these Open Championship Clubs choose to relief grind - Pitchcare

Technical
“In order to tie the golf hole together, the fairway line
should generally look to pass through the landing
zone incorporating the bunkers within its skirts”
luxury, but it is usually still possible to
create a varied challenge with the correct
placement of hazards. A fairway which is
twisted on a diagonal can be a successful
way to create interest or, more subtly,
creating or utilising a pre-existing roll or
plateau within the fairway line can set up
an advantageous and disadvantageous
position in relation to the green.
The golf course architect looks to
create a playing area wide enough for
balls to find a good selection of landing
points, which will help to spread wear
whilst also creating a realistic challenge.
Fairways that include steep slopes can
sometimes struggle, with many balls
landing in a relatively small area leading
to wear points which, after a playing
season, could be littered with divots and
bad lies. The architect should look to
avoid these issues at the design stage by
making some subtle adjustments that can
spread the wear of these problem areas.
In order to tie the golf hole together,
the fairway line should generally look to
pass through the landing zone
incorporating the bunkers within its
skirts, tempting the golfer with the
preferred landing zone between these
points. This should be wide enough to
conceivably land a ball struck at full
length with a driver in most cases,
equating to a landing zone of between
20-40 yards wide, although some courses
can include much wider fairways.
Fairways are time consuming elements
of golf course maintenance, and the
acreage of the eighteen fairways within a
typical course directly reflects the
amount of time taken to maintain them.
This has meant that some courses have
greatly reduced the width and, in some
cases, the length of fairways in order to
cut down on the man hours taken to
maintain them, adding to the likelihood
of the average width stated above.
The overall course size also adds an
upper limit to the likely width of a
fairway as the hole should, at all costs,
look to integrate with its surroundings. If
it is hemmed in on both sides by other
holes, then the fairway, visually, should
look to fill approximately a third of the
available space, to allow for clear
separation between one hole and the
next (see figure two below).
Placement
When designing a golf hole on paper, I
look to add the fairway line last. This is
the element of the hole which draws the
other elements of the hole together. The
playing area will typically expand around
the landing zone, and contract in the
areas where fewer balls are likely to come
to rest. It will wind through bunker
complexes and wrap around the green,
incorporating some run off areas that
may help to create greenside playing and
aesthetic interest.
The levels of the fairway have to be
shaped to allow for shots to be played
from it, to appeal enough for shots to be
played at it, for it to be aesthetically
pleasing and visible for the approaching
golfer, and to tell a story, or sometimes
sell a story about how the golf hole
should be played. Without the fairway as
the central focal point of the golf hole,
there would be no hierarchy of targets to
be aimed at, the hazards would simply be
floating in an empty field, and the hole
would struggle to make sense.
The fairway’s relationship with the
rough is also very close. The designer’s
decision on where the fairway line is
placed is as much about the importance
of a good lie as a bad lie, because the
fairway line will obviously always
determine the rough line.
In a lot of cases in the modern game, a
semi rough line is cut for the first few
metres into the rough to aid golfers whose
balls trickle off the fairway. Past this point
the challenge for the golfer increases. A
shot played into the rough should lessen
the available options to the golfer. The
ball is less likely to spin from a lie in
longer grass, and may be more impeded
by obstacles such as trees or a bunker
complex within the line of sight to the
green, and the shot will have to be played
Figure two: Illustration showing a well proportioned fairway to rough ratio.
118 PC FEBRUARY/MARCH 2012
stronger and truer to find a similar length
and accuracy to those shots played out of
the fairway. It is, therefore, an important
element within the strategy of a golf hole.
The conscious designer will look to
create a naturally shaped rough line
which generally follows the contours of
the hole and interjects the playing line at
points that will challenge the golfer. For
instance, the fairway may be a diagonal
form which tests the golfer from the tee
to carry as much of the rough line in
order to progress down the fairway,
knowing that, if the first bounce finds the
rough line, it is likely to affect the final
length of the drive.
Deep rough lines generally tend to
correlate with the semi rough and rough
lines, but shouldn’t interject with the
playing line unless the hole is a relatively
sharp dogleg, or there is a forced carry.
Deep rough, if maintained and placed
correctly, can also add to the aesthetic
complexity of a golf course, adding
depth of textures and colours. This
feature should be used rarely as a hazard,
as balls can be easily lost in thick rough
lines resulting in slow play. Yet, if placed
well away from a target line, but still at a
point which is clearly visible, can add
much to the aesthetic appeal of a golf
course.
Summary
I look to create fairways that link with
the other elements of a golf hole to
provide a varied challenge throughout
the course of a round. The fairway
should balance and reflect all other
elements of the course, either preexisting
or designed, and should create a
path for the golfer to aim towards and
play successfully through, rewarding
them as they find the right points within
the wider hole.
This article has considered the fairway
as the lynch pin of the other elements of
the golf hole, and has given an insight
into the elements that I look to include
when successfully designing the fairway
line into a golf hole.
In this series Andy Watson
has picked the four major
elements of a golf course
and dissected them to
provide an insight into the
fundamentals of an
architect’s approach to
designing a golf course.
We hope you have found
all four articles interesting
to read. If you are
interested in Andy’s work,
or are interested in
working with him, you can follow him on
twitter @AWGolfDesign, be a ‘fan’ of his
facebook page (search for Andy Watson Golf
Design), or visit the website
www.andywatsongolfdesign.co.uk.