Abstract:
A golf course, comprising at least one fairway area disposed as a substantially uninterrupted track, a plurality of tees associated with said fairway area, and a plurality of greens associated with said fairway area. And a method of playing golf comprising playing a track style variable route of play golf course wherein a golfer plays a series of designated golf holes by teeing off from a designated tee, among a plurality of potential tees, and playing along said track style fairway area to a designated green, among a plurality of potential greens.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
         [0001]    Today&#39;s golfing world is getting more and more crowded. Many of the golf courses being developed are similar to existing designs, with few unique aspects distinguishing them. After a while, golfers tire of playing the same course day after day. The high cost of land and facilities often prevent the creation of additional golf courses. One solution is to provide a new type of golf course that may be played using many different routes throughout a single fairway.  
           [0002]    Golf courses are maintenance and land intensive recreation sites. A typical 18 hole golf course generally occupies about 100 acres of land, and the range of acreage may be from 70 to 230 acres or larger. Traditional golf courses may be slightly altered from day-to-day. The location and distance of tees may be altered; the location of the pin on a green may be varied; and the location of hazards such as bunkers and water hazards may be changed. The course, however, will still look and play essentially the same as many of these elements must still be placed in a generally limited area. The effect is that despite the regular movement of tee spots on teeing greens and the relocation of holes on putting greens, courses are subject to significant wear, requiring extensive maintenance as the general area of greens and tees remains constant.  
           [0003]    The more an area of a golf course is used, the more susceptible it is to damage. Worn greens are also more susceptible to disease and other natural factors that may cause damage. At times of high traffic, or when weather makes a course particularly vulnerable, greenskeepers are unable to keep up with the wear and damage to the course and are required to close greens and tees to the public to allow the area to be repaired. As well, if a particular course is slated for use in a special event, and must be kept in good condition, an area may be closed to prevent damage and preserve the condition of the course for the special event.  
           [0004]    The result of course closures, is a loss of revenue as a large amount of land associated with a specific fairway cannot be used effectively without the associated greens and tees. It is with this, and other limitations of the existing art in mind that the disclosed invention was developed.  
           [0005]    A number of designs for multi-hole golf courses are known. U.S. Pat. No. 6,036,606 to Dumas discloses a golf course containing a plurality of sequential arrangements of golf holes within the golf course whereby a golfer can play the same nine or eighteen golf holes of the course in a variety of different sequential arrangements. Dumas accomplishes this through use of fairways arranged in a web pattern with a single green and a single tee located at each intersection of the web. Thus, Dumas teaches of a plurality of discrete fairways with a green and a tee at each terminus of each fairway. This arrangement permits the same nine or eighteen tees and greens, to be linked by fairways to comprise a variety of different golf holes. These different golf holes may be further arranged in a variety of different sequences thus realizing a variety of different golf courses within a single parcel of land. Dumas, thus spares the golfer the monotony of playing the course in the same order. However, the Dumas design contains multiple fatal flaws. First, it fails to spare the golfer the monotony of playing the same nine or eighteen tees and greens over and over, despite their being played in a different order. Second, this repetitive play over the same greens and tees results in excessive wear and tear in these highest traffic areas, the greens, tees and landing zones on fairways. Third, the requirement that the fairways be arranged in a web pattern precludes the possibility that the Dumas design being employed upon a long and thin tract of land. Lastly, the web pattern design requires that essentially straight fairways be used to link the greens and tees, virtually eliminating the possibility of using fairways which are curved and shapely.  
           [0006]    U.S. Pat. No. 6,053,819 to Wilk discloses a golf park that includes multiple golf courses, wherein each golf course has a single fairway with multiple greens and tees located within each fairway. Wilk contemplates a golf course wherein golfers play from one tee to any number of greens, and then, in turn play the same fairway to a second green, and then back to their point of origin. All play takes place on a single standard layout fairway. The effect is that the golfer essentially plays back and forth along the same playing area. Such a method is fraught with problems. First, such a course for playing golf grossly deviates from the traditional, natural, unidirectional flow of the game. Second, such a course requires that the golf course be occupied for a predetermined, limited period of time by only a single individual or group of golfers. Also, inherent in the Wilk&#39;s course are the above mentioned problems of monotony of play, and excessive wear and tear due to over-use of the same tee, fairway, and greens. Adding to their over use is the fact that since all greens are out in the open, within the main directional fairway margins, even the non-targeted greens will suffer extra ball marks and possibly divots when tee shots go astray.  
           [0007]    In addition, many of the known improved course systems for golf are not readily adaptable to existing courses and require significant restructuring of existing courses to permit implementation.  
