As designers, we can greatly influence the player's surroundings. We should strive to be artists, as well as engineers. The golf course is our canvas. Our palette includes the topography and vegetation, and how we choose to modify them. We can paint exquisite landscapes with verdant fairways and starkly white bunkers.
Trees can frame and direct vistas.
The shimmering beauty of lakes and streams can distract a discouraged golfer even as they consume his golf balls. Designers should be more cognizant of their potential to enhance nature's beauty. Designers should seriously consider modifications that will benefit the aesthetics of the course, even if they require some tradeoff with respect to the course's length or strategy. Far more players will appreciate the additional beauty than will mourn the loss of a subtle point of strategy or a few yards on the scorecard. One way to achieve dramatic effect on the course is by using native plant material.