US3719360A

US3719360A - Golf course

Info

Publication number: US3719360A
Application number: US00135932A
Authority: US
Inventors: H Purdy
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1971-04-21
Filing date: 1971-04-21
Publication date: 1973-03-06
Anticipated expiration: 1990-03-06

Abstract

An outdoor golf course is described which includes one or more 18 hole circuits arranged radially around a central clubhouse. The base inner circuit includes six sets of three holes each leading out and then back in to the clubhouse. In each set of three holes, the tee of the first hole and the green of the third hole are located adjacent the central clubhouse. Also, in each set of three holes, the second hole includes a tee located near the first green and a green located near the third tee. Each set of the base circuit may then be used to build additional nine or 18 hole circuits leading out and back in to the central clubhouse thus providing up to six circuits in addition to the base circuit.

Description

United States Patent Purdy March 6, 1973 GOLF COURSE [76] Inventor: Henry C. Purdy, 115 East 522 3? g z gizfififfi gky Northfield Road, Livingston, NJ. ey 0739 57 ABSTRACT [22] Flled: Apnlzl 1971 An outdoor golf course is described which includes [21] Appl. No.: 135,932 one or more 18 hole circuits arranged radially around a central clubhouse. The base inner circuit includes six sets of three holes each leading out and then back [52] US. Cl. ..273/l';6 A in to the clubhouse In each Set of three holes, the tee [51] lnt.Cl. A63h6 /02 of the first hole and the green of the third hole are [58] Field of Search 1334/5 located adjacent the central clubhouse. Also, in each set of three holes, the second hole includes a tee [56] References and located near the first green and a green located near UNITED STATES PATENTS the third tee. Each set of the base circuit n'iaythen be used to build additional nine or 18 hole circuits lead- D200,714 3/1965 Martens ..34/5 ing out and back in to the central clubhouse thus 1,520,081 12/1924 Pul'nell CG providing up to six circuits in addition to the base cir- 2,550,48O 4/1951 Hubbard ..273/l76 AB X 3,156,470 11/1964 Newkirk ..273/l76 AB 3,360,265 12/1967 Yabroudy ..273/l76 E X 12 Claims, 2 Drawing Figures PATENTED 51975 3,719,360

SHEET 10F 2 INVENTOR HAL PURDY ATTORNEY PATENTEU 1 73 sum 2 or z BY HAL PURLDY ATTORNE) LOP mu O L GOLF COURSE BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Conventional golf courses are laid out with the starting point or first tee located adjacent a clubhouse or other similar structure situated on the perimeter of the course. The course leads outwardly from the clubhouse and then back in to the clubhouse with the ninth green also being adjacent the clubhouse, in the majority of cases. The second nine holes of an 18 hole course are laid out in a similar manner with the tenth tee and the eighteenth green being adjacent the clubhouse. Not many of the tees and greens are readily visible from the clubhouse such as during a tournament and it is only convenient for players to start out playing on either the first or tenth tee. It is also often quite difficult to expand the course to include additional 18 hole circuits.

Another golf course layout which has been proposed in the past is a radial layout with a hole leading outwardly from a central clubhouse and with the next hole leading back in to the clubhouse. This one hole out one hole in pattern is then repeated all around the clubhouse to complete the 18 holes. This type of layout as compared to the present invention will be discussed hereafter.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is therefore to provide a golf course in which an increased number of tees and greens are located adjacent a central clubhouse or similar location whereby a large proportion of the course is visible from the general area of the clubhouse and a number of tees are readily available from the clubhouse for starting the game. A further object is to provide a golf course which can readily be expanded to form additional courses using some of the holes from the initial course in each of the circuits for the additional courses. A still further object is to provide a multiplicity of overlapping courses which can be played in a variety of patterns and which may be of varying difficulties.

