Several methods of evaluating golf courses

Detailed rules of curriculum evaluation standards

1. Hand value (occupation index) is double.

Specific explanation:

Every hole in a great stadium has different coping strategies, and at the same time, players need to master different ways of playing, such as exerting strength when necessary; Sometimes test accuracy; Sometimes test the feeling of green.

First of all, consider whether the "risk" and "reward" in these holes coexist (we don't need to evaluate the professional indicators hole by hole, but this hole-by-hole memory is very helpful, not the position where you hit the ball in a round, but the position where you hit the ball from different tees in each hole).

If a course only provides one of "risk" and "reward", for example, there are many places where water must pass, then the professional index is not diversified enough to get higher scores.

And if a golf course has a lot of "risks" (some places need to cross the water, some places need to avoid bunkers, some places test the spatial imagination of players, and some places need to avoid OB. ), with strong diversity, can give higher scores.

Then, consider what skills to test on the court.

A long but very open stadium will only reward those powerful players without testing their other skills, so it is impossible to get higher scores.

A long-distance stadium with many strategic bunkers will reward long-distance tee-offs, and also test the distance of players. However, if there are no short-distance par-three, par-four and par-five holes on the court, the distance will be overemphasized and higher scores will not be obtained.

The course of the undulating green will test the player's touch, but if every green is bumpy, too much emphasis on the short shot technique will not get higher scores.

A golf course with compact fairway and perfect green protection can test the accuracy of players' tee-off and green attack at the same time. However, if every hole requires accurate tee-off, and the ball must be parked near the flagpole when attacking the green, then the golf course requires too much accuracy to give it a high score.

Perfect shooting value (professional index)

We can use Pine Forest No.2 Stadium in America as the scoring standard for this evaluation.

The ups and downs of the green, fairway bunkers, dogleg holes with different shapes, clever attack angles on the green and the design of holes with different lengths test the distance, accuracy and strategy of players in a very balanced way. But it would be more perfect if there were one or two holes with water obstacles.

Note: Ornamental obstacles such as wild vegetation, ponds with waterfalls, exposed rocks and bunkers with wooden waterproof walls do not belong to the evaluation category of professional index, but belong to aftertaste index.

2. Playability

How does the stadium set challenges for low handicap players and provide various offensive options for high handicap players?

Specific explanation:

A great stadium will never bring frustration to the players. It won't make those zero-handicap players who are eager to challenge and tee off at the last tee bored, and it won't make those high-handicap players lose more than a dozen goals in one round.

How to measure playability (playability)

The evaluation is divided into two parts. One is to consider whether the stadium can bring challenges to low handicap players. If not, even if it is perfect for high handicap players, it will not get high marks in the single item of "playability".

Perfect playability (playability)

This standard can be modeled on the Rebel Stadium in Desert Mountain, Arizona, USA. There are eight tees with different difficulties, a wide fairway, some huge greens for attack (some holes even have two greens before and after), and a champion flag hidden behind the obstacle area. It's like several courses are integrated here, and dealing with different flagpoles from different tees is completely different.

Of course, few stadiums have the vast land like the rebel stadium, but the playability index can still evaluate the challenge and offensive diversity according to the actual situation of each stadium. For example, in China, Jianhu Golf Club scored high on this standard.

Some points to pay attention to when evaluating playability:

The "buffer" bunker set next to the water obstacle can really prevent the high handicap players from making mistakes, but on the other hand, it also reduces the "challenge" set by the stadium for the low handicap players. Therefore, this kind of bunker can be ignored when evaluating the playability of the stadium.

For high handicap players, it is easier to cut the ball near the green than in the bunker, but low handicap players don't like grass pits. They prefer to control the ball in the bunker or play the spin ball. Moreover, there are many different styles of play in the pole cutting area, which sometimes confuse the choice of low handicap players, and they don't like it. Therefore, when evaluating the playability of the course, the grass pit and the ball cutting area are helpful to improve the score of the course, because they bring more challenges to the low handicap players, but make the game easier for the high handicap players.

3. Resistance score (course difficulty index)

Specific explanation:

A great stadium is designed for amateurs with low handicap, not professionals.

How to measure score resistance (pitch difficulty index)

First of all, we should realize that this grading standard is not based on whether the course is difficult enough for professional players. On sunny days, any stadium is very simple for professional players. The lowest records of Pebble Beach, Pine Forest No.2 and Grassland Dune are all 60 shots, and there is no doubt that these records will be even lower in the future.

