Golf Course

The game of golf is played on a golf course – obviously. But have you ever thought what goes into making a good golf course? I mean, what makes a good golf course, and what makes a not-so-good golf course? While we don’t have the space to go through specific design layouts, we can touch on some of the aspects of a golf course that makes it fun to play yet challenging too.

While miniature golf courses, which are about the size of one-tenth of regular golf courses, can incorporate fun windmills or other fancied hazards that cannot be built into the design of regular golf courses, the much bigger size of the land and its natural elements like water bodies greeneries etc can be usefully utilized to create fun and challenges into the regular golf course.

Obviously, the first thing you’re going to need is land. I mean, you’re going to need A LOT of land! The golf course must have some long yardage holes as well as some shorter yardage holes. However, most golfers will agree that having mostly longer holes is a great challenge. But they also need those short par 3s for a little ego boost!

In addition, sand bunkers are added as one of the most basic challenge element in a golf course. These bunkers are typically located near a hole, but are spread all the way throughout the entire course. When you hit the sand, you’d have to make slight modifications to your stroke, which makes the game even tougher than it already is.

Water hazards are additional challenge for players in a golf course. Thus, natural rivers and lakes are a common place in a golf course; however most of those found in courses today are mostly man-made. To make them, a large area in the golf course is first dug out and then filled with water. In this particular obstacle, the player’s finesse is what is being tested here such that the golfer has to navigate the course efficiently.

The golf course that we play most often used to be a cow pasture. The rolling hills that used to have Holstein’s instead of golf carts make this particular golf course a lot of fun to try and get “up and down” on. Rolling hills cause a golf ball to – take a guess here – roll! You may have a great drive, but if your ball lands on the side of a hill, it will either stick there making your shot hard or it will roll off the side. Either way, this is another way to make a golf course challenging.

To complete the golf course environment, natural trees and woods are also added. Indeed, one of the worst things that could happen to a player is to have their ball stuck at a tree. The anticipation of finding out where the ball landed is exciting and fun. Yet another way to use natural elements is to make the sport more challenging.

For designers of a golf course, conceptualizing on how to use these natural elements to navigate the course helps add to the thrill of the experience, such that both players and audience have fun!