Making an island hole

[cjrogus]

At my local course the designer changed two holes a couple of months ago. Hole 17 changed from a scary anhyzer on the side of a hill to a slow anhyzer across a 15 foot deep valley. The hole is naturally beautiful and has a lazy rock wall leading up to the landing zone, an oval of probably 40ft by 25ft surroundedby small trees. The pin is slightly off center of this oval, 180ft from the teepad.

For a doubles tournament I'm running I'll be marking off the oval with logs about 6-7 inches in diameter. This will making everything besides the landing zone O.B. with a drop zone off to the left, 80 ft out from the pin.

My real question is what do you'll think about the front of the oval. Should I leave it open for those low shots to squeak in, or lay anonther log across it. The rocks arent super defiend so I'd have to use spraypaint to mark it.

Hole 6 at another local course has an island where the front is open for people to skid in. I've seen this save alot of people but I wasn't sure that it would be as easily called in or out.
http://www.dgcoursereview.com/view_image.php?id=4036&p=f3867f4d

For those of you wondering, I told the designer that I was making it an island for the tourney and he thought it was cool so I asked him what he thought of a permanent fixture and said that sounded like an awesome idea.

 

[DavidSauls]

25' x 40' is an awful small island, even from 180'. Almost any shot that lands on the island is going to be an easy putt.

I'd probably go with a barrier on the front. It's exciting to see a low shot, and hold your breath watching to see if it's going to clear the barrier, or not. It also makes it visually clear, from the tee, whether or not you made it on the island.

 

[Steve West]

My throw simulator indicates only about 1 in 7 of 950-rated players will land on the island. That may be a little too pessimistic, but it is a small island.

Let me know how it turns out.

 

[optidiscic]

our course has a 188'8" hole with a 10m circle around the basket(60 by 60) wide open zero elevation and you would be amazed at how difficult that shot is when we have tournaments....drop zone is a pedestal of concrete 80 ft from pin that we have dubbed the pedestal of shame

 

[Cgkdisc]

If you can't make the island big enough so at least 1/3 of the players in the skill range it's intended for can land on it, the island is too small. The alternative is to still do the smaller island but give players a layup option where they can throw to distance to within say 50-60 feet of the pin for a chance at a safe 3 or risk going for the island. So rather than have everything OB except the island, just create an OB moat around the island that's wide enough so players can't throw inbounds closer than 60 feet to the pin without landing on the island.

 

[ferretdance03]

...So rather than have everything OB except the island, just create an OB moat around the island that's wide enough so players can't throw inbounds closer than 60 feet to the pin without landing on the island.

Interesting idea. I like it.

 

[cjrogus]

I can't say this is a hard shot, where most of the people get on or really close. This can be an ace race for forehanders and a perfect anny. Having the logs will prevent skips into the small trees which is generally where 900+ players land. With it being O.B. and not water casual players can decide to not play it that way and in an essence the hole is unchanged. The landing area does sound small and I might have my measurements off. I'll get concrete answers tomorrow.

 

[cjrogus]

FerretDance, you making it down for the tourney?