As my interest in golf and course architecture has grown, I've often found myself mindlessly wondering how I might improve upon courses that I routinely play. Whether it's dreaming how I might change the venerable Lincoln Park in San Francisco into something more fun and modern or recounting the glory days when I strolled along the masterful brush strokes of an Alister MacKenzie classic, course architecture has become a low key hobby of mine.
Recently I stumbled upon an annual contest hosted by The Alister MacKenzie Society. In short, it's a contest to see who can design one really awesome golf hole. This sounded like a ton of fun and with the realities of shelter-in-place, I had a ton of extra time on my hands. So I thought I should give it a try. The contest for 2020, which was ultimately cancelled due to COVID-19, was to design a one-shot par 3 hole. There were a few other stipulations but for the most part that was it.
I started by thinking about the things I love about par threes. The challenging short holes. The breathtaking views. The hills and hollows that send your ball in crazy directions. At the end of the day, I tried to jam most of my favorite things into one hole and hopefully it didn't come out like a Frankenstein!
Here it is. Enjoy!
“The Long and The Short of It”
My hope is that this hole represents a fun and diverse take on a par 3. The hole is named “The Long and The Short of It” as it can be played as a long hole (237 yds from tips to the green’s center) or a short hole with an alternate pin and tee combo that requires extreme accuracy.
This hole is meant to be played firm and fast to provide golfers of all skill levels the most options, and challenge, when approaching the green. The recommended turf would be something such as fescue with there being very little delineation between the putting surface and the turf feeding into the green. It is recommended that bunkers be played as a waste area and not overly groomed to preserve a natural aesthetic to the hole.
The Long
This version of the hole would probably be the most played (6 out of 7 days a week). The hole is framed by an elevated tee shot, with the entirety of the hole laid out in full view below players, and is coupled with a very large green complex that is purpose-built to handle shots that will be coming in from long distances. The defining characteristics of the green are a large backstop that will allow golfers to run shots into the green and up the backstop to kill the pace and funnel balls back into the green. The variety of pin placements for The Long cover most aspects of the green with the exception of a front right pin as it is recommended that location only be coupled with the alternate tee box.
Skilled golfers should still have an advantage over less skilled players as the distance requisite of most shots will favor a better player. But the hole is designed to allow less skilled players to potentially take a simpler approach by running shots into the green on the ground and playing the contours of the land to feed their ball into the center of the green. Hazards do come into play here as there is a bunker short-left of the putting surface as well as on the right side of the green. With that, the hazards are not meant to be overly penal when playing The Long. Most second shots on The Long from off the green should be aided by helping contours and plenty of green to use.
The Short
Short par 3s are perhaps my favorite holes in all of golf, which is why I added the alternate pin-tee combo. In my opinion, nothing is better than having a wedge in hand with the thought of a hole-in-one and a double bogey seeming equally likely. This type of hole is meant to seem easy at first glance but will wreak havoc on poor shots.
The Short is defined by the need for nothing less than the utmost accuracy with one bailout provided for conservative players. If a player intends to get a birdie here they must confidently challenge the pin, located on an elevated crown with trouble lurking in most directions. If the green plays firm and fast, as intended, players would realistically have an area of approximately 18’ (wide) x 9’ (deep) to land their tee shot to hold the correct portion of the green.
Missing the intended landing spot would result in one of four tough second shots, and given the size of the front right portion of the green, golfers would likely be short sided from all angles. A miss to the right and players face a challenging bunker shot. A miss short and/or left and players face a challenging chip or putt from a valley of closely mown grass into an elevated green. A miss long, the one allotted bailout, and players face a challenging two putt as most shots long will propel forward off of the crown and into the middle of the green.
