Clubhouses and routings....

[BCrosby]

Myopia's last hole is not downhill, but the clubhouse is on one of the lowest spots on the property.


You descend back to the clubhouse level by way of the downhill 16th.


Bob

[Keith Williams]

My home course I grew up on in Georgia is similar, with the clubhouse set up on a hill, except they left the ninth and eighteenth greens down at the base, about 50 feet below.  Tees for one and ten are up by the clubhouse with nice downhill shots/views.  Nine is dead flat from tee to green.  Eighteen is a par 5, playing off an adjacent hillside, so the tee shot is slightly downhill and the rest of the hole flat.  Obviously, this leaves an uphill hike from both nine and eighteen greens, but the course is already hilly, so not really out of character.


-Keith

[Kalen Braley]

18 at Lake Chabot & Soldier Hollow Gold both play downhill.

[Craig Moore]

The 18th on our Greywalls course finishes downhill and it’s definitely an elevated site…. Still waiting for that visit from you Mike    we would have lots to look at and talk about.

[Matt Schoolfield]

I think we ought to look at clubhouses insofar as who they are trying to serve. I really think clubhouses should be part of the deliberate design process.

I think many private members/country clubs may tend to showcase the course with a view, because much of the purpose of the clubhouse is as a social gathering spot. This makes sense even if it leads to uphill 18th holes more often than we would like.

I have advocated strongly that municipal courses should always have their clubhouses along a community thoroughfare if at all possible, as these facilities should serve the whole community, not just the golfing community.

I see public facilities as having far-and-away the most leeway in clubhouse design and placement. If a public course wants to create additional revenue from the restaurant, they may want to put it by a thoroughfare. If they want to give players a member club feel, maybe isolate the clubhouse and include event spaces. Other courses might even just place the clubhouse with a focus on the range as an additional revenue source.

The vast majority of courses I play do not have uphill 18th holes, but I do not frequent private clubs, so that makes sense.

As someone who is a match play guy, I prefer the 17th hole to be the real test, and the 18th to be a birdie opportunity. So, if I ever had a chance at design of a the hilltop members club, it would probably end with a reachable uphill par 4 that uses the elevation up to the green as way to deflect missed shots, while leaving a lay up tier below the green that offers a simple wedge up with an optimal angle.

[Mike_Young]

The 18th on our Greywalls course finishes downhill and it’s definitely an elevated site…. Still waiting for that visit from you Mike    we would have lots to look at and talk about.

Craig,
Hope I van get up that way this summer.  Thanks

[Carl Johnson]

At my home course.  The original sequencing started at the clubhouse.  Later we built a new clubhouse on the other side of the course and we change the hole sequence so the games would start and finish at the new clubhouse, but we did not change the routing at all.  The new clubhouse is at a fairly high point, almost highest point on the course. (Seventh green is highest point.)  The 18th is downhill to the new clubhouse (on a high point).  How is that?  From the 18th green you walk (or ride) up a steep hill to get back to the clubhouse.  Just to point out different ways of doing things.