US3156470A - Multiple golf course - Google Patents

Description

1964 H. NEWKIRK 3,

MULTIPLE cow COURSE Filed July 2, 1959 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 IN V EN TOR.

Nov. 10, 1964 E. H. NEWKIRK 3,156,470

MULTIPLE GOLF COURSE Filed July 2, 1959 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 JNVENTOR. E0642 II. jliwz/pz United States Patent 3,156,470 MUL'HPLE GOLF COURSE Edgar H. Newkirk, 181.7% Malcolm, Los Angeles, Calif. Filed July 2, 1959, Ser. No. 824,586 2 Claims. (Cl. 273-476) normally broken down into two areasof nine holes e' ach, or three areas of six holes each, orsometirnestwo areas of seven holes each and a third areaahavingfourfholes.

The designing of such a golf playing. field is: a fliighly} skilled art, each area or group of holes,- and each individual hole, being carefully designed toil-ac'comrn'o ate the golf play of various levels and grades of'skill from the better male golfer and top-skilled femalegolfer on down to the lesser skilled male and female players, as 'well as the younger golfers. Normally, four separate grades of skill are considered in designing and constructing a golf course.

Each hole of a golf course comprises a tee area, a fairway, rough areas, and a green which embodies a cup. The theory in the game of golf, is that the player uses a weapon, the golf club selected, to strike the golf ball from a given starting point, the tee, successively striking the ball with selected golf clubs having the desired lofts, lengths, weights, balances, degrees of torque and tension in the shafts, and grips, moving the ball over the fairway (avoiding the roughs, if possible) to the green, and into the cup provided on the green, in the least possible number of separate strokes.

The player pits his best skill as an offense in moving the ball from the tee into the cup on the green in the least possible number of strokes, against the defense provided by the designer of the golf course, namely, natural and pseudo-natural hazards. Natural hazards provided include such things as the use of hazards of terrain and topography, including undulations, contours, obstacles and obstructions, and including the use of trees, shrubs, bushes and other vegetation, and including the texture and height of grasses which effect the lie and roll of the ball. By properly choosing the direction taken by the fairway, the designer can utilize the weather, including wind, rain, cold, heat and sun, as obstructions to the golfer.

Pseudo-natural hazards which can be built by the designer, include the making of contours and undulations to direct the play of the ball, the provision of sand traps, water holes, deliberately placed vegetation, such as trees and shrubs, the placement of wind breaks, and the like.

Coupled with these various defenses provided on the fairways, a system of penalization is sused, which adds strokes to the golfers score whenever a ball goes past a designated boundary line, or must be moved out of a difiicult spot to be played, or is lost.

The defense against the golfer is carried into the green areas by the use of contours, undulations, plateaus, rolls, swales, grass grains and the like, all of which control the direction and amount of movement of the ball when it encounters and is played on the green area. The use of various fine grasses to control the change of pace or speed on the green is also used as a defense, the texture of the grass insofar as it controls the ball speed being measured by the normal overroll measuring index (commonly referred to as nomi).

In view of the above complications involved in the designing and making of a golf course, it will be apparent that it is extremely ditficu'lt, if not impossible, to design a conventional golf course which has a single circuit or route that is taken by the golfers, in which the course is sufficiently difficult and interesting for the better golfers, while at the same time not being too difficult, and hence unenjoyable, by the regular or fair golfers, or practically impossible for the lesser skilled or youthful golfers. Normally, in the design and construction of a golf course. the hazards must be substantially weakened or reduced from those that would be the most desirable and interesting for highly skilled golfers, in order to accommodate the ordinary and lesser skilled golfers. This means that the fairways are made relatively Wide, with relatively few .out-of-bounds markings to the right of the fairways, with the rough areas somewhat minimized, with mounds and contours tending to keep the ball in the. play area rather than causing it to move outside of the play area. Also, the number of obstructions to the green areas'ftends to be minimized, with fewer traps and trenchesfthe front portions of. the greens being simpler than they might otherwise be. All this, of course, tendsto make the golf course routine and uninteresting for the bettergolfers, who actually do a large portion of the over-all golf playing.

Another problem in connection with convenional golf courses which have a single circuit or route is that the tee areas and the front portions of the greens receive a high concentration of use, and hence'are extremely difficult to keep in good shape. This is particularly true in golf courses where play occurs at night, because of the fact that the turf is more easily ruined when it is damp.

A further problem in connection with conventional golf courses which have only a single circuit or route that is followed by the golfers, is that the poorer and younger golfers normally have an extremely difficult time completing any given single hole within a reasonable number of strokes, and are therefore often discouraged to the point where they lose interest in the game. This is particularly true of young womtn and girls who have a very short hitting range.

