Architecture Glossary - Leven

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 ‘Leven’.

Years ago, Top100GolfCourses ran a series looking at the template holes of American golf course architects Charles Blair Macdonald and Seth Raynor, who took inspiration from the former’s favorite holes of the British Isles and recreated adjusted versions of them, generally in the United States. These holes include the famous Redan par three, the strategic Road hole, and the bold Biarritz, among others. One hole that we didn’t get to? The ever-present Leven. Let’s fix that.

During that series, we tended to begin the features by looking at the original hole that Macdonald based his template upon. In this case — being that the Leven is one of the most misunderstood templates — perhaps it might be more helpful to begin with Macdonald’s version and then move backwards.

C.B. Macdonald's first attempt at the Leven template presents all the signature hazards — a large carry bunker along the fairway, and an obscuring hazard ahead of the green. (Photo Cred: Larry Lambrecht)

Macdonald’s first, titled “Peconic,” is the penultimate hole at the National Golf Links of America. Like most holes at his home course, Peconic provides bold imagery. From the tee, two huge hazards line the left of the fairway and, upon approach, another massive sand trap wraps around the green, punctuated by smaller pits. It’s the last of four par fours at National that measure less than 350 yards but punch well above their length.

The strategy of the Leven hole is best understood as a combination of two other NGLA templates, albeit with their defining features presented in a more subtle manner. From the tee, the ideal strategy is similar to that of No. 2 Sahara: Those who carry the significant sand hazard to the left are rewarded with a straight angle into the green, which is angled back and to the right. Although there are traps in the right side of the fairway at National, this is not necessarily a defining feature of all Leven holes.

The defining “punishment” for a tee shot played away from the hazard is an awkward “look” at the green. “Look” in quotation marks because the putting surface is obscured by a raised patch of terrain, a lesser version of the Alps hazard, in this case dotted with bunkers. Not only is the player’s view disrupted, the angle of the green means that they’ll often be short-sided — in order to safely carry the front hazard, the ball will often roll to the far side of the green, if not off it.

A burn directs players to consider risk when setting up the optimal line into Lundin's No. 16, the basis for Macdonald's Leven template. (Photo cred: Lundin Golf Club)

Although the basis for Macdonald’s version may not quite resemble his inspiration, its defining traits are there. The Leven comes from one of the more obscure clubs among his template collection, Lundin Golf Club (this links course was once combined with neighboring Leven Links, hence its name. The hole that inspired Macdonald, No. 16 “Trows,” ended up in the Lundin routing following the split).

In this case, the hole is reversed, doglegging right-to-left. Players consider a burn from the tee, rather than a large bunker complex. If there was any doubt as to Old Tom Morris’s strategic thought when aligning golf holes, “Trows” provides a case study. The hole is positioned so that the burn crossing the fairway is nearest to the tee on the left side and gets progressively farther from the player as they hit rightward. The longest carry, of course, sets up the clearest line into the hole. Those who play to the left are properly blinded by a dune that ends 20 yards out from the green.

At face value, “Trows” seems drivable from a yardage perspective — 311 yards, with modern equipment and links terrain. Morris’s strategic thought, combined with unpredictable winds, has kept this hole’s challenge unquestioned, however.

Granted, the MacRaynor duo wasn’t always working with ideal topography for the Leven’s signature “dune” ahead of the green. Raynor was not shy about shaping land and he often did what he had to in order to create the desired effect.

The Leven at Country Club of Charleston uses mounding created by the front-right bunkers to kick balls away from front flags, short-siding those who approach from the right. (Photo credit: USGA)

At Charleston Country Club, for example, the terrain of lowland South Carolina did not set up well for such a hole. Those playing No. 4 won’t struggle to see the flag, regardless of whether they attack the primary hazard off the tee or choose to “play it safe” to the right. Raynor raised the brow of the greenside-right bunker so that those who attack the flag from that side of the fairway will likely get an enormous kick from the backside of this brow. You may have accomplished a green-in-regulation, but a two-putt is hardly guaranteed when coming from the opposite side of a Raynor putting surface.

Raynor created a series of mounds as a guard for Fox Chapel No. 7's green, while the course's other Leven hole defends its putting surface with a bunker. (Photo Cred: Fox Chapel Golf Club).

Fox Chapel Golf Club deserves mention for featuring not one, but two Leven holes. No. 6 plays a bit more traditionally, calling for a carry of two fairway bunkers on the left in order to best access the green.

The second instance, No. 12, varies the formula somewhat. This time, rather than simply carry the one hazard, players must carry a first bunker along the right, while stopping short of a second bunker some 45 yards up the fairway. It’s a tee shot that rewards the player’s ability to shape a shot from left-to-right rather than simply carry the first bunker with brute force. The former hole features a set of roughshod mounds to guard the short side of the green, while the latter relies on the more common bunker defense.

Although not cited nearly as often as the more popular templates listed above, the core elements of the Leven come into play on many modern, short par fours.

Consider the critically-acclaimed No. 6 at Bandon’s Pacific Dunes course.

Does Tom Doak or Bandon Dunes refer to Pacific Dunes's No. 6 hole as a "Leven"? Maybe not, but its defining characteristic put it in good company with MacRaynor's best. (Photo Cred: Ryan Book)

Those seeking the smart angle into the long, skinny green must send a tee shot that carries a single bunker, plus an intimidating dune ridge, along the right side. Those who play to the unguarded left will face a shot that lies well below the putting surface, facing a shot that must go over the course’s deepest bunker, which lines the left of that green. That uphill second shot lives up to the Leven’s premise, forcing a blinded approach upon those who avoid risk from the tee.

Some might even contend that it’s a better Leven than the “Leven” hole that Doak and Jim Urbina contributed to Bandon’s MacRaynor tribute course, Old Macdonald.

Is that it? Has Top100 finally checked all of Macdonald’s templates from their list? Not quite! Keep an eye on The Architecture Glossary for further template hole posts, further down the line.