WEBVTT - Golf Architecture 101: Routing 0:00:00.200 --> 0:00:03.880 What is the most important step in designing a golf course. 0:00:04.480 --> 0:00:08.600 If you ask pretty much any practicing golf architect, they're 0:00:08.640 --> 0:00:13.080 probably going to tell you that it's routing. But routing 0:00:13.119 --> 0:00:17.640 is also one of the hardest aspects of golf architecture 0:00:17.800 --> 0:00:22.800 to talk about. Even to longtime enthusiasts, this subject can 0:00:22.840 --> 0:00:28.160 be pretty intimidating and mysterious. So in this episode of 0:00:28.360 --> 0:00:31.880 Golf Architecture one oh one, we're going to try to 0:00:32.120 --> 0:00:37.760 demystify the art of routing a golf course. I'm Garrett Morrison, 0:00:38.240 --> 0:00:47.360 and this is designing golf all right. As always in 0:00:47.479 --> 0:00:50.920 the Golf Architecture one oh one series, my guest slash 0:00:50.960 --> 0:00:55.600 student is PJ Clark. PJ, how you doing, Garrett. 0:00:55.760 --> 0:00:56.520 I'm doing great. 0:00:56.640 --> 0:00:59.160 I like our little matching sweatshirt action we got going 0:00:59.240 --> 0:00:59.880 on here green. 0:01:00.520 --> 0:01:03.320 We have vivid greens going on sea foam. 0:01:03.880 --> 0:01:05.160 After Saint Patrick's Day. 0:01:05.200 --> 0:01:07.759 We're celebrating a day late here, but spring has sprung, 0:01:07.880 --> 0:01:09.920 so I like our little spring actually we got going on. 0:01:10.360 --> 0:01:12.960 I mean I just wear green all week on Saint 0:01:13.040 --> 0:01:16.279 Patrick's Week. Were releasing this episode, well, actually we're releasing 0:01:16.280 --> 0:01:18.919 this episode this week. We're turning around pretty pretty fast. 0:01:19.000 --> 0:01:22.920 So so yeah, we've we're on theme. You're a little 0:01:22.920 --> 0:01:25.360 bit under the weather after an active week at the 0:01:25.400 --> 0:01:28.039 Players Championship, so I appreciate you hopping on with me. 0:01:28.760 --> 0:01:29.880 I'm ready to go. 0:01:30.120 --> 0:01:34.600 I had a great experience at TPC Sawgrass on Monday, 0:01:34.760 --> 0:01:37.039 and I'm ready to learn about what I should have 0:01:37.080 --> 0:01:37.959 been learning while I. 0:01:37.959 --> 0:01:38.480 Was out there. 0:01:39.120 --> 0:01:41.000 You got to see a little bit of pretty high 0:01:41.120 --> 0:01:44.640 level architecture out there. Now, I will say that when 0:01:44.680 --> 0:01:49.240 it comes to TPC Sawgrass, routing isn't the main thing 0:01:49.320 --> 0:01:53.600 about that course that is interesting because there, I mean, 0:01:53.640 --> 0:01:56.280 there are some interesting aspects of TPC Sawgrass is routing. 0:01:56.280 --> 0:01:58.920 We can even talk about that in this in this 0:01:59.240 --> 0:02:02.880 installment of of golf Architecture one on one. But there 0:02:03.000 --> 0:02:05.920 wasn't much there to begin with. Yes, So it's not 0:02:06.000 --> 0:02:08.919 like Pete Dye was looking at great landforms and thinking 0:02:08.960 --> 0:02:11.960 about how to use them. The golf course could just 0:02:12.040 --> 0:02:16.560 kind of go wherever because they were building everything Florida. 0:02:16.600 --> 0:02:19.840 Baby, everything's flat. Just throw some stuff out there. 0:02:20.800 --> 0:02:23.720 Yeah, golf course architecture is a different type of thing 0:02:23.760 --> 0:02:27.680 in Florida for the most part. So we are talking 0:02:27.720 --> 0:02:32.840 about routing today. What have you gathered about routing just 0:02:32.960 --> 0:02:36.960 by you know, producing the Friday Golf podcast for a 0:02:36.960 --> 0:02:40.239 little while. What sort of tidbits about this subject have 0:02:40.240 --> 0:02:42.440 have you absorbed so far? 0:02:43.800 --> 0:02:49.480 I think the different kind of different kinds of routing, 0:02:49.520 --> 0:02:52.160 I guess. I'm sure there's a more technical term for it, 0:02:52.200 --> 0:02:54.640 but an out and back