Golf Course Design

The great player Bobby Jones once described a good course as 'one that offers equal enjoyment to all standards of player'. He was talking about Augusta, but his words dictate course design today world-wide.

Designing a golf course is like trying to please all of the people all of the time, which, they say, cannot be done. In the process, courses have been designed and built on parkland, meadowland, mountains and beside the sea. Some have even been constructed in deserts.

Some courses are awash with water hazards, others abound with bunkers. Many have tree-lined fairways; others have hardly a tree in sight. A few are extremely long, others short and sharp.

What makes a great course?
There are three important yardsticks of a course. The first is if you can sit down at the end of the round and instantly recall every hole. The second is if the course draws on the full range of your strokes, from controlled drives to delicate pitches. And the third is whether the holes really make you think and assess what is required before hitting each shot.

Course design as a true profession came about in the 1900s. Until then, 'new' courses were laid out using the natural features of land by the sea, and many of them were in Scotland. All the courses at that time were links. The designers, who were usually professionals such as Old Tom Morris, simply plotted a route through the sand dunes leading away from the site of the clubhouse and then mapped out a path for the return journey. No earth moving was necessary.

Inland courses
The breakthrough occurred when golf moved inland with the use of the pine and heather land to the west of London in Surrey and Berkshire. This land was soon exploited as the game grew more popular, and courses such as Sunningdale and Walton Heath came into being.

The Old Course at Sunningdale was laid out at the turn of the century by Willie Park jnr, twice Open Champion. His enchanting work features several short par 4 holes on a course which has stood the test of time and improved standards.

Design in the USA
In the USA, course design was also taking off. Although not blessed with the natural links terrain of Britain, there was enormous potential for creating inspiring courses in magnificent settings.

The first of these was the National Golf Links on Long Island. It was designed by Charles Blair Macdonald, a native of Chicago who had attended the University of St Andrews. The National, laid out on the shore of Peconic Bay, featured many holes similar to the best at St Andrews, Prestwick, North Berwick and Royal St George's.

Other courses soon followed. Pine Valley in New Jersey is reputed to be the toughest course in the world, with fairways and greens providing the only sanctuary amid an ocean of sand and scrub. Oakmont in Pennsylvania is a parkland course of great severity and Merion, also in Pennsylvania, a marvelous example of careful planning in a small area.

The designers involved, such as George Crump (Pine Valley), the Fownes family (Oakmont) and Hugh Wilson (Merion) took the best features of the old links courses and introduced some new ones of their own. From their are work emerged two different schools of architecture - the penal and the strategic.

A penal hole gives the player no option as to the line of play he can take. The penalty for straying from the 'correct' path is far in excess of the degree of error. Strategic design offers the player a choice of routes to play a hole. It is up to the golfer to decide which one is within his ability.

Great Augusta
The greatest influence on American design is the Augusta National Golf Club in Georgia. The course demonstrates clearly the advantages of strategic over penal design, and introduced greater subtlety in the shaping of holes.

Augusta, home of the US Masters tournament, is the inspiration of American course design. It was created by the brilliant golfer Bobby Jones and course designer Alister Mackenzie. Jones provided the knowledge of the shot-making requirements and Mackenzie interpreted them into the ultimate in strategic design - the course constantly tempts the player to bite off more than he can safely chew.

This is most evident on the last nine holes - three water holes in succession. Because of their placing in the round and the psychological pressures they exert, the 11th, 12th and 13th have been dubbed Amen Corner, presumably because if a player manages them without mishap he gives a prayer of thanks.

Design developments
The change from hickory to steel shafts in golf clubs and the increasing distances that golfers could hit made a radical difference to the way the game was played. Architects had to combat this, not by stretching courses to an enormous length - although some of them did - but by craft and guile.

 Greens were sculpted and heavily contoured, and holes were designed to contain a tempting bait such as the chance to carry a daunting hazard. Above all, the designers of the period between the wars sought balance in their creations. One particular aspect of the game, such as driving or putting, was not emphasized at the cost of, say, long-iron play and chipping.

In recent times, the USA has led the way in course design. With sophisticated machinery it is possible to build a course on almost any terrain, provided there is enough money available.

Water is a dominant feature of design and bunkering is on a grander scale. Tees are staggered to cater for players of varying ability. Course construction in Britain has not exploded as much as in the USA simply because of lack of space. But more courses are being built to cope with the growing demand.

Building and planting
Today's architect must be part geologist, agronomist, engineer, forester -and be able to drive an earth-moving machine. It is a highly scientific profession. The importance of good drainage, the suitability of different strains of grasses, the type of sand in the bunkers, the growth patterns of trees - all these factors have to be taken into consideration.

The eventual length of a golf course depends on the land available. But as a general rule, any area of 100-125 acres (40.5-50.5 hectares) is enough.

The first stage is for the architect to do a 'feasibility study'. He finds out if the land is suitable in terms of drainage, ability to sustain grass growth and whether an attractive course can be constructed within the budget. A 100 acres (40.5 hectares) of flat arable land may not make a good course without a large amount of earth-moving to introduce slopes and contours. The best land for golf rises and falls and has a pleasing rolling aspect.

Planning the holes
If the land is suitable, the architect walks the area and visualizes how the holes will take shape and their sequence. In an 18-hole course over 100 or more acres (40.5 hectares), the normal layout is 10 par 4s, four par 5s and four par 3s. This gives a par of 72 and a total length of 6000-7000yd (5500-6400m).

The par 5 and par 3 holes are used to break up the sequence of par 4s. Holes' should be arranged so that no more than two are played in the same direction. The par 3 holes should play in different directions so that the wind varies on each one.

The prevailing wind is assessed so that on some holes it is against, some it is behind and some it is across. If possible, the course is laid out in two halves of nine holes. Then the first and 10th tees are next to the clubhouse and provide two starting points.

Mapping the land
Once the architect has planned the route for the holes, he draws up contour plans of each one showing how the land should fall plus the location of tees, bunkers and greens. If the site is so heavily wooded that a ground survey is difficult, he has to work from aerial photographs. But the best way to plot a golf course is always from ground level as that is where the game is played.

With the contour plans for each hole drawn up, the construction company is called in to start work. This may involve moving large amounts of earth. In bygone days, all earth-moving was done by hand. This created subtle undulations and contours in contrast with the deep gouging that takes place nowadays, particularly in the USA.

Great care must be taken in the construction of the greens to ensure adequate drainage. Greens are usually sand based on a gravel bed so that water flows away quickly.

When the construction is finished, seeding takes place with strains of grass that are suitable for the soil and climate. Once the course is covered with an adequate growth of grass it is ready for play. However, many stones will have been forced to the surface and these have to be cleared every now and then. It is always wiser to delay the opening of a course until the grass is well established as a mass of players in the early stages can destroy well-walked areas of the course.
Whatever and wherever, the ultimate aim is always the same - to blend the elements of the course into the surroundings, so they look as though it has always been there. Golf courses are also meant to be places of enjoyment, and not force you on an unrelenting slog through acres of grass. They should present a challenge that can be overcome if the player keeps his wits about him.