What Makes A Great Golf Hole?

I’ve asked the question numerous times of golf course architects, golfers of various skill levels and lowly writers like myself: “What makes a great golf hole?” How can you compare the 18th at Pebble Beach to the 17th at Saint Andrews’ old course? What could the 13th at Augusta National possibly have in common with the 8th hole at Prairie Dunes in Kansas? Difficulty? Sure. Beauty? I suppose in an Emmitt Smith Dancing With The Stars sort of way. Maybe the secret is the strategic element; the golf hole that makes you think, or perhaps perplexes you with choices. Who really knows?

I for one have come to believe that golf course design is a strange amalgamation, like a beautiful woman with a crooked nose, or a scary movie that you can’t stop watching. It is seductive and sinister, brutal and beautiful, and as we’ve all said from time-to-time, I can’t describe it, but I’ll know it when I see it.

It was with this confused attitude that I recently accompanied D.A. Weibring, architect Steve Wolfard and design associate Josh Peters to Fair Oaks Ranch Golf and Country Club a few miles northwest of San Antonio, Texas. ClubCorp, one of the premier owners and operators of golf clubs around the world, had asked D.A. and the team at Golf Resources to update Live Oak, one of the two championship courses at Fair Oaks. The work was almost finished and D.A. wanted to take one last look before the course opened.

For me, it was both educational and fascinating to watch the Golf Resources team at work. D.A. would stand on each tee looking down the fairway, imagining the perfect ball flight as well as the ones that strayed right and left. He looked at the size of each set of tees, commenting on how there was enough room to move the tee position each day. He asked Steve to make a note to trim a couple of branches that hung out a little too far over the new championship tee. As we drove our carts to the first landing area, he looked back and forth from the tee to the green and smiled. “This is great,” he said to Steve who took notes. “You can actually see the landing area from the tee, and when you look at the green you can tell what kind of shot the course wants you to hit.

“Look at this, Sam,” he said beckoning me to take a closer look. “See how the green invites the shot? You can challenge the hole by playing over the bunker, or you can play it safe and aim for the right side of the green. There’s a bailout area just to the right of the green that allows you to play all different kinds of shots depending on your skill level. That’s kind of cool, don’t you think?”

It was kind of cool I thought that D.A. and Steve had considered all of the different options for all of the different skill levels. “Golf is a game and it’s supposed to be fun,” D.A. said. “It’s not very much fun if you are continuously over matched.”

Having been “over matched” more than once, I certainly agree with that statement. Pine Valley from the back tees is not for the faint of heart, or the twenty-handicapper and unless you are just a glutton for punishment it’s not going to be a lot of fun either. I understand that there is a group of people that live to play the most difficult golf courses, but that’s not me.

However, I was surprised when D.A. said to me “I’m not sure we would have designed Live Oak any differently to satisfy the people who only want to play a course that’s really hard. From the championship tees with Sunday pin placements and fast greens, Live Oak will challenge anyone’s game.”

By four o’clock we were back at the clubhouse. D.A. was scheduled to give a guided tour of the new course to fifty or so club members. As I followed along behind I watched D. A. talk almost lovingly about the changes they had made to each hole. Now and then he would drop a ball and hit a shot to demonstrate angles and strategies. As the tour continued the smiles on the members’ faces grew wider as they started to understand what a wonderful golf course D. A. Weibring and Golf Resources had designed.

At the end of the tour a couple of female members of the club cornered D.A. to talk about how a particular tree on a particular par-five forced their tee shots to the right side of the fairway making it difficult to reach the green in two. As I watch, D.A. walked the ladies to the landing area and then showed how they had changed the slope of the fairway to help position them for their approach shot. He pointed out how the bunker had been moved slightly left so they could run the ball on to the green if that was their shot of choice. Then he dropped a ball and flew it to the green just under the pin, then dropped another and hit a bump and run shot to within ten feet of the pin. “I think you’re going to have a lot of fun on this hole,” he said.

As D. A. walked away, the ladies remained at the landing area discussing strategy. “This is really great,” one lady said to other. “But, I’m not sure my husband is going to continue to give me a stroke after I run it onto the green a few times.” I heard both ladies laughing as I drove away, and as I peaked back over my shoulder, I’m pretty sure I saw a high-five.