where you come back after 0:02:54.680 --> 0:02:56.919 the front nine and then go go back out again 0:02:56.960 --> 0:02:59.680 and then circle back towards the clubhouse, or if you know, 0:03:00.600 --> 0:03:03.160 of course that you just go out like all the 0:03:03.160 --> 0:03:05.280 way out and you come back in after eighteen, like 0:03:05.320 --> 0:03:10.080 there's no kind of circle back thing, and then kind 0:03:10.080 --> 0:03:15.040 of using the land to the advantage of you know, 0:03:15.120 --> 0:03:17.440 where you're placing holes, like how far is the walk 0:03:17.560 --> 0:03:22.000 necessarily between holes maybe? Or sure how close things are together? 0:03:22.280 --> 0:03:25.639 And I feel like it probably impacts you don't want 0:03:25.680 --> 0:03:28.160 too many I feel like you could say this about 0:03:28.160 --> 0:03:30.399 anything that we talked about in golf architecture what I want, 0:03:30.400 --> 0:03:33.760 but you don't want too many of the same type 0:03:34.200 --> 0:03:37.720 of holes next to each other, Like you don't want 0:03:37.960 --> 0:03:41.480 a bunch of basic, you know, straight par fours next 0:03:41.480 --> 0:03:43.280 to each other. So I feel like that probably has 0:03:43.320 --> 0:03:44.320 something to do with routing. 0:03:44.600 --> 0:03:48.800 Question mark absolutely all of those things pertain to the 0:03:48.840 --> 0:03:51.240 subject of routing, and we can kind of build a 0:03:51.320 --> 0:03:55.600 framework here where you can fit some of those fragments 0:03:55.600 --> 0:03:58.640 that you've that you've gathered over time. But all of 0:03:58.640 --> 0:04:01.440 that that you're saying, we're going to touch on in 0:04:01.640 --> 0:04:06.880 this discussion. So just by way of establishing a definition 0:04:07.120 --> 0:04:11.640 of routing, what is routing? Basically it means identifying the 0:04:11.720 --> 0:04:16.240 locations of the tees, fair ways, and greens for each 0:04:16.279 --> 0:04:22.600 hole and then linking those features together into full holes 0:04:22.880 --> 0:04:27.719 and sequences of holes that become the golf course. So 0:04:28.560 --> 0:04:33.560 you know, it's it's really about building up from a 0:04:33.640 --> 0:04:39.000 topographical map, from a piece of land a layout of 0:04:39.279 --> 0:04:40.039 a golf course. 0:04:40.400 --> 0:04:41.280 As it is craziest. 0:04:41.760 --> 0:04:44.560 I don't understand how anybody could do that. I'm not 0:04:44.640 --> 0:04:47.719 a visual learner. I don't like see things when they're 0:04:47.760 --> 0:04:49.840 on a page in front of me that I could 0:04:49.880 --> 0:04:52.200 just my brain just does that. I don't know how 0:04:52.240 --> 0:04:54.280 you could just look at a map and be like, yeah, 0:04:54.279 --> 0:04:56.960 there's a golf course there. That's the craziest thing to me. 0:04:57.040 --> 0:04:58.760 I don't understand how it ever happens. 0:04:59.080 --> 0:05:00.640 What kind of learner are are you? By the way, 0:05:00.640 --> 0:05:01.600 I should probably know this. 0:05:02.520 --> 0:05:04.559 I don't know. I think I need to read things. 0:05:04.760 --> 0:05:08.480 I'm not the textual. Yeah, it's not in the abstract, 0:05:08.880 --> 0:05:10.640 not in the abstract at all. If I read it, 0:05:10.680 --> 0:05:11.360 I'll remember it. 0:05:11.400 --> 0:05:11.920 But I don't. 0:05:12.160 --> 0:05:15.599 I can't do anything that involves visualizing anything. 