Every golf hole design begins with a brief — a set of requirements and constraints that the designer must work within. In professional practice, the brief comes from the client: the golf club, the resort, the developer who commissioned the course.

For your Stage 1 capstone, your brief is as follows. You are designing a single hole for a new golf course at a site of your choice. The site has the following features: a gentle slope from high ground on the left to lower ground on the right, a small natural pond in the lower right corner, and several mature trees in the center. The surrounding landscape is parkland — soft, wooded, green.

Your hole must be a par-4. It must use all three major site features (slope, pond, trees) as meaningful elements of the design. It must have a clear safe route and a clear risky route from the tee. It must have a green that creates interesting putting situations.

A brief is not a restriction. It is the creative engine that produces design. The greatest golf holes were designed within tight constraints — and became great because of how the designer responded to them.