The objects of the present invention are accomplished by forming a first 18 hole golf course around a central clubhouse. The 18 holes are arranged in six sets of three holes each leading out and then back in to the clubhouse. The three holes in each set may also be used as three of the holes in additional nine hole circuits. These and other objects and advantages of the invention will be more apparent from the following detailed description.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a schematic plan view of an 18 hole golf course in accordance with the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a schematic plan view of a golf course in accordance with the present invention incorporating the additional circuits.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Referring first to FIG. 1, there is illustrated a base 18 hole golf course circuit arranged around a central area 22 which would normally contain the golf course clubhouse 24. The central area is reached by means of three access roads 26 in the illustrated embodiments but the number of access roads could be varied as desired. One advantage of the invention is that it is easily adapted to the placement of housing along the access roads within the area of the golf course. Different types of housing can be located on the different access roads without mixing them together. For example, apartments could be placed on one road, condominiums on another road and single family houses on the third road with all residents having equal and convenient access to the clubhouse. Locating housing within a golf course is an economical use of the open spaces around the housing which is being required more and more by zoning laws.

The arrangement of the base eighteen hole golf course circuit, the A circuit, is illustrated in FIG. 1. The holes of this base circuit are numbered from A-l to A-l8. The term hole is used herein to define the combination of a tee 28, a fairway 30 and a green 32 as shown in FIG. 1 at hole A-2. The holes of this base cir cuit A are arranged in six sets of three holes each with each set having one hole leading generally outwardly from the central area of clubhouse, another hole leading back in towards the central area and another hole connecting the outer ends of the other two holes. In other words, the holes are in a generally radial arrangement around the central area in three hole out-in sets. Referring to FIG. 1, hole A-l has a tee located adjacent the central area with a fairway leading outwardly from the central area and terminating at a green remote from the central area. The third hole, A-3, has a tee remote from the central area with a fairway leading inwardly towards the central area terminating at a green adjacent the central area. Hole A-2 connects holes A-1 and A-3 and has a tee near the A-l green and a green near the A-3 tee. This same general arrangement of holes continues around the central area as clearly shown in FIG. 1. The remaining three hole out-in sets are grouped as follows: (A-4, A-S, A-6) (A-7, A-8, A-9) (A-10, A-ll, A-12) (A-13, A-14, A-l5) and (A-16, A-17, A-18).

There are a number of distinct advantages to the arrangement of the present invention. First of all, onethird of the tees are adjacent the central area and thus readily available for starting play. This significantly increases the number of players which can play the full 18 holes in a day. For example, on a conventional course it is normal to start foursomes every 7 minutes for about 7 hours or about 60 foursomes per day. The present invention permits foursomes to start on each of the central tees every seven minutes until the course is fully loaded. This will put about 42 foursomes on the course. When these 42 foursomes have finished, the course is again loaded with another 42 foursomes to finish up the playing day. Therefore, about 84 foursomes can play on any given day as compared to 60 on a normal course. This could be particularly advantageous on crowded days or for tournaments.

A second advantage is that a large portion of the cirv cuit is easily visible from the central area. This is a specific advantage for golf tournaments since the spectators can more easily view a larger portion of the circuit from one general location and television cameras with zoom lenses could cover all 18 holes of the circuit from one central location.

As previously mentioned, radially designed golf courses have been proposed in the past but these have involved sets of one hole out and one hole in. These designs have a larger proportion of the tees and greens directly adjacent the central area but they have significant disadvantages which render them impractical as contrasted to the present invention. One of the design criteria for golf courses is that there be some minimum distance between adjoining greens and tees, for example, 150 feet. With a one hole out one hole in radial design with two access roads, this 150 foot minimum distance would require that the inner ring of tees and greens have a radius of about 477 feet and a central area of over 16 acres. This area is in excess of that required for facilities such as the clubhouse and parking. The outer radius of the course would also have to be larger. The arrangement of the present invention including three access roads and a 200 foot wide practice tee 34, requires a radius of only about 240 feet and a central area of a little over 4 acres. This size central area is adequate for facilities and does not waste land.

A further advantage of the three hole out-in design of the present invention over the one hole out one hole in design is the freedom to arrange the holes in a normal and interesting mix of three, four and five par holes without necessitating long walks between one green and the adjoining tee and with an efficient utilization of the land. For example, if a three par hole (130 to 230 yards) were to be placed in a set with a five par hole (475 to 600 yards) in one hole out one: hole in design, there would be a long walk between one green and the next tee. The alternative is to make the holes in a set of about equal length and therefore repetitive and uninteresting. Also, if a set of five par holes were placed adjacent a set of three par holes, the land extending outwardly from the three par holes to the outer perimeter of the five par holes would essentially be wasted land. With the present invention, however, the outer radius of each set of holes can be approximately equal making the outer perimeter of the land necessary for the circuit to be of a regular configuration.