0:05:16.320 --> 0:05:18.359 I'm kind of the same way. I'm pretty textual. But 0:05:18.920 --> 0:05:22.520 auditory also is helpful, and those are those are kind 0:05:22.520 --> 0:05:26.760 of separate paths that different students benefit from. Anyway, that's 0:05:26.800 --> 0:05:29.719 that's going back into my teacher's bag. But in any case, 0:05:30.400 --> 0:05:34.480 it is It is hard to overstate how important routing is. 0:05:34.560 --> 0:05:37.880 I'm sort of surprised, actually we haven't covered the topics 0:05:37.920 --> 0:05:40.960 so far. In golf architecture one on one, A strong 0:05:41.040 --> 0:05:45.920 routing is often the thing that separates a good golf 0:05:45.960 --> 0:05:49.240 course from a mediocre golf course. It is the skeletal 0:05:49.360 --> 0:05:53.560 structure of a course, and just from a practical standpoint, 0:05:53.640 --> 0:05:57.120 if you have a good routing, so many things about 0:05:57.160 --> 0:06:00.520 the course just work better. The course will likely be 0:06:01.080 --> 0:06:04.680 cheaper to build than you would expect, it will drain better, 0:06:04.760 --> 0:06:07.640 it will be more walkable, the pace of play will 0:06:07.680 --> 0:06:12.400 be better. And most important, a good routing is, in 0:06:12.480 --> 0:06:16.000 my mind, the key thing that makes for an enjoyable 0:06:16.040 --> 0:06:19.840 playing experience, even if the players not really aware of 0:06:19.880 --> 0:06:23.159 the fact that the routing is creating pleasure. It's not 0:06:23.240 --> 0:06:27.279 something that golfers normally think about in those terms, because 0:06:27.320 --> 0:06:31.640 you like, a good routing is harder to perceive than 0:06:31.720 --> 0:06:35.239 really high level conditioning or interesting bunker shapes or cool 0:06:35.320 --> 0:06:39.960 greens or whatever. Right, routing is sort of the invisible 0:06:40.040 --> 0:06:44.080 factor that influences everything about the course but never fully 0:06:44.160 --> 0:06:47.719 shows itself, And often it's the thing that makes you 0:06:48.920 --> 0:06:52.360 enjoy a course that otherwise might not have that much 0:06:52.440 --> 0:06:55.640 going for it. If you have a course that's not 0:06:55.800 --> 0:06:58.040 in very good shape, or has lost a bunch of 0:06:58.080 --> 0:07:01.480 bunkers over time, or is over tr read, but you 0:07:01.560 --> 0:07:05.320 play it and you're like, why did I enjoy that 0:07:05.520 --> 0:07:09.960 so much? Usually it's because the course has a solid routing. 0:07:10.720 --> 0:07:13.960 So when someone says a municipal golf course or an 0:07:13.960 --> 0:07:18.200 affordable golf course has good bones, often I think what 0:07:18.240 --> 0:07:21.240 they really mean is that it has a good routing. 0:07:21.800 --> 0:07:24.680 Does that resonate with you or remind you of any 0:07:24.720 --> 0:07:25.960 courses that you've played. 0:07:28.440 --> 0:07:29.360 It's a good question. 0:07:29.600 --> 0:07:31.560 Uh, I don't know if the off the top of 0:07:31.560 --> 0:07:34.080 my head necessarily but I mean that makes sense. Like 0:07:34.120 --> 0:07:36.320 I hear you guys talk about good good bones all 0:07:36.360 --> 0:07:39.760 the time, and how you know if X, Y and 0:07:39.840 --> 0:07:43.360 Z or restored or fixed that it could get a 0:07:43.400 --> 0:07:46.720 lot better. But you need the uh, you need the 0:07:46.760 --> 0:07:50.000 basic golf holes to exist before you can put the 0:07:50.280 --> 0:07:53.240 kind of finishing touches on everything. So I feel like 0:07:53.280 --> 0:07:55.800 that's a that's a good way to think about it, 0:07:55.840 --> 0:07:57.840 that you just laid out, That just clicked, That just 0:07:57.880 --> 0:07:58.760 clicks something in me. 0:07:58.840 --> 0:08:02.360 There a lot of the courses at Bethpage, aside from 0:08:02.720 --> 0:08:06.080 the Black Horse, are your classic good bones golf courses. 0:08:06.160 --> 0:08:09.520 You know, the Red course has really really good bones 0:08:09.680 --> 0:08:10.760 and it's in good shape too. 0:08:10.960 --> 0:08:12.320 I was going to say, I don't know if I 0:08:12.680 --> 0:08:15.320 didn't know if Red would apply necessarily, because I think 0:08:15.360 --> 0:08:19.480 reddis everybody here loves Red more than they love Black, honestly. 0:08:20.040 --> 0:08:23.200 Yeah, I mean, it definitely has a little bit more charm. 