Enough with the alternate pins!!

[rocthecourse]

Originally Posted by BuzzzChief

Funny, when I read this thread the first course I thought of was Grey Fox, specifically holes #1 and #2. The whole character of the course is completely different right out of the gate, if the pins are in short or long position.

They fixed #2 by adding a 3rd position AND and another basket. So if you want some extra challenge you can go for the long position with the basket set back in the woods, if you want to play the standard layout you can go for the basket in the open. I usually play both.

[Casey 1988]

Originally Posted by Jay Dub

Alternate tees are bad when all they do is add distance. #16 at Osage is an example of this. The first 2, 3 or 4 throws are in an open, flat field then you start playing the hole. The longest tee to longest pin there is I think 1600ft.

Besides that as long as the tee signs give out all the info I like alt pins/tees.

They are but in some cases they are labeled for the type of player from begginer to Intermediate to advanced/Pro. Those I do not mind or if the course seems like it was made that way. If they just do alternate pin that is further back and the hole is already challenging, then no they do not work.

[nothinbuttree]

With the tech that exists today, and with so many folks using DGCR and UDISC, it should be much easier than it is to know exactly where each pin is on any given day. I have played too many courses where multiple positions simply are not marked on a teesign. Or marked incorrectly. Or there is no teesign, etc.

GPS could be used to track where a phone goes, (like how google tracks traffic on the highway), and then using lat/lon coordinates, could update your course map for where the pin actually is, based upon how recent players have moved around the course.

I'm no techie--but this seems like it would not be hard to incorporate, and I for one would pay a little $ for it.

[joecoin]

All courses should be designed so that every hole can be played forward and backward.

A tee-pad and pin collar at each end, move the basket once a week.
Nice and even erosion control, variety is the spice of life, etc.

[ru4por]

Originally Posted by nothinbuttree

With the tech that exists today, and with so many folks using DGCR and UDISC, it should be much easier than it is to know exactly where each pin is on any given day. I have played too many courses where multiple positions simply are not marked on a teesign. Or marked incorrectly. Or there is no teesign, etc.

GPS could be used to track where a phone goes, (like how google tracks traffic on the highway), and then using lat/lon coordinates, could update your course map for where the pin actually is, based upon how recent players have moved around the course.

I'm no techie--but this seems like it would not be hard to incorporate, and I for one would pay a little $ for it.

Don't even own a one of those cancer inducing, addiction inflicting, infernal ball and chains. Just mark the dang sign when you change the position. ..................

[ru4por]

Originally Posted by Kegelexercise

I just do not for the life of me understand the OP's gripe.

Not only because IMO, I can't see alternate pin locations being anything but a positive, but also, what's even the point of having a second pin location 20' away from the first? Isn't the point of having changing pin locations to create several distinct hole possibilities that require different strategies to play them?

The whole thing reads like someone who went to a course expecting to play a bunch of easy short pins, got a bunch of longs, and is upset his score suffered, TBH. Now to be fair, I agree - the #1 priority in course design should be to create 18 good holes of golf first, then worry about add-ons later, and I also share the frustration that others have expressed about needing to walk way down a fairway to scope out a basket location when the signage does not indicate where it is, but if you're having trouble hacking it on the long pins somewhere, step up ya game.

I guess, in his defense, he was using ball golf as a comparison. Moving a ball golf hole, on a green, by a few feet, can make a vastly different putt.....given the green undulations and such. With those larger variables, it can really change your approach to the green as well.

[DavidSauls]

Originally Posted by joecoin

All courses should be designed so that every hole can be played forward and backward.

A tee-pad and pin collar at each end, move the basket once a week.
Nice and even erosion control, variety is the spice of life, etc.

Some of those "top of the world" shots would be brutal.

[eegor]

Older courses have been pulled in DFW (Bear Creek and soon Turner Park) due to erosion issues. Sometimes it's around the tee pads like Turner and other times overuse like Bear Creek. Any course that's going to have a lot of traffic should be designed to handle it. Multiple pins are pretty crucial to the health of the park (and I like them as a change up). An ideal course would have movable tee pads too, but we all know how difficult that would be. The ground gets really packed down around them. It's just not healthy for the park.

The "dream course" would have at least two tees per hole and three pin placements. A sign at the first hole could indicate the pin location. Each set of pin placements would have a third shortest, a third mid and a third longest. Tourney setup could be longs on every hole. Pins are moved the first of every month so everyone knows when the change would happen. That's a dream...

[Crooow]

Originally Posted by DannyS

The other problem with pins that change so dramatically is the possible disappointment when traveling to a course.....Seneca Creek #13 - I'm looking at you.

That's so funny because that was exactly what this made me think of. I used to play Seneca multiple days a week and it could be really disappointing to bring somebody out for the first time and find that some baskets were in the least interesting of the positions (usually 'A'). Especially when it was a friend from out of state who was sick of hearing how great the course is. Multiple permanent baskets is great, of course. Except for courses like Vista Del Camino in Phoenix where I stood on the tee and thought "which of the seven baskets I see is the one I should be playing to?" The maps were not that useful (but I still enjoyed it).

[DiscFifty]

Love courses with multiple pins, but there is something special about being able to challenge the same course layout whenever you want to. Just you against the course, a barometer to judge your current skill set.