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play courses which have the charac- teristics they prefer. Golf course de- signers, recreation directors, and public officials should be aware of play characteristics that golfers pre- fer and should provide them. The United States Golf Associa- tion (USGA) has defined both the characteristics which make a course difficult and the degree of that dif- ficulty. The association collected the data for this study with a question- naire containing 13 items of golf course difficulty. It developed the questionnaire by using the United States Golf Association (USGA) Men's Golf Course Rating System (USGA, 1985b) as the framework. USGA surveyed a total of 322 (263 males and 59 females) from six courses in the Reno, Nevada, and Sacramento, California, areas to assess their preferences for charac- teristics of difficulty on a golf course. The survey's 13 items of dif- ficulty are listed separately. Survey takers recorded responses on a five - point scale of Rrongly Agree (S) Agree (4), Undecided (3), Disagree (2), and Strongly Dkwgree (1). Thirteen Items of Golf Course Difficulty 1. I prefer courses that make shots tougher compared to playing courses that make shots easier. 2. I prefer fairways where my stance may be extremely un- even compared to only level. 3. I prefer fairways with mounds and level areas to fairways that are only level. 4. I prefer hitting onto elevated greens compared to hitting onto greens level with the fairway. 5. I prefer narrow fairways, 30 yards wide compared to wide fairways, 55 yards wide. 6. I prefer straight fairways to fair- ways with doglegs. 7. I prefer playing from the tees farthest back compared to play- ing tees that are more forward. BY RON BAILEY 8. I prefer water hazards I can easi- ly avoid to water hazards to which I have to play close. 9. I prefer greens with water hazards nearby to greens hav- ing no water hazards. 10. I prefer fairways lined with trees compared to -fairways with a few trees. 11. I prefer open fairways that allow for easier shots compared to fairways with a tree placed to make shots tougher. 12. I prefer shallow sand bunkers on both sides of the fairway to having one shallow bunker on one side. 13• I prefer deep sand bunkers around the greens compared to shallow sand bunkers. The results of the studv indicated that when female and male gol- fers were combined, they preferred eight of the more difficult character- istics and two of the less difficult. In three of the items, they had no pref- erence. It was obvious that, col- lectively, male and female golfers preferred the difficult characteris- tics more often than they did the easier ones. Both male and female golfers pre- ferred "tree lined fairways" more than "fairways having few trees." Trees offer aesthetics, hazards, and focus to a course. They are beautiful, provide shade, and cool the en- vironment; perhaps that is why re- spondents preferred tree -lined fair- ways. As a hazard, trees can interfere with a golfer's shots, particularly if they hover over the fairway. When trees line the fairway, they frame the intended path of the ball and enable the golfer to focus in on the target area with more assurance. Both genders preferred "fairways with mounds and level areas" to "fairways that are only level." Prefer- ence is highest when moderate amounts of complexity exist. Com- plexity is the number of in- dependently perceived elements in a scene. Mounds offer mystery and complexity to a course which, according to environmental psy- chologists, are preferable. Mounds in the fairways offer a safe and easily seen target for the golfer and may prevent a ball from rolling into the rough by deflecting it back into the fairway. Mounds also may offer a sense of visual mystery. With the existence of level areas between the mounds, the golfer may feel comfortable about the fairness of the fairway and intrigued with the mysterious look mounding offers. "Courses that 'make shots tougher" were preferred over "courses that make shots easier." Both the male and female golfers preferred to be challenged as op- posed to being bored. Male and female golfers pre- ferred "hitting to elevated greens." Elevation could be a few feet to per- haps ten or 20. The appeal to golfers by this characteristic may be similar to that of mounds. Both genders preferred "fairways shaped like a dogleg" over "straight fairways," probably because they offer mystery and challenge to the golfer who must land the ball in a specific area in order for the follow- ing shot to be successful. Both genders also preferred "shallow bunkers on both sides or one side of the fairway." Apparently the golfers felt the presence of two bunkers, termed the squeeze effect by the USGA, was not a problem. Uncommon to most of the results of this study, both males and females preferred the less difficult characteristics in two items: "wide fairways" and "fairways with only level stances." Perhaps a sense of P&R/IMAY 1989/39