0:08:23.280 --> 0:08:25.960 And again, you know, Okay, so the black Horse has 0:08:26.000 --> 0:08:29.119 an exceptional routing, I think, but part of what makes 0:08:29.400 --> 0:08:33.840 makes Red so pleasurable is that it's just a little 0:08:33.880 --> 0:08:34.720 bit more fun. 0:08:35.080 --> 0:08:35.400 Yeah, and. 0:08:36.920 --> 0:08:39.319 So, and I think part of the reason for that 0:08:39.559 --> 0:08:43.520 is that the choices that were made in the routing 0:08:43.720 --> 0:08:48.400 of that course lend themselves to fun rather than just 0:08:48.480 --> 0:08:54.400 this kind of adventure of difficulty that the black course provides. 0:08:55.320 --> 0:08:58.040 In any case, I think you know. One of the 0:08:58.040 --> 0:09:00.680 reasons I think studying routing or no, a little not 0:09:00.720 --> 0:09:03.679 studying it necessarily, just knowing a little bit about it 0:09:03.720 --> 0:09:06.720 is important for golfers is that it can help you 0:09:07.400 --> 0:09:12.600 appreciate golf courses that don't have huge maintenance budgets, right, 0:09:13.160 --> 0:09:16.800 or that are otherwise maybe not very well known or 0:09:16.880 --> 0:09:20.280 widely appreciated. It allows you to find hidden gems and 0:09:20.320 --> 0:09:25.160 appreciate hidden gems because routing is something that a lot 0:09:25.160 --> 0:09:30.640 of unexpected courses have a good routing right. And so 0:09:31.200 --> 0:09:33.240 that's kind of what we're digging into in this episode, 0:09:33.240 --> 0:09:37.360 the ability to appreciate golf courses for more than just 0:09:37.480 --> 0:09:41.400 their kind of surface appearance or for the easy things 0:09:41.440 --> 0:09:45.120 that there are to appreciate. We're talking about some of 0:09:45.160 --> 0:09:49.800 the deeper things about golf courses that we can understand 0:09:49.840 --> 0:09:54.079 and enjoy here. So what we'll cover two main topics 0:09:54.400 --> 0:09:57.880 in this episode related to routing. The first will be 0:09:58.720 --> 0:10:02.960 how an architect goes about routing a course, and the 0:10:03.000 --> 0:10:07.280 second will be how a player can assess the quality 0:10:07.679 --> 0:10:11.440 of a course's routing, and those are really two separate things, 0:10:12.000 --> 0:10:14.959 so we'll talk about both of those things. But before 0:10:15.040 --> 0:10:20.000 all of that, let's discuss the new Cobalt QZ six 0:10:20.280 --> 0:10:25.400 slope rangefinder. The QZ six represents a significant leap in 0:10:25.480 --> 0:10:31.040 golf rangefinder technology. Most rangefinders have fixed magnification right, but 0:10:31.640 --> 0:10:36.240 the Cobalt QZ six has an optical zoom feature ranging 0:10:36.240 --> 0:10:39.360 from six x to twelve X, so when you're on 0:10:39.400 --> 0:10:42.400 the golf course, you can just see your target better. 0:10:42.480 --> 0:10:46.480 You can identify your exact landing spot more clearly, you 0:10:46.520 --> 0:10:49.480 can assess the contours of the fairway or the green 0:10:49.720 --> 0:10:53.760 more easily. You can actually see the characteristics of a 0:10:53.920 --> 0:10:56.679 pin placement. All that stuff is is pretty useful and 0:10:56.720 --> 0:11:00.920 not something you typically get with a standard rangefinder. 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Every 0:11:42.920 --> 0:11:47.320 Cobalt rangefinder is backed by a lifetime warranty and sold 0:11:47.400 --> 0:11:53.280 direct to consumer, ensuring uncompromising quality without the usual retail markup. 