Golf Courses are often created from the natural landscape. Early golf courses were not as well maintained as they are today. They would have been much rougher and less well manicured. Often golfers had to be careful they did not hit any animals who grazed on the land they played golf on!

As the game became more popular, people came to realise that better golf courses could be built by people with special skills and talents. These golf course architects could build very good golf courses out of all kinds of landscapes. Two famous golf course architects were Alister Mackenzie who worked on the Old Course in St Andrews and Harry Colt who worked on Sunningdale Golf Course.

Some of the different features which can make a golf course more challenging to play are bunkers, trees, rough grass and water hazards. Many golf course architects try to use the natural features in the landscape when they are designing the course.

Things to think about

Design your own golf course. What kind of hazards and features would you add? Find out who designed the golf course near to where you live.