Golf Course Architect Presentation

Today we had a presentation by a Canadian golf course architect, Wade Horrocks. Wade has a passion for what he does and was a great speaker. First, second, and third year turf students attended his presentation which gave us some very insightful points on golf courses and designing them.

Some tips that he gave us are as follows:

• The most important thing in golf course architecture is drainage
• Don't let the architect push you to do something that you can't maintain afterwards
• When playing the course, you want the golfer to use all clubs in his/her bag, so keep in mind the length
• Longer is not always better
• You need to fit into the scale of the site you are on
• If you have a golf course with big mountains surrounding it, then make the features (bunkers, water hazards etc.) bigger as well, and vice versa
• If you are renovating, resist the urge to change the style
• Tell the architect you are working with:
• The weather
• Things that do and don't work well on the course
• Hire the right individuals to do the job or it may cost you in the long run
• Renovation should be a collaborative process
• Get the most out of your architect