Golf Course Design and Golf Course Architecture
Lengthen a Hole with Bunker Design, Reshaping Fairways and New Tees
Aug 15, 2009
Over the last few years many golf clubs in England have been celebrating their centenaries - the early twentieth century was a boom time for golf course construction. But recently many golf clubs have been looking to design improvements and lengthen the overall yardage of their course to make it more of a challenge for the modern game, where length off the tee dominates.
Golf Course Design to Make Holes Longer
Former European Open Champion and now celebrated teacher and course architect and designer, Andrew Murray has advised many golf clubs about the construction of new tees to make golf holes play longer. It is a politically sensitive area where many club members have different opinions, and coming up with a balanced view needs tact and explicit reasons behind proposed redesign.
“On one hand you have to try to please the older members who traditionally prefer courses to be left as they are, and the younger members who want to have a more challenging course which attracts more green fee revenue” explains Andrew Murray.
With golf balls going further, golfers getting stronger, and drivers that produce more power, a demanding hole a hundred years ago would only need a drive and a short iron today.
Bunker Construction and Design
- Sometimes a hole simply cannot be lengthened due to lack of space, and new fairway bunkers have to be built thereby restricting length off the tee.
- It is also possible to reshape and redesign the landing area, which places emphasis on accuracy off the tee and not length. “Occasionally a golf club needs to make some holes play tougher but they have limited funds – the best way forward under those circumstances is reshaping the rough,” says Andrew Murray.
- This is a tactic regularly employed by the European PGA Tour to toughen up a course, and in times of recession many golf clubs with limited budgets are turning to this less expensive way of designing a challenging layout. “Any hole can be made tougher, and in many cases more aesthetically pleasing to the eye, by simply reshaping the fairways". says Murray.
Golf Course Drainage
With the theoretical onset of climate change, and whether it is a vital part of the modern course, drainage has come more into question. With golf courses regularly constructing their own bore holes, and general concerns in England that water resources will be limited in the coming years, self-sufficiency with regards to water supply has been at the forefront of many clubs.
Some clubs doubt that good drainage is as important as it was a few years back when clubs suffered terribly in the winter months with saturated fairways and greens. But as Andrew Murray explains ‘Golf committees are run by normal people who understandably react to the news they hear. If they are told to expect a drier climate, good drainage will take a back seat, but it’s best to ask the experts before dismissing potential drainage problems”.
See also: Golf for Seniors or Thinking of Playing Golf ? - Clubs Have Changed
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