Guidelines For The Design Of A Modern Golf Course

 

  1. Make the absolute best use of the ground in routing the course. That is the No.1. goal. The course should not return to the clubhouse after nine holes if the quality of the design will suffer noticably from doing so. Two loops of nine holes returning to the clubhouse is more than preferable, especially for a public golf course, but not at the expense of producing a greatly inferior golf course.

  2. The course should be challenging and interesting for the best players in the world and also for weaker players. Everyone from beginner to tournament professional should be encouraged to improve their game from playing this course. To accomodate this vast spectrum of players, there should be at least three sets of tees per hole based on what the architect considers to be the ideal position. Mathematical formula's for positioning tees or anything concerning golf course design is anathema to the game. (See: German Golf Association Wrong Again)

  3. The holes should be of various lengths. Long and short. For the best players of today, it is rare for them to hit long irons into a par-4 hole. With this in mind, a couple of the longer holes can be routed into the prevailing wind. Again, this is where properly placed multiple tees for men and women will help provide balanced challenges. A couple short par-4 holes should be created which require delicate short shots. These are holes where the average player can make a birdie, and the expert a maddening bogey. There should be two to five par-5's and three to five par-3's.

  4. Each hole should have a different character and strategies. All holes must blend together to make one whole and unique course.

  5. When undulations must be created from scratch, they should appear natural and not repetative. The undulations in nature take on a multitude of different shapes and sizes within one property. The undulations will be of different intensities, just like a good piece of music. The best of this work is so good, you're positive it's Mother Nature's work and not the hand of man.

  6. Blind shots have a history in golf. Too much of this and the course can be considered far less than ideal, and probably dangerous. There is a place for the occasional blind shot on an ideal course. They are best reserved for the approach shot on very short par-4's; where a blind approach makes the player judge the shot entirely by feel. It is best not to design blind shots on a public' course.

  7. The course should provide some thrilling shot opportunities. For the weaker player, an alternate route must be provided.

  8. The ideal course examines all areas of play. The short game accounts for over sixty percent of the game. Interesting and beautiful greens and surroundings which provide a multitude of chips, pitches, bump and run, and putts from off the green (Texas wedge) are critical for an ideal golf course. If the greens and their surrounding are uninteresting, the golf course can never be considered ideal.

  9. Long grass, thick growths of trees bordering both sides of narrow fairways or too much water and you are looking at unhappy customers and long rounds of boring golf. The game is about playing the ball, not looking for it or losing them continuously.

  10. Golf is a walking game for those of us without physical ailments or where the weather is not torturous. The ideal course is one which can be walked with little difficulty. Courses requiring severe hill climbing or the mandatory use of carts at all times due to long walks between holes or severity of terrain cannot be considered ideal.

  11. Some golf courses require little drainage, others require every square centimeter to be drained through an underground drainage system or through surface drainage disguised in the undulations of the land. A well drained golf course is critical. It is easier to maintain healthy turf, allows the membership to play as early and as late in the year as possible, and reduces maintenance expenditures. It's the old superintendents story, the secret to a well maintained golf course is 5% common sense and ninety-five percent drainange, and if you don't have enough common sense, put in more drainage.'

  12. An ideal golf course is popular. It creates interest and money for the local economy, is built and maintained economically, and is a vast habitat for flora and fauna. It is one which is so good, the membership seeks to preserve it following the guidelines set out by the architect.