Golf Course Architecture - Issue 58 October 2019

58 results in insanely long courses with large areas of ‘dead ground’. “The bigger challenge is allowing these two types of golfers to play from the same tee box, as a large percentage of the enjoyment of the game is the socialising – much of which takes place on the tee. This is where it becomes incredibly difficult. Play it too far forward, and even with handicaps, the strong golfer will significantly outplay the weaker golfer. Play off the tips and the weaker golfer will likely not enjoy the round at all. The new handicap system has made some positive impact in this regard, but not enough. “I don’t know what the solution is to be honest, besides regulating tech and/ or maximum club usage for varying handicaps from the tee. “If we architects are truly honest with ourselves, I just don’t think it is possible these days to combine these two design objectives with any great amount of success. The stronger golfer is hitting it further and further, while the weaker golfer is hitting it wider and wider. What is a challenge to a good golfer? Bunkers certainly are not, unless very deep – but then they are too penal for the club golfer. Rough? Not really, unless it is stupidly long. And water only really comes into play if it is very close to the playing areas. So defining what is a hazard to the different levels of golfer too comes into it. Raked vs unraked bunkers – raked bunkers make it easier for the good golfer, but there is not a great difference between how a club golfer plays a raked bunker versus an unraked one. “There is a par five at Clovelly in Cape Town, the tenth. Most days, I go at the green in two – if I cut the corner well from the tee – with a 5-7 iron. A normal club golfer plays a long iron/ wood at best; often they are hitting a short iron third. So the club put a pond short right of the green to make it tougher for ‘me’. But on what planet does that level the playing field? It only widens the gap.” Robin Hiseman of European Golf Design makes a key point. “Golf architecture is almost irrelevant when the ball is in the air,” he says. “No bunker, pond, or mound has value, other than aesthetic, when the ball is sailing over it a hundred feet above. When the ball is on the ground and Photo: Jay Blasi At Santa Ana CC in California, Jay Blasi designed green complexes (like the twelfth) with open entrances and short grass surrounds to allow regular players to approach and recover PLAYAB I L I TY