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Every club....or every shot type?

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Jeff_Brauer:
Given that clubs are frequency matched, etc. and we swing them all pretty much the same, I have come to believe a great design doesn't necessarily mean you need to hit every club in the bag, but rather, try to hit a wide variety of shots with whatever club.

On tee shots, that might mean a combination of high, low, running, either for distance or to use cross slope contour to get where you want to go, a soft landing shot to counteract cross slope, optional or extreme need for accuracy, optional or extreme need for distance, optional or forced lay up, draw, fade, and/or combinations of several, etc.  You could classify approach shots withyou all of those (except perhaps forced up)

You could add approach shot characteristics, like high spin, low spin, run it up a deck, bump and run, "misdirection" - (i.e. Redan concept) as well as shots from various side, up and down hill lies, and in all types of wind, assuming the prevailing wind is intact.

For target characteristics, you could add small greens, large sub-divided greens, and greens that slope with, across, and away from the line of play, which may encourage certain types of shots listed above.

For pychological characteristics, you could add the drama of non recoverable hazards, hard to recover from hazards, and easy hazards, or hazards that reward finesse vs. strength in recovery, all of which might affect the thought process, and lead to the golfer taking a sucker punch approach.

The question ending this soliliquy (sp?) is, what courses make you hit all the shots, regardless of whether too many of your approach shots are with the same numbered iron?

What type of shot requirements do you remember holes requiring, and what types of shots have I missed on the quick list above?

I'll nomiate Riviera first, based on Lanny Wadkins describing just such shot variety during a two hour plane trip.  As a second, I'll nominate many of Steve Smyers courses, as he really tries to make players hit all the shots they should if they want maximum advantage in scoring.

RJ_Daley:
From my limitted experience just attending and watching, never playing said courses, I might say both Medinah and Hazeltine.  Does the PGA place said values as primary to set up and actual course selection?  I'd guess so...  I don't know if Whistling will be so multi-dimensional, but I have played it, and think it may also fit that bill.  But, I'm hearing some strange stories about the expected course set up there for this PGA.

Jeff_Brauer:
RJ,

Hmmmm......I would think that "conventional wisdom" would be that WS would have the most shot variety, based both on PD's reputation for such, and the reputations of both Medinah and Hazeltine as being bracketed on most tee shots and approaches by hazards (sand and trees, respectively)  

Also, the lakeside setting of WS presumably brings more wind into play than either Medinah or Hazeltine, I would think.

Actually, I don't think either the USGA or PGA emphasizes shot variety in set up, just accuracy!

texsport:
Should a great course force you hit different types of shots or allow you to hit different types of shots depending upon player strategies and course conditions on a given day?

John Kendall

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