On Understanding Golfing Illusion

[SwingsitlikeHogan]

Summarising part of an interesting article by a Golf Course Architect on how GCAs use illusion in golf course design.

• GCAs in business of protecting par and creating challenge
• GCAs engage golfers's mind and ask questions of club selection
• Visual judgement of distance will always be the hardest thing for a golfer to get right
• Rangefinders have taken a lot of the fun out of judging approach distances
• GCAs not fans of yardage books or GPS devices
• Removing them could be one way of slowing impact of technology
• Most GCAs would rather see the game played by touch and feel, with the golfer hitting shots by imagination and feel
• Would heighten golf senses
• Uncertainty over distance is easy for a GCA to achieve
• Golf courses are not a 'set playing field' design to set distances - on the contrary they are designed to introduce uncertainty around distance

Article goes on to describe how GCAs introduce distance doubt in the golfers mind - and also notes how clubs (usually inadvertently) do the same through different length/height of flags.

The magazine in which I read this is one commonly distributed for free around golf club - article is from this months/quarters edition.

I have made my thoughts on an aspect covered in this article know elsewhere here so won't enter that particular debate again. Just thought the article interesting given by own views and thought forumers might also.

 

[Region3]

Do they also want yardage markers removed from the course?

I know everyone has their own views on this and are perfectly entitled to them.

My view is that as it stands now with DMD's and yardage posts etc, I am about 8 shots per round better than my mate. I am rubbish though at judging distance. If I had to play without any assistance that automatically makes my mate as good a golfer as me. Does that sound right?

In short, if judging distance was an integral part of being a golfer, then I'd be off about 14.

 

[garyinderry]

i have come round to the use of sky caddies. although if they were all completly banned then i also would not have a problem.

 

[dufferman]

I too am completely rubbish at judging distances, so any help I can get I'll take. Being 'fooled' into thinking a hole is shorter or longer than it actually is seems a bit unfair - I would ask if being able to judge distances well is part of golf or not?

 

[garyinderry]

i would say it is. the best golfers down through the ages would have been experts at judging distances through touch and feel. now its getting robotic although i will use the information given to me until the day they are banned. it pains me to see guys use them on every single hole. the only time i use them is for clearing danger or coming up short of it.

 

[Fader]

I've just taken delivery of my Garmin G3 just in time for a 36 holer Saturday. My distance judgement isn't to bad but every little helps and I'm all for taking advantage of anything that helps within the rules of the game.

I think how an architect can fool you into thinkng somethings a different distance is a very good trait, and one I think is essential in building some aesthetically pleasing.

 

[MadAdey]

17th at my place is a perfect example of this. 10 yards short of the green big steep faced bunker across the fairway. You look with the naked when you are short of it and it appears to about 20 yards to the middle of the green, when actually you are around 50 yards. I agreee that distance judgement is a big part of being a competent golfer, but not having any idea of how far you have got just makes you hit the incorrect club and will actually slow play up. I say this as if there was a large mound short of thegreen giving an optical illusion of distance, then I would walk all the way up to to see over the top of and how far I have got left. Not knowing can only make rounds last longer and we do not want that so we. But I do see the point that htey are making about DMD's and strokecsaver book even though I carry both on me.

 

[garyinderry]

clubs that dont have clearly positioned distance markers can be an absolute pain! at our place we have a white stick for 165 yards and a red stone embeded in the fairway for 110yards.

the course im playing today across town has the white stick but also has a red stick. i find this much better as its easier to see from backdown the fairway. it allows you to lay up alot easier if you find yourself out of position.

dont get me started on clubs that use meters instead of yards. PETHATE!

 

[Slab]

Very interesting even just reading the abridged version & I like their thought process. Why encourage devices that eliminate a critical aspect of the game, where does it lead, indoor golf to remove the impact of the weather!

Edit to add: clearly we're not talking about not having an indication of distances, this is more about the potentail to remove all doubt as to a distance despite any course design technique

 

[SwingsitlikeHogan]

Article makes clear that GCAs put a lot of thought into trying to make the golfer think about distance and they try and fool us. But if we are diligent and observant we can beat the architect on that front. That a player can walk up to their ball; get out their DMD out; point it at the flag and think 150yds so that's an 8 iron (or whatever) - ignoring the golf course to all intents and purposes - is an anathema to the GCA.

 

[USER1999]

I think it's pathetic. Why are the course designers not coming out in favour of Hickory, or gutty balls? Because they know they will be laughed at. Why are DMDs or stroke savers any different.

The only people who get caught out by their trickery is people who have not played the course before. I played at Princes, and got caught out by stupidly short pins. I didn't have a flippin clue how far any of the greens were, and it was pointless. I have never been back.