           [0008]    In light of the above, and other existing art in the field, it is clear that there exists a need for a new and improved golf course track and method of play that allows for less repetitive play, lower traffic in particularly sensitive areas such as greens and tees, and creates an overall aesthetically pleasing and economically and environmentally sound course track for golf play.  
         SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
         [0009]    Today&#39;s standard golf course is generally constructed with 9, 18, 27, or 36 holes, each hole having a fairway with a tee at one end thereof and a green at the other end thereof. While the tee may be moved slightly, and while the location of the cup on the green may be varied, a hole plays pretty much the same day-to-day. The purpose of this invention is to provide a variable route of play golf course, comprised of a substantially uninterrupted track wherein many routes are possible over a single, preferably contiguous, fairway though there may be roadway, homes, or other objects due to preexistence or necessity that may occasionally divide the course&#39;s path but minimally if at all.  
           [0010]    The invention disclosed herein creates a greater dispersion of traffic on a golf course due to the placement of multiple greens and tees off and outside the main directional fairway margin. This dispersion is also augmented by the ability to modify the designated route of play, or available routes of play, player by player, or on a daily, weekly, monthly or annually basis.  
           [0011]    As well, the configuration of the disclosed golf course allows for intensive repair of specific greens and tees without affecting the play of the course as a whole.  
           [0012]    The disclosed invention also permits more economical use of land and lower operating costs over traditional golf course designs while still preserving directional play and maintaining the conventional flow of the game. This disclosed invention is available to new courses being designed, and also permits some existing courses to be adapted through the joining of existing fairways and the addition of periphery greens and tees.  
           [0013]    The usual hazards found on a traditional golf course, i.e., bunkers (sand traps), water hazards, and shrubbery are incorporated into the design, with trees, where available, and used to define possible routes of play controlling and limiting access to greens and play routes. The design disclosed herein, while possibly occupying slightly more land than a single standard golf course, maximizes land use, in that effectively, many golf courses are constructed in the space previously required for a single course.  
           [0014]    Each hole is playable from a designated tee to a number of designated greens. The directional patterns, or routes of play, from a designated tee to a designated green varies according to the number of tees and greens provided in the designated course, and the desired par for a specific hole. While a tee may be designated to play to a par 5 or 6 hole one day, played along the length of the fairway, the same tee may be designated to play to a par hole 3 the next day or even for the next player. As well, tees may be played along a side or across the fairway. A golfer may not encounter the same tee/green combination even after a significant number of times playing the entire course or track, as the combination may be changed daily. Another opportunity is for specific tee-green combinations to be designated and requested by specific players, allowing players to request a specific route of play that may be tailored to the game desired.  
           [0015]    The fairways, tees and greens may be constructed so that a course may have all of the holes of par 3, 4, 5 or any length. It is possible to use the invention fairway system to create a route that permits a player to make a large number of long drives along straight sections of the fairway. It is also possible to create a game on the same fairway track that demands a player execute a series of shorter drives around bends, or doglegs in the track, focusing in on the short precision game. Both of these games may be played on the same course track, and even at the same time.  
           [0016]    Another benefit would be the ability of a single course to be used for an event or tournament allowing a single track to be played repeatedly but with different routes. This provides the participants with a series of distinct golf games and adds variety to the play available in a single locale over the course of an event. As well, the track may be adjusted to each participant&#39;s skill level allowing players of varied skills to play along the same track but with distinct routes, each player having a route tailored to their skill level. Another benefit is the ability to begin routes of play from anywhere throughout the golf track layout allowing for tremendous variability in course directional patterns.  
       
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0017]    [0017]FIG. 1 is an illustrative plan of an embodiment of the invention including a number tees and greens associated with a single fairway track circumnavigating a central body of water.  
         [0018]    [0018]FIG. 2 is a schematic of a possible play route of the track depicted in FIG. 1.  
         [0019]    [0019]FIG. 3 is a schematic of an alternate possible play route of the track depicted in FIG. 1.  
         [0020]    [0020]FIG. 4 is a depiction of the track of FIG. 1 in conjunction with a number of traditional fairways, and schematics of possible routes of play.  
         [0021]    [0021]FIG. 5 is a depiction of an embodiment of the invention comprised of two intersecting tracks using the off and outside the main directional fairway margin tees and greens.  
         [0022]    [0022]FIG. 6 is a depiction of an open track embodiment of the invention using the off and outside the main directional fairway margin tees and greens. 
     
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION  
       [0023]    Referring now to FIG. 1, herein is shown generally a golf course constructed in accordance with the teachings of the present invention. The golf course has a plurality of routes of play along the single fairway indicated generally at  10 , which circumnavigates a central body of water  14 . Tee areas are represented by squares  4 . Greens are represented by ovoids  8 . On each green  8  there is a golf hole placed for play. The singular track depicted allows multiple greens  8  and tees  4  to be places placed off and outside the main directional fairway margin of the track&#39;s  10  length. Play may be between any green  8  and tee  4 . This potential allows a near limitless combination of greens  8  and tees  4  to be played.  