A still further advantage of the present invention is that it can readily be expanded into additional circuits of holes using the holes in the base circuit in the additional circuits. This aspect of the invention is illustrated in FIG. 2 in which three additional 18 hole circuits, B, C and D are shown. The tees are indicated by T and the greens by the circles at the opposite ends of the lines indicating the fairways. The fairway lines are segmented to indicate the 3, 4 and par holes as indicated in the legend on FIG. 2. Circuit B uses the holes A-l as 8-1,

A-2 as B8, A-3 as 3-9, A-4 as 3-10, A-5 as B-17 and A-6 as B48. Circuit C uses the holes A-7 as C-l, A8 as C-8, A-9 as 0-9, A-l0 as C-l0, A-ll as C-l7 and A-l2 as C-18. Circuit D uses the holes A-l3 as D-l, A-14 as D-8, A-lS as D-9, A-l6 as D- 10, A-17 as D-17 and A-l8 as D-l8. In this arrangement, the second hole of each three hole set in the base circuit has been used as either the eighth or 17th hole of the added circuits. Another arrangement would be to use the second hole of each three hole set in the base circuit as either the second or 1 lth hole of the added circuits. Another possible arrangement is to provide six 18 hole circuits in addition to the base circuit rather than three. This is accomplished by using the holes in each three hole set of the base course as the first, seventeenth and eighteenth holes or the first, second and eighteenth holes of the added l8 hole circuits.

An advantage of the above-described multiple circuit layout is that the various circuits can be of varying complexity or difficulty. For example, the A circuit directly around the central area can be a more difficult tournament circuit while the additional circuits can be of lesser and varying difficulty for the normal caliber golfer. Also, the one central clubhouse serves a mul-, tiplicity of courses.

It can be seen from the above description that the golf course design of the present invention possesses distinct advantages. It will be understood that the specific embodiments described are merely illustrative and that various changes may be made in the golf course layout without departing from the scope of the invention as claimed. For example, the particular arrangement of long and short holes is only illustrative and may be varied as desired.

What is claimed is:

1. An outdoor golf course comprising a central area and six sets of holes spaced around said central area, each of said sets of holes comprising a first hole extending generally outwardly from said central area and in cluding a tee located adjacent said central area and a fairway terminating at a green located remote from said central area, a third hole extending generally inwardly towards said central area and including a tee located remote from said central area and a fairway terminating at a green located adjacent said central area, and a second hole including a tee and a fairway and a green extending generally between said first green and said third tee said six sets of holes forming a base circuit of 18 holes around said central area.

2. A golf course as recited in claim 1 and further including at least one additional circuit of nine holes wherein the first hole of said additional circuit comprises a first hole of one of said sets of holes, the ninth hole of said additional circuit comprises a third hole of said one of said sets of holes, and another hole of said additional circuit comprises a second hole of said one of said sets of holes and wherein the remaining six holes of said additional circuit comprise holes other than said 18 holes of said base circuit.

3. A golf course as recited in claim 2 wherein said second hole of said one of said sets of holes comprises the eighth hole of said additional circuit.

4. A golf course as recited in claim 2 wherein there are additional circuits of nine holes for each of said sets of holes of said base circuit.

5. A golf course as recited in claim 1 and further including at least one additional circuit of holes wherein the first hole of said additional circuit comprises a first, hole of one of said sets of holes, the last hole of said additional circuit comprises a third hole of said one of said sets of holes, and another hole of said additional circuit comprises a second hole of said one of said sets of holes.

6. A golf course as recited in claim 5 wherein said second hole of said one of said sets of holes comprises the next to the last hole of said additional circuit.

