Golf Course Design for Dummies

[Blackadar]

As someone who has designed courses for a number of games - most frequently JNSE - and in real life (I've had the privledge of helping to lay out 3 golf courses in FL), I thought a thread regarding design may help those who are interested in working with the designer. I've played around with it and plan to get to some serious designing once I feel the mouse is supported a little better.

Now rather than go through the basics (like par 3s should generally be under 220 yards, etc), I'm going to leave that to others and/or the designer itself. When making a golf course, I've found the designer does a fair job of laying out a course in a semi-interesting manner. So I'm going to comment on some of the cardinal sins I see that the course maker frequently does and people are publishing courses with some of these sins.

1. Blind shots are generally bad. That's a broad brush I know, but blind shots make for poor golf course design without a good marker in the distance - something people can aim at. So if the drive or 2nd shot is blind, have a tree or other object that people can aim at. I shouldn't be taking a blind shot into mid-air and hoping it's ok.

2. If the blind shot is within 100 yards of the green or on a par 3, it's automatically bad. Any hole with this is an automatic fail.

3. Trouble should be able to be seen by the player from the tee or fairway. I can't stress this enough. The designer - and many people aren't fixing this - likes to put water hazards in the middle of a par 4/par 5 and take the driver out of the hands of the player. That's ok once or (MAXIMUM) twice a round without giving the player the alternative of playing the driver for a longer and riskier shot. But never, ever, ever, ever should there be a lateral hazard 230 yards out from a blind tee shot. Virtually every user-made course I've tried has at least one of these. It's a no-no. The players should be able to see and plan their shot accordingly from what they can see from the tee (or fairway).

4. Vary the size of your greens. There's no reason to publish a course with 18 greens all the same approximate size. Mix it up. The game goes for the fairway widths and shape. Mix 'em up.

5. Holes requiring mid/long iron approaches should not have a severe downslope just in front of the green. Ever. There's no reason a run-on shot should hit a downslope in front of the green and roll all the way off the back. It's poor design. You can protect the green on a long par 4, but leave a safe spot for a player to bail out and either face a long put or a pitch and put for par. If someone is approaching a hole with an 8 iron, then you can get away with this. But it's still generally bad design.

6. Speaking of which...bailout areas are great. Give the player the option to go for it or to take the safer route. It makes for good golf. If you don't know what a bailout apporach zone looks like on a golf course, look one up.

7. And speaking of long iron approaches, a green that requires a long iron apporach should not slope away from the player.

8. In general, "bowls" are good. They keep fairway shots in the fairway. They collect shots to the green. Consider shaping your landing areas as little bowls and other areas as trouble. So your fairway woudl be a bowl, part of the green might be a bowl and mabye a bailout area is in that shape. Then you can shape the rest of the hole to punish a golfer for missing these target areas. Once you start to look at a golf hole in those regards, you can make some interesting courses but still be fair.

9. Make players move the ball a bit. Fades and draws should be necessary to play the course well. You don't have to punish the straight shot, especially on the drive. There's no reason that a 260 yard drive down the fairway should roll into the rough on a par 4 dogleg. The penalty for hitting that shot is the extra 20 yards it's going to take to get to the green.

10. Make at least 1 of your par 5s, preferably 2, high risk-reward holes by making them shorter with lots of hazards. It makes matches more interesting when eages are a possibilitiy. If all 4 of your 5s are 575+, you just made the course duller than it needed to be.

11. Island greens? It's been done, so find a better way to make a course more challenging. You can make a course unplayable when you have heavy rough or bunkers then a 175 yard carry to an island green. There's no bailout and the player can't make the shot. They have to shoot the ball backwards to get to fairway to even complete the hole. Bad design. Give 'em a bailout area and make sure there's LOTS of fairway right before a lateral water hazard so players have a shot to make it over the water.

12. Don't want people shooting -25 on your course? Make the greens smaller and undulating. The 5 feet around the hole should be generally flat, but you can design a devilish 6600 yard golf course by putting in wavy greens for any shot more than 10 feet out.

Now for every rule, there's a time when you can get away with breaking that rule. But in general, the stuff I've listed above are pretty much cut-and-dried rules of golf course design. I hope they help and keep creating your designs for others to enjoy.

[JC]

Good tips. As a 10 handicapper, I can attest to all of these. Unless the course is going to be a joke course, follow the tips above. I'm steadily working on a challenging but fair course if ball striking is proper. For all those complaining the game is too easy, undulating greens will take care of this no prob. Also, bumpy fairways will help as well

[Erohw]

I think comments should be closed on this thread and it should be stickied, excellent reference guide on how to get an idea of starting a course. :)

[$ PMoneyish $]

I think these are great in rl but we are all pretty much pro's in this game because it's so easy to get perfect shots. Some of what you are saying is how they make hard golf courses for the pros. False fronts are a fairly common thing you see in a major. We have people shooting 25 unders which even on an easy course is insane.

I'm a big fan of slanted fairways with bailout areas to make it so players aren't always making easy drives and can end up in the rough.

I love tiered greens with pretty flat areas for the hole. I love having to work the ball into the green (in the game ;) ) so that I can hit and stay on a tier. What I hate is a pin on a big slant.

[grumpymonk]

All sounds good - my pet hates so far are

- holes on a hill where I end up putting back and forward until I finally happen to get the right line
- downhill fairways in to a water hazard, so you try to lay up but roll in to the rough or water at the end of the fairway
- trees in the way. I'm all for having to work around trees, especially on the fairway, but having a tree right in front of the green doesn't seem right

[Swinging From Nosehair]

Excellent guide.