Golf clubs need repeat business. They need us players to enjoy ourselves. Tricked up holes, where you haven't got a clue what club to hit, and your best shots turn out rubbish are not the way to repeat business. It's a quick way to insolvency.

They need to get on with thier jobs, and stop whinging.

 

[HawkeyeMS]

i would say it is. the best golfers down through the ages would have been experts at judging distances through touch and feel. now its getting robotic although i will use the information given to me until the day they are banned. it pains me to see guys use them on every single hole. the only time i use them is for clearing danger or coming up short of it.

Being able to judge distance is one thing, but if the architects are trying to trick you into thinking the distance is something other than what it is, how are you supposed to judge it

 

[JustOne]

i would say it is. the best golfers down through the ages would have been experts at judging distances through touch and feel.

I don't agree... you seriously think Jack Nicklaus didn't know how far he had to each flag? They used to pace this stuff out, DMD's just save the time of having to do that, nothing more, nothing less.

Sounds like a course design company just trying to blow their own whistle, just designing better courses would suffice.

 

[SwingsitlikeHogan]

I don't agree... you seriously think Jack Nicklaus didn't know how far he had to each flag? They used to pace this stuff out, DMD's just save the time of having to do that, nothing more, nothing less.

Sounds like a course design company just trying to blow their own whistle, just designing better courses would suffice.

Maybe!- so then what is the purpose of a golf course architect - why bother if all we want is to get the best score we can? Then you might ask - why do we bother? - if all we want is to be able to hit a ball a certain yardage to a stick in the ground.

And what makes a better course? For me - if a course presents challenges and half the time I'm really struggling - and in the end I come off and think 'wow - I was well stuffed by the course - but wasn't it fun - can I try again please?'

 

[Ian_S]

Being able to judge distance is one thing, but if the architects are trying to trick you into thinking the distance is something other than what it is, how are you supposed to judge it

Pace it out.. then blame the architects when all golf rounds are 6+ hours

 

[JustOne]

Maybe!- so then what is the purpose of a golf course architect - why bother if all we want is to get the best score we can? Then you might ask - why do we bother? - if all we want is to be able to hit a ball a certain yardage to a stick in the ground.

But that IS golf isn't it? The fact that the course could be made to look beautiful or indeed they could place strategic objects (hazards) in your way lends itself to a good design, as long as it's not overdone. I don't think (for example) that every hole needs 2 kidney shaped bunkers next to the green, do you? yet that's what we face on most courses in the UK... the design is pretty lame for the majority (not all) of UK courses... go abroard and you start to discover really eye catching course design.

 

[Hobbit]

It doesn't matter if a golfer uses a GPS/DMD because his handicap will soon reflect any benefit he gains from it. They improve the enjoyment for a golfer, even if they don't actually make a difference on any given day. And in truth, do they honestly make that much difference to the vast majority of golfers? First of all the golfer has to be able to hit his distances pretty accurately, then he has to be able to do it regularly - it doesn't happen but at least golfers are happier with the outcomes. For a course architect to want to take that away that aspect of a golfer's enjoyment seems a bit selfish. And just how many holes on a course can they trick up with things like false fronts/distance illusions?

GCA's need to concentrate more on asking golfers questions like, "should I risk the driver or play the 3 wood," or "do I aim for the flag or the middle of the gree..." And not only that, pro's and decent amatuers have been using yardage books for my years than I can remember. So in that respect, is there actually any validity to their gripe about the use of GPS/DMD devices?

 

[ScienceBoy]

In my opinion visual illusion on the course and yardage books/markers & range finders go hand in hand.

The distance reading sets you up with the right club and the visual illusion seeds the doubt!

I think the article is probably overstating the distance issue, designers have no need to worry about them in my mind as the "seeding doubt" I mentioned can be more destructive than a single plain wrong club selection!

 

[HomerJSimpson]

I've been lucky to play a lot of courses and I always admire the way some of the great architects (Braid etc) used optical illusions to fool golfers with the clever use of bunkering and dead ground before greens. It is still in use today. I played Caversham Heath at the weekend and there are several holes where you are coming in from distance and the bunkers look much closer to the green than they are.

I had the sky caddy and a yardage chart but it is the eyes that have it and it is hard to convince yourself that what the book and machine says and what you see correlate. I have no problems with using DMD's and personally fail to see how it takes away from the challenges set. The ball still needs to be put in the hole

 

[Ethan]

The OP's post would read like all GCAs share the same design philosophy. They don't. Some like to use false fronts on green, dead ground, sucker pins and a range of visual illusions, some like to frame the hole more straightforwardly, some use a little of both.

On a well designed hole, knowing the exact distance to the foot is only part of the task of selecting how to play the shot.