Course design you dislike.

[Imurg]

I know a lot of the older ourselves are lo,e this but im not fo d of the next tee being 5 yards away from the edge of the previous green...
Now I dont want a route march to the next tee but having it as close as that leaves you in a slightly precarious position and in the line of fire from the group behind.

 

[Liverbirdie]

To turn it on it's head, I hate 28 handicappers who get 2 shots on 200 yard par 3's moaning about them.

Poorly designed argument.

 

[Orikoru]

I know a lot of the older ourselves are lo,e this but im not fo d of the next tee being 5 yards away from the edge of the previous green...
Now I dont want a route march to the next tee but having it as close as that leaves you in a slightly precarious position and in the line of fire from the group behind.

Thorney Park has that. The par 5 15th hole, you're playing your approach shot to a green that is slightly below you, and the next tee is literally a couple of yards behind the green. Was playing there with my dad the other week and someone dribbled their shot through the green, missed by dad's legs by a foot while we were waiting to tee off. It is silly to lay it out like that.

 

[rksquire]

Trees that massively close down your tee shot and don't leave you an option - for example, Portugal last year, (I draw the ball) lake left, tee box so tight to trees on right I've literally (for me) had to manufacture a fade (or hit it straight but who does that?). Our 17th is like that for faders & slicers, but that one is okay for me!

Par 3s with tiered greens and you can't see the pin position from the tee box.

Trees on fairway close to greens that interfere with approach shots - one in particular I'm thinking of is from a sloping fairway, ball below feet, so you have to play up to the tree as the ball naturally swings back. It's okay if you drive the ball 300 yards but 95% of players

Silly season pin positions - been victim myself, but played a round with a friend a couple of weeks ago who missed his uphill putt to the left on our 3rd - 6 inches past, ball rolled back past his feet. Took his next putt, swinging right to left, missed just right of the hole this time, just past, rolled back just left the hole closer to his original position. He then 'layed' up to a foot below the hole and tapped in. Hilarious (for me), but nonsense pin position.

Another one for not letting visitors play of the whites.

Sloping fairways to crazy rough - it's been explained to me by the keepers that in good weather the rough has to be like that to stop the ball disappearing into the woods because even if you hit the fairway there is no stopping the ball. Good shots shouldn't be punished.

 

[Deleted member 23344]

A par 3 to start with gaps between group bookings that would not allow the enough time for the group ahead to finish the hole. Thorpe Wood in Peterborough starts on a Par 3 and had gaps that would never allow a 3 ball to finish the hole before the next group got on the tee. Pretty much guaranteed queues and delays every weekend. May have changed now as not been there in a while.

I played it last year the day before a charity golf day at Elton Furze. Thought it was a nice course ... can’t remember now if the first hole was a par 3.

 

[GB72]

I played it last year the day before a charity golf day at Elton Furze. Thought it was a nice course ... can’t remember now if the first hole was a par 3.

Agree, nothing wrong with the course (and I really enjoy Elton Furze as well). Problem was (and this is going back a few years) they had pretty short gaps between tee times and there was no hope of a 3 or 4 ball clearing the green in time. That just kept mounting up until it was not long before tee times were half an hour or more behind schedule.

 

[YorkshireStu]

I quite enjoy Turnhouse GC but it manages to combine a couple of these.....

17th hole is a blind par 3, 238 yards off the REDS! 248 from the whites.

I've just had a look on Hole19 at this hole and it looks tough!

If there were no bunkers then I could understand the length of the hole... although I assume it's meant to play like a par 3.5

 

[Hoganman1]

I don't mind blind tee shots unless there is a water hazard in play that one cannot see. Most of us assume our drives went in the water if we cannot find the ball, but the rules of golf disagree. Someone has to actually see the ball go into the hazard or it's a lost ball. Also, forced carries over water off the tee are a problem for me now that I've aged. I get that I could move up a set of tees. However, if I can comfortably play 17 of the 18 holes from one set of tees, one hole should not penalize me.
Basically, I like designs by the classic designers such as Donald Ross and Seth Raynor or their disciples. Of the current designers I think Crenshaw and Coore are the best.

