40 KARI HAUG INSIGHT The USGA and R&A’s advice to select tees according to swing speed presents a significant opportunity for those of us who design golf courses. Swing speed correlates closely with hitting distance. While there also is a strong correlation between handicap and hitting distance, this doesn’t tell the whole story. A highhandicap player may hit the ball a long way but struggle to score, while a lower-handicap player may have lost considerable distance as swing speed has declined with age. That distinction matters because architects can design for driving distance. We cannot design a golf hole around a handicap. Consider two golfers. A young golfer with a 28 handicap might hit the ball 260 yards – in the wrong direction. From a forward tee, hazards and landing areas can fall in the wrong places, safety margins may need to be expanded, and the group may find itself waiting for fairways or greens to clear. At the other end is the senior golfer whose swing has slowed. A 12-handicap player who once played off single digits might now only hit the ball 190 yards, but finds the fairway consistently. From a back tee, a forced carry may be beyond their reach. They search for the ball, take a penalty drop and re-hit. The pace slows, and the golfer can begin to feel like a burden to the group, finishing fatigued and having spent the round dreading tee shots rather than enjoying the game. These are not simply pace-of-play issues. They are experiential design issues that ultimately can affect golfer retention. A fast swing produces greater distance and, when the swing is imperfect, potentially greater dispersion. The faster the clubhead and the farther the ball travels, the more opportunity there is for a small deviation to grow. Architects already account for this when positioning landing areas and using visual and psychological cues to influence shot setup and placement. But those cues can become mismatched when golfers play from tees that do not Creating forward tees around hitting distance could open new possibilities for safer, more equitable and more interesting golf courses. Designing for the distance, not the handicap
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