within paces of 10 green is 18 tee, then 14 tee, and furthest (though still close by) is 11 tee. It's such a charming intersection to come across other players and take a peek at what's in store.


The other element I like, and this may be a little harder to explain, is feeling like I've made a tight circle, or that I've been 'spun around' if you will, almost to the point of losing my sense of direction. The routing at Pacific Dunes, beginning with 5 green and ending with 10 tee, is the best example for what I'm trying to describe. In that compelling area of the property I get a little lost, and it makes the reveal of 10 all the more thrilling, even though it's steps from 6 tee previously passed. The hint of disorientation and mystery I experience in that area is something I ascribe as a clear strength to the routing, because with repeated visits it remains fresh, even labyrinthine      


A few other questions on this topic: how important is routing for judging the overall course? Are there Doak Scores 8 or higher out there with particularly bad routings? And conversely, can you think of 5s or lower that have terrific routings? [size=78%]   [/size]

[mike_malone]

Michael,


 You mention Flynn at Lancaster. I love how he often mixes the front and back nines together.

[Michael Chadwick]

Michael,


 You mention Flynn at Lancaster. I love how he often mixes the front and back nines together.

Agreed Mayday. The way you have 1-6 and 14-18 all west of the clubhouse at Rolling Green. Also the cross traffic principle at RG where you effectively walk over 12 tee after 8 green to get to 9 tee.

[Ally Mcintosh]

Michael,


I think you describe well why Old Town has a great routing (I haven’t played it). But one or two of the things you mention could be personal preferences or quirks that you like but others might not.


Routing is a series of trade-offs and it’s generally quite hard to know what might have been without knowing the land intimately.


However, one routing in Ireland that is among the very best is Carlow. In essence, the land is based around one central hill but the golfer would never know it, such is the variety on offer.


https://www.golfclubatlas.com/forum/index.php/topic,59615.0.html

[Kyle Harris]

Pine Needles is the best Ross routing I've played so far. It also seems to be a one-off in the Ross catalogue. From the 3rd green to the 17th tee we are taken from the very bottom to the top of the property.

As a delightful counter, you've got Flynn at Rolling Green taking you from the bottom to the top within three holes - and all are the longest of their respective pars!

Both are exemplary.

Huntingdon Valley and Manufacturers' are a good case study on how Flynn used similar topography around the clubhouse in different ways.

[Thomas Dai]

The routing at Kington is cool.
The hill the entire course is draped over is steep but apart from the short yardage par-4 1st hole you don’t really notice much in the way of climbing.
Atb

[Michael Felton]

That's an interesting question. I think it will depend on what you mean by "poor routing". For example, the linksy style 9 holes out and 9 holes back is fairly uninspired routing I would think. Those courses are none the worse for it though.


From a fairly selfish perspective, I quite like routings that enable shorter loops to be played. Especially if you wind up with lots of holes that come back near to the clubhouse.


The course that jumps out to my mind is Shinnecock. I don't think you ever really play more than two holes in a row in the same direction. The course maps back close to the clubhouse more than a couple of times. You can stand by the 7th hole and watch play on 3, 4, 6, 7, 8. From what Michael was talking about, I bet, absent caddies, more than a few first timers there would play 7 after 3.


I do think at the end of it though that it's a balancing act. I doubt if there are many courses (if any) where the 18 holes laid out are the best 18 holes that a good architect could find on the property without the constraints of routing. I'm sure I remember Tom mentioning how he's had to drop a hole he liked because it didn't fit or would make the holes around it worse than they need to be. Better to have 5 good holes than 1 great hole and 4 mediocre ones. As Ally said it's hard to know how it could have been made better if you don't know it really well. Shinnecock though is 18 really good holes and the routing is IMO really good too (I acknowledge this is hardly groundbreaking news).

[Adam Lawrence]

I have always cited Highlands Links as the routing I admire most. To find a course that is easily walkable in such severe terrain is impressive enough, but the journey at Highlands and the number of different environments Thompson has you traverse is quite remarkable. The true genius, though, is that, when he hit a spot that was simply too severe for golf, he took the golfer on a several hundred yard walk down the river bank -- and people see it as a highlight of the course. True genius.

