Links

Refers to inland golf courses with plenty of trees.

Custom built to host tournaments, Stadium courses tend to be very long and dramatic, with abundant water hazards and peripheral mounding for spectator viewing.

Refers to both an enlarged sandy tract of land in southeast Melbourne as well as the elite golf courses of that region, and the style of architecture collectively on display.

Similar to the Melbourne Sandbelt, the Heathland refers to a region outside London city blessed with distinct natural vegetation (including heather) and a host of exceptional old golf courses.

DESIGN STYLES & PHILOSOPHY

Minimalism

All golf courses are man-made in some part, and the Naturalistic movement revolves around the idea that manufactured areas should appear as natural as possible.

Even designers with a penal or prescriptive bent, are prone to describing their philosophy as being strategic, such is the overwhelming evidence that strategic golf makes the most sense. Strategic design is all about choices, and giving golfers the option of taking a risk in order to reduce the difficulty of a subsequent shot. Width is an essential [..]

Penal design differs from strategic design by forcing golfers to take risks and then punishing mistakes more than rewarding successful gambles. Penal courses are the most mundane, reducing the need for cerebral thought by instead prescribing how each hole must be played. Think water carry par threes, and narrow par fours and fives through trees, bu [..]