these Open Championship Clubs choose to relief grind - Pitchcare

Tom Doak’s design at Renaissance touches on the traits of
links courses by providing extensive fringe areas, creating
some interesting short game challenges
The landing zone is the area of the
fairway that has been designed to attract
a high percentage of tee shots. I try to
create slightly larger, flatter (where
possible) areas in the fairway at the point
where the majority of balls are likely to
come to rest. If the golfer finds this area,
they will then be rewarded with a more
advantageous position from which to
attempt their approach shot.
When a series of landing zones are
created, the designer can create vantage
points within the fairway which are
smaller to hit, but gain higher reward, or
bluff the golfer into thinking that they
should play towards a larger, more visible
landing zone that has a tighter angle of
approach for example.
On new sites, these areas should be
sought out in the pre-existing
topography, and modified as little as
possible, in order to limit the unnatural
feel that can be created by too much land
movement. Where there is no
topographic interest, landing zones
should be formed with a subtlety that
makes them look natural to the
untrained eye.
Multiple landing zones can be created
if the situation calls for a split fairway, or
when there is enough space for the hole
to be played in different ways. I have also
been exploring the merits of staggered
landing zones on longer par 4s and par
5s. The issue being that, whilst the
designer at present caters purely for the
tee shot of players of differing abilities,
by staggering the teeing grounds in
order for all golfers to be able to find the
same landing zone, the approach shot
will still be vastly in favour of the longer
hitters versus shorter hitters.
I have completed a sketch study to
show how shorter hitters may be catered
for by using a set of staggered landing
zones and teeing zones, meaning that on
approach, the shorter hitter should be
nearer the target than the longer hitter,
balancing out both shots for all levels of
golfer. Figure one shows two similar
holes. The standard hole shows tees
playing to one landing zone, whereas the
improved hole shows tees playing to four
staggered landing zones.
The size and shape of a fairway will
vary greatly depending on the available
space for each hole. With ample room at
Augusta, for example, Alister MacKenzie
and Bobby Jones’s original design idea
was to cut out large paths through the
trees of the pre-existing orchard and
mow almost everything in between as
fairway, giving the golfer options on
Technical
“There must always be an
alternative route for
everyone, and thought
should be required as
well as mechanical skill,
and above all it should
never be hopeless for the
duffer, nor fail to concern
and interest the expert”
Bobby Jones, Course Designer, Augusta National
every tee. Jones’s words from the Golfer’s
Year Book reiterate this; “There must
always be an alternative route for
everyone, and thought should be
required as well as mechanical skill, and
above all it should never be hopeless for
the duffer, nor fail to concern and
interest the expert”.
However, Augusta National currently
has a more considerable rough line and
longer and tighter fairways, potentially
losing some of the design’s integrity.
Tighter courses may not afford such
Figure one: Sketch study showing how staggered landing zones can improve the
fairness of a hole.
FEBRUARY/MARCH 2012 PC 117