[Jim_Coleman]

  Not a big fan of multiple holes converging at the same place. Makes for confusion. At Rolling Green, it only happens once when you cross over the 12th tee to get to 9. It can be a little dangerous if one isn’t paying attention. At the ‘76 Women’s Open, P.J. Boatwright considered going from 8 to 12 rather than crossing over and finishing with 10, 11, and 9.
   Lancaster’s congestion is much more pronounced and subject to confusion.I suppose one man’s charming intersection is another’s congestion. Matter of taste.

[mike_malone]

Kyle makes a good point. The severe elevation change from the clubhouse down at Manufacturer’s and Huntingdon Valley is used in a very different way by Flynn. Mannies goes straight down and back up; HVCC goes along the side hill.


Flynn took routing very seriously.

[Kyle Harris]

  Not a big fan of multiple holes converging at the same place. Makes for confusion. At Rolling Green, it only happens once when you cross over the 12th tee to get to 9. It can be a little dangerous if one isn’t paying attention. At the ‘76 Women’s Open, P.J. Boatwright considered going from 8 to 12 rather than crossing over and finishing with 10, 11, and 9.
   Lancaster’s congestion is much more pronounced and subject to confusion.I suppose one man’s charming intersection is another’s congestion. Matter if taste.

I’ve never felt confused nor congested at Lancaster. Must be the clear air.

[Rory Connaughton]

Is there a better confluence than 10 green, 11 tee, 17 green and 18 tee at PV?
Suspect that it's not even confusing...

[Lou_Duran]

The distance from green to the next tee as well as directional variety are elements typically brought up when discussing a routing. What else do you consider integral to what makes a routing great?

How the holes ebb and flow for me is more important than consistently short green-to-tee distances.  I prefer courses that get you going smartly, but slowly, a thoughtful, gentle handshake to start and build from there, mixing a variety of distances, directions, and hole orientations.  I don't mind the occasional moderate to long walk (for most, as shortish cart ride) to get to better ground or avoid difficult elevation changes or large lakes/wetlands which would otherwise require nearly impossible forced carries.


I like routings which vary the direction and degrees of the doglegs- IMO, too many courses today feature hole corridors with relatively little turn or with design features which don't put a premium on turning the ball with the dogleg.  I also prefer a routing with the last two or three holes offering a large variety of challenges and opportunities, e.g. a short 4 with significant risk on both shots, a long 3 where par is a very good score, and a reachable, but treacherous 5 with a potential two to three stroke swing.


Re: the confluence of holes from both nines, I have seen the head of a rating panel pan a course precisely for this reason and drive the opinions of his acolytes down.  I personally prefer routings which provide views of other parts of the course and do not isolate holes.  Excepting TOC's 7/11 crossover, I like previewing upcoming holes and peeking at the hole location.

[Andrew Harvie]

Capilano and Merion are both better routings than Old Town in my eye, but that's not a slight at Old Town at all. Merion is bonkers to get that much golf in that property, and then Capilano is insane to have that much elevation change and still be walkable.

[Jeff_Brauer]

Let's not forget the basics......the course has 18 good holes, with some great ones.    After that, or in addition to that, if you can get safety with proximity, ebb and flow, variety, etc., it can be a great routing.


As to Jim Coleman's point about crossovers and convergences....


As someone who has routed a few crossovers, I tended to find owner's didn't like them.  You may not be confused, but so many golfers can be and start playing down the wrong hole.  Even without those flubs, if tees are combined, they get frustrated waiting for another group to play (if following etiquette) on the adjacent hole.


Well spaced convergences are okay, providing they are at the restroom location, which allows multiple restroom breaks without the expense of actually building multiple restooms.  Depending on untily connection length (and it is typically long to the middle of the course) that $100K structure might cost double or triple just to run utilities to yet another one.


I recall my early days on this site, and some were obsessed with whether any given routing was the "perfect one" for that site, and I usually told them that every routing is a compromise and the best solves the site and owner's goals the most without causing any real problems.  One example was returning nines, which TD and a few others said "ruined" many routings.  At the time, I was doing some work for ClubCorp, and their research said returning nines allowed 3,000 more rounds per year, and they wouldn't do without that.  Who is right?  Neither, both, or it depends?

[JMEvensky]

Wouldn't Best Routing need to be graded based on the piece of ground you start with?


Locally, Memphis CC probably wouldn't make anyone's Top 100 routings but given the constraints of the property Ross had to deal with (~110 acres, a couple of funky corners, etc), it's a 10/10. I'm not sure anyone could've done better.

[MCirba]

Excellent topic, Michael...thanks.

