汤姆多克谈球场道与球车，球车道和球场不一定是高尔夫文化的一部分；设计师应该将精力放在球洞的设计上；球手更应该把注意放在高尔夫运动本身！

A  life  on  the  road
路上的生活
 

Published in Michigan Golfer, September/October 2002 issue
发表于《密歇根高尔夫球手》，2002年九月十月刊

In 1989, with two courses in northern Michigan under my belt, I bought a house in Traverse City. In the years since, I’ve spent nearly half my days out of town, and I haven’t worked within 200 miles of home. Why? I place a lot of the blame on cart paths.

1989年，我们负责两个在北密歇根的球场，我在Traverse城买了一匹马。从那年起，我的一半时间都在镇外面，同时，我们从来没有在离家200英里以内的地方工作过。为什么呢？我对球车道很不满！

I have nothing against golf carts -- for Casey Martin, for seniors, or for anyone who needs them on a hot and humid day. A few carts a day won’t do as much damage to the turf as the maintenance vehicles do. But I just hate building concrete roads through the middle of my courses because so many American golfers are too out of shape or too lazy to walk. When I pass by the local par-3 course, I see teenagers playing out of carts.

我没有理由来反对高尔夫球车，像Casey Martin的长者，或者对那些在热天和雨天需要帮助的人。少量的球车是不会对草坪造成太大影响的，就如同养护用的车一样。但是，我就是讨厌设立水泥球车道来穿过我的球场中央，因为美国太多的高尔夫选手太胖或者懒于走路。当我路过一个当地的三杆洞球场，我看到年轻人打球时并没有用球车。

For golf course architects, cart paths are a distraction -- a half-million-dollar budget item which takes our concentration away from making the golf holes more interesting. If we locate them ourselves, a freewheeling golfer might crash and sue us; if we don’t, the odds are they’ll scar the landscape. Even if they’re out of sight, by the developer’s rule of thumb, building those paths adds five dollars to every green fee thereafter, whether you ride or not.

对高尔夫球场设计师来说，球车道是一件分心是事情-50万美金的预算支出将会影响我们集中精力来把高尔夫球洞设计的更有趣。如果我们让球手自己确定球车道，凭惯性前行的高尔夫选手或许会撞车，还会起诉我们；如果设计师确定球车道，那将会给景观增加一道伤疤。即使球车道隐蔽起来，让开发商搭个便车，建造这些球车道，每位果岭费从此后都会增加5美元，不管你是否需要球车。