Playing 18 holes or playing the course

Very few courses are playing as courses...  Dissipating the transitions from hole to hole could be a way to bring the game closer to its origins.

From its original wilderness, golf has been analysed dissected and to a certain point standardized. From wild organic swings, holes and strategies, the game has been divided to a mechanical form Henry Ford would be rather proud of.

The continuity of the Old Course is remarkable. Look how it is difficult to "define" the holes (where are the tees and greens) on the Old Course (inside the red perimeter) compared to the New course and the other sister courses at St. Andrews. The mowing is only one contribuating asset of the continuous experience of the course.

Solid players of today talk about playing the par 5’s well, hitting fairways and greens, focusing on specific targets. Golf courses are predictable to a point where the game is about 36, or so, well struck shots and making as much putts as possible. It is the road to success on modern courses.

But certain courses tend to make the players divert from this mindset. The Old Course, Muirfield, Royal Lytham & St Annes, Oakmont Country Club immediately comes to mind. Throw a little breeze on the Old Course and the humps and hollows make the bounces unpredictable. Muirfield is so exacting that, unless your name is Nick Faldo, executing all those shots is inhuman. At Lytham and Oakmont, trouble is lurking everywhere so no holes are a guaranteed par, even the easiest of them.

From the 4th tee, looking the rest of the course, the player sees what's ahead. The bunkers numerously dispersed over the course is a constant test for the players.

 

In the same frame of mind, throw in a stiff breeze on any course and the game return to its wild form. The players have to pray for the best and be ready to welcome the worst. It is a battle over 18 holes where only the final score counts, not how many pars you’ve made. In these conditions or on these courses, a player has to make the most of every occasions, it is about avoiding disaster and holing the next shot whether it’s for a birdie or a double bogey.

Do you go aggressive, knowing you are going to get bitten once in a while... or walk carefully and slowly shot after shot  for 4 1/2 hours? Then golf becomes a sport.

The clean TPC Sawgrass

The Players Championship is definitely played on a great golf course. The angles are great and the necessity to work the ball is essential on Pete Dye's TPC Sawgrass.

But the TPC Sawgrass we are seeing now is a cleaned up version of it, with maintained waste bunkers, flowers everywhere... from the real brute it once was, TPC Sawgrass is now "high-maintenance"

When it all started in 1982, TPC Sawgrass was rough around the edge, the greens were more severe than today, tall grasses here and there in the waste bunkers, and there was a lot of complaints. It was a shock for the PGA Tour Players.

Somehow, Jerry Pate won at 8-under par... so what was the fuss all about... Pete Dye brought the players on the line between talent, strategy, bravery and patience... he played in their minds more than any architect before. The design is soo good than even the soft version of it is great... but I would love to see the real beast back, just for one week...

And just something to think about: Jerry Pate won in 1982 at 8-under playing this ball !!!!

Would a player today break par playing this ?

The blog is back to life

Hi, my blog is now back after more than two months.

Before starting on the golf, I've learned two things in those two months.

First, take care of your body and your mind.
The reason I had to stop for two months is simple: a near-fatal double pneumonia that led me to spend a full month in intensive care (20 days in a medical coma and 10 days for the body and mind to digest the really heavy medication I received.) When my mind fully came back, I was not able to stand on my feet, I had lost all my physical strength, about 25 pounds of muscular tissu.

The combinaison of stress, fatigue and getting sick can be deadly, so don't feel ashame to rest, or spend a few days off to free your mind and rest your body. And don't hesitate to see your doctor. I'm lucky that I'm only 30 years old, physically active and a non smoker, and even then, the odds of me surviving were pretty low... probably less than 5%.


Second, nobody cares how much you know until then know how much you care.
This is a tribute to the medical staff and doctors that saved me. They worked really hard on my case, spent sleepless nights trying to find the bacteria that was causing my illness. They haven't found it yet, but kept believing that they could win this battle that became personnal: medical staff vs the bacteria.
They probably are still searching to identify the bacteria through all the database that they accumulated. It might end up in the American Journal of Medecine someday and help save some lives without having to inject so much medication that too, could be fatal.

It's great to live in a world where people care to help strangers survive. There are no bonuses for the medical staff that helped me... they did it because it's their passion and it was visible on their face when I visited them last week.

The next time I step on a golf course would definitely be special... and I owe it to them, the medical staff of Pierre-Boucher and Charles-Lemoyne Hospitals.

