It seems like such an obvious statement. Golf courses should be designed for the meteorological and geographical conditions of the given area. But digging deeper, what does that mean? I look back on a fine course I played about a month ago, The Dunes Golf & Beach Club in Myrtle Beach. The weather when I played was fairly rough, 55 degree temps, winds 20-25 miles per hour out of the north and rather slow fairways due to rain the day before. Catch is, this course was not really designed for conditions like that, at least not from a specific set of tees designed to cater to a specific type of player.
A set of holes that come to mind readily is the stretch from holes 10-13. The 10th hole is a 380 yard par 4, 11 is a 430 yard par 4, 12 is a 245 yard par 3, and 13 is a 590 yard par 5. These holes provide a substantial challenge to the player even in standard conditions when temps are in the mid-80's, the fairways are much more firm and the wind is gentle to moderate out of the south. However, on the day I played, given the conditions above, they were incredibly difficult. Typically, given driver off the tee, I would have approached 10 with a lob wedge, 11 with a pitching wedge, 12 with a 5 wood, and 13 with a sand wedge after a 3 wood second shot. However, given the conditions, I approached with 6 iron, 3 wood, 3 wood (from 185 yards, not 245) and 6 iron after a 3 wood 2nd. So the effective lengths of these holes, based on how I play, were 480 yards, 550 yards, 260 yards (from the 185 tees, I played those because I had just hit a 205 yard drive on 11 that was very well struck and was rather certain I would be unable to clear the water even if I hit a perfect driver) and 730 yards. So because the holes were not really designed to be played from the back tees in conditions like I faced, the effective length of the holes was astronomical.
But the conditions I faced there are not standard there. In fact, there are likely very fews days in the course of an entire year that fit those conditions.
I had a similar thought the first time I played a golf course in Alaska. The Creek course at Moose Run was the first course I played in the state, back in 2009. I played it from the back tees, around 7400 yards. But I played on a day when the temperature was in the mid-70's, a very warm day up there. I couldn't figure out why Golf Digest had ranked this course among the 50 most difficult courses in America. However, when I returned to Alaska in 2012, I played more courses and playing them in "standard" Alaska conditions opened my eyes a bit to why that course might be so difficult. The first two rounds I played were played when the temperatures did not get out of the 50's. On a day like that, which is not uncommon in Alaska even in the peak "heat" of summertime, 7400 yards becomes a incredible length for even the longest of golfers.
Altitude is also something that must be considered when designing for conditions. Edgewood Tahoe plays 7,555 yards from the back tees, but the course sits at 6,200 feet elevation. So it plays effectively much, much shorter than that. I recall hitting driver off the tee on #2 and having less than 50 yards left to the green; #2 is 417 yards from the back tees. On #18 I hit driver off the tee then had yardage that dictated a 6 iron (I had to lay up due to a strong wind coming off the lake to the right and a pond to the left of the green) and #18 is 572 yards long. So obviously with numbers like that, the 7,500 yards becomes more manageable.
But the standard conditions for an area must be used to determine overall course length and individual hole length. This was a concept that I failed to understand for quite some time. While I do still believe that courses of astronomical length are needed to challenge professional golfers and elite amateurs, courses designed for member play, even high level member play, can be designed with a reasonable effective length in mind. Perhaps that number is 6900 yards, perhaps more, perhaps less. Either way, all the conditions must be taken into consideration, by the owners/developers more than the designers (the designer all ready knows the "right" yardage), when determining what length the course will play. After all, 7,195 yards at The Dunes, played at effectively sea level, with temps of 55 degrees and a strong wind is quite a bit longer than 7,555 yards at Edgewood Tahoe, at 6,200 feet above sea level on a 75 degree day with no wind, though the raw numbers indicate the opposite.
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