In view of these and other problems in connection with conventional golf courses having a single circuit or route that is followed by the golfers, it is the principal object of my present invention to provide a novel golf course in which a plurality of alternative routes may be followed by the players.

Another object of my present invention is to. provide a novel golf course of the character described which is alternatively reversible.

.Ano'ther object of my present invention is to provide a golf course of the character described embodying a plurality of different routes or circuits to be followed by the golfers, with one such route or circuit having substantially more difficult hazards of the character described above than another such circuit.

Another object of my present invention is to provide a novel golf course of the character described in which each of the greens is provided with more than one fairway approach, whereby more than one route or circuit may be taken by the golfers, to provide the same effect as a plurality of different golf courses, Without requiring more than the normal number of greens of a single golf course.

Another object of my present invention is to provide a multiple golf course of the character described in which each of a plurality of different circuits involves the use of its own separate tees and green approaches, thereby greatly reducing the wear on the tee areas and greens.

A further object of my present invention is to provide a novel golf course construction of the character described in which an additional green is placed on each fairway in order to accommodate the poorer and younger golfers, so that the length of each hole will be greatly shortened for such golfers, and so that these additional greens can be alternatively used by the regular golfers to reduce wear on the normal greens at the ends of the fairways.

Other objects and advantages of my present invention will be apparent from the following description and claims, the novelty of my invention consisting in the features of construction, the combinations of parts, the novel relations of the members, and the relative proportioning, disposition and operation thereof, all as is more completely described herein, and as is more particularly pointed out in the appended claims.

In the accompanying drawings, forming a part of my present specification:

FIGURE 1 is a plan view of a nine hole golf course which is alternatively reversible in accordance with my present invention.

FIGURE 2 is a plan view of several of the holes shown in FIGURE 1, with additional greens placed about midway along the fairways.

FIGURE 3 is a plan view of a typical green used in connection with my present invention, having a relatively easy approach, and a relatively difficult approach.

FIGURE 4 is a view in the direction 44 in FIGURE 3, illustrating the appearance of the realtively easy approach to the green of FIGURE 3.

FIGURE 5 is a view in the direction 5-5 in FIGURE 3, illustrating the appearance of the difiicult approach to the green of FIGURE 3.

Referring to my drawings, and at first particularly to FIGURE 1 thereof, I have for convenience illustrated a golf course having nine holes. However, it is to be understood that my present invention is equally adaptable for use in connection with a golf course having any number of holes, such as seven holes, nine holes, eighteen holes, or the like.

The golf course which I have illustrated in FIGURE 1 is reversible in accordance with my present invention, with the tees and fairways of one direction being illustrated in solid lines, and the tees and fairways going in the opposite direction being illustrated in dotted lines.

The successive solid line holes, taking them in the order of the circuit or route followed by the golfer, are A4, A-2, A-S, A-4, A-S, A-6, A-7, A-8 and A-9.

Similarly, the successive dotted line holes, taken in the circuit or route followed by the golfer, are 3-1, B2, B3, 3-4, B5, B6, B-7, B-8 and B-9.

It will be noted that each of the A, solid line holes, has its own separate tee, and that similarly each of the B, dotted line holes has its own separate tee, so that a total of eighteen tees are provided. These tees involve very little upkeep as compared with the greens, so that this duplication of tees does not involve much expense or time. However, it does provide a great saving in the usual very hard wear on the tees, so that there is a substantial over-all saving in tee maintenance time and ex ense.

It will also be noted that only nine greens will be required, those designated by the numerals 1t 12, 14, 16, 18, 20, 22, 24 and 26. Each of these greens has two completely independent approaches, one for a solid line fairway, and the other for a dotted line fairway. Thus, for example, the green 19 is approached by the solid line hole A-l and the dotted line hole In this manner, alternative use of the A" or the B holes will provide a rest for the un-used approach portion of each green, and will result in the same effect as two entirely different golf courses.

It will be apparent from this construction that one of the groups of holes, for example, the A holes, may involve relatively rough hazards on the A or solid line fairways and on the corresponding approaches to the greens, with the portions of the greens themselves facing the A" fairways also being relatively diflicult; these hazards being like those described in detail in the introductory part of this specification. The other group of holes, the B or dotted line holes, may involve relatively easy hazards.