Génial en prolongation / Playoff Genius

Je dois vous dire, je souhaitais fortement que la prolongation se dirige au 10ème trou du parcours de Riviera hier soir. Ce trou est probablement l'un des meilleurs court par 4 au monde et la prolongation a parfaitement révélé le design de George C. Thomas.

L'élément no 1 a observé est l'étroitesse et l'angle du green (exprimé par les lignes rouges). En raison de cette angle, si un joueur décide de jouer prudemment avec un fer au départ, il doit envoyer sa balle dans un espace précis (cercle bleu). Pour ce faire, il doit jouer au-dessus de la pointe du grand bunker, et ne pas traverser l'allée... Un coup compliqué pour une stratégie conservatrice.

I must say, I was hoping really hard that yesterday's playoff kept going to get to the 10th hole on the Riviera golf course. This hole is one of the best short par 4's in golf and the playoff perfectly showed the design idea of George C.Thomas.

The no 1 element to look at is the narrow and angled green (red lines). Because of the angle, if a player conservatively uses an iron of the tee, he must send the ball to a very precise space (blue circle). To do so, he must play over the point of the big bunker, and not run across the fairway. A hard shot for a safe play.

Alors, les joueurs en prolongation hier se devait d'être aggressif au départ...

So players in the playoff yesterday had to go for it...

L'autre aspect génial d ce trou est le fait que si vous allez pour le green, vous devez aller pour le green... vous ne pouvez faire les choses à moitié en raison du bunker de gauche 30 verges à court du green. (avec un X)

The other genius thing about the hole is the fact that if you decide to go for it, you have to go at the green... you can't semi-go at it because of the bunker left of the green (marked with a X)

Alors, les trois joueurs ont décidé d'atteindre le green... Mickelson et Bradley ont utilisé un bois-3 et ont fait une erreur importante en manquant le green à court et à droite. Devant cette situation, Bill Haas se devait de frapper un bois-1 quitte à dépasser le green... ce qu'il a fait.

So, the three players tried to go at the green... Mickelson and Bradley used a 3-wood and made a mistake by missing short right. Seeing this, Bill Haas had to use a driver and was better off to drive past the green.

Bill Haas a été sage par la suite, bien qu'il était le premier à jouer, il savait que ses adversaires auraient de la difficulté à atteindre le green à partir de leur position. Le coup à Bill Haas était lui aussi difficile s'il voulait aller pour le drapeau, mais contrairement à Mickelson et Bradley, il pouvait atteindre le green avec un coup conservateur... ce qu'il a fait. Il se disait probablement, en jouant prudemment, je garantis mon 4 et me donne une chance pour un 3, au pire, la prolongation se poursuit.

Bill Haas was smart after that, even if he was the first to play. He knew that his opponents would have a hard time finding the green from their position. Bill Haas also had a tough shot if he tried to go at the flag but, contrary to Bradley and Mickelson, he could reach the green with a safe shot, which he did. He was probably thinking, by playing safe, I guaranty a 4 and give myself a chance at a 3, at worst, the playoff keeps going.

Lorsque Mickelson a envoyé son deuxième coup dans le bunker au-delà du green, Haas semblait en bonne position. Mais Keegan Bradley a joué un coup formidable en plaçant sa balle à 15 pieds du trou... En câlant son putt de 40 pieds et après le putt manqué de Bradley, Bill Haas passait pour un grand stratège... mais qu'aurait-on dit s'il avait manqué son putt et Bradley aurait fait le sien ? On aurait probablement dit que Bill Haas s'est sorti du tournoi en jouant de façon trop prudente.

When Mickelson's second shot went in the bunker over the green, Haas looked in good positio. But Keegan Bradley played a formidable shot to put his ball 15 feet from the hole. By holing his 40-foot putt and after Bradley's missed putt, Bill Haas looked like a smart man, but what would we have said if he had missed his putt and Bradley had made his ? We probably would have said that Bill Haas pulled himself out of the championship by playing too safely.

De l'architecture de golf de haute qualité mène à du golf intéressant, hier en était la preuve.

Great golf architecture leads to great golf, yesterday was the proof.

Un rond-point sur un parcours de golf !!!

¸Les rond-points (ou carrefour giratoire) sont de plus en plus populaire dans la conception de routes en Amérique du Nord. Ils distribuent efficacement le traffic, crée un point focal et nous oriente vers de nouvelles destinations. 

