The ideal 9-hole golf course

[playit]

What's the ideal, how would you build a 9-holer for ideal, whatever that is.

 

Walk-only? Maybe quite a number of people could walk 9 who could not walk 18 and maybe you could encourage walking but if you're in the south like I am, walking is out for most people in warm months. Have some carts, yes, but also trolleys.

 

As for design for a 9-holer that has two sets of tees for 18 holes, any commentary on how best to make those 2nd nine tees different from the front nine? Speaking of 9-holers, are there any such that do NOT have a 2nd set of tees to make it 18 holes? Probably is, but I have not seen that.

 

If I were going to build a golf course or buy one and redesign it...

 

- good greens... a good, decently fast putting surface is important!... some slope but with hardly any severe slopes and not super big in dimensions

- good, flat teeboxes

- wide fairways... fairways themselves not crazy wide but have a 1st cut that's pretty wide... 2nd cut more wide

- at least a few sand bunkers

- at least a few water holes and at least one or two with water fronting the green but it doesn't have to be super penal to make it across the water but also not super easy

- divot mix containers

- a short par 5

- at least one driveable par 4

- 2 par 5s, 2 par 3s and rest par 4s = par 36 for 9

- no holes crazy long, especially par 3 or par 4

- holes 9 and 18 not super long but wide fairway to accommodate a gallery for sweating a tournament's end

- preferably, the course would be designed to make it not so hard to walk... encourage walking

- no blind shots from any tee or fairway

- irrigation system for watering the course using pond/lake water if possible

- no shots from fairway hitting the green where you can't see the ball on the green and rolling

- lots of trees but make the forest near the fairways less dense so balls can be found

- lateral hazard designation where possible to speed up play

- a couple of bathrooms on the course

- a good driving range with good range balls and an annual range plan

- a good, large practice green for putting and a portion of it for chipping

- a nice bar with big screen tv's and a poker table

- snacks/sandwiches available

 

So, it's not built to worry much about challenging super long hitters. A fun round would be the goal but come tournament time you could make it harder.

 

If I had a few mil to build a golf course, I would think you could make a 9-holer cheaper than an 18! And maintain it cheaper.

 

What are your ideas?

 

Edited October 13, 2024 by playit

[The Pearl]

I grew up on a 9-holer.   It was private with a modest membership.  Two sets of tees.  You played whites on the front 9 and the blues on the back.  When your group was making the turn, the rule was you had priority to follow the group teeing off regardless of how many groups were on the tee. 

 

There are lots of options to make any hole shorter or longer. You need options with tee box construction.  

 

Tournaments were a bit of a crap show.

 

To your question at hand, if you are building a 9-holer for public use is different than building your own private course.  If you are building it just for yourself and some buddies, which would be awesome, you only need perhaps 6 to 11/12 greens.  I would model it after the original Sheep Ranch in Bandon with 13 greens so you could make up your own routings. You could probably get away with 6 greens with unlimited options in hole routing and types in order to keep expenses low. 

 

 

[Santiago Golf]

I drew a 10 hole course the other day ... I could upload the photo

 

3 par 4s, 360, 400, and 440 from the back tees (have room to make all these longer, if really wanted to)

5 par 3, different lengths 80, 145, 160ish, 175, 225

1 par 5, 540, finishing hole, with a good amount of strategy and execution difficulty 

 

the 10 hole is a 420 par 4 back to the putting green up the first fairway

 

if you wanted to play 9 ... you play holes 1 to 9 and you have hole 10 to get you back to the starting point

if you wanted to play 18, you play holes 1 to 9, then play holes 2 to 9, and play hole 10 as the 18 hole

 

would have two flags on every single green besides hole 1. The putting green would have one 'normal' flag that would be the hole location of the 10th hole for the day 

Flag 1: Red Triangle

Flag 2: Blue Square

 

would recommend groups use 'Ringer' scoring method if playing 18 holes

the the 'first 9', you can hole out in either hole on the green ... 2nd 9, you must play to the hole you did not hole out in on the first 9. 

you 'final score' would be the better ball of holes 2 thru 9, plus your scores on holes 1 and 10 for a 10 hole total score, par 36

 

will post the picture in a second here

[Santiago Golf]

I wouldn't say that this draw to scale, but I feel it is somewhat close ... yes the green on 6 is massive

 

Edited October 16, 2024 by Santiago Golf

[Santiago Golf]

bump

 

does anyone else have drawings of mythical golf courses

[Argonne69]

Sweetens Cove in Tennessee has two flags on each of the fairly large greens, the easy flag, and the difficult flag. I thought it was a better approach than changing the teeboxes for a second nine.