7. A golf course as recited in claim 6 wherein said additional circuit comprises holes.

8. An outdoor golf course having a central area and a base circuit of 18 holes located around said central area; said base circuit including first, fourth, seventh, tenth, thirteenth and sixteenth holes spaced around and extending generally outwardly from said central area with tees located adjacent said central area and fairways terminating at greens located remote from said central area; third, sixth, ninth, twelfth, fifteenth and eighteenth holes extending generally inwardly toward said central area with tees located remote from said central area and fairways terminating at greens located adjacent said central area; second, fifth, eighth, eleventh, fourteenth and seventeenth holes including tees, fairways and greens extending generally between said and third, fourth and sixth, seventh and ninth, tenth and twelfth, thirteenth and fifteenth, and sixteenth and eighteenth holes, respectively.

9. A golf course as recited in claim 8 and further including six additional circuits of nine holes wherein the first, fourth, seventh, tenth, thirteenth, and sixteenth holes of said base circuit comprise the first holes of said additional circuits, third, sixth, ninth, twelfth, fifteenth, and eighteenth holes of said base circuit comprise the ninth holes of said additional circuits, and the second, fifth, eighth, eleventh, fourteenth and seventeenth holes of said base circuit comprise other holes of said additional circuits.

10. A golf course as recited in claim 9 wherein said second, fifth, eighth, eleventh, fourteenth and seventeenth holes of said base circuit comprise the eighth holes of said additional circuits of nine holes.

1 1. A golf course as recited in claim 8 and further including at least one additional circuit of nine holes wherein the first hole of said additional circuit comprises one of said first, fourth, seventh, tenth, thirteenth and sixteenth holes of said base circuit, the eighth hole of said additional circuit comprises one of said second, fifth, eighth, eleventh, fourteenth and seventeenth holes of said base circuit; and the ninth hole of said additional circuit comprises one of said third, sixth, ninth, twelfth, fifteenth and eighteenth holes of said base circuit.

12. A golf course as recited in claim 8 and further including at least one additional circuit of 18 holes wherein the first hole of said additional circuit comprises one of said first, fourth, seventh, tenth, thirteenth and sixteenth holes of said base circuit, the eighteenth hole of said additional circuit comprises one of said third, sixth, ninth, twelfth, fifteenth and eighteenth holes of said base circuit, and another hole of said additional circuit comprises one of said second, fifth, eight,

eleventh, fourteenth and seventeenth holes of said base circuit.

Claims

1. An outdoor golf course comprising a central area and six sets of holes spaced around said central area, each of said sets of holes comprising a first hole extending generally outwardly from said central area and including a tee located adjacent said central area and a fairway terminating at a green located remote from said central area, a third hole extending generally inwardly towards said central area and including a tee located remote from said central area and a fairway terminating at a green located adjacent said central area, and a second hole including a tee and a fairway and a green extending generally between said first green and said third tee said six sets of holes forming a base circuit of 18 holes around said central area.

5. A golf course as recited in claim 1 and further including at least one additional circuit of holes wherein the first hole of said additional circuit comprises a first hole of one of said sets of holes, the last hole of said additional circuit comprises a third hole of said one of said sets of holes, and another hole of said additional circuit comprises a second hole of said one of said sets of holes.

8. An outdoor golf course having a central area and a base circuit of 18 holes located around said central area; said base circuit including first, fourth, seventh, tenth, thirteenth and sixteenth holes spaced around and extending generally outwardly from said central area with tees located adjacent said central area and fairways terminating at greens located remote from said central area; third, sixth, ninth, twelfth, fifteenth and eighteenth holes extending generally inwardly toward said central area with tees located remote from said central area and fairways terminating at greens located adjacent said central area; second, fifth, eighth, eleventh, fourteenth and seventeenth holes including tees, fairways and greens extending generally between said first and third, fourth and sixth, seventh and ninth, tenth and twelfth, thirteenth and fifteenth, and sixteenth and eighteenth holes, respectively.

11. A golf course as recited in claim 8 and further including at least one additional circuit of nine holes wherein the first hole of said additional circuit comprises one of said first, fourth, seventh, tenth, thirteenth and sixteenth holes of said base circuit, the eighth hole of said additional circuit comprises one of said second, fifth, eighth, eleventh, fourteenth and seventeenth holes of said base circuit; and the ninth hole of said additional circuit comprises one of said third, sixth, ninth, twelfth, fifteenth and eighteenth holes of said base circuit.