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what is a "Resort" course and how/why is it different from a regular course?


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52 minutes ago, blackbdmillsaps said:

 

This sums it up very well. That is well said.

 

On the positive, I noticed at True Blue (Pawley's Island) they did a decent job with the tees. 5 sets of tees, tips were at like 7,200 and the forward tees were at like 4,800. 

That is really good to hear. A variance of 7,200/4,800 is exactly what it should be. Can you imagine if that became the norm? How much more welcoming golf would be to women, the elderly and kids just entering the game? 

 

This seems so freaking self-evident, and so easy to fix. 

 

 

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As mentioned earlier resort courses traditionally will have rather large maintenance budget. They are expected to give off the “not a blade of grass out of place” impression. Also the one that I worked at had a set of tournament tees that we never put out. They could stretch the course to a little over 7800 yards but the farthest on the scorecard was 7400. I can only think of using them for 1 tournament and that was for a regional US Open qualifier. They didn’t even want people to know some of those tee boxes existed because inevitably some chuckle would think he had the game to challenge it. Heck the tips for what we put out was rated 75.2/151. We used to run a crew of 60 turf crew but the facility had 36 holes with 18 being private. 

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15 hours ago, mallrat said:

As mentioned earlier resort courses traditionally will have rather large maintenance budget. They are expected to give off the “not a blade of grass out of place” impression. Also the one that I worked at had a set of tournament tees that we never put out. They could stretch the course to a little over 7800 yards but the farthest on the scorecard was 7400. I can only think of using them for 1 tournament and that was for a regional US Open qualifier. They didn’t even want people to know some of those tee boxes existed because inevitably some chuckle would think he had the game to challenge it. Heck the tips for what we put out was rated 75.2/151. We used to run a crew of 60 turf crew but the facility had 36 holes with 18 being private. 

 

60 grounds crew employees!  Yikes, no wonder they are big $.  

 

The 9 hole I played at as a kid had 2 employees: a groundskeeper and a high school kid to help out.  They would recruit extra help as necessary.  

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7 hours ago, RoyalMustang said:

 

60 grounds crew employees!  Yikes, no wonder they are big $.  

 

The 9 hole I played at as a kid had 2 employees: a groundskeeper and a high school kid to help out.  They would recruit extra help as necessary.  


That didn’t include a Director of Agronomy, 2 Super’s, 2 Asst’s, and 2 2nd Asst’s.

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19 hours ago, RoyalMustang said:

 

60 grounds crew employees!  Yikes, no wonder they are big $.  

 

The 9 hole I played at as a kid had 2 employees: a groundskeeper and a high school kid to help out.  They would recruit extra help as necessary.  

Yeah, I bet they didn't have 100+ bunkers, fairways that were cut to 3mm and 4000 sq ft greens that stimped at 10-14.

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5 hours ago, Socrates said:

Yeah, I bet they didn't have 100+ bunkers, fairways that were cut to 3mm and 4000 sq ft greens that stimped at 10-14.


Pretty fricking close. 
 

8 acres of bunkers on the Fazio and 4 acres on the Nicklaus. Massive green complexes, 9 fairway mowers. And one of the most impressive maintenance facilities I’ve ever seen. 

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In the late 1950's early 60's there were a number of golf courses that were built as an afterthought to housing and resort style developments.  Usually they were form over function, these were the first of what was coined "resort courses".  Prior to this golf courses were built primarily on land conducive to golf or interesting in nature.  The success of these early designs led to a flood of form first function second developments "resort courses".  The generic term "resort course" means different things to different people, but historically a resort course is a course whos design was secondary to the masterplan of a community or hotel.  By this definition many top courses at resorts are not "resort corses", and many housing community courses are "resort courses".  For example Murfield Village would not be considered a true resort course even though it is part of a master planned community.  The course was built without constraints on the prime land, and subsequently plays at a championship level.

