FEGC Hole Design Contest Review & Poll

Ladies and gentlemen of Fried Egg Golf Club,

It is with great pleasure to say that are down to the final four submissions for our Hole Design Contest with Andy Staples and the Breezy Point Resort in Minnesota. We received more than 100 entries, combed through the batch over the last few weeks, and gathered today to review our 12 semifinalists. Andy Johnson, Garrett Morrison, and I were joined for the review by Andy Staples, the architect of the project. We took our time going through our curated list, added a couple late entries at the end, and decided on the four finalists.

You can watch the full video, including commentary on all 12 of our semifinalists. What we need from you know is a vote. Below the video you will find detailed notes on each of the four finalists, photos of each hole, and the holes that inspired their creation. Please take a look through them and cast your vote below. We will leave the poll open until Friday, November 14 and announce the winner in the FEGC Sunday Digest on November 16.

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The Four Finalists

Below you will find each of the four finalists and the literature that was provided to the committee. The entries are written in first person (as a designer would explain a golf hole) and then you'll find some of the panelist's comments from the hangout below.

Finalist No. 1 - Submission No. 18: "Perfection"

My entry is a modified version of the approach shots on No. 14 at North Berwick (West Links), named "Perfection." 

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This blind shot should pose minimal safety issues. I maintain line-of-sight from the first to second tee by forcing players to cross a bridge over the waste area behind the green, which also guards the 10th green. The hole, being the first, also allows a starter to force players to wait. It allows a camera to be mounted on the clubhouse showing a feed of the green without relying on a bell system (though a bell on the bridge would be a neat idea). [Note from panelists: a periscope or an observation tower or simply a bell at the back of the green would also be possibilities.]

I think this template is ideal as a "first hole" concept, as it allows warmed up players to play straight at the green, all 180 yards, as well as offering players that are less confident the chance to lay up and run on. I like that optionality, which gives players a rare sense of strategic choices on a par three. The distance from the tee to the shortest part of the layup should only be about 110 yards, which offers a significant amount of shot-selection options. The template also allows for a large expanse for tee placement, leaving players unsure of exact distances, while also giving the superintendent a significant amount of time to rest the teeing areas.

Commentary from Panelists

Andy Johnson: “I think this is one of the most thrilling shots in all of golf. Now, [at Ace Valley], you don’t have the setting, which is pretty spectacular at North Berwick…. But what I love about the shot is… I might be, in this case, 160 yards away, but I’m landing it 120 or 130 yards, and what a great introduction into a short course.”

Andy Staples: “This is one of my favorite golf holes in the world, so when ‘Perfection’ came up, I immediately put that in the semi-finalist category…. Maybe one of the negatives is… we’re trying… to have really interesting, unique, noteworthy green complexes, so this one would probably err on the side of a little bit more flat and containing. But I love this hole.”

Garrett Morrison: “My initial concern with this hole was, can you really have a blind opening hole? And Andy Staples said, yes, would definitely would be willing to consider that. And so with that stamp of approval, I’m gonna say, love this idea.”

Finalist No. 2 - Submission No. 48: “Spyglass”

Inspired by Spyglass Hill’s iconic fourth green, this hole features a skinny, two-tiered green that slopes from back to front and is guarded by mounds on both sides, demanding a precise tee shot. From the tee, a narrow, valley-like fairway framed by bunkers sets up the approach. Shots that find the green — or the surrounding mounds — will tend to funnel toward the center of the putting surface. Misses short and right will collect into a low area, leaving a straightforward pitch, while misses long right or left present a delicate recovery over mounding to a tight landing area.

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Commentary from Panelists

Garrett Morrison: “This green is so distinctive, so memorable, so completely itself, that I’m shocked it hasn’t already become a widely recognized template…. I love it as a first-hole green, I think it does fit the site. I think it’s an A+ idea.”

Andy Staples: “This is exactly the shot that I think would be perfect for that first hole…. I would say, I would have liked to see the green shape to be a little more aggressive, to replicate the shape [of the original].... And I’d be interested to know why he didn’t surround it in dunes.”

Andy Johnson: “I think this is a really cool shot. Super fun. What I like the most about it is how dynamic it is based off of hole location…. The one advantage of turf would be that you could run shots off it and putt, which would make it more fun. Dunes would be hard.”

Andy Staples: “This is too close to ‘Perfection.’ So if I were to pick this or ‘Perfection,’ I would probably go ‘Perfection.’”

Garrett Morrison: “The green is so different from ‘Perfection,’ though. I would say yes with the caveat that you would try to reproduce the entire fourth green [at Spyglass].”

Andy Staples: “Okay.” :-)

Finalist No. 3 - Submission No. 49: “Double Plateau Railway”

This hole is inspired by the first hole at Prestwick, plus various double plateau templates. The green is most inspired by the second green at Blue Mound.

