Trapezoidal tee pads in backwards.

[Steve West]

I think I finally figured this one out. "Wider in the front" people want it as wide as possible so they have more options. "Wider in the back" people want to be able to come in at an angle and still be on the pad as much as possible. So the answer to make everyone happy would be "as wide as possible in the front and flared out from there."

Is there anyone who wouldn't be satisfied with that?

The client? No fair adding resources (more area on the pad) to an optimization problem.

 

[johnrhouck]

Hey John,
You may have "...finally figured this one out" but I'm thinking you won't be implementing this concept any time soon .
Karl

Good one, Karl. Of course, the tricky part is "as wide as possible" in the front. All the big courses I've been doing lately are 6' in the front and 8' in the back (and 12' long), so I think people should be happy with that.

The City of Columbia wanted to go even more deluxe, so Strawn Park will have pads that are 6' in the front, 15' long, and 10' in the back.

Am I going to go wider than 6' in the front, so that players can find ways to bypass the beautiful fairway I worked so hard to create for them? I prefer to build wide options (with risk) into the design, so that's what I do. Not on every hole, of course -- what fun would that be?

I know you have your own ways of bypassing fairways, so I always keep you and guys like you in mind, too. Hope you're doing well, and hope to see you out there soon.

 

[johnrhouck]

The client? No fair adding resources (more area on the pad) to an optimization problem.

Good point, Steve. Making pads big enough while keeping overall costs down can create issues. One solution we've used several times is to make the beginner pads smaller (generally 5' x 10') than the long tees, but still big enough to accommodate the needs of those players.

 

[murf1087]

I think I saw round tees in a video somewhere.

We have round tee pads at Inskip Junior Park in Knoxville, TN. It's a very short course. Fountain Hills near Phoenix has round tee pads too, which are large and quite nice.

 

[Disc of Cheese]

The City of Columbia wanted to go even more deluxe, so Strawn Park will have pads that are 6' in the front, 15' long, and 10' in the back.

I live in COMO, been super excited about Strawn for almost a year now. I've walked much of it. It is going to be well worth the wait. So much landscaping/earthwork is going into it. It's really a beautiful course. They also cleared and are up keeping a great big field, I assume as a driving range area. Sigh.