Speed Slots: A Unique Golf Course Feature Explained

In Golf is My Game, the great Bobby Jones’s classic 1960 autobiography/teaching manual/philosophical treatise/ode to the town and golf courses of St. Andrews, Jones said there were four ways to reward a good tee shot—better view of the green; better angle from which to attack a slope; an open approach past guarding hazards; and “a better run to the tee shot itself.”

Though he didn’t use the term (probably because the feature wouldn’t have a universally accepted name for some time), the last of those options alluded to the use of a “speed slot” or “turbo boost” of which Augusta National, the course Jones designed alongside Alister MacKenzie, has a few. However they referred to them, Jones and MacKenzie clearly liked the idea of well-directed tee shots hitting downhill slopes that gave the golfer who found them a few extra yards.

Today’s course architects clearly endorse the use of speed slots. And, though few can think of an instance where they have deliberately created one or seen one that may have been shaped into otherwise flat land, everyone I spoke with says they are a popular addition to many holes and regarded as something of a welcome quirk or abnormality.

speed slots
Catch the downslope of the Hog’s Back (the 4th hole’s name at Old Macdonald) about 200-205 yards short of the hole, and you will scoot forward into a very advantageous position for your approach shot. (photo by Nathan Kahler, courtesy Bandon Dunes Golf Resort)

Mike Cocking, part of the Australian design company OCM (Geoff Ogilvy, Cocking, and Ashley Mead), calls them a “terrific feature” which typically aren’t built but occur naturally on interesting ground. “It’s certainly not impossible to build them,” he adds, “but it does require a decent amount of earthworks, plus the terrain has to be just right to make them work.”

Mike DeVries of Clayton, DeVries & Pont says that while he isn’t looking for them necessarily, speed slots are something the team considers as the routing progresses. “With good land and a diverse routing, you will find spots for them,” he asserts. “I don’t recall going against the grain of a hill to create something that wasn’t there, but you certainly can move dirt to produce features for different shots. So maybe I have built one without being too conscious of it. I don’t think I’ve ever thought to myself, ‘let’s make a speed slot here,’ though.”

Colton Craig of Craig & Coyne, the design firm the Oklahoma native formed with celebrated author Tom Coyne, thinks that though the concept is great, speed slots are usually “secondary considerations during the initial routing phase.” Tom Doak, meanwhile, says that, while he doesn’t think of them often, he does manage to work one in occasionally.

The Michigan-based architect told golfclubatlas.com in 2020 that his favorite type of speed slot was one that helped senior golfers catch up to younger guys. “One that’s 220 yards from the tee, for example,” Doak said. “The longer hitter will blow right over it while the older guy will get a nice boost assuming he’s accurate enough to find it.”

Doak touches there on the importance of positioning a speed slot correctly. They do usually offer a player a significant opportunity to keep up with, or even outdistance, their opponent/partner, but that player should only enjoy the potential benefit if their drive enters the speed slot at the right angle and on the correct trajectory. It’s not as easy as simply hitting your ball down a slope the width of the whole fairway. Mike DeVries, whose most notable speed slot may be on the par-five 14th hole at Kingsley Club in Michigan (“There are actually two—one almost everyone can hit just over the bunkers on the right side of the fairway, and another further down the hole and much closer to the edge”), says speed slots are most likely found in very specific parts of a fairway, even at its margins. “That means some precision is required to take advantage of them.”

kingsley club
Kingsley Club, 14th hole (photo by L.C. Lambrecht)

Cocking reckons they work well at holes on the edge of par where finding the slot means something other than merely having a shorter second shot. “Hitting a slot that makes a short par four drivable is really exciting,” he adds, “or one that makes it possible to find a long par five in two.”

Whatever the length or par of the hole, however, everyone agrees speed slots work best when the ground is firm and fast. “Lush, soft bentgrass or kikuyu aren’t great,” says Cocking, “while Bermuda is generally okay and close-cropped fescue ideal.” DeVries agrees saying fescue is the best turf for golf, period, and that it’s especially good for speed slots.

As for elevation change, a lot depends on the type of turf a course’s fairways have. “The slower the turf, the steeper the slope needs to be,” says Cocking. “Typically, slopes over 10 percent allow the ball to roll to the bottom, so that’s a decent starting point. And the ground either side wants to be flat enough to slow down the shot that misses.” Sometimes, he notes, mounds on both sides of the entrance can work well to prevent any shot that fails to find a speed slot from gaining any advantage.

DeVries believes that as long as the turf is firm, you really don’t need a lot of elevation change. “If you have a flat site,” he adds, “you might only need five feet—just enough to propel the ball forward if it hits it just right.” What qualifies as “just right” is therefore determined by the type of turf and gradient of the slope. “In most cases,” DeVries says, “a low, boring shot is preferable to a higher, softer one.”

Great speed slots can be found on the 10th at Streamsong (Red) in Florida, 14th at Mammoth Dunes in Wisconsin, 7th at Lost Dunes in Michigan, 4th and 15th on Old Macdonald at Bandon Dunes Golf Resort in Oregon, and the 10th at Augusta National, which Doak calls, simply, “The mother of them all.” Craig, meanwhile, labels it “exemplary.”

augusta national
A general view on the 10th hole during a practice round prior to the Masters at Augusta National Golf Club on November 9, 2020 in Augusta, Ga. (photo by Patrick Smith/Getty Images)

Cocking also acknowledges the 10th at Augusta National but offers a slightly subtler alternative at the 15th hole at four-time Australian Open venue Victoria Golf Club, in Melbourne, Australia. “It’s a short par four with a 15-yard-wide saddle on the left side of the fairway,” he says. “It’s close to the collection of fairway bunkers and is angled in a way that makes it barely noticeable at first glance.” The angle, Cocking adds, means you really must hit a draw to find it and that a straight drive probably won’t hit the slot and miss out on the reward.

A speed slot that can benefit a player significantly, but which takes a solidly struck, well-controlled shot to find—my guess is Bobby Jones would most certainly approve.  

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