Ask John Houck about Course Design & Development

[solomon.trenton]

Is having a raised pin thats above someones head (i.e. Hornets nest) too gimicky?

[HouckDesign]

Originally Posted by billnchristy

John-

Which design element is worse in your eyes:

The "walking trail" fairway
-or-
The "we didn't remove ANY trees" random fairway

Would you consider a course that has a scoring spread of 12-16 strokes for an average player a course with too much luck factor to be considered a good course?

Thanks for your question. John will have to get back to you on this one! It may take a few days as he is swamped right now. But he will respond

[HouckDesign]

Originally Posted by All GUNKed up

tell john a bunch of my friends ( the pastor guy) were up at his place a couple of days ago and raved about how he designed the several courses that they played on .

He read your email and we are glad that your friends enjoyed the ranch. Dee

[HouckDesign]

Originally Posted by fairweather_fan

thank you both for taking the time to answer some of our questions! i've got a few off the top of my head to pose:

*do you have a preference for a certain mix of pars, if the land is available and fitting, such as 9 par 3s, 5 par 4s, and 4 par 5s (or some other combination)?

*how close, in general, do you believe to be 'too close' to have an O.B. area (water or otherwise) to a basket or green?

*what are a few courses by other designers that you hold in the highest regard?

thanks again...

John will have get back to you on this one in a few days. Dee

[HouckDesign]

Originally Posted by Jukeshoe

Creek Ridge in Michigan City, In.

Do you guys do signs for courses that have already been designed?

Our signs very clearly state that they were designed by Houck Design...

I took that to mean the course was designed by you, sorry if that is incorrect.

We do design & manufacture tee signs for courses not designed by us.

[cydisc]

Do you have anything hotter than wimpy serranos?

[HouckDesign]

Originally Posted by jongoff09

Great idea for a thread. I am looking forward to playing Cedar Glades in Hot Springs sometime. I wish he could do a course in or near my hometown (Cabot, AR). The city put in a small course for kids and said they would put a full course in later, but that hasn't happened. Maybe a designer like John would be able to get one put in around here.

We would love to work at Cabot. If you know someone at the city whom we can contact, please email us. Dee

[HouckDesign]

Originally Posted by sidewinding

I can always tell it's a Houck designed course because on each and every hole there seems to be that one tree that is just in the right (wrong) place and forces a player to dig deeper. Even on holes with just one tree you always seem to design it with that tree in the perfect place. To me that is the genius in your design.

I have no question really. just an observation/compliment.

John says, "I appreciate it but make sure to thank the trees too. They are the ones that make you dig deeper." :-) Dee

[HouckDesign]

Originally Posted by cydisc

Do you have anything hotter than wimpy serranos?

Steve, if you like heat, come back in August! next time it's habaneros! Hugs :-) Dee

[HouckDesign]

Originally Posted by solomon.trenton

Is having a raised pin thats above someones head (i.e. Hornets nest) too gimicky?

John says one man's gimmick is another mans innovation but he'll write more later. Dee