Course architecture features you love or hate

General Discussion
#1

Inspired from another discussion… what are design features you love or hate? A few off the top of my head:

Love:

  • courses that have a variety of hole layouts, some short, some long, some risk/reward, lets you use all your clubs.
  • holes that encourage you to use the terrain in your favor, like doglegs where the ground slopes in the right direction to get around the corner or mounding that will bounce you back toward the fairway.

Hate:

  • Living in a hilly area, this is a common one – when the green sits on the side of a hill, mow the rough on the high side a little lower so you have a chance to bounce the ball onto the green. And mow the rough on the low side a little higher so the ball doesn’t roll 30 yards down a hill away from the green.
  • The internal out-of-bounds – if you want to prevent people from cutting a dogleg, then plant some trees or something.
  • Greens so severely sloped that there are hardly any good pin placements.
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#2

single tall tree in fairway

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#3

Not a big fan of hidden trouble, ex: nice drive over a hill only to be surprised by a creek coursing thru my landing area.
Really not a fan of severely sloped fairways that funnel perfect t-balls into creek left, not even enough rough to keep ball dry. Watters Creek #8 :exploding_head:

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#4

Love

  • devilish driveable par 4
  • short par 5 with big risk reward second shot
  • a course that has variety in how it presents the defense (water left then water then water left gets very boring to me)

Hate

  • oak trees that have not been trimmed back in 50 years
  • holes that reward super long hitters with a downslope…a downslope that starts at 290 that funnels the golf ball down a hill another 50 yards… all of the sudden i can be 75+ yards behind the long guys in my group
  • repetitive crossing hazards that limit how far to hit off tee
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#5

In general; I like the design of the golf courses using mostly the natural landscape, dislike the one over use the add on ( railroad ties, artificial water fountain…).

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#6

If we’re not at a private club with fewer golfers, and forecaddies/help to find balls, nix the idea of blind approaches. Monumentally frustrating, the “Did you see it?! S$÷t, I better hit a provisional…” Et friggin’ cetera. Even worse, the “Sorry, man! I didn’t know you were still down there!”

Great in the right circumstances, I’m sure. But not for a course with heavy use.

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#7

There isn’t much on any course I don’t like. It’s fun to try and match wits against the architect. But, if I had to choose something I don’t like I would say a hole that doesn’t have a bail out. 18 pebble there is bailout right. I got to play 17 Sawgrass many moons ago. I did make par. BUT there is no bail out and the drop is no bargain. You can play for a 5 or 6 at a hole like 18 pebble. 17 sawgrass…… that’s a 2,3 or 4 if u hit the green. If u miss. Triple is probably the minimum number, that’s rough!

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#8

Love:

  1. Cape holes. Sewailo in Tucson use these beautifully as there’s a number of holes where the golfer gets to decide how much risk they want to take by choosing and aggressive or conservative line off the tee.
  2. Greens with back stops
  3. Short grass around the greens for variety in short game
  4. Fairway length grass between adjoining holes so the ball is easy to find but with other penalties (trees, bunkers, slopes, etc)

Hate:

  1. Forced layups from tee boxes. If they put a creek at 275 that needs 300+ to carry, but that also leaves 190 in on a par 4…:man_facepalming:t2:
  2. Overhanging trees that block approach shots after good tee shots
  3. A tree directly in front of a green with trouble behind the green
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#9

I am incredible simple when it comes to architecture. Allow me to hit 10-12 clubs in my bag, don’t force me to do it but a course designed this way can be accomplished pretty easily.

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#10

Bunkers in the middle of fairways can fuck right off

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#11

I don’t think that a false front needs to be coupled with an elevated green.

I am also not a fan of greens that are just sloped one direction. Yes, some are fine but I have seen many courses where the only defense of most of their greens is to slope on direction.

I like to have to make risk/reward choices such as a forced carry or a 295 yard par 4.

Lastly I echo the sentiments of some people above… Take care of the trees! They grow into play over the years. We play a lot of tree lined, mountain type of courses in New England. Crumpin Fox has one in the middle of the fairway on 17, not my favorite but you can see it well in advance to plan around it. Big Oak and Maple trees can grow out and overhang the playing area, obviously not in the original design of the course from 70 years ago in some cases.

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#12

Don’t like the 7th hole at my course where the left rough slopes down towards ob. It is only short rough and if you get a bad bounce left you go ob. Also ob along the lhs of the green with at the same level of the green with only a short fringe to stop you. Also fairways that slope into bunkers.

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#13

This is a big one for me. I mean it’s actually less work for the course to just let the rough grow a little longer in these spots.

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#14

That’s a pet peeve of mine at my course as well. On most par 3’s the banks are shaved and most of our greens are not that big so you can land not that many paces from the flag but bounce and roll OB, in the water or just to a horrible spot in the woods. But in other cases just off the green we have US open rough. Or where a slope would kick your ball back towards the fairway or green the grass is so thick you may not find your ball. I don’t think the course was meant to play this way and it slows the pace as well. I would rather see them let rough grow everywhere so you’d at least get a break on the steep slopes away from the green.

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#15

Yes the 7th is the easiest hole on the course and the easiest hole to rack up a big score. A 270m par 4. You tee it up on the hill with a lake right and ob left. A slight dogleg left with fairway bunkers left and right. A two tier green with banking along the right side and ob left. A back bunker. I hit 7i then a 3/4 wedge. That keeps me short of the bunkers of the tee. All up the left side of the hole slopes into ob.

#16

One of the older public golf courses in my area had more than 300 matured trees throughout the 18. One in particular "was"an old Madrona tree stood over 80 feet tall and covers 20% of the right side of the fairway on a short par 5. It died from poisoning 18 years ago, I guess someone really hated the overhanging branches; pour arsenic near the root and killed the tree.
President Eisenhower requested the “Ike Tree” to be removed on one of the holes at the Augusta National, tree was named after the President because he hit into it so often; ( failed attempt). Singer Celine Dion bought the golf course she frequent just so she could remove a couple of bunkers she often had trouble with ( success ).
I view those obstacles designed into a golf course as a challenge for us to get better of dealing with it. Either sharpen our golf skill or go around it. That is, if we don’t have the wealth to buy-out the place and redesign it.

#17

someone said it already, but internal OB is ridiculous

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#18

My first encounter of the internal O.B. was at a Palmer designed golf course in Asia. I teed off with the tee shot drifted to the adjacent fairway and started heading down the fairway while my caddy called me back because the adjacent fairway was marked as O.B.
Then years later played at a golf course 2 hours north from home with the same on course O.B. because they want to speed up the play, so someone changed the local rules.

#19

My course has internal/infernal OB on #2 and #3. Supposedly to protect players on the adjacent fairways. Both are doglegs that big hitters can try to cut so it’s also risk/reward. Honestly I think the many tall thick trees offer enough protection, but I don’t quite have the firepower to go for it. I’ve never heard of anyone in the other fairway getting hit since the trees snag bad shots.

We’ve got too much OB I think and it does slow up tournament play as they don’t allow a drop and 2-stroke penalty. Players wind up making 14’s on holes while everyone waits. The old guard likes the course hard though.

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#20

Most the golf courses I had golf in Asia in the 70’s and the 80’s had the oncourse O.B. if you don’t want to check out the local rules on the score cards, ask the caddy before you tee off. Extra effort meant extra tips at the end of the round.