Our scoring standard is the challenge of zero handicap players on the court. They serve from the last tee, which is a few strokes worse than professional players. This is because professional players don't play much in most courses, but these zero-handicap players will keep playing again and again.

If the tee of each hole in the course has to hit a distance of 260 yards to cross the obstacle area, it is really difficult for the course, but it is also unfair, especially because half of the services will be affected by the wind direction.

Similarly, if every green of the course is protected by water obstacles, the course will be difficult, but it is not fair.

If the stadium is difficult but unfair, we have to give it a lower score; If the course is fair, but not difficult at all, we have to give him a low score.

Only by finding a perfect balance between challenge and fairness can the court get higher scores.

Perfect score tolerance (pitch difficulty index)

A perfect course difficulty index must take into account different weather conditions. First of all, the stadium should not be too difficult when the weather is clear, because if so, the stadium can't play when the atmosphere is prevailing. Secondly, it shouldn't be too difficult to set the service sign behind the court, because if so, the green will become out of reach in rainy days. At the same time, the flagpole position should not be set on the slope behind the bunker, which makes it more difficult, because in order to avoid wear, the flagpole position should be moved regularly.

The unique overall design makes the connected holes face different wind directions, so players can choose different ways to attack the green when the wind is strong. Some greens can be played with low bowling. Even if there is an obstacle area in front of some of them, at least the back part is very open, and only a few holes are protected from air.

4. Design Diversity (Design Diversity Index)

Specific explanation:

A great stadium will never give players a sense of repetition. The more diversified the course design, the stronger the test for the players in the whole round.

How to Measure Design Diversity (Design Diversity Index)

We can often look through scorecards and fairway manuals after the game. The more diversified the information, the higher the score of this evaluation. There is no content list about design diversity index here, but the following items need to be considered when scoring:

1. Is there a similar left dogleg or right dogleg hole on the court?

2. Are the par four holes the same length? Are they greens from quite long to almost 1?

3. Are there some uphill balls (to test the sense of space and the choice of clubs when players blindly hit the ball) and downhill balls (to test the ball control ability of players)?

4. Are there some greens in the course that are biased towards the left fly ball and the right fly ball, and there are slopes at the same time?

5. Are some bunkers set in the near corner and some bunkers set in the far corner of the dogleg hole on the court?

6. Are there bunkers in front of some greens, bunkers on the side of some greens, and bunkers behind some greens?

7. Are there any individual greens whose inclination runs counter to the angle of attack?

8. Are the shapes and undulations of the greens different?

Abandoned selection criteria

You may know an old rule: the size of the green should be compared with the distance you need to face when attacking the green. According to this old standard, short iron corresponds to the green with smaller area and long iron corresponds to the green with larger area. Although this standard is logical, it cannot be used in many stadiums today. For example, the green area of the short par three hole that often encounters traffic jams must be large enough, because enough space should be reserved for players to mark the ball. Even some sparsely populated private clubs need to increase some greens and increase the area where flagpoles can be inserted. Today's stadium designers are always trying to build a green that can not only challenge zero handicap players, but also provide rewards for ordinary players' long irons, and at the same time take care of high handicap players attacking with wooden poles. This requires a large area of green, but there is a small ideal landing area, or the green is designed as a slope, or the green is divided into several layers with different heights. In fact, as the sport becomes more and more popular, small pieces of green land are slowly disappearing.

Perfect design diversity (design diversity index)

The model evaluated this time is Prairie Dunes Golf Club in America. There are only two par five holes with the same length, but the directions are completely opposite, so one is downwind and the other is headwind.

There is a short par-four hole, which can be used to hit the green continuously with an iron, while another completely different short hole (12 hole) has a big tree in the middle of the fairway, which was rated as "the best hole in America" by Golf Digest. All par three holes are different in length and direction.

However, the pasture dunes are not perfect, and the par three holes here are all uphill, which is obviously repeated in the assessment of "Design Diversity Index".

5. Memory (aftertaste index)

Specific explanation:

Every hole in a big stadium looks slightly different from playing.

How to Measure Memorability (Aftertaste Index)

First, consider whether each hole has its own characteristics. We don't ask you to remember every hole clearly after a week of playing a course (that's to test your memory, not to evaluate the aftertaste index of the course). What we need to review is whether every hole in the course is different from other holes and has very obvious characteristics.

Then judge the overall consistency of the stadium design. In most cases, the consistency comes from the design style of the stadium, which may be a unique bunker style, modelling technique, or borrowed from the unique terrain and vegetation.

