Bad course design!

I have heard of this for quite a while. "That course sucks its design is horrible" Now they sometimes say things like real golf doesn't involve going from a 5 story tee box to a green from only 130 yards away. and also you shouldnt have a tee shot that can only go about 150 yards and a carry of 300 yards so your second shot has to be a really long shot to the green. not sure im making any sense but what do you guys consider good or bad course design.... I really thought the course is made and you manage it as much as you can.

bad course design starts with boring layout for me. If all the holes are straightforward and have no visual appeal then its going downhill right off the bat. If everything is relatively flat that makes it even worse. The one thing that REALLY bugs me about courses are when bunkers are pretty much not in play and are put in the wrong places. Its true that not every landing area needs to be squeezed by bunkers and not every green needs to have bunkers the size of the pacific surrounding them but at least make the bunkers effect play. Make me think about those bunkers when I'm on the tee..make me have to take them into consideration on my approach shot. Another thing that bothers me is circus greens and by that I mean greens that have what seems like a 90 degree dropoff between tiers or they are shaped like a bowl and there are not "good spots to land". I think every green should have a reward spot on it where you have a relatively flat putt or only a very slight breaking putt. Thats a start.....

A lot of bunkers are more or less cosmetic. Most courses in my area don't even have bunkers... some only have literally 5 or 6 total. The ones that have bunker/s on nearly every hole are championship caliber courses. Keep in mind also, the bunkers don't come into play for everyone. Maybe for your skill level, like a 12 handicap, the bunkers don't come into play for you. Either the fairway bunkers are to far out from the tees you play, or you are able to bomb them way over them, but maybe for someone like me, they would come into play because I'm sure I don't hit it anywhere near as far as you are capable of hitting a ball. A course I play at that has been hosting a PGA Tour or Champions Tour event annually for over 35 years, has several bunkers on every hole, but most of them do not come into play for me, as from where I tee it up, the white tees, I'm able to, with a good strike, hit it well past them. So only the greenside bunkers really come into play for everyone.

The course I play at regularly has one bunker that bugs the hell out of me. The hole is a 520ish yard par 5 from the blue tees. There's a bunker about 50 yards from the green and to the left of the fairway. The bad thing about it is there's a huge pine tree directly between the bunker and the green. Why double penalize the player? You're already in the bunker. The lip is too high to hit it low out of the bunker and the limbs are too low to hit under the tree. The absolute only thing to do is pitch out sideways. I hate it. I've been in that bunker a couple times and that tree pisses me off every time.

I'm speaking of bunkers that just don't serve any purpose from ANY of the tees. Meaning that either the carry distance to reach the bunker changes from one tee to the next so much that no one will usually be playing that distance..for instance..to carry the front goes from 265 to 285 between back and next tee's. On top of that, the carry really doesn't come into play because they are put in places where you would only reach if you hit the worst of shots. In essence...bunkers that are designed for cosmetic purposes ARE one of my peeves. If it doesn't have a purpose for being a hazard, just don't put it there.

Everyday courses with too many bunkers have maintenance problems. A military course in our area did a test, raking all the bunkers each morning for a week, and looking for golfer marks. It turned out than only about half the bunkers had a ball in them that week, while others had dozens of balls. So, the course managers covered over about a third of the bunkers to cut down on maintenance.

Also, some courses with an open hole will put a fairway bunker about 300 yds. out from the tee, primarily as an aiming point to give golfers something to shoot at. As far as bad course design, I think the boredom thing is worst. One one very nice course, three of the par 3 were drop-shots across the water. First time I played the course, I thought we had gotten lost and ended up on an earlier hole. Another course, which is now a site for apartments, had three clone par 4s - all about 380 yds., dogleg left about 220 yds. And all three were boring. Another matter is some shorter, strategic courses which the greens crew tries to tighten up. The odd tree banks start showing up which make a short, tight hole suddenly supertight. Played a 270-yd. par 4 across a creek for years: Trees grew in so tight from both sides most players took a 7-iron layup to the creek, and then tried for the green.

Have a similar problem at the military course. Closing Par 5 once had a creek 100 yds. out from green, with your tree/bunker on left. Creek has eroded fairway in front of and right of green, so creek is now swampy wilderness area. After your approach, you're either on green or facing a double bogie.

