Diagonal splines in Fairway landing areas.....

[Mike_Young]

Have come to believe one of the best defenses against length is the diagonal spline in a fairway that directs the lengthy yet slightly off line drive into the wrong angle.....seems much more applicable than being in rough or a bunker yet keeping the same angle...and it does not require narrowing of fwy etc......not knowing the ODG's as well as some here.....tell me where I will find more examples of these...
However it does seem many of these features are now carried and in some cases not even recognized as an integral part of some older holes.....

[rjsimper]

4 at Bandon Trails is the obvious one that comes to mind, and I agree it is a great feature.

(Though, I guess that's not an old dead guy course, and the feature is more effective for a 220 yard carry than it is for a 250 yard carry)

[Jeff_Brauer]

Mike,

Don't know about the ODG other than Ross and CBM had domed fw from time to time....or hogback.

But, I agree.  I tend to use them for the 300+ landing zones.  While I might add a small bunker out there occaisionally, it doesn't often seem that its worth the money for the .03% of golfers who can bomb it.

There are quite a variety of splines - straight hogback, angled, and even full tilt cross slope that might take the ball in the rough.  There are also good old fashion fw chocolate drops (somewhat melted for mowing.....)  Hitting it 300 plus probably isn't a good enough reason to truly F up someone, (kind of like making $300K doesn't make it right for the govt. to tax it above 50%....but thats another story)  So, a slightly worse angle, or maybe even a slightly more uneven lie seems about right for the slight inaccuracy.

Got to ask WTF?  Not one hint of Merion in this question........smile.  Or, at least I hope Merion doesn't have a spline fw or we will be off to the races figuring if CBM did it based on the hogback at NGLA>>>

[Mike Bowline]

#11 at Oakland Hills also has s spine of sorts in the landing area, made more difficult by the hidden nature of the landing area.

[Gene Greco]

    Indeed, a simple, effective defense.

One of the most punishing is in the landing area of the GREAT 612 yard par 5 16th hole at Sand Hills Golf Club which when failed to negotiate properly leaves the golfer with a blind second shot fraught with much danger, especially from that presented by the gaping blowout on the right side of the fairway.

 
COINCIDENTALLY, THIS IS THE SAME DIAGONAL SPINE PATRICK MUCCI FAILED to recognize as he sped by it in his golf cart.

[Tom_Doak]

Mike:

That is a good observation.  We have used such features occasionally, but not often enough ... and it's something that could easily be added to a featureless site.  A future client of mine in Korea may thank you someday!

The one course which jumped to mind based on your suggestion is White Bear Yacht Club in MN.  There are lots of ridges there, big and small, presenting several blind approaches if your drive doesn't get over the ridge in the fairway.

Alex Russell built a great little diversion ridge on the 5th hole at Yarra Yarra in Australia ... if you don't hug the corner of a slight dogleg, it steers you to the outside so you've got to approach straight over the top of a mound-and-bunker feature short of the green.

[Pete_Pittock]

Littlestone #16 is highly regarded. A long right to left diagonal and, if I remember correctly, OB down the left.

[Ian_L]

This could have some shotmaking advantages as well.  If the spine is big enough, a golfer can draw or fade the ball into the hill, helping it stop in the fairway.

[Sean_A]

Any sort of diagonal natural hazard is good stuff.  This kind of thing seemed to be used more in the old days and I see it quite a bit in GB&I.  Even if the big boys often carry this sort of feature, it will be in play for the folks with not so flat bellies - they are still worth keeping/adding regardless of how far pros hit the ball. 

Ciao

[Bill_McBride]

Vernon Macan's Columbia-Edgewater in Portland (1925) has two really good ones, #5 and #12. 

#5 is a shortish par 4, maybe 380 from the one up tee.  The diagonal ridge is steep and diabolical.  If you hook or even pull the ball and don't carry the 220 on the left side (180 right), you wind up way left behind a stand of 150' tall giant Sequoias.  If you are successful carrying the ridge on the left edge of the fairway, the ball rolls down into the middle of the tight fairway maybe 120 out.  Down the safe right side, the ball stays right and the shot is maybe 30 yards longer at a worse angle.

#12 is a longer par 4, maybe 420.  Same concept but better.  If you take the shorter carry on the right, there's a big bunker 30 yards short of the green and another right greenside.  If you don't make the carry to the advantageous left side, you're in a lower area of low rough and the second shot is long and blind.

This could be the best example of TWO great diagonal ridges on one course by an ODG.

[Mike_Cirba]

Gene Greco beat me to it, Mike, but there are a lot of great examples that C&C use at both Sand Hills and Friar's Head, particularly on the par fives.

[Doug Wright]

Mike here is a very good example from the newly opened Four Mile Ranch GC (Engh) in Canon City, Colorado. The 8th hole is a 353 yard par 4 with a large spine on the right side LZ. Longer hitters may be able to carry the spine and get a kick forward on or near the green; this happened to two of the players in our group when we played the hole. My drive did not carry far enough and was kicked straight left off the spine and into a totally blind pitch shot over the bluff that guards the left side of the green. Into the wind the spine also can create a blind second shot for shorter drives. This spine feature works great on this hole. 



My ball kicked left off this spine to where the gentleman in white is standing in this photo. It's a totally blind shot from there!