Ask John Houck about Course Design & Development

[Cgkdisc]

I really like the points made but the problem lies in the feasibility...you either have 6-7 concrete eyesores dotting the landscape per hole or you end up with 6 rutted, crappy natural tees dotting the landscape and one nice concrete pad for the gold tee that everyone ends up playing anyways...how do you fix that?

No public course should have gold tees unless it also has at least one other set either blue or white also cemented. Most designers have the long tees on public courses set for blue level. Even if they don't know how to do that even the inexperienced ones get most of them suitable for blue level. That's where the top women fall so they usually have good tees for them in regular events. It's when there are temp set ups catering to the top guys that the differences emerge.

More women are starting to understand that having good tees for scoring chances is a good thing while others feel that it somehow makes them look bad if they play shorter tees than the men when spectators are around. The women LPGA ball golfers play shorter tees than the PGA guys but that's only obvious in one event per year since they normally have separate events.

[Peterb]

Hi John and Dee. I have been getting into course design out here in the bay area for the past several years. Recently, I have teamed up with some experienced designers to help with the McLaren Park (SF) design. The design has created outrage from neighbors who feel that the course will be a catastrophe on many levels. My question for you is, how do you deal with angry neighbors?

[solomon.trenton]

Originally Posted by HouckDesign

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

ok thank you very much. is there a case where you wouldnt want to have a specialized basket? i mean like on an island or an elevated basket.

[sidewinding]

How is your last name pronounced?

How-k
Who-k
Ho-uck
Hook
Huck
Hawk
Hoke

I've heard it pronounce many different ways but have never been sure what's correct.

[Jukeshoe]

Originally Posted by HouckDesign

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

Alright, I guess that explains it...

Great job on the tee-signs, btw...definitely the most accurate and to-scale ones I've seen...

[magictenor1]

Originally Posted by Cgkdisc

No public course should have gold tees unless it also has at least one other set either blue or white also cemented. Most designers have the long tees on public courses set for blue level. Even if they don't know how to do that even the inexperienced ones get most of them suitable for blue level. That's where the top women fall so they usually have good tees for them in regular events. It's when there are temp set ups catering to the top guys that the differences emerge.

More women are starting to understand that having good tees for scoring chances is a good thing while others feel that it somehow makes them look bad if they play shorter tees than the men when spectators are around. The women LPGA ball golfers play shorter tees than the PGA guys but that's only obvious in one event per year since they normally have separate events.

I am a 50 year old man and I never play gold tees. I am not long enough to enjoy them. I know lots of guys who do not automatically go to the long tees. I think sometimes it is a macho thing where guys think they have to play the long tees to prove their manhood.

[magictenor1]

Originally Posted by sidewinding

How is your last name pronounced?

How-k
Who-k
Ho-uck
Hook
Huck
Hawk
Hoke

I've heard it pronounce many different ways but have never been sure what's correct.

me too.

[HouckDesign]

Originally Posted by magictenor1

me too.

How-k

As in "How could you pronounce it any other way?" :-) Dee

[HouckDesign]

Originally Posted by Jukeshoe

Alright, I guess that explains it...

Great job on the tee-signs, btw...definitely the most accurate and to-scale ones I've seen...

Thank you! :-)

[johnrhouck]

Hi, everyone --

Wow -- that's a lot of questions, and just about 1,000 views in two days. I wasn't really expecting that kind of response. Thanks so much for your interest and for all the good questions. I especially want to thank Tim for the opportunity, and even more so my wonderful, brilliant, and beautiful business partner and wife Dee for making this thread happen.

Let's see what we can get to tonight...