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Design Intent

Drawing inspiration from the opening hole at Prestwick, Double Plateau Railway marries one of the game’s iconic strategic openers with a classic Macdonald template. No gentle handshake here. The idea behind the hole is to pay homage to Prestwick’s heritage, hosting the first Open, to educate golfers about the railroad’s impact on the game’s growth, and to provide a strategic challenge requiring sound decision-making and execution. The three distinct tiers create opportunity and peril, with each offering multiple strategic options. However, the overarching theme is simple: the closer the golfer plays to the wall, the greater the advantage. The ideal line is the scariest line. The golfer who holds their nerve and plays to the correct tier will be rewarded with a birdie opportunity. The timid golfer who chooses safety on their first shot may be challenged to recover for par.

Hole Features

The flattish land offers the perfect canvas to bring both the first at Prestwick and the Double Plateau template to life in a single golf hole.

• Stone Wall/Railway: the hole’s entire right-hand side is lined by an ancient stone wall and railway (or abandoned overgrown railway if it better fits the site).
• A Principal’s Nose bunker complex: fronts the left of the green. Inspired by various double plateau templates but also an ode to Prestwick’s two fairway bunkers.
• Double Plateau green: lower right-hand swale with higher back and front left plateaus
• Trench and Mounding: The trench and mounding on the left side fronting the bunkers mimics Prestwick’s.
• Dunes/Mounds: various sized and shaped mounds frame the left and back of the green inspired by the dunes at Prestwick.

Strategy

Each plateau functions as its own puzzle. The surrounding features — the railway and wall to the right, the Principal’s Nose guarding the upper left section, the left-to-right cant of the land sloping gently towards the wall, and the random mounding left and behind — enhance the drama and necessity of executing a well-thought-out shot.

Commentary from Panelists

Andy Johnson: “I love the way it orients with out-of-bounds…. Here, the bowl is a terrifying shot, which I love, because you have out-of-bounds just to the right…. It would be really daring to hit it right at that hole. The back-right is even more terrifying. And then I think the recovery shots from the left would be [laughs]. I mean, it is a hard first hole, to be clear. But it’s a memorable one.”

Andy Staples: “[The contestant] nailed a lot of different things we asked for…. Interestingly enough, the owner [of Breezy Point] way early in the process asked if we could figure out how to put railroad tracks somewhere on the golf course, so they actually asked for that…. This hole might be a little difficult to get good visibility [of the green] — that’s why I was kind of leaning toward something more blind, because we don’t have to worry about it — but at the end of the day, even if we don’t have very good visibility, we’ve got that wall to carom off of or at least keep you from going too far off line, which I think is really cool.”

Garrett Morrison: “The way that this Double Plateau is oriented, positioned, and how the strategy works out, I think is extremely well thought out.”

Finalist No. 4 - Submission No. 88: “Reef”

A. W. Tillinghast isn’t known for his use of template holes, but there were some exceptions, one of those being the “Reef” par-3 concept. The hole gets its name from a cross hazard that must be carried in order to reach the green, like a reef that ships must avoid. These hazards were originally a struggle to carry in the holes' original state with the technology of the time. But now they serve more as visual deception. The original Reef hole was at Newport Country Club, which featured massive hazards. But the characteristic “S” shape of the fairway that bends around the “reef” hazard and back to the green wasn’t really present. The rendition here is more similar to Baltusrol Lower’s ninth hole.

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While there is not sufficient space to create a hole with a hazard well short of the green that is a struggle to carry for good players — the hole would have to reach the length of a short par 4 for that to be true — the reef hazard’s impact could still be pushed. This can be done by having a small green that is difficult to reach via aerial approach, suggesting a rolling shot along firm turf. To bring the hazard into play, the land here would be shaped to have the forward-kicking slope immediately after the cross bunkers around 25 yards short of the green. Giving more forward movement to the ball than one landing only 10 yards short. The green is set in a large depression, which would feed balls that don’t roll up to the back of the green. Therefore, the play would be to land a low trajectory shot just over the bunkers that trundles down onto the green surface.

This version of the reef design addresses the challenge of new equipment making courses longer and longer. It uses the size of the green and other features to encourage unconventional approaches and shotmaking, which is arguably the most fun part of the game.

Commentary from Panelists

Garrett Morrison: “This is an adaptation of an A.W. Tillinghast template Reef hole, and I think it fits the land really well. You can see the way the hole uses the left-to-right slope of the land, and if you carry the long end of the diagonal bunkers, your ball might kick onto the green. Which is the essence of a Tillinghast Reef hole…. So if you challenge the bunkers, you get that little kick.”

Andy Johnson: “I think the Reef hole is an underrated hole. It’s kind of Redan-esque…. My concern is that the length of the hole doesn’t promote a shot that runs into the green, unless you push the topography, which you could.”

Andy Staples: “I love the Tillinghast sketch of the Reef hole. That’s a totally under-utilized template. I love this. Whoever put this in last-minute is spot-on, certainly for producing something that no one else has talked about. Fits the land really well, too.”

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