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Post by whodatmatt34 on Jun 24, 2019 10:47:38 GMT -5
So one of my favorite aspects of golf is the ground game. I love watching and playing shots that are aimed way short and to the side of a pin and watching them slowly filter right towards the hole. I enjoy having to think about where I want to land my shot to get it close.
I'm extremely novice at designing holes that play this way, though. So here's a million questions that I have, if y'all can answer any of em it would be greatly appreciated. Should holes like this also punish the more aggressive line? And if they should, how? Can a real ground game be accomplished with greens that predominantly slope from back to front? How do you balance it to where only good shots will filter towards the hole so that the hole doesn't play too easy? Do you need more extreme slopes to pull this off, or can your greens still have mainly green and a few yellow slopes? Plus anything else y'all can add that would help design for more of a ground game.
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Post by rjwils30 on Jun 24, 2019 11:36:09 GMT -5
I’m a big fan as well. It makes the game 3 dimensional when you have to think how the ground will affect your shots. First off the firmness settings for the green and fairway are critical. I wish you could make them even firmer but hb hasn’t yet given us the capability to do a really burned out fitness that you might find on a true links course. Hopefully with the next game. I think trajectory is important. Holes that require longer shots into the greens will come in with more roll. I often like long par 4s for this reason or even short par 5’s or even short drivable 4’s. Its the hardest to achieve the ground game on mid length par 4’s. That’s where canting the greens away from the player at certain angles is a good way to make them think. I also like finding a way to make the direct shot at the pin almost impossible or dangerous so the smart player needs to work the ball toward the pin using the green contours. The best part about the ground game is it puts more importance on setting up their tee shots to attack pins. Using this as a general rule will lead to some interesting g holes So one of my favorite aspects of golf is the ground game. I love watching and playing shots that are aimed way short and to the side of a pin and watching them slowly filter right towards the hole. I enjoy having to think about where I want to land my shot to get it close. I'm extremely novice at designing holes that play this way, though. So here's a million questions that I have, if y'all can answer any of em it would be greatly appreciated. Should holes like this also punish the more aggressive line? And if they should, how? Can a real ground game be accomplished with greens that predominantly slope from back to front? How do you balance it to where only good shots will filter towards the hole so that the hole doesn't play too easy? Do you need more extreme slopes to pull this off, or can your greens still have mainly green and a few yellow slopes? Plus anything else y'all can add that would help design for more of a ground game.
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Post by rjwils30 on Jun 24, 2019 11:36:25 GMT -5
I’m a big fan as well. It makes the game 3 dimensional when you have to think how the ground will affect your shots. First off the firmness settings for the green and fairway are critical. I wish you could make them even firmer but hb hasn’t yet given us the capability to do a really burned out fitness that you might find on a true links course. Hopefully with the next game. I think trajectory is important. Holes that require longer shots into the greens will come in with more roll. I often like long par 4s for this reason or even short par 5’s or even short drivable 4’s. Its the hardest to achieve the ground game on mid length par 4’s. That’s where canting the greens away from the player at certain angles is a good way to make them think. I also like finding a way to make the direct shot at the pin almost impossible or dangerous so the smart player needs to work the ball toward the pin using the green contours. The best part about the ground game is it puts more importance on setting up their tee shots to attack pins. Using this as a general rule will lead to some interesting g holes So one of my favorite aspects of golf is the ground game. I love watching and playing shots that are aimed way short and to the side of a pin and watching them slowly filter right towards the hole. I enjoy having to think about where I want to land my shot to get it close. I'm extremely novice at designing holes that play this way, though. So here's a million questions that I have, if y'all can answer any of em it would be greatly appreciated. Should holes like this also punish the more aggressive line? And if they should, how? Can a real ground game be accomplished with greens that predominantly slope from back to front? How do you balance it to where only good shots will filter towards the hole so that the hole doesn't play too easy? Do you need more extreme slopes to pull this off, or can your greens still have mainly green and a few yellow slopes? Plus anything else y'all can add that would help design for more of a ground game.
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Post by gamesdecent on Jun 24, 2019 14:17:32 GMT -5
I like downhill landing zones that force players to hit lower trajectory shots that bounce and rollout further when coming into the green. This combined with mounds and runoffs around the green complex have given me some pretty good results when I want them.
Also - the trick to extend fringe out further than normal to reduce the friction when rolling out is useful as well.
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Post by whodatmatt34 on Jun 24, 2019 15:45:42 GMT -5
I appreciate the thoughts, guys. I guess it makes sense this thread caught y'alls eyes, I was just in gdog's stream and asked which courses to play to model my course after for the ground game, and the 3 courses suggested by people were Cypress, Blue River Dunes, and Falling Water. First two are two of my favorites on the game, and I haven't played Falling Water yet, but I'm loading it up to study right now. You two clearly know what you're talking about on this subject. I'll try to put what y'all said to good use.
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Post by rjwils30 on Jun 24, 2019 19:16:06 GMT -5
Agree about downhill landing zones. I do these quite a bit. Side hill are good to. Like Brian said, mounds in front of the green that can be used to direct shots from certain angles and deflect from others. I’m thinking of doing a ground game heavy links course as my next course so I’ll be exploring some new ideas on that one. I like downhill landing zones that force players to hit lower trajectory shots that bounce and rollout further when coming into the green. This combined with mounds and runoffs around the green complex have given me some pretty good results when I want them. Also - the trick to extend fringe out further than normal to reduce the friction when rolling out is useful as well.
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