If the overall style strings 18 independent holes into a seamless course, then you can give the course a high score on the mnemonic index.

Perfect memory (aftertaste index)

The perfect aftertaste index is those courses where each hole has its own characteristics and all 18 holes have strong integrity. In fact, you can't find a completely different hole 18, because designers always refer to early works. They like to copy some elements from those great courses.

Contemporary designers, including jack nicklaus, Pi Dai and Tom Weiss Kopf, like to add their own style holes to different courses. For nicklaus, it is a semi-blind par-three, for Dai Lai, it is a short blind par-four, and for Weiss Kopf, it is a par-four that can tee off and attack the green.

The scoring mode of this evaluation should be the National Golf Lincks. St andrews old course has replicas of "Road Cave" and "Eden Cave". These loopholes are not completely copied, but some changes have been made.

6.6. Aesthetics (Aesthetic Index of this course)

Elaborate in detail

A great stadium can test players' skills and satisfy their visual feelings at the same time.

How to Measure Aesthetics (Palace Aesthetics Index)

This is the most subjective choice. What kind of landscape can increase the fun of a round of competition? Different people have different opinions. People who often play in plain areas will be shocked by the mountain scenery and sea view, while people who often play in cities will like the open grassland scenery.

It should be noted that the landscape refers to the artificial landscape inside the stadium, not outside the stadium, which is added by the designer and decided by the stadium owner or developer. For example, those specially built grass lines, artificially hidden fairways, colored paths, and artificial waterfalls that seem to be integrated with nature. ...

Of course, more and more designers use hills to separate holes recently. If these mounds are beautiful and natural at the same time, they can be counted in the "course aesthetic index", but if they look artificial at first glance, they should be given low marks.

At the same time, you should also pay attention to finding shortcomings, but don't demand those defects that the stadium can't change. Billboards, lighthouses or other things that spoil the scenery outside the stadium are not what the stadium wants to see, nor can they be counted as the shortcomings of the stadium itself. But if the owner builds a lounge behind the green, give it a low score; If the first hole flies in from time to time to practice, or simply separates it from the driving range with ugly barbed wire, you should also give low marks.

7. Adjustment (Stadium Maintenance Index)

Specific explanation:

A great stadium can always be in good condition, can cope with any weather, and is very environmentally friendly.

How to measure conditions (stadium maintenance index)

The new standards tend to be those courses that are very suitable for playing, fast and difficult. The purpose of changing the standard is to commend those courses that have not watered the fairways and greens too much and can quickly drain the accumulated water after the rainstorm. This new standard does not limit the color of the green, and encourages the course to give up the use of cross-sown grass as much as possible to minimize the use and destruction of ecological resources.

The role of green speed in course maintenance index;

Green has always been a complicated topic. Almost everyone agrees that slow, soft and dense greens cannot provide an ideal putting environment; At the other extreme, fast green is more acceptable, especially in professional competitions. However, the setting of the stadium in professional competition is not the focus of our evaluation. We think about the normal state of the stadium every day.

The current trend is that some courses cut the turf very short and quickly. This is actually an agricultural gamble. In hot and humid areas, too short turf will die in a few hours, but in the view of the stadium, in order to provide players with an ideal green speed, this gamble is worthwhile.

Maybe you don't think the green speed can be used as a criterion of the course maintenance index, but if you think the fairway grass is too long, you should also think that too fast green speed is not appropriate. Because the speed is too fast, attacking the green, saving the ball, cutting, splitting and pushing will become a game of chance, not a game that really tests the skill of the ball. Of course, if you insist that the green speed above 10 can better test the player's level, you can also give high marks to those courses with fast green speed, and the absolute right is in your hands.

8. Atmosphere (Golf Cultural Atmosphere Index):

Specific explanation:

Great stadiums are eternal.

How to Measure Atmosphere (Golf Cultural Atmosphere Index)

Many traditions in golf, such as wicker flagpoles and caddies, have completely disappeared. We are trying to protect the tradition in this sport, and this "golf cultural atmosphere index" is an effective method.

We don't have a "protection list" that we particularly cherish, but the following items do help to get high marks in the "Golf Cultural Atmosphere Index":

1, no fairway

2. There is no code indicator tree.

3. The clubhouse is simply decorated.

There is a private dressing room.

5. The terrain of the court and the distance between the holes are suitable for players to play on foot.

However, the following items are contrary to the "Golf Cultural Atmosphere Index" and cannot be added:

1, GPS system on the court

2. Plaid carpet in the clubhouse