         [0024]    During normal course of play, a golfer would, of course, only use a single designated tee  4  among numerous possible tees, and a single designated green  8  among numerous possible greens for each golf hole to be played. It is generally preferable for the greens  8  and tees  4  to be located off and outside of the fairway  10  as depicted in the figures. In a preferred embodiment, the greens  8  would be approximately twenty yards outside the boundary of the fairway  10 , and the tees  4  would be approximately ten yards outside the boundary of the fairway  10 .  
         [0025]    In FIG. 1, Combinations and course of play along the fairway  10  are represented with three possible routes depicted. The first,  18  indicates a tee  4  and proceeding in a clockwise direction, a cross fairway  10  target green  8  is the first green  8  available on the golfer&#39;s left. A second route depicted  20 , indicates a tee  4  and a track along the fairway  10  of a sharp dogleg to the right, crossing the fairway to the second available green. A third route  22  depicted, indicates a sharp dogleg, bypassing the first available green  8  and without crossing the fairway, a return to the same side of the fairway to the designated green  8 .  
         [0026]    This fairway design permits a wide variety of individual golf holes with sharp doglegs as depicted in the diagram,  20 ,  22 , and well as relatively straight routes  18 . The invention also permits individual players to design their own route of play tailored to fit their need for the game to be played. If the game to be played is to focus on long drives, the route selected may be made to terminate on bends in the fairway and maximize the opportunity to play straight sections of the course. Such a potential series of holes is shown as could be played in FIG. 2. If the desire is to play to the short game, focusing on shorter precise shots, then maximum use of the fairway bends would allow for such a game to be played, such a route is depicted in FIG. 3. With a large number of greens  8  and tees  4  available to the player and greenskeeper, a number of greens and tees may be removed from regular play for maintenance and repair without appreciably effecting the available playing area or the majority of possible routes.  
         [0027]    To allow players to effectively play the course, regardless of their chosen routes, par for all green  8  tee  4  combinations will be designated. This may also be facilitated by providing a number of maps outlining the possible routes of play, depending on the route to be take for that game. This may be accomplished by having a computer generate a specific map for each player before each game. This may also be accomplished, or augmented by indicators placed at each tee  4 , mapping the routes and par to various available greens  8 . If specific greens are to be closed, they may be so indicated at the tees that may access that green, or on the maps provided to players, or by other similar means.  
         [0028]    Another possibly efficiency of land use and golf course implementation is also apparent in the ability of allowing players to play closer together. Specific routes may be designated to allow players to be staggered across the fairway so that no two sequential golfers or groups of golfers are playing to the same green. This allows golfers to reach and putt on adjacent greens  8  at the same time without having to wait for the golfer or group of golfers ahead of them to finish play on their hole.  
         [0029]    Those skilled in the art will appreciate that the particular layout of the single contiguous track fairway in FIG. 1 is chosen for illustrative purposes only, and that the present invention contemplates myriad other possible permutations of fairway arrangement. The preferred embodiment of the invention is as a contiguous track as depicted. However, the benefits of the invention may also be realized in the use of one or more very long fairways with a number of greens ad tees disposed off and outside the main directional fairway margin the length thereof. Such an arrangement allows a number of holes to be played along the length of a single fairway. The invention is also designed to be both as a stand alone single track as depicted in FIG. 1, or may be used in combination with traditional fairways as depicted in FIG. 4. Other embodiments include multiple variable play fairway tracks in association with each other, in series. As shown in FIG. 5, an illustrative embodiment of the invention is depicted showing a first track  100  intersecting a second track  200 .  
         [0030]    [0030]FIG. 4 depicts the benefits of the addition of the invention to a traditional fairway. In the figure, play from a tee to a green is shown on the track along routes  31  and  33 . On the completion of the second hole  33 , the player may elect to transition to a traditional fairway, following the route  35 ,  37 ,  39 ,  41 ,  43 ,  45 ,  53 , then resuming play along the track at  47 . Or the player may elect to return to the track earlier, such as on the completion of hole  37 , resuming the track playing along  49 ,  51  and  47 .  
         [0031]    The disclosed embodiments of the invention, along with the provided figures are for illustrative purposes only. To one skilled in the art, the flexibility of this invention will permit a near infinite number of permutations and combinations with both multiple track embodiments, and well as combinations of the invention with other known methods of playing golf. The disclosure and figures herein should in no way be considered limiting in the application of the invention, which is defined by, and limited only by the claims.