0:11:53.400 --> 0:11:57.600 So go to Cobalt dash golf dot com and enter 0:11:57.640 --> 0:12:02.160 the code fried egg Pod fifteen for fifteen percent off. 0:12:02.240 --> 0:12:07.839 That's fried Egg Pod fifteen at cobaltdashgolf dot com. Check 0:12:07.880 --> 0:12:12.520 it out. Okay, let's get into a topic number one 0:12:12.760 --> 0:12:16.400 for the day PG, which is how an architect routes 0:12:16.440 --> 0:12:20.360 a golf course. Now, obviously, I myself have never routed 0:12:20.400 --> 0:12:22.720 a golf course, so what I'm about to tell you 0:12:23.880 --> 0:12:27.840 is really one big synthesis and simplification of things I've 0:12:27.920 --> 0:12:30.559 learned from talking to architects and reading things that architects 0:12:30.600 --> 0:12:32.880 have written. Maybe you should find a teacher for this 0:12:32.960 --> 0:12:35.680 subject who has actually designed golf courses before. I don't know, 0:12:36.000 --> 0:12:38.120 I feel like I'm a bit of a charlotte in here. 0:12:38.520 --> 0:12:41.319 So I'll do my best. 0:12:41.320 --> 0:12:43.040 Though I think this is gonna be great. 0:12:43.360 --> 0:12:47.560 I think because I know basically nothing, I think anything 0:12:47.800 --> 0:12:49.439 is progress at this point. 0:12:50.640 --> 0:12:54.120 One particular architect who is very informative on the subject 0:12:54.160 --> 0:12:56.920 of routing and knows a lot more than I do 0:12:57.559 --> 0:13:01.040 is Tom Doak. No one has done as much as 0:13:01.120 --> 0:13:05.920 Doak specifically to popularize the discussion of routing. It is 0:13:06.000 --> 0:13:11.160 really his signature topic. And one thing that Doak likes 0:13:11.160 --> 0:13:15.120 to say that I always think about is that routing 0:13:15.120 --> 0:13:19.360 a golf course is like putting together a puzzle, except 0:13:19.360 --> 0:13:22.600 that you never know whether you've found the right answer. 0:13:23.640 --> 0:13:28.040 There are many possible answers and results that the routing 0:13:28.080 --> 0:13:32.840 process could yield, and you just can't know whether the 0:13:32.840 --> 0:13:36.199 one you've come up with is the best one. You 0:13:36.280 --> 0:13:38.480 just have to decide that it's good enough and you 0:13:38.559 --> 0:13:42.280 sort of go with it. But most golf architects agree 0:13:42.320 --> 0:13:47.679 broadly on the goal of routing, and that goal is 0:13:48.000 --> 0:13:53.199 twofold one. You want to take advantage of a property's 0:13:53.280 --> 0:13:56.880 best natural assets, and you especially want to take advantage 0:13:56.920 --> 0:14:01.199 of its topography, which is to say, it's contour, undulation, 0:14:01.400 --> 0:14:05.240 elevation change, et cetera. You want your holes to interact 0:14:05.280 --> 0:14:10.160 with those features in an interesting way. Two, you're trying 0:14:10.200 --> 0:14:13.240 to connect the holes you found in the landscape into 0:14:13.280 --> 0:14:18.240 a walkable, compelling sequence. And we'll talk a little more 0:14:18.320 --> 0:14:21.240 later about what makes for a good sequence of holes. 0:14:21.800 --> 0:14:25.000 So those are the two goals that most architects would 0:14:25.040 --> 0:14:28.400 agree on when it comes to routing. Maximize the natural 0:14:28.440 --> 0:14:31.360 topography and connect the holes into a sequence that makes sense. 0:14:32.440 --> 0:14:35.400 So the first step in the routing process is to 0:14:35.560 --> 0:14:41.000 familiarize yourself with the site. Often this is done remotely 0:14:41.240 --> 0:14:45.480 using aerial photographs and what's called a topographic map or 0:14:45.520 --> 0:14:48.360 topo map. Have you ever seen a topo map? Do 0:14:48.400 --> 0:14:49.240 you know what these look like? 0:14:50.120 --> 0:14:54.320 I have, because we have some on the website. I've 0:14:54.440 --> 0:14:58.520 encountered it at some point, and some designing notebooks and 0:14:59.400 --> 0:15:03.120 the whole desig contest, right, there was a map involved 0:15:03.120 --> 0:15:06.600 in that, so I'm generally familiar. I wouldn't say I 0:15:06.720 --> 0:15:09.000 know how to read it, but I've seen one before. 