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On 12/29/2021 at 10:27 AM, RmoorePE said:

Think of it this way: A resort course is going to be a place that a lot of golfers are going to play only one time (the first time), while they are on vacation. Generally, the hardest part about playing a new course is where to hit your tee shot and finding your tee shot. So when I think of a resort course I think, nice wide landing areas, very few if any blind tee shots or forced carries, and the rough is not very penalizing (open, mowed, etc). This speeds up pace of play.

 

So when someone tells me we are playing a resort style course, that is what I have in mind. There are plenty of courses that have resorts that are not built this way and are very tough, but the term resort style when referring to a course generally means easier.

 

When my friends and I go on a golf trip we try to find a resort style course for the first round of the trip.

 

This, if anyone watched the opening of Payne's Valley at Big Cedar when the pros played the 2v2 match, they talked about how wide the fairways are.

 

I've played Buffalo Ridge at Big Cedar, could've flown through the round if we weren't taking our time and enjoying it.  Now what I would get mad with is, if my family is back at Big Cedar and I'm at Buffalo Ridge during a 6 hour round cuz some guy keeps losing his ball.

 

With that said, Buffalo Ridge might be a bit more difficult than Paynes.  I havent played Paynes but the fairways look HUGE.

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I was listening to Andy Johnson and Brendan Porath discuss this on the Shotgun Start recently (they did about 4 minutes on "what is resort golf" since Kapalua is coming up so this is timely). I thought their conversation was similar to what has been said here:

 

BP: I have heard Kapalua described as 'Classic Resort Golf'. What does that even mean?

AJ: It's the laziest description of Kapalua. When I think resort golf...I think Orlando golf courses...

BP: See, when I hear Resort Golf I think of Kiawah kicking my a** with O.B. stakes and water on both sides.

AJ: Turtle Point? You're thinking about Turtle Point.

BP: That's what I think about. It connotes getting punched in the mouth.

AJ: Kapalua is a transformational resort course. It is the resort course I most want to play that I haven't played. Outside (a bunch of caveats) of Cape Kidnappers and Barnbougle. This course [and courses that followed it] laid the groundwork (Coore & Crenshaw...Tom Doak) for resort golf starting to look like Bandon Dunes. It is not walkable really, it is on a frickin' mountain but the idea of PLAYABLE and FUN FOR ALL but on a really dramatic site. 

 

So I tend to agree. I think Resort Golf is too large of a bucket. There is bad, Florida resort golf that is stuffed in between houses and hotels and then there is destination resort golf and then all manner in between. I think there is room for various difficulties but I would expect resort golf (moving forward) to lean towards being easier and more fun rather than 30 yd wide fairways with hazards every where. 

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I think the definition has evolved over time.

 

The classic definition IMO is a course that has a muni-style layout but country club conditioning. They spend up for staff that makes players feel like they're experiencing something special. They have 25 sets of brand new rental clubs. But you get out on the course and it's sort of flat and uninspired. 

 

The next iteration of "resort course" was a destination course meant to be so special that people will travel just to play it. These places have resorts tacked onto golf courses instead of the other way around. Kiawah has been mentioned several times and it's a good example. Maybe Kohler Springs or Whistling Straits would be others.

 

The worst kind of "resort course" is crammed in a resort amenity whether the surrounding property is suitable or not. These are the ones with compromised layouts surrounded by infrastructure plus cart path routing that takes you across a half-dozen public roads. Most of them should be called White Stake Estates. 

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On 12/30/2021 at 10:09 PM, blackbdmillsaps said:

 

This sums it up very well. That is well said.

 

On the positive, I noticed at True Blue (Pawley's Island) they did a decent job with the tees. 5 sets of tees, tips were at like 7,200 and the forward tees were at like 4,800. 

I live down here at the beach and what you say is true--- But most Tourist golfers despite their handicap want to play all the way back---- You can see and hear them in the restaurants at night " That insert name course kicked our tails today. I shot 105 and I think Joe shot 110" Yeah they did not mention their hacking butts took 6 hrs to play. A lot of them especially from up north do not take into account that here at sea level you need to add around 5% to 7% distance reduction. 

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31 minutes ago, me05501 said:

Most of them should be called White Stake Estates. 

 

Now that is a name for a golf course! Haha

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