Un rond point... quelque peu assymétrique



Y-a-t'il un équivalent dans la conception de parcours de golf ? J'en connais au moins un, sur le parcours du Alwoodley Golf Club en Angleterre

Si la conception de rond-point demande une juste étude des angles, de la sécurité et de la visibilité pour permettre une bonne expérience de conduite... la disposition des trous sur le parcours de Alwoodley constitue un pièce de génie.

Vue aérienne du Alwoodley Golf Club

Deux par 3 intercroisés, le 7ème et le 14ème sont positionné diagonalement, côte à côté sur un portion étroite de la propriété. Ils sont le coeur du rond point, permettant aux joueurs de se croiser et de continuer leur périple à travers la propriété. Tout près, le green du 3ème trou et le départ du 4ème sont présents. (ces trous méritent un blog à eux seuls)

Retrouver 5 greens et 5 départs dans un espace aussi restreint est presque sans précédent. Il ne s,agit pas d'une situation typique et vous savez le meilleur de cette confguration: elle fonctionne à merveille. Je me demande combien de temps fût nécessaire à l'architecte (A. Mackenzie) pour trouver cette solution. Il y a d'autres brins de génie sur le "routing" à Alwoodley (comme le croisement du 3ème et du 16ème trou) que très peu de gens auraient pu imaginer... mais les grands architectes transforment de grandes visions en réalités.

 

The Roundabout of golf course architecture

Roundabouts are more and more popular in road design across North America... It distributes traffic well and create a focal and turning point on the way to new destinations.

A roundabout... this one is a little assymetrical



Is there an equivalent in golf course architecture ? Yes, there is at least one.... at Alwoodley Golf Club in England.

As much as the road roundabout requires a close study of design based on angles, safety and visibility to achieve a good driving experience, the disposition of the holes at Alwoodley is routing genius in its purest form.

Aerial picture of Alwoodley Golf Club

The two interlocking par 3's, 7th and 14th, are set diagonally, side by side, on this narrow part of the property. They are the heart of the roundabout, allowing the players to crossover to continue their journey across the land. Close by, there is the 3rd green and 4th tee (which for their composition deserve a blog on their own).

To find 5 greens and 5 sets of tees in such a small space is almost unheard of. It is not a standard routing, and the best part of it: it works like a charm. I wonder how long it took for the architect (A. Mackenzie) to figure this one out. There are other genius parts in the routing at Alwoodley (the crossing of 3 and 16) that very few would envisionned... but great architects put great visions into reality.

The "broken" future of golf

Don't worry, this article is about a solution for the game, not another depressive article about how the golf industry is going.

Broken Grounds, in this old feature might lie the future of the game.

This expression is seldom used nowadays, but back in the days when shaping was a man power matter, parts of course where left pretty much as is, perfect in its imperfection, broken. Sloped irregularly and garnished with bushes and scrubs, broken grounds are, in every sense of the words, hazards. A ball heading into it can lead to an infinite variety of lies where only the creative or the lucky player can escape unarmed.

No mowing required: Dramatic broken ground all over the place at Royal County Down (photo: golfclubatlas.com)

Broken grounds offer an opportunity to pull out a great recovery, to play a shot that can hardly be reproduced but that remains present in the mind of the player who executed it or the opponent who felt victim of it. Sadly, broken ground is rarely a part of golf courses now, the modern player is way too sensible about his score to allow the presence of these imponderables close to the greens and fairways.

Heather, bumps and grasses protect the inside of the dogleg on the 6th hole at Panmure, Scotland

Low on maintenance but high on drama. Over the last few decades, golf architects like Coore and Crenshaw, Gil Hanse, Tom Doak and others, have put great efforts to bring back the artistic and intricate bunkering that enhance the quality and aesthetics of golf architecture. But artistic bunkering, and any bunkering for that matter, comes with a high cost of maintenance. Those architects have compensated by managing the area of disturbance and preserving as much of the natural qualities of their sites.

Instead of putting a bunker to protect the obvious bail-out short right of the 18th green at TPC Sawgrass, Pete Dye carved wild humps and bumps (left on the picture) to narrow the entrance to the green. (photo: caddybytes.com)

The use of broken ground fuel up the character of a golf course like no other and should be an inspiration for any architect who seeks to make the game more exciting and more affordable. Very few delibarate efforts have been done to create such features as an integral hazard for a hole or shot. I hope the restoration of Pinehurst number 2 and the playing of the US Open there will open some eyes in that regard.

Little bumps, wispy grass, akward lies are part of the interest in the restored Pinehurst no 2. (photo: golfclubatlas.com)