0:15:09.640 --> 0:15:11.680 You know, some people just have this thing where they're 0:15:11.720 --> 0:15:14.880 able to read a topo map and other people are 0:15:15.240 --> 0:15:17.520 baffled by them. I think most people can get to 0:15:18.480 --> 0:15:20.720 a state of competence with reading a topo map, but 0:15:21.080 --> 0:15:25.120 they're certainly those who are talented at it. And you know, 0:15:25.160 --> 0:15:27.240 what I want you to envision with a topo map 0:15:27.440 --> 0:15:30.600 is a map of a site with a bunch of 0:15:31.160 --> 0:15:36.160 curving lines one and these lines represent different elevations, and 0:15:36.240 --> 0:15:39.760 so when the lines are close together, that means it's steep. 0:15:40.280 --> 0:15:45.080 When the lines are far apart, that means that it's flatter, right, 0:15:45.360 --> 0:15:47.360 And so that's that's kind of what you and you 0:15:47.440 --> 0:15:51.480 learn to just sort of recognize ridges and valleys and 0:15:51.960 --> 0:15:56.960 different topographical features by looking at a topo map. But 0:15:57.000 --> 0:16:00.200 this is a this is a key tool in the 0:16:00.280 --> 0:16:04.600 routing process. It's really important. So you know, experienced architects 0:16:05.200 --> 0:16:07.480 will often be able to come up with a rough 0:16:07.640 --> 0:16:10.920 routing or at least a few options for routings just 0:16:10.960 --> 0:16:14.040 by studying a topo map and identifying places where they 0:16:14.120 --> 0:16:18.440 know holes will fit. But it's also critical to get 0:16:18.440 --> 0:16:21.640 out to the property, walk around and see what will 0:16:21.680 --> 0:16:24.880 work and what won't work. From the ground. Now, in 0:16:24.920 --> 0:16:29.160 those initial stages of routing, architects are typically looking first 0:16:29.320 --> 0:16:33.720 for green sites. They're looking for interesting features to build 0:16:34.360 --> 0:16:38.200 greens into because greens are the focal point of a 0:16:38.200 --> 0:16:40.400 golf course, So if you want to take advantage of 0:16:40.440 --> 0:16:43.480 a property's best natural assets, right, if that's goal number 0:16:43.520 --> 0:16:46.680 one of routing, If you want to draw the player's 0:16:46.720 --> 0:16:50.880 attention to interesting features in the landscape, the best way 0:16:50.920 --> 0:16:53.360 to do that is to build your greens into those 0:16:53.400 --> 0:16:58.680 features because players really spend the most time on the greens, 0:16:58.920 --> 0:17:02.360 and the most interesting stuff happens and important stuff happens 0:17:02.400 --> 0:17:07.440 on the greens. So again, maximizing natural topography means finding 0:17:07.480 --> 0:17:10.520 good places to put greens. You're also just looking for 0:17:10.560 --> 0:17:15.800 places where greens can be constructed and maintained relatively easily. 0:17:16.680 --> 0:17:20.960 So on steep properties, you're trying to actually identify flatter 0:17:21.119 --> 0:17:24.520 areas where you could naturally put a green that would 0:17:24.520 --> 0:17:27.760 be functional, because if you put a green on a 0:17:27.760 --> 0:17:30.480 piece of land that is too steep, then the ball 0:17:30.560 --> 0:17:32.679 is not going to stay on it, right, It's not 0:17:32.680 --> 0:17:35.560 going to work. So if you have a very hilly 0:17:35.760 --> 0:17:39.960 or just big, you know, tilted site, what you're looking 0:17:39.960 --> 0:17:42.040 for on the topa map is those places where the 0:17:42.080 --> 0:17:45.920 lines are farther apart so that you can actually naturally 0:17:45.920 --> 0:17:50.400 place a green there without having to build big structures 0:17:50.440 --> 0:17:55.040 to hold to hold the green up flat on flat properties, 0:17:55.600 --> 0:18:00.639 you really have the opposite problem. What you're looking for 0:18:00.720 --> 0:18:06.639 on flat properties is whatever topographical features there might be, 0:18:07.720 --> 0:18:10.280 and that's where you'll want to locate at the greens. 