Bad course design is long holes just to be long.

Tee boxes poorly angled and shaped like a turtle's back scream "hack design." Even at night when the course is empty the tee boxes mutter, "we suck!"

Beat up crowned tee boxes and hole lay outs that just go back and forth drive me nuts.

For me it's courses on the side of hills hahaha! I hate playing courses like that. Every shot has a down hill or up hill lie, some greens are 30 feet above the tee box, etc. Another one for me is when they throw out a crappy 100 yard par 3. One course I play a lot has 17 fantastic holes, utilizes the landscape (lots of oak trees and creeks) and then there's a stupid short par 3 thrown in the mix. To top it off there is a huge oak tree hanging over the right side approach. WTF? Crowned tee boxes also piss me off. My home course has a 170 yard par 3 and the damn tee box is crowned. There's one flat spot to hit from so naturally there's always tons of divots there.

I love links style courses. The layout can be simple but just from the overall purpose of links courses, it makes them a blast. For example, Bandon Dunes compared with Augusta. I'd take Bandon Dunes every day.

+1, hate sloped tee boxes. Tee boxes pointing the wrong way are frustrating, but not necessarily bad design. Sloped tee boxes just scream laziness.

I hate holes which require you to hit the same club twice in a row. Two Wisconsin courses par 5s require a hybrid of the tees and then the same hybrid for the second shot. They both are 90* doglegs. Boring. Only one way to play the hole.

Wasted bunkers is another pet peeve. My local 9 holer has bunkers at 190-210 yards out from the tee. Most lower handicappers can carry these fairway bunkers. The other distance challenged golfers have an additional penalty. WTF. Life is hard enough.

Then make them slope back to front or front to back. You shouldn't have to hit a tee shot with the ball above or below your feet.

I have one local course that is a par 73 and has 4 par threes, all between 155-165 yards. Drives me nuts having to hit the same club, same shot etc.

Two par 3 holes UNDER 115 yards. One under 75.

Is this an executive course? My main course (for the time) doesn't have a par-3 under 148 yards.

Which course is this? Sounds like one that I played when I was a kid in Southern MN.

Anyway, the course that I play now has a few holes on the back 9 that drive me nuts! Mainly due to "gimmicks" that I consider bad design. The tenth has a large oak tree roughly 40 yards off the tee that you need to hit around or over (it's tall enough that over is pretty difficult since you're hitting either driver or 3-wood off this tee). Around isn't easy either since there is OB only 2 yards off the fairway to the right so if you don't get enough of a hook, your OB. On the left you have a "channel" about 10 yards wide to hit though due to 3 more large oak trees. I generally try to hit a little cut 3-wood through the channel. Miss and hit a tree though and you're left with about 270 into the green. On 15 you're presented with more trees protecting the intended line of play. These trees become an issue if you hit your tee shot between 210 and 290 yards and make a play to the green with a lofted club (hole is only 360 so anything inside the 150 yard marker) impossible. You are required to hit a low punch shot to an elevated green protected by bunkers through a gap roughly 4-5 yards wide. As a special treat, there is more OB about 3 yards off the back of the green. I hit a 5 or 6 iron off this tee so that I can attempt to hit over the trees on my approach. This hole doesn't bother me nearly as much as 10 since there is a much more reasonable course of play. 18 brings into play more oak trees and unless you want to lay up to around 165 (like 15 only shorter) you just have to hit your drive into a cluster of oaks and aspens and hope for the best. If you can play it down the extreme right edge with a soft draw, you have a clearing of roughly 10 yards about 250 yards off the tee. This is usually the play that I go for with my 3-wood. Miss a touch short/left and your hitting another low running punch shot into a sunken green protected by bunkers. Miss right and you're lucky to find your ball due to a multitude of thick bushes. The best miss, long/left, will leave you with a downhill pitch shot through some aspens. There is literally no bail out on this hole unless you enjoy hitting into a hard sunken green from 170+ yards. Even driver isn't a smart play since if you hit it too far, you'll go through the slight dogleg and end up OB. Compared to 10 and 15 though, this hole doesn't bother me a bit. If it were the only one in the 9, I wouldn't be annoyed much, if at all. Since it's one of 3 though, it bugs me a little.