Golf’s Most Intimate Layouts
Small wonder: Merion (East) is golf’s most intimate championship layout Unquestionably, the freedom to smash drives all over the yard is liberating. On occasion, however, it’s cathartic not to have to swing out of your shoes. Sometimes it’s fun to play small ball, to place thoughtful shots in the proper spots aboard a course with […]
Architecture 101: Routing
I am a dinosaur when it comes to computer-aided design, still clinging to pencils (and usually golf pencils, at that), erasers, and sheets of tracing paper when sketching out a golf course. I wear out erasers, and when working directly on a topographical map I sometimes wear out the map. The first stage of course routing […]
Gil Hanse’s Architecture 101: Where Bunkers Lie
The placement of bunkers on a course is one of the key elements in creating strategy Having started our examination of golf course architecture with greens—and appropriately ascribing sovereignty to them over all other features—we turn to the most visible feature on any course, the sand bunker. Bunkers have always had two distinct characteristics as […]
My 10 Favorite Golf Course Logos
A good logo—whether it’s for a fashion brand, a trendy restaurant, or a golf course—should try to adhere to some of the principles of effective design, including being simple, memorable, timeless, versatile, and relevant—according to popular design blog Tailor Brands. With golf there’s seemingly endless inspiration to draw from. Is it in a city that’s […]
Gil Hanse’s Architecture 101: Greens and Their Complexes
On a visit to The Los Angeles Country Club in preparation for the 2023 U.S. Open, I did something that I rarely do. While walking the course with the superintendent, we putted on every green. And I must say, it was a lot of fun, free from trying to “make” a putt and instead watching […]
Gil Hanse’s Architecture 101: Green Design
Having navigated one year of writing about the importance of finding, organizing, and identifying the best set of golf holes to comprise a full golf course, it is now time to turn to the components of those holes—which bring holes to life, add flesh to the bones, and ultimately are what the vast majority of golfers […]
Golf’s Greatest Water Hazards
Water hazards come in all shapes, sizes, and salinities, of course. The best are entirely natural, though it would be wrong to suggest man-made water hazards are off the table. As with bunkers, we tend to prefer small and subtle—furtive, inconspicuous creeks that run across or alongside holes without calling much attention to themselves but […]
A First Look at Hoiana Shores Golf Club
The newest course in the world’s fastest-growing golf market is open for limited preview play, and those lucky enough to get an early look at Vietnam’s Hoiana Shores Golf Club are in for a unique treat. For starters, the Robert Trent Jones Jr. design doesn’t have any flapping flags to help golfers deal with the […]
Gil Hanse’s Architecture 101: The Land
Whether you’re designing a building, a road, or any structure, every good design starts with a solid foundation. In the case of golf course architecture, that foundation is the land. There are relatively few great golf courses that do not sit on great pieces of land. The exceptions rely on features created by golf course […]