While Merion's routing is indeed special it is interesting to note that six of the holes (1/3 of the course) are routed differently than when the course originally opened in 1912.   Most of those changes were done by 1924 but it's also interesting to note that the course features not one, but two crossovers to appreciate.

[Michael Chadwick]

Claremont in Oakland, not a MacKenzie original, but an extensive redesign he did in 1927, has a peculiar routing. The seventh hole perpendicularly cuts through the fairways of both the 5th (not far from the tee) and the 4th (not far from the green). Major cross traffic!

[Ally Mcintosh]

Wouldn't Best Routing need to be graded based on the piece of ground you start with?


Locally, Memphis CC probably wouldn't make anyone's Top 100 routings but given the constraints of the property Ross had to deal with (~110 acres, a couple of funky corners, etc), it's a 10/10. I'm not sure anyone could've done better.

This is correct.


Some of the best routings are on courses we never talk about….


Some of the best courses have routings where 90% of architects would have come up with something equally as good.

[Ira Fishman]

One of the most educational pieces posted here was Wayne Morrison's article detailing the routings that Flynn and Ross did for the CC of York. Same land; two different routings.


My knowledge and imagination is a limiting factor in that I appreciate a good routing, but I cannot picture what alternatives would look like.


It would be great to have more examples like the CC of York of the different choices architects made.


Ira

[Jim Sherma]

  Not a big fan of multiple holes converging at the same place. Makes for confusion. At Rolling Green, it only happens once when you cross over the 12th tee to get to 9. It can be a little dangerous if one isn’t paying attention. At the ‘76 Women’s Open, P.J. Boatwright considered going from 8 to 12 rather than crossing over and finishing with 10, 11, and 9.
   Lancaster’s congestion is much more pronounced and subject to confusion.I suppose one man’s charming intersection is another’s congestion. Matter if taste.

I’ve never felt confused nor congested at Lancaster. Must be the clear air.

Lancaster has had many routing sequences and some holes abandoned, combined and added across the years.

[Brett Wiesley]

I think the land is supremely important, but equally so is the routing in use of that land. 


Some of my favorites:


Old Town - as mentioned
Mid Pines - Ross
Meadow Club - MacKenzie
Pac Dunes - Doak
Ballyneal - Doak
Maidstone - Willie Park Jr

[Michael Chadwick]

I think the land is supremely important, but equally so is the routing in use of that land. 


Some of my favorites:


Old Town - as mentioned
Mid Pines - Ross
Meadow Club - MacKenzie
Pac Dunes - Doak
Ballyneal - Doak
Maidstone - Willie Park Jr

Brett--could you say a little on what appeals to you about Meadow's routing? I don't know much about it, but have looked at the course from above on Google Maps a few times.

[Brett Wiesley]

Phenomenal use of the terrain, and I love how intimate the course is at a central nexus point where your cross several times.  It's a nice place to see other members in passing.  It can lead to multiple short loop options as well for whisky loops.

[Paul Rudovsky]

I do think at the end of it though that it's a balancing act. I doubt if there are many courses (if any) where the 18 holes laid out are the best 18 holes that a good architect could find on the property without the constraints of routing. I'm sure I remember Tom mentioning how he's had to drop a hole he liked because it didn't fit or would make the holes around it worse than they need to be. Better to have 5 good holes than 1 great hole and 4 mediocre ones. As Ally said it's hard to know how it could have been made better if you don't know it really well. Shinnecock though is 18 really good holes and the routing is IMO really good too (I acknowledge this is hardly groundbreaking news).

Michael--I can think of one World Top 100 course with 18 fabulous holes and poor routing (because of what looks like a decision to want the best 18 holes and not worry about routing...that is Ellerston in New South Wales Australia designed by Greg Norman and Bob Harrison.  A ton of fabulous holes IMO but the distances from T to green can be 200-300 yards as I recall.  Very few have played this track as for years it was the on the personal estate of the late Kerry Packer.  I gather it has opened up a little but still very few have gained access.

On a related point made above...the impact of land available on routing...I have a theory that the best routings are almost always where the available plot of land is small or difficult to deal with...as it forces an architect to "dig deep" and really become creative.  On the other hand a large, easy to work with plot of land can allow the architect to get lazy as there is no need to "dig deep". I think this tendency is prevalent in almost all professions...difficult situations generate the most creative solutions...easy situations means there is not the need to be so creative.