I heard this statement over the weekend while laying out some alternate positions and wanted to confirm it's mostly an exaggerated rumor, not a hard rule.
Someone said "It can't be an A tier course if there's a tree within the circle".
I call BS. Is there such a rule? Is there a course inspection prior to sanctioning an A tier?
I feel it has to vary based on the actual character of the hole and landscape. Contextually in the open and sparse courses in my area, there are not enough nor large enough trees to control the line of play and sometimes the only way to shape an approach to the target is to block out line near the basket.
For example, we have a hole with a short wall of 15' tall junipers inline with the tee box; basket A on the left, basket B on the right creating two different approaches. If the basket was 30' from the nearest tree branch, a player could throw a normal right to left to the right basket and a high left to right (spike) to the left basket barely taking the trees into account.
(3) "so a player get's a putt or out within the circle" is referenced below in the PDGA Course Guidelines (from Section 4: Hole notes)
Someone said "It can't be an A tier course if there's a tree within the circle".
I call BS. Is there such a rule? Is there a course inspection prior to sanctioning an A tier?
I feel it has to vary based on the actual character of the hole and landscape. Contextually in the open and sparse courses in my area, there are not enough nor large enough trees to control the line of play and sometimes the only way to shape an approach to the target is to block out line near the basket.
For example, we have a hole with a short wall of 15' tall junipers inline with the tee box; basket A on the left, basket B on the right creating two different approaches. If the basket was 30' from the nearest tree branch, a player could throw a normal right to left to the right basket and a high left to right (spike) to the left basket barely taking the trees into account.
- there's no definition of an "A" tier course
- isn't "A" tier was tied directly to the amount of added tournament money
- even if it's a guideline or suggested, there has to be some context
- possible reason 1: so there's a fair line of flight to the circle
- possible reason 2: so players can't just stuff it into the tree and take a drop right in the circle
- possible reason 3: so a player gets a putt with the circle
- possible reason 4: to protect the trees
(3) "so a player get's a putt or out within the circle" is referenced below in the PDGA Course Guidelines (from Section 4: Hole notes)
...There should not be too many objects within 33 ft (10m) of each target. Any object near the target should not be so large that a player cannot find an unobstructed flight path by stretching sideways, throwing from a low stance, throwing through or over the top of the
object...
Last edited: