Golf Course Architecture - Issue 59, January 2020

55 This led players to convince themselves the putting surface must be an absolute sliver and trying to baby a shot over the fronting hazard, with mostly inevitable results. This writer played the hole in a fivesome of golf industry types, all of whom were tolerable golfers. Only one hit the putting surface. Coore himself cites the ninth at Old Sandwich. “A completely manufactured hole – there was a road where the green is now,” he says. “Nothing there, no feature, nothing to guide you – except that we wanted to get from here to there.” California-based Neal Meagher says: “When thoughtfully designed and well-executed, the very short par three hole is like the Swiss Army Knife of golf course design. Packed within its 110 yards, or so, the potential exists to make even the keenest and most adventurous golfer scratch their head. And speaking of heads, it usually gets quite inside the heads of all players who encounter them owing in large part to them being seldom used. Part of their utility to the designer is the ability to help link holes within a routing where nothing else will work. And this goes for very uphill or very downhill situations especially. In fact, using the very short par three on this type of terrain is favoured, as the uphill shot adds on distance and mystery owing to the inability to see the green surface, whilst the downhill shot creates such a short hole that it is almost impossible to not overshoot the green, even by the less than skilled player.” English architect Jonathan Davison built a very short uphill par three on his Heritage course at Penati in Slovakia, the twelfth. “I like greens within greens, because you’re hitting a short iron. If you miss the right area, you are left with a difficult putt. And if I build one, I normally go a bit funky on the green. It’s easy to say, build a tiny green, like the seventh at Pebble or the Postage Stamp, but that obviously has maintenance issues. And you obviously need to allow a large amount of tee space, because if everyone is hitting a short iron, you know it is going to be cut up. The twelfth at Penati is useful because it got me to the top of the property, which gives great views and then gives an elevated position for the tee shot on the thirteenth.” A good example of the kind of hole Davison describes is the new fifth hole on the Himalayas nine at Prince’s in Sandwich, Kent, designed by architect Martin Ebert. ‘Bloody Point’, as the hole is called, plays to a green set right against the beach, a green that is actually quite large. It may be sizeable, but the severe slopes of the putting surface mean that a ball that is not under control when it lands can run almost anywhere. Oklahoma-based architect Colton Craig says: “What I love about such holes is that they can be a little devil or an innocent pitch and putt. I think where it is placed on the property and how it fits in with the flow of the routing are key. If there is a really special view from a certain point of the property and you want the players to spend as much time there as possible, SHORT PAR THREES Jonathan Davison designed the par-three twelfth on Penati’s Heritage course in Slovakia at just 124 yards from the back tees Photo: Jonathan Davison