 

[me05501]

On 10/18/2024 at 9:50 AM, Argonne69 said:

Sweetens Cove in Tennessee has two flags on each of the fairly large greens, the easy flag, and the difficult flag. I thought it was a better approach than changing the teeboxes for a second nine.

 

 

And right up the road at Sewanee you can experience the opposite approach with multiple tee boxes providing different shot values on several holes. Having played both of them several times I think I agree with your assessment.

 

At Sewanee there are only a few holes where the alternate tees really make a difference. No 1 plays as a par five on your first loop and a par four on your second. No 9 does the opposite I think.

 

Gil Hanse did the renovation there and I think it was the first project he took on under his own design company. I think there were some missed opportunities. For instance the two par threes are not only quite similar to each other but they also play pretty similarly on both loops. Another tee box at a different angle would be more interesting. 

 

The greens there are big enough to support two pins so it would be interesting to see whether that worked better. 

[Murphy76]

On 10/13/2024 at 12:24 PM, playit said:

What's the ideal, how would you build a 9-holer for ideal, whatever that is.

 

Walk-only? Maybe quite a number of people could walk 9 who could not walk 18 and maybe you could encourage walking but if you're in the south like I am, walking is out for most people in warm months. Have some carts, yes, but also trolleys.

 

As for design for a 9-holer that has two sets of tees for 18 holes, any commentary on how best to make those 2nd nine tees different from the front nine? Speaking of 9-holers, are there any such that do NOT have a 2nd set of tees to make it 18 holes? Probably is, but I have not seen that.

 

If I were going to build a golf course or buy one and redesign it...

 

- good greens... a good, decently fast putting surface is important!... some slope but with hardly any severe slopes and not super big in dimensions

- good, flat teeboxes

- wide fairways... fairways themselves not crazy wide but have a 1st cut that's pretty wide... 2nd cut more wide

- at least a few sand bunkers

- at least a few water holes and at least one or two with water fronting the green but it doesn't have to be super penal to make it across the water but also not super easy

- divot mix containers

- a short par 5

- at least one driveable par 4

- 2 par 5s, 2 par 3s and rest par 4s = par 36 for 9

- no holes crazy long, especially par 3 or par 4

- holes 9 and 18 not super long but wide fairway to accommodate a gallery for sweating a tournament's end

- preferably, the course would be designed to make it not so hard to walk... encourage walking

- no blind shots from any tee or fairway

- irrigation system for watering the course using pond/lake water if possible

- no shots from fairway hitting the green where you can't see the ball on the green and rolling

- lots of trees but make the forest near the fairways less dense so balls can be found

- lateral hazard designation where possible to speed up play

- a couple of bathrooms on the course

- a good driving range with good range balls and an annual range plan

- a good, large practice green for putting and a portion of it for chipping

- a nice bar with big screen tv's and a poker table

- snacks/sandwiches available

 

So, it's not built to worry much about challenging super long hitters. A fun round would be the goal but come tournament time you could make it harder.

 

If I had a few mil to build a golf course, I would think you could make a 9-holer cheaper than an 18! And maintain it cheaper.

 

What are your ideas?

 

 

Except for the driving range, you described my home course almost exactly.  Weird.  

[playit]

4 hours ago, Murphy76 said:

 

Except for the driving range, you described my home course almost exactly.  Weird.  

 

Now, that is interesting!

[Murphy76]

20 hours ago, playit said:

 

Now, that is interesting!

 

You might soil yourself at the yearly membership dues though.....

[caniac6]

On 10/18/2024 at 9:50 AM, Argonne69 said:

Sweetens Cove in Tennessee has two flags on each of the fairly large greens, the easy flag, and the difficult flag. I thought it was a better approach than changing the teeboxes for a second nine.

 

I wouldn’t know if I was playing tough or easy until the ball stopped rolling.

[McMunch]

There is a Sandals in St. Lucia that has a 9 hole semi-executive course. The interesting thing is its 9 holes with 12 greens so you can switch routing.

Always thought that was a great way to get more variety out of a limited area.