My type of green construction involving a relatively dilficult portion presented to the relatively difficult fairways, such as the A fairways, and a relatively easy portion presented to the relatively easy fairways, such as the B fairways, is best illustrated in FIGURES 3, 4 and 5, in which a typical green according to my construction is illustrated, being designated by the reference numeral 23, with the line 30 generally dividing the easy and the difiicult approaches. The relatively easy approach portion .32 shown in FIGURE 4 is seen to be relatively smooth in contour, to present a fairly simple problem to the more inexperienced golfers. In contrast, the more diflicult approach portion 34 is seen to be diflicultly contoured, having an added hazard in the sand trap 36. The cup 38 is placed on the fairly open face of the easy side 32, so that the ball may stick near the cup on the side 32, but not on the more difficult side 34.

In FIGURE 2 of the drawings, the holes Ad and A-2 are illustrated with additional greens 4% and 42 thereon, respectively. This permits the original holes A4. and A-2 to be played, if desired, or, alternatively, four holes can be played by younger or more inexperienced golfers, to shorten the fairways, thus providing new dotted line (in FIGURE 2) tees and fairways 44, 46, 48 and 50. It will be apparent that these smaller holes can be made reversible in a manner similar to that heretofore described, if desired, and also that various circuits can be planned for the course utilizing these additional greens, all within the scope of the present invention.

This provision of an extra green in the middle of each fairway provides an excellent prep or preparatory golf course for young or beginning golfers.

Although I have illustrated just two separate circuits in my reversible golf course of FIGURE 1, it will be apparent that the number of circuits, and green approaches to each green, is not limited to two.

In order to carry through my reversible theme in connection with my reversible golf course, I presently prefer to apply a name which can be reversed to my course. For example, the course as played in one direction may be called Glenbrook, while the other circuit would be called Brookglen.

It is to be understood that the form of my invention herein shown and described is my preferred embodiment and that various changes in the shape, size and arrangement of parts may be resorted to without departing from the spirit of my invention or the scope of my appended claims.

I claim:

1. An outdoor golf course having a plurality of separate golfing circuits with full-size fairways and greens, said golf course including: a first circuit comprising a plurality of first circuit fairways each having a front and a rear end, a first circuit tee operatively disposed at the front end of each of said first circuit fairways, and a separate green operatively connected with the rear end of each of said first circuit fairways; and a second circuit comprising a plurality of second circuit fairways each having a front and a rear end, a second circuit tee operatively disposed at the front end of each of said second circuit fairways, and operative connections between the rear ends of said second circuit fairways and the respective said greens, each of said second circuit fairways approaching its respective green from a different direction than the respective said first circuit fairway approaches that same green, whereby a single set of greens is alternatively usable in two separate golfing circuits on said golf course.

2. The golf course of claim 1 in which the portion of each green facing its respective second circuit fairway has a topography which substantially differs from the topography of the portion of that same green facing its respective first circuit fairway, said difference in topography being such that said portion of each green facing its second circuit fairway is more difficult to play than said portion of that same green facing its respective first circuit fairway, whereby said second circuit is more difiicult to play than said first circuit.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS

Claims (1)

1. AN OUTDOOR GOLF COURSE HAVING A PLURALITY OF SEPARATE GOLFING CIRCUITS WITH FULL-SIZE FAIRWAYS AND GREENS, SAID GOLF COURSE INCLUDING: A FIRST CIRCUIT COMPRISING A PLURALITY OF FIRST CIRCUIT FAIRWAYS EACH HAVING A FRONT AND A REAR END, A FIRST CIRCUIT TEE OPERATIVELY DISPOSED AT THE FRONT END OF EACH OF SAID FIRST CIRCUIT FAIRWAYS, AND A SEPARATE GREEN OPERATIVELY CONNECTED WITH THE REAR END OF EACH OF SAID FIRST CIRCUIT FAIRWAYS; AND A SECOND CIRCUIT COMPRISING A PLURALITY OF SECOND CIRCUIT FAIRWAYS EACH HAVING A FRONT AND A REAR END, A SECOND CIRCUIT TEE OPERATIVELY DISPOSED AT THE FRONT END OF EACH OF SAID SECOND CIRCUIT FAIRWAYS, AND OPERATIVE CONNECTIONS BETWEEN THE REAR ENDS OF SAID SECOND CIRCUIT FAIRWAYS AND THE RESPECTIVE SAID GREENS, EACH OF SAID SECOND CIRCUIT FAIRWAYS APPROACHING ITS RESPECTIVE GREEN FROM A DIFFERENT DIRECTION THAN THE RESPECTIVE SAID FIRST CIRCUIT FAIRWAY APPROACHES THAT SAME GREEN, WHEREBY A SINGLE SET OF GREENS IS ALTERNATIVELY USABLE IN TWO SEPARATE GOLFING CIRCUITS ON SAID GOLF COURSE.

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