Future of Golf Courses

General Discussion
#1

While researching a topic, I came across this article from Golf Digest last year, basically a summary of surveys with golf course architects on where they see courses going in the future:
https://www.golfdigest.com/story/a-full-18-hole-course-of-synthetic-turf-we-surveyed-20-course-architects-about-the-future-of-design-here-are-their-predictions

I found the article interesting and wanted to open it up for discussion. What do you all think? Would you be interested in playing a casual 12 hole course or a ā€œpay per holeā€ system?
For me, I really want to see high quality synthetic greens come to golf courses. I see so much time and energy spent on the greens on my course that I think it could be much more sustainable if there was an alternative. Tee boxes as well.

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#2

Lionā€™s Municipal in Austin is an interesting case study. Likely going to be going away sometime soon.

Public opinion around land use is moving towards less zoning and dense housing. Golf courses viewed by many as wasteful.

I think you will see many courses go to 9-12 holes inside the city. My uneducated opinion, I have never looked at a golf course financial statements.

#3

I could see things changing in the future. Golf takes a lot of time and courses take up a lot of land. I never played it, but I remember reading about a course that did have 18 holes (I think?), but had them broken up into 6 little 3-hole loops. You could play just a 3, 6, 9ā€¦to 18 and the little loops brought you back to the center clubhouse area. I donā€™t know how good the hole designs were, but I liked the concept.

I could see making parts of the course synthetic too. An artificial tee box might not be as pretty, but it makes sense. Greens tooā€¦although then there would be no moaning about inconsistent speed, grain, etc.

#4

The article completely fails to mention the myriad of benefits of courses beside golf.
Courses provide a much-needed green space and often as not, wetland amid the urban sprawl as well as a wildlife preserve.
My home course captures greywater runoff from surrounding neighborhood in a 280,000gal tank for irrigation. The cart paths are multi-use, far enough from fairways to be relatively safe for dog walkers and joggers (albeit a bit inconvenient on cpo days!), a true park-like facility.
Like @papageorgio, Iā€™ve never seen a courseā€™s financials (probably not smart enough to understand it anyway) but like other parkland/wetland areas, I think golf courses can play a vital service to surrounding neighborhoods and businesses.
Maybe we need an organization similar to the State Park & Wildlife (or National Park System on a federal level) to preserve and protect golf courses from developer encroachment? After all, we wouldnā€™t have Yellowstone if not for NPS.
As for artificial turf, thereā€™s TopGolf if you like that sort of thing. I prefer living, CO2-breathing grass.
Just an old fartā€™s dos centavos.

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#5

I love the concept of golf courses as part of open use green space central to the community.

I would always prefer it, but really only if there is a native (or adaptable) grass species that can be used without the incredibly intensive, and honestly wasteful, maintenance that modern golf courses require in much of the country/world. I would never want an entirely synthetic course, but natural/native fairways/rough bracketed by good synthetic tee boxes and greens would be the best balance IMO.

#6

Does that mean Iā€™ll need to replace my beloved Martini tees with those silly cones?
image
:scream::scream::scream:

You make a great point, teeing areas often get ragged, esp in winter. Just not sure many courses can afford ongoing replacement costs. Theyā€™d have to carpet the whole box otherwise you wouldnā€™t allow for ā€˜tee strategyā€™; faders on the right, drawers on left etc.
Our course has multiple (sometimes large) boxes which provide traffic relief as well as a varied experience. Iā€™m not sure the regulars would go for a ā€˜driving rangeā€™ situation.

#7

It definitely wouldnā€™t/couldnā€™t be just driving range mats tossed out there, but instead the same tee box setup (large, ability to have multiple tees/move them around) but with a synthetic surface that you can also get a tee into. I played a few courses over in Asia that had these, so itā€™s certainly feasible.

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#8

I like a 12 hole design, I think thatā€™s pretty cool. They can set it up in a way that allows you to play 18, 6, 9, or 12 depending on time constraints. I donā€™t think a pay per hole is a horrible idea if it stays affordable but I could see that getting out of hand. Additionally, I donā€™t feel that synthetic courses are a horrible idea. They could keep the rough area and waste areas but the synthetic greens, tee boxes and fairways arenā€™t a horrible idea. Saves lots of money and a smaller impact on the environment.

#9

Here down under when Melbourne had a second wave of covid (700 cases a day)golf was banned. At a public course locals cut a hole in the fence and used the course to walk dogs and generally enjoy the open space in a time when you werenā€™t allowed to be more than 5km from your house and a curfew in effect. When cases got back to zero and golf was allowed again the invaders campaigned against golf wanting the course to be returned to open space for everyone and there was a bit of conflict with people wandering around and walking dogs while others were playing golf.

At my course too many balls were being sliced into houses on the 6th tee. The solution was to move the tee up and left and a 5m fence was built along the right side of the tee. The new tee is almost always in the shade due to trees around it and the grass struggles to grow making the tee patchy. Maybe synthetic grass would help

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#10

For those who subscribe to the Golfers Journal, you might want to go online and read this article from Issue 10:


It seems appropriate within this thread.
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