Architecture Glossary - Infinity Green

The message of great, strategic golf course architecture is clear. The actual words used to describe those golf courses, however, are many. The Architecture Glossary column will examine more precise terms and concepts that one will find when exploring golf course architecture. Hopefully understanding these terms, and why certain architects employed them, will help you to better understand the golf courses you play…and maybe even improve your scores!

Today’s term is ‘Infinity Green’.

The game of golf has existed in some form since at least the 15th Century, and the concept of strategic golf course design only began poking its head out in earnest during the mid-19th Century. Many of the terms discussed in these posts still seem somewhat aged, despite being relatively young compared to the game itself. Let’s break the trend and look at an idea that is entirely modern:

Infinity greens.

The popularity of the infinity green, like the popularity of many things in the modern design scene, can be traced to course development magnate Mike Keiser. He acknowledges, however, that he first learned of the concept from Mark Parsinen, the founder of Kingsbarns and Castle Stuart among other courses. Keiser describes his education on the subject, during a visit to the latter course, within his book The Nature of The Game:

“According to his definition, an infinity green didn’t have to create a bold, straight line, as an infinity pool does, in order to count; he included any that had a small segment bleeding into the horizon,” Keiser writes. “To play a round checking them off, while noting how [Parsinen] and Gil Hanse had used them to frame the waters of the Moray Firth and the distant highlands landscape, was a case study in the art of integrating a course into its scenic environment.”

One of many infinity greens at Castle Stuart set against the backdrop of the Firth of Moray. (Photo Cred: Larry Lambrecht)

This idea — a green where the back of the putting surfaces melds seamlessly into views that stretch for miles — has become popular parlance in design circles, taking its name, as alluded above, from the extravagant “infinity pools” of the Hollywood hills.

Keiser is a keen proponent of strategic value in the golf course design, however he is also a businessman. He famously makes suggestions to designers under his employ regarding the wants of “retail golfers,” or those who might not fully appreciate a course from the strategic perspective. The best way to please those golfers, he argues, and indeed amplify the value of a strategically-strong golf course, is to incorporate beautiful scenery. Infinity greens do so by creating a picturesque backdrop while remaining natural in appearance.

Keiser was so committed to the idea at Cabot Links that he told designer Rod Whitman he would reward the architect and his wife a trip to Hawaii…if there were 12 infinity greens. Whitman obliged.

No. 14 exemplifies how the architect can strategically lay out holes to create such greens. This is the shortest par three at Cabot Links, playing about 100 yards directly toward the Gulf of St. Lawrence. Typically, a downhill tee shot like this does not set up well for an infinity green, however Whitman placed the tee boxes perfectly so that the back of the green blocks views to the rough and beach behind it. Instead, players see ocean all the way, with the added visual stimulation of waves appearing to travel right into the back of the green.

Creating infinity greens was a priority for Cabot Cape Breton co-developer Mike Keiser. No. 14 is one of 12 he counts within Rod Whitman's design. (Photo Cred: Cabot Cape Breton Resort)

Granted, not all golf courses are blessed with seaside real estate. That doesn’t mean that infinity greens can’t exist. There’s only one feature more boundless than the ocean: the sky. Keiser, as a founding member at Sand Hills Golf Club, may not have realized it when he approached the first green at the inland club, but Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw had created the same effect.

Players will likely be hitting their third shot uphill during this opening par five, with just a front tongue of green obvious from the ground. The flag creates an almost two-dimensional visual, seeming to sit on a hard line drawn across the horizon in front of you. This is part of the challenge, of course; to know and, more importantly, to trust your distance because the green seems to run forever into the Nebraska sky behind it. Coore and Crenshaw provide some help, so that you at least know how wide the green is: A dune to the left and a bunker to the right frame the target. The distance? That’s on you.

Infinity greens are primarily an aesthetic benefit of design, to be sure. However examples such as the opener at Sand Hills demonstrate the strategic benefits of these putting surfaces. They are a confidence test, asking players to trust their yardage when looking at a target that confuses the senses.

One worthwhile question: Why is the infinity green concept “new”? Why does it seem like developers such as Keiser and Parsinen are the first to implement these jaw-dropping views into their properties? Why didn’t the men who laid out the links of old offer players similar eye candy?

If you’re the old codger who insists golf courses built a hundred-plus years ago are inherently better, you need to at least admit that modern technology has made course construction easier. Traditional links courses, for their seaside location, often don’t offer any views of the sea, which is blocked out by the dunes surrounding the fairways. The infamous windy conditions of such locations made exposed green sites more difficult to maintain. Erosion from tidal surges was a challenge as well. Modern architects and developers have the means to create and protect greens such as those seen at Castle Stuart’s No 13.

No. 15 "Little Eye" would have been difficult to maintain at the time of the club's creation, but it served as a focal point during the 2023 Open Championship. From the tee, the green melds with the sky. (Photo Cred: Royal Liverpool Golf Club)

That said, modern revisionists have considered the concept in recent renovations. The new No. 15 at Royal Liverpool received constant attention throughout the recent Open, as players considered the short shot to a perched putting surface that, like the first at Sand Hills, became one with the sky. One potential difference worth considering here is that, even when clubs are able to maintain such features, the links wind can still make such unprotected shots knee-knockers for professionals and amateurs alike. The jury remains out on whether the concept should be considered successful.

No. 11 at the Fishers Island Club is a splendid infinity green...even if Raynor himself didn't call it that. (Photo Cred: P.J. Koenig)

Despite its recent surge in popularity, it’s worth wondering whether the idea of the infinity green can truly be considered “new.” The name is certainly new, but a number of Golden Age architects practiced similar techniques frequently within their own catalogs. Donald Ross often incorporated uphill approach shots and framed the green against the sky, intimidating players in the process. Seth Raynor set a number of his fantastic par threes against scenic backgrounds, such as the idyllic Eden hole at Fishers Island, which is backed by the scenic backdrop of a harbor in Long Island Sound.

Architects, and especially developers, should always be wary of prioritizing aesthetic elements over strategic ones when creating a new golf course. If those features can add just a smidge of strategic consideration, however, they can explode a course from worth-a-look to world-class.