 

[Hoganman1]

That is not true.
The rule is "known or virtually certain".

Thanks. I didn't realize that rule had changed, but I'm glad it has been revised. It actually happened at my course (MPCC) years ago during a USGA women's amateur event. A player drove her ball over a hill into a creek. The rules official said she had to go back to the tee because no one actually saw it go into the water.

 

[backwoodsman]

Thanks. I didn't realize that rule had changed, but I'm glad it has been revised. It actually happened at my course (MPCC) years ago during a USGA women's amateur event. A player drove her ball over a hill into a creek. The rules official said she had to go back to the tee because no one actually saw it go into the water.

"Known or virtually certain" more or less equates to there being no realistic chance of it being anywhere else. So has to be used with caution.

 

[Deleted member 23344]

Also, forced carries over water off the tee are a problem for me now that I've aged. I get that I could move up a set of tees. However, if I can comfortably play 17 of the 18 holes from one set of tees, one hole should not penalize me.

Absolutely ... totally agree!

 

[Liverbirdie]

I think if it has changed, it's now stricter than it was.

It's all relative to the situation, if there are other places it could be lost, eg rough, bushes or trees, it can't be virtually certain to be in the water.

But if you drive over the brow of a hill, middle of the 80 yard wide fairway where there is no rough and a massive lake stretching the whole width 200 yards off the tee, it's obviously in it.

What about if it has a very thin bridge.

 

[bobmac]

I'm not a big fan of hidden bunkers from the tee.
I also don't like cold windy courses with no trees.
And I dont think fairways with big humps and bumps are fair when your perfectly straight drive kicks off 90 degrees left into one of the hidden bunkers.

For example....






Give me one of these any day

 

[NearHull]

I'm not a big fan of hidden bunkers from the tee.
I also don't like cold windy courses with no trees.
And I dont think fairways with big humps and bumps are fair when your perfectly straight drive kicks off 90 degrees left into one of the hidden bunkers.

For example....

View attachment 31879




Give me one of these any day

View attachment 31878

Lincolnshire?

 

[bobmac]

Lincolnshire?

I know.
Flat, no trees and always windy.
Don't know why I live here

 

[NearHull]

I know.
Flat, no trees and always windy.
Don't know why I live here

Because there are good courses all over the county. Playing Lincoln Golf Club tomorrow in a Texas Seniors Open. I always look forward to playing Torksey whatever the format.

 

[MendieGK]

But it isn't the middle of the fairway if there's a bunker there

Eg 16th at Bowood. 2 routes round the central bunker. Choose the one you can make.....and fire

The design of the 16th is horrific

 

[Deleted member 21258]

The design of the 16th is horrific

Had to look

Looking at the vid, I know I would love that hole, as I never hit the middle of the fairway

 

[IanM]

....I didnt say I liked it! I just stated the cold reality!

I was a member there for 10 years... from the white tees my best outcome was if I accidentally pulled it down the left side and it stayed out of the left bunker. More often I missed the fairway on the right and didnt reach the right hand bunker! Sam would have just blast it over all of that stuff so it's a non issue! (or is it in play off the Blues?)

 

[MendieGK]

....I didnt say I liked it! I just stated the cold reality!

I was a member there for 10 years... from the white tees my best outcome was if I accidentally pulled it down the left side and it stayed out of the left bunker. More often I missed the fairway on the right and didnt reach the right hand bunker! Sam would have just blast it over all of that stuff so it's a non issue! (or is it in play off the Blues?)

It’s usually into wind too, as 15 is basically a 3iron off the blues. In the Bowood bowl it’s just a hit and hope on 16.

No need for the middle bunkers at all.

The green design is also garbage as you can’t see the bottom of the hole.

I’m a big fan of bowood, and think it’s the best in Wiltshire but 16 is terrible