What Relatively Common Golf Course Features Do You Dislike?

[thehook840]

Off centered or crooked tee boxes,  number one without a doubt.  If your a course designer and the only thing you can come up with is to off set the Tee boxes then go get a job at Wal-mart.

[MS256]

After Saturday mine is any OB. ;-) I hit tee shots OB on consecutive holes. One was OB by a yard and the other was OB by a foot. Neither missed the center of the fairway by more than 20 or 30 yards. Golf courses should be required by law to have a 300 yard cushion around the course that is not OB. (Just joking...but it would be nice!!!)

[DeadMan]

I've got a new one (or two) after playing a course this weekend with out of control trees. When the hole is a dogleg, and the only way to have an approach inside 200 yards is to cut the corner over some huge trees. This course really needed to trim the trees. It was pretty long, the fairways were narrow, and quite a few tree branches overhung the fairway. It's very frustrating to hit exact the shot you wanted to, only to have some tree branches over the fairway knock the ball into the weeds.

[Mr. Desmond]

Seems like many courses have the sharp dog leg, it's like an abrupt turn ... those holes seem to eat my lunch (more so than others). Sometimes, people with distance can cut the leg. But most of the time, I take the 200+ drive straight to the leg. If I don't land on the correct side of the leg, I'm 180 out into a wind; or I overdo the drive and its 200+ into water, or some other poor option ... rarely does it end well for the scorecard.

[NJpatbee]

Many good ones above, but one feature that is common in piney, sandy areas like South Jersey and the Carolinas are waste areas.  Some of these have stones in the sand and just about every type of gnarly native weed.  I have played a couple of courses where the waste areas run almost the entire length of a hole and are about 20 yards wide, just off the fairway,  Others are in the middle of the fairway.  Nothing like sand bunkers, these areas are great for nicking your favorite club or a lost ball on a decent shot.

[Chilli Dipper]

Many good ones above, but one feature that is common in piney, sandy areas like South Jersey and the Carolinas are waste areas.  Some of these have stones in the sand and just about every type of gnarly native weed.  I have played a couple of courses where the waste areas run almost the entire length of a hole and are about 20 yards wide, just off the fairway,  Others are in the middle of the fairway.  Nothing like sand bunkers, these areas are great for nicking your favorite club or a lost ball on a decent shot.

Pine Valley, the consensus number one course in America, must really be an overrated junkyard.

[tmac20]

Not sure if this was already mentioned: trees in the middle of the fairway.

[saevel25]

Not sure if this was already mentioned: trees in the middle of the fairway.

I believe that discounts many Arthur Hills' courses.

[cipher]

Greens that have false fronts.

[saevel25]

Greens that have false fronts.

Oooh good one, nothing worse than coming up a foot short short of the being on the green only to have it roll back off the green.

[cipher]

Oooh good one, nothing worse than coming up a foot short short of the being on the green only to have it roll back off the green.

It is not even so much the false fronts, it is that the greens are also usually rock hard and almost impossible to hold if you land past the front.  Some Ross courses I have played are like this and enough though they are gorgeous and still fun to play the greens are very annoying.  There is a Ross course around here where you can land the ball 15-20 feet on and it will still roll back off of it.  My home club has hard greens that stimp close to 12 during the summer and thankfully there really is only a couple that have the false fronts.  It makes for more interesting strategy as well to not have the false fronts IMO with the ways you can play the holes.

[Golfingdad]

Greens that have false fronts.

Oooh good one, nothing worse than coming up a foot short short of the being on the green only to have it roll back off the green.

I feel like this is only really annoying at a course you are unfamiliar with.  If it's a course you know, then it seems like it would be easy to just "trick" yourself into considering that portion of the green NOT part of the green.

[cipher]

I feel like this is only really annoying at a course you are unfamiliar with.  If it's a course you know, then it seems like it would be easy to just "trick" yourself into considering that portion of the green NOT part of the green.

Possibly, but when the greens are small and not receptive to begin with, no amount of playing is going to make me like it.  I don't hit the ball overly high so maybe it is just me.

[NJpatbee]

Pine Valley, the consensus number one course in America, must really be an overrated junkyard.

I have never played Pine Valley which does have waste areas, but from what I have read and seen they appear to judicuously placed and most likely do not have stones to damage your clubs.  In an attempt to imitate PIne Valley some courses seem to have gone overboard.  When I get my invitation to play Pine Valley (anyone?) I will let you know how it is after I play!

[mcanadiens]

A person can dislike a feature of a golf course without necessarily criticizing a course that has that feature.

As far as rocks go, we find them in the bunkers out here quite a bit. Really, it's a maintenance issue

[zipazoid]

OB inside the course. I've played a few courses where there's white stakes between holes. Eff that. OB means out of bounds. Like outside the boundaries of the course.

[imsys0042]

1- green side bunkers where the green slopes away from the bunkers. Makes it very hard to stop, even with spin. 2- par 5s where you have to hit an iron off the tee.

[LeftRightLeft]

I'm not too fond of any hole where the desired lay-up is shorter than the next shot, but more importantly leaves only one way to play the hole in regulation strokes.  We have a dogleg par 4 in our area where the ideal layup is 195 yards.   If you hit it farther, you either roll into a steep creek bed that's a 245+ yard carry off the tee or if you push it or pull it slightly (but are still in the fairway) you get blocked by very tall trees that frame the opening.   You can be in the fairway with no way to cross the creek!   If you hit the postage stamp landing area with your tee ball, which is functionally MUCH smaller than the typical green, you are left with 205+ to the middle of the green.  It took me a long time to figure out the angles.  Even then, the precision necessary to play it is crazy.