Doglegs in golf hole design

Doglegs in Golf Hole Design

Doglegs, or golf holes with bends in them, are an integral part of design. A seemingly obvious statement, but I often see alot of golf courses with several quite straight par 4 and par 5 golf holes.

This, to me is usually an opportunity missed to create interesting playing strategies that can give an advantage to the thinking golfer.

The basis for this argument is in the sketch below:

Diagram of typical dogleg golf hole, showing the effects of positioning the tee shot

From this diagram of a very simplified 350 metre long par4 with a 45 degree dogleg, you can see that it is possible to gain about 24 metres of distance advantage from a well placed 220 metre tee shot down the left edge versus a 220 metre tee shot down the right side.

This is a big difference, maybe up to 2 clubs difference for the approach shot from either side of the fairway and it can be even greater by situating doglegs in sympathy with the natural lie of the land to further reward accurately hit balls.

When combined with the placement of fairway bunkers, the shape, angle and slope of the green and fairway, you can use doglegs to produce strategies which truly rewards golfers who are not necessarily the longest hitters, but who know how to read the course, and who posses the self control to play to their strengths.

Consider the same golf hole with some added hazards, as shown below:

Added hazards heighten the effects of a dogleg golf hole

Now the distances and ball placement off the tee have extra meaning. Not only will an accurate shot played down the left be rewarded with a shorter approach to the green, the golfer will also have a better chance of hitting the green, even with a slighly less than perfect shot, because:

a) The line of approach is more along the length of the green

and

b) You can avoid having to fly the ball over the front bunker.

For the guy who hits it down the right, he not only has to hit a longer club, but he has to stop the ball in a shorter distance on the green because he's hitting more across it. This means that any slightly mis-hit shots will likely either roll off the back, or be in the front bunker.

So with well utilised doglegs such as the example shown, you can see there is a definite reward for taking the risk of hitting a ball off the tee down the left side near the fairway bunkers. And even the very short hitter who hits it down the left of the fairway, short of the bunkers has a good approach angle compared to the long hitter who hits it down the centre or right side.

This is a true example of risk-reward design in a dogleg golf hole and it is this kind if playing strategy that we believe golf and golf hole design should be about.

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