0:18:10.720 --> 0:18:12.720 So if you have a flatter property and you're looking 0:18:12.760 --> 0:18:15.080 at the topa map, you're looking more for where the 0:18:15.119 --> 0:18:18.359 lines are closer together, because you might actually have some 0:18:18.560 --> 0:18:22.439 interesting landforms there that you can tie greens into. You 0:18:22.480 --> 0:18:25.359 don't just want to build greens on plane flat land. 0:18:25.400 --> 0:18:28.320 I mean sometimes you have to do that, but it's 0:18:28.359 --> 0:18:32.679 not preferred. You want to hook your greens into interesting features. Okay. 0:18:32.720 --> 0:18:36.199 So once you have located some green sites, then you 0:18:36.200 --> 0:18:40.040 can start looking for fairways or especially landing zones for 0:18:40.119 --> 0:18:42.760 tea shots, because landing zones in some ways are similar 0:18:42.800 --> 0:18:45.280 to greens where where you need it to be functional, 0:18:45.920 --> 0:18:48.720 You need the ball to be able to stay there. 0:18:48.760 --> 0:18:52.440 You need something of the right size and relative flatness 0:18:53.040 --> 0:18:55.560 to work as a fairway. And also you want your 0:18:55.600 --> 0:18:57.639 fairways to be interesting. You don't want them just to 0:18:57.640 --> 0:19:00.960 be flat, so you know, find some top graphical features 0:19:01.000 --> 0:19:06.680 to route your fairways over. Now, often fairways are best 0:19:06.840 --> 0:19:10.600 placed in valleys or along the crest of a ridge, 0:19:11.240 --> 0:19:16.440 or just on gentle slopes or gently undulating ground. That's 0:19:16.480 --> 0:19:20.040 where fairways work. Green sites can be kind of smaller, right, 0:19:20.119 --> 0:19:25.040 Fairway sites have to be generally broader. And then finally 0:19:25.080 --> 0:19:29.600 you can find some tees or locations for putting different teas. 0:19:29.640 --> 0:19:34.159 But this isn't quite as important because tees are small 0:19:34.920 --> 0:19:39.560 and they can be built relatively easily, even on ground 0:19:39.800 --> 0:19:43.520 that isn't well suited naturally to a tee. So you 0:19:43.600 --> 0:19:46.920 found your greens, you found your fairways, you found your tees. 0:19:48.000 --> 0:19:51.720 So basically what architects are doing in the early stages 0:19:51.800 --> 0:19:55.199 of routing is looking for the best natural locations for 0:19:55.280 --> 0:20:01.280 playing areas, and that is greens, fairways and all that 0:20:01.320 --> 0:20:01.720 makes sense. 0:20:01.760 --> 0:20:07.280 So far, that does make sense. I think when when. 0:20:07.119 --> 0:20:12.359 You when you're looking for a green on the topo map, 0:20:12.520 --> 0:20:16.520 is that just for the green itself or the entire 0:20:16.600 --> 0:20:19.080 green complex of like what you're looking to do with 0:20:19.119 --> 0:20:22.359 the green, like bunkers or slopes to the side of it, 0:20:22.520 --> 0:20:25.920 or you just trying to put the actual putting surface down. 0:20:26.760 --> 0:20:29.040 I think you're looking for a good place for an 0:20:29.200 --> 0:20:33.360 entire green complex, okay, And you know the reason for 0:20:33.400 --> 0:20:37.480 that is sometimes the topographical features that you use for 0:20:37.600 --> 0:20:42.520 a green complex are not within the putting surface itself necessarily. 0:20:42.880 --> 0:20:45.240 Sometimes it's just good to put a green kind of 0:20:45.400 --> 0:20:49.679 near a really interesting topographical feature. If there's like a 0:20:49.720 --> 0:20:52.879 big abrupt knoll, you're not gonna put the green on 0:20:52.960 --> 0:20:55.199 top of it because you'd have to you'd have to 0:20:55.800 --> 0:20:59.520 move some earth to to make that happen. But if 0:20:59.520 --> 0:21:02.040 you put the being kind of next to it, then 0:21:02.280 --> 0:21:05.080 it's interesting to look at because you're you're you're orienting 0:21:05.080 --> 0:21:09.840 the player's vision toward that cool landform, and you know 0:21:09.960 --> 0:21:12.720 it might not factor into the putting surface itself, but 0:21:13.320 --> 0:21:16.920 the green complex ties into it. But it's there, right, Yeah, 0:21:16.960 --> 0:21:18.960 And that's that's just you know, a lot of what 0:21:19.080 --> 0:21:22.320 architects are doing a routing is just pointing players at 0:21:22.320 --> 0:21:24.120 the cool features of the landscape. 