Most hated course design tricks

[pshizz]

I hate approach shots to severely elevaed greens, like no. 5 at my home course...you automatically have to club up, and usually the wind is a pain so you end up hitting 2 clubs stronger. e.g. 6 iron from 155...I HATE IT, it makes me feel weak. lol

[imtomtomim]

at my home course, 9th hole, dogleg left par 4 380 yards or so, turning at about 200. That second shot is incredibly hard to eye becuase it's downhill about 10 feet, but the rest of the fairway is a huge dip. for the last 180 yards, you're looking downhill into a gulley, makes the green look a lot closer than it is, but it's also downhill so you don't know how much to trim, and if you hit it short, your ball isn't gonna roll up becuase it goes back uphill right before the green and if you overshoot, you're hitting into the clubhouse.

[uttexas]

[QUOTE=kingofcars08;248146]I have 2 problems.

1) A local course that I love has a par 3 that plays 230 yards from the tips...into the 10-20mph wind. Now it might by my fault that I dont have the perfect club for this hole, but this hole plays like 250 yards most of the time, with two bunkers front left and front right. I have hit a soft driver, and blown it over, and hit a hybrid all I could and been all over, but mostly in front. It always comes down to a pitch and a putt for par. Ive only seen one guy in my group hit the green with a driver once. If the hole was 200 yards, I would love it.

That is just dumb. 230 yard par three into the wind is not fair for almost all golfers. If I were you, I would agree with my playing partners ( before the round ) to play this hole either from the whites or the reds.

[JohnP]

Overly mounded fairways. Everything else is fair game.

[cdriver]

  JohnP said:

Overly mounded fairways. Everything else is fair game.

I played a course called Harbor Oaks in central Arkansas that has those funky mounds all over most of their fairways. You can actually hit a perfect tee shot down the center line and end up in the trees in the rough. What is fair about that? I hate those things.

[David in FL]

I hate it when they use that d@m 4 1/4" cup instead of one that's better suited to my game!

[cdriver]

  David in FL said:

I hate it when they use that d@m 4 1/4" cup instead of one that's better suited to my game!

Only reason I want to leave the cup the same size is that I would feel even worse lipping it out of a 12" cup!

[Dub]

  pshizz said:

I hate approach shots to severely elevaed greens, like no. 5 at my home course...you automatically have to club up, and usually the wind is a pain so you end up hitting 2 clubs stronger. e.g. 6 iron from 155...I HATE IT, it makes me feel weak. lol

We have them too on our home course. In "no wind" situations, I just club for the yardage to the back of the green....knowing that if I pure it I'll be safely on middle....thin a bit and still roll it up close to front fringe.

If there is opposing wind then I'll add a stick. I don't mind the elevated greens as much as I despise greens that have water hazards necking in front of them....argh...

[Fabfivefigo]

having a legit downhill lie in front of a long forced carry.

I used to play a course where a par 5 had a 120 yard carry over water into the green. The slope to the water was steep enough to make a real difference in your stnce/swing. I always had to choose to lay up and make the carry about 170, or play the downhill shot and 50% of the time hit it fat and in the water. No winners here.

[Petden]

More than anything I hate poorly managed greens and fairways. At one course I used to play at, there are massive divots everywhere, and not many people bring back the grass they hit out. For this reason I stoped going there.

I like courses that are meant to challenge you, but I hate ones that are meant to make most fail. For example Par 3 217 from the whites. Island green. You have 2 options 1) a 40-50 yard shot and a high 6I or 2) Try and carry the green. Hard decision.

[cdriver]

I really dislike hidden hazards. I played a mountain course once where you had a blind tee shot to what looked like fairway over the hill...even the hole diagrahm showed it as fairway...but when I hit it there, it landed in a gully full of weeds and brambles that encroached 3/4 of the way across the fairway in the normal landing area. Not exactly my favorite feature of this course. We started driving down to check it out before hitting and there were lots of this kind of problem.

[tjy355]

Folks, the thread is about course DESIGN, not maintenance practices.

My most hated course design element is the island green.

[crooksy]

I'd have to say blind tee shots at resort courses where the majority of players will only play the course once or twice. It's ok for a member's course, but not a one off hit-and-run holiday course.