We've launched the new forums! Read more here

Forced Carries

Kobey said:
I love them myself, since my problems are usually left and right, not carry distance. I'm just wondering if this is becoming a trend. Usually when I see a course with tons of forced carries, they say it was done for environmental reasons, not to make the course harder. I can see more and more courses jumping on that bandwagon. If they can get away with calling something a natural protected area, they no longer have to maintain it. Think of the money they'd save on fairway maintenance alone.
Click to expand...

That's very true. A lot of courses I play up north are different and they have patches of fairway between the desert and the rocks, it's pretty cool and they probably save a lot of money that way but it's annoying hahah


Sent from my iPhone 5 using Tapatalk 2
 
I love a good forced carry, as long as it's over something pretty and proportional in length to the given tee. My favorite set-up would offer a long hero-shot option over a hazard, with a bailout option that lengthens the hole but takes the hazard mostly/completely out of the equation. Holes like that test the golfer's course management and reveal a lot about his or her personality and caliber. They also don't unfairly penalize the shorter hitter, merely offer the longer hitter a test of skill which can reward or penalize.
 
I like forced carries. If you play the right tees there is really no issue. When my father and I played Koolau he had no issues with the carries and he isn't a long hitter (Koolau has basically a forced carry on every hole and he played from the whites). I also enjoy the strategy they bring. Either go for it and face possible consequences or lay up. One of the first courses I ever played was Woodloch in Pennsylvania had an amazing. I believe its hole 14 that has a 225 yard force carry over hells gate gorge. I thought it was the coolest thing and the only thing I remember from that round was purposely moving to the gold tees just to try to clear it (we had the course to our selves so it didn't slow play).
 
I don't mind forced carries. If I can't carry from the tee, well..it's usually the wrong tee :D

I can't remember all the details, but I recall playing Mystic Dunes in Florida, from the blue. The 11th hole is a 468 yard par 4, and I did carry it, but only just. I remember thinking that I hit very good drive, and I still got too much left to get on the green with two. It was rather windy, but still.
 
If you can't easily clear the forced carry, you shouldn't be playing the tee's you're playing.
 
If you can't ever clear it, I'd agree that you aren't playing the right tees, or at least the tees the designer wants you to use. But what about someone that can clear it half the time? If it was a "normal" hole they would be fine every time, but with the forced carry they end up taking a lot of extra shots just because there is no fairway. It seems a little unfair to me to not provide an alternative to a long forced carry. It's like the course designer decided that carry distance is the only part of the game that matters. I'd bet that a beginner playing regularly on a course with a lot of forced carries would have a lot higher handicap than they would if they mostly played a course without them. I think forced carries have an affect on the course rating, but not enough to offset the extra shots a novice golfer would be taking.

Again, I find them fun, so I'm not against them. I just wonder if it is really in the spirit of the game to make people play a course a certain way.
 
A forced carry can be fun from time to time. If done correctly can really be a great add.
 
I'm a big fan of the "offered carry" where a really challenging carry offers a good birdie chance, but an alternative route that makes par a good score. I think this is more interesting than a long forced carry.
 
I don't mind them if they are spaced out pretty well. My home course they are not lol. First four hokes you have three forced water carries two of which are green shots.
 
Kobey said:
That's why I'm wondering about tournament situations. But even in a casual round, if someone hits a lot of worm burners, it could make for a long round no matter what tees they're playing from. On a course without forced carries, at least they would be ahead in the fairway for their second shot instead of hitting 3 from the tee again.
Click to expand...

If this has been said, then sorry for repeating. Any tournament should be set up to accommodate the players expected to play, and a player should be aware of what he is getting into before he enters a competition. If the course is set up to require a 220 yard forced carry, then the players playing from that tee should be able to handle it. If a player can't hit the ball that far, then don't enter. If entering a competition blind, the player takes the chance of getting into an impossible situation for his game.

I'm not a particularly long hitter, but I've never found myself in a situation where I faced a carry I couldn't manage. That comes from choosing the right tees for my game, especially on an unfamiliar course. I don't consider a 150 yard par 3 over a lake to be a "forced" carry. It may be all carry, but anyone who can't hit the ball 150 yards in the air doesn't belong on a real golf course.

