Who are designers appeasing when they lengthen golf courses?
By Derek Duncan, Contributor So it’s happening. The era of monster golf courses has finally, officially, arrived. There’s no doubt the landscape of golf is literally changing. Par-4’s over 500 yards (see: (Whistling Straits)), premium tournament courses measuring 7,600 yards (see Torrey Pines), 8,000-yard public courses, 350+-yard drives – the cats are all out of the bag. Due to equipment technology and the athletic prowess of the modern player, the former limits of distance – yardages that were once more science fiction that real – have now been surpassed. The response to these broken barriers has been for architects and owners to build longer golf courses while the choir bemoans the voyage that technology has taken us. We hear and read about this size problem all the time. The matter has turned into somewhat of a debate with key players showing concern, particularly golf course architects who believe it befalls them to keep up with the lumberjack-swinging pros, while others – manufac
