Golf Architecture for Normal People by Geoff Shackelford

Author:Geoff Shackelford [Shackelford, Geoff]
Language: eng
Format: epub, pdf
Publisher: Tatra Press
Published: 2023-10-15T00:00:00+00:00

STRATEGIC VS. PENAL

The strategic belief is providing alternatives, highlighting positional play, recognizing the ability to flight the ball, encouraging guile and ingenuity, and rewarding risk. The punishment must fit the crime. Good architects tempt and tease not torment. Subtlety and sympathy are the substance of strategy.

DONALD STEEL

It would be cruel at this point to delve deep into the rabbit hole of past design debates over the merits of strategic versus penal design. I’ll keep it brief. But first a key clarification: it’s pronounced pēn(ə)l. Not pēn(ī)l. You’ll thank me later.

At various points throughout golf history, design practitioners have come along believing their job is to rearrange the earth and to penalize every miss in some big way. Maybe they were misanthropes unloved as children? We’ll never know. In any case, people kept hiring them even when it was proven repeatedly that their courses were no fun. Don’t try to figure it out.

The opposing school of thought believed in only massaging the terrain to incentivize risk-taking and to subsequently reward a good shot. They were inspired by the Old Course, where the riskier tee shot placement sets up a better angle for the next shot. Or, sometimes, the risk-taker gained a better view of the target compared to the person who played safe from the tee. Strategy.

The key difference between these schools of design comes down to punishment. Strategic architects allow you to play safe, but you also must accept some inconvenience for having taken that easy way out. However, if you, the bullish golfer, decide today you must attack and choose the riskier shot, just know the strategic architect will make you work for it but will reward success. The penal designer hopes every shot is hard work for every golfer. His design incentivizes survival. Inspiration is squelched to keep you in line. Obedience rules in the penal design school. And this is where you are probably wondering: How come architects do not inject strategy into every hole they create?

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