When I'm playing a new course, I tend to be pretty conservative the first time around for a couple of reasons. First, I want to have fun, and discovering after I start that I'm on the wrong tee is a good way to detract from that goal. Second I don't want to find myself with a no win situation, where I've given myself a shot that I don't have in my game. Just an exceptionally long hole isn't an issue because I can play it for bogey as long as there is a bailout option. Putting myself in the position of having a forced carry which is at or beyond the upper limit of my swing can just leave me with a bad taste.
 
As to drop areas, I'm 99% sure I've seen drop areas in PGA Tour tournaments, so I'm not sure what USGA rule would prevent them from being used.

I'm sure Fourputt can tell us definitively.
 
wadesworld said:
As to drop areas, I'm 99% sure I've seen drop areas in PGA Tour tournaments, so I'm not sure what USGA rule would prevent them from being used.

I'm sure Fourputt can tell us definitively.
Click to expand...

A proper dropping area is never supposed to take the hazard completely out of play, nor be closer to the hole than where the ball crossed the margin of the hazard. It may be to one side so that the carry isn't as far, but the theory is that you never gain a distance advantage without having made a stroke. In practice, some courses do not adhere to that guideline. In my experience, when a course has such a policy, it is only in force for casual play to keep the flow of golfers moving, and is superseded by the rules when any sanctioned tournament is being played there. On certain rare occasions you will see a pro on TV get a drop which is closer to the hole in a situation where the grandstands and other Tour paraphernalia are so situated that they do not allow for proper relief from the temporary obstructions.
 
Kobey said:
If you can't ever clear it, I'd agree that you aren't playing the right tees, or at least the tees the designer wants you to use. But what about someone that can clear it half the time? If it was a "normal" hole they would be fine every time, but with the forced carry they end up taking a lot of extra shots just because there is no fairway. It seems a little unfair to me to not provide an alternative to a long forced carry. It's like the course designer decided that carry distance is the only part of the game that matters. I'd bet that a beginner playing regularly on a course with a lot of forced carries would have a lot higher handicap than they would if they mostly played a course without them. I think forced carries have an affect on the course rating, but not enough to offset the extra shots a novice golfer would be taking.

Again, I find them fun, so I'm not against them. I just wonder if it is really in the spirit of the game to make people play a course a certain way.
Click to expand...

Thats what the slope rating is all about. It takes into account the difference between a scratch and bogey golfer, so forced carries most certainly are accounted for.

Forced carries don't really bother me, thats what golf is all about, adapting to what is presented. Perhaps I'm just used to it, most of the courses I play have a few forced carries. Its nice if the carry offers an alternative but if it doesn't it just means its time to get after it!
 
If your course has a forced carry should that distance be marked on the tee? And should the distance to that hazard be marked as well?
 
golfinFF said:
If your course has a forced carry should that distance be marked on the tee? And should the distance to that hazard be marked as well?
Click to expand...

Some courses might, but in my experience, most don't.
 
To answer the OP, yes I think it adds time and strokes for the avg. golfer.
With that said, the course I'm a member at has many forced carries and I really enjoy playing them. I think it adds to the pressure of making solid shots and is also aesthetically pleasing to the eye.
 
This is the kind of courses I play, tons of force carries, it can get a but annoying haha

8566943553_db6c50ffed_z.jpg
 
:eek:fftopic: I need to get to New Mexico to golf. I personaly don't really notice forced carry's I hit a high ball and focus on my landing zone. The creativity of the hole can be refreshing.
 
Scrap Iron said:
:eek:fftopic: I need to get to New Mexico to golf. I personaly don't really notice forced carry's I hit a high ball and focus on my landing zone. The creativity of the hole can be refreshing.
Click to expand...

Yes you do haha, you would enjoy the desert golf courses, they are quite challenging an dry hah


Sent from my iPhone 5 using Tapatalk 2
 
The 18th of a course I used to play quite regularly had a ravine to cross from the tee. I wouldn't have said it was a forced carry as the fairway started about halfway up the far side, but to reach the top and be able to see the green for your second shot, you had to carry around 230-240yds otherwise you were hitting blind into the green as your ball would stop pretty much where it landed if you didn't make the top

As the course was a bit hilly, by the time you reached the 18th you could be tiring, so it always felt good to make it to the top of the slope
 
I do think that holes should have a tee that takes any forced carry out of play. Though personally they don't bother me. Our local 9 hole executive course has a pond to carry of about 80 yards that my sister hates because she is just learning the game and doesn't get the ball in the air as often as she should, and she has never made it over. I let her take two shots at getting over (if she wants) and then we just drop on the other side. I know the day that she clears it will be a great day for her.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top