DESIGN PHILOSOPHY

Every round of golf is impacted by three key design elements, regardless of geographic location, topography, motif, dimensions, or type of golf course.  Those elements are Strategy, Aesthetics, and Conditioning.  Simply stated, strategic quality is what one feels as he/she plays the course.  It has to do with the overall course routing, how holes turn left, right, or straight, directions of holes as related to wind and sun, how slope impacts one’s stance, how hazards are situated, varying lengths of holes, uphill verses downhill, upwind verses downwind, angles from tee to landing areas, how greens are designed for size, shape, angle of centerline, and a host of other issues that greatly impact the player’s experience.  All of these conditions impact the player’s level of enjoyment.

The phrase ‘risk and reward’ is often used to define strategic quality for a golf hole.  The degree of risk or challenge should increase as you progress from front tee to back tee.  Regardless of player’s ability, he desires to be challenged by hazards.  One of the greatest pleasures in the game for any player is to snug a tee shot up close to a hazard and realize the reward of a shorter second shot, better angle, softer slope, or all of the above.  The key is to always offer a safe route that avoids forced carries as much as possible, especially for the high handicap players.

When studying the great courses around the world, one would find diversity in hole directions, especially the par threes and par fives.  Wind can make a 165 yard hole play exactly like a 200 yard hole, so it is imperative to manage the routing to maximize wind impact.  Regarding par threes, a good mix would include one short iron and one near maximum length for par three holes, and a couple holes of mid iron length.  For par fives, every level player would like to enjoy the option of reaching a par five in two shots, and certainly it is ideal to have at least one par five that represents three shots for the most powerful players.  In today’s world of high technology clubs and balls, this most likely means designing that par five into the prevailing wind and uphill if possible.

There is much controversy today regarding the total course length and width required to challenge many back tee players to the fullest.  I question the validity of always feeling this to be a requirement.  If the owner intends to have tour events, it is certainly justified.  However, some of the greatest venues today have not succumbed to the need to continuously add more length, and yet any player drools to have the opportunity to play such courses.  Why is this?  The simplest answer is great strategy in hazard placement and design of green complexes.  To this day many Golden Era Period courses offer more than ample challenge from 7,000 for the best players, and yet the least of players realize tremendous enjoyment on the same courses.  It was during that period of golf history (up until 1950, when Robert Trent Jones, Sr. introduced the Modern Era of golf design) that such notable designers as Donald Ross, Alister Mackenzie, Seth Raynor, C.B. MacDonald, Perry Maxwell, A.W. Tillinghast, George Thomas, Robert Hunter, and a host of others formed the strategic design philosophy that is the essence of any great course ever built.  I am a student of that philosophy who has a great appreciation for the resulting creations of great golf strategy enjoyed by all levels of players.

Everyone in the golf industry shares the common goal of “growing the game”.  Golf has always required more time to play than many other sports that compete for people’s leisure time.  As courses extend in length they require more time to traverse.  Perhaps the best way to grow the game is to build more short courses that allow play to move more quickly.  This can be accomplished without sacrificing the strategic components.  We can design courses shorter overall and still offer an array of golf shots that would bring out every club in the bag.  The total yardage might only be 5500 to 6000, but we could still experience a three shot par five and very long par four.  One difference could be more par three holes overall, but create variety in length, thus placing emphasis on varied club selection.  The point of this information is to clarify that golf does not have to be about who can design the longest course, but rather lets find ways to grow the game by offering a greater number of options for people to choose to play.

The design element of aesthetics has many looks to offer.  First there is natural aesthetics, with some properties having more to offer than others.  The greater the natural aesthetics the more a designer should work to capture that feel into the overall design scheme.  Then there are the man-made features that can offer another dimension of aesthetics to the course.  Primary features that must be shaped by man and equipment are greens, tees, bunkers, and mounding.  As golf evolved into the Golden Era Period, we saw many bunker and green styles evolve.  The bunkers took on a rugged look around the edges, primarily due to available grass types and mowing equipment.  Some designers favored high flashed sand and others grass rolling down the slopes to flatter sand bottoms, and still others a combination of the two.  Today bunkers tend to take on a more manicured look, though we do have grass options that would offer a more classic age appearance.   Regardless of the motif, it is critical that the designer understand the overall composition of forms, and that he design those forms to draw the eye to the target, be it fairway landing area or green complex.

The last design element to discuss is conditioning.  It may well be the least understood by most golfers, and is certainly the element that offers the highest construction budget impact.  This element represents the foundation of the golf course.  It is the antithesis of aesthetics, because it represents what we do not see with the eye; however, it has a direct impact on aesthetics as well as playability of the course.  Grass will believe anything you tell it.  If you tell it there is ample sunlight and airflow, and it has good drainage along with ample nutrition in the root zone material, it will produce an excellent surface.  This element includes such items in the construction budget as irrigation, drainage, topsoil medium, specifications for greens, tees, bunkers, cart paths, and grass types.  One must have a strong agronomic background to maximize this conditioning element, regardless of the construction budget.  Most designers leave the site once the grass is in place.  Because of my agronomic experience and knowledge, I stay with the owner and golf course superintendent through the Grow-in Period until Grand Opening, offering expert advice on how to maximize the course condition element.