0:21:24.359 --> 0:21:24.639 Cool. 0:21:26.119 --> 0:21:29.119 That brings us to the second major step in routing 0:21:29.119 --> 0:21:32.439 a golf course, which is connecting these sites for greens, 0:21:32.480 --> 0:21:37.920 fairways and tees into a full sequence of golf holes. 0:21:38.920 --> 0:21:41.000 Now, this is this is where you lose it. Yeah, 0:21:41.080 --> 0:21:43.520 this is this is the crazy part where you know, 0:21:43.640 --> 0:21:46.440 good luck. I'm happy people do it, but I don't 0:21:46.520 --> 0:21:47.600 understand how we get there. 0:21:48.119 --> 0:21:51.119 Yeah, I'm glad you think so, because I feel the 0:21:51.160 --> 0:21:53.840 same way about it. It's it just seems impossible, right 0:21:53.960 --> 0:21:56.560 If you start by looking for all these separate green 0:21:56.640 --> 0:21:59.920 sites and fairway landing zones, how do you even start 0:22:00.040 --> 0:22:03.119 to construct golf holes out of that stuff? Much less 0:22:03.640 --> 0:22:06.360 a full sequence of eighteen holes, much less a sequence 0:22:06.359 --> 0:22:08.040 of eighteen holes as it has a part of seventy 0:22:08.080 --> 0:22:09.720 two in a yardage of the way you know, et cetera, 0:22:09.720 --> 0:22:13.600 et cetera. This is really where the puzzle metaphor kicks in, 0:22:13.840 --> 0:22:17.200 because yes, it is very tricky to link together all 0:22:17.200 --> 0:22:22.920 these different spots into anything resembling a conventional golf course. Now, 0:22:23.000 --> 0:22:26.160 one key thing that skillful architects do is that they 0:22:26.240 --> 0:22:29.959 suit the length and type of hole to the character 0:22:30.000 --> 0:22:33.520 of the land. Often this means putting shorter holes on 0:22:33.600 --> 0:22:38.040 more severe land and longer holes on less severe land. 0:22:38.280 --> 0:22:40.960 And the reason for that is that a long hole 0:22:41.119 --> 0:22:44.080 on severe land will require probably a lot of earth 0:22:44.119 --> 0:22:47.879 moving to build and will usually be very difficult to play. 0:22:48.400 --> 0:22:51.800 So it's just more practical to put short holes on 0:22:52.119 --> 0:22:55.920 the most severe kind of transitional sections of the property. 0:22:57.000 --> 0:22:59.720 But the architects should also have a sense of winter 0:23:00.040 --> 0:23:04.639 viholate that principle to create something unique and exciting. So 0:23:05.119 --> 0:23:09.560 you know, the open last year was at Royal Port Rush. 0:23:09.720 --> 0:23:12.400 A famous hole at Royal Port Rush is the sixteenth 0:23:12.480 --> 0:23:16.080 Calamity Corner. Yes, it is a par three, so I 0:23:16.119 --> 0:23:20.240 guess technically a short hole, but it's a long part three. 0:23:20.520 --> 0:23:22.720 This is not a one hundred and forty yard part three. 0:23:22.760 --> 0:23:25.640 This is a very long strike and it's on an 0:23:25.640 --> 0:23:29.360 incredibly severe piece of land. It's it's you know, kind 0:23:29.400 --> 0:23:34.240 of on the edge of this huge canyon. And that 0:23:34.280 --> 0:23:39.440 hole is incredibly memorable, really a great great golf hole, 0:23:39.560 --> 0:23:42.720 and it is it is function, it does work, it's playable. 0:23:43.520 --> 0:23:47.679 But in that instance, the architect had a sense in 0:23:47.720 --> 0:23:49.719 the architect being in this case, Harry Colet had a 0:23:49.760 --> 0:23:53.520 sense for when to use a severe piece of land 0:23:54.080 --> 0:23:58.159 for a longer hole relative to par because he was looking, 0:23:58.560 --> 0:24:01.080 he was he was shooting for the star there, right. 0:24:01.600 --> 0:24:03.879 Probably the conventional thing to do with that piece of 0:24:03.920 --> 0:24:07.360