Golf Digest Armchair Architect Competition

This year when major venues are really major, and the British Open celebrates its 150th anniversary at St. Andrews, we ask: Where's the site of the next great golf hole? Help us find it. Using Google Earth, locate the perfect site, then design one hole that fits the landscape. We suggest you design the hole using Google SketchUp, the software-modeling program that helped produce this hole. But another program or any medium, even a napkin, will suffice if it impresses our judges: Golf Digest Architecture Editor Ron Whitten and a panel of golf architects. The winner will enjoy a round of golf with Pete Dye, and the hole design will be published in Golf Digest, which has a history of architecture coverage and creating Armchair Architect contests during its 60 years.

GETTING STARTED

1. Download Google SketchUp and Google Earth [they're free and available for both Windows and Macintosh computers]

2. Learn to build your golf course design with SketchUp by watching these step-by-step video tutorials:

• Getting started: Find your location in Google Earth
• Creating fairways
• Adding tees and greens
• Adding bunkers and hazards
• The finishing touches
• Posting your entries to the Google 3D Warehouse

3. Design a golf hole for a particular location in the world and give your model a precise geographic location with Google Earth.

4. Use these models to help design the golf hole of your dreams. Inside this collection you will find fairways, greens, bunkers, ponds, streams, flag sticks, and just about anything else you need to create the perfect hole.

4. Upload your geographically-located golf hole to the Google 3D Warehouse. To upload your model to the 3D Warehouse you must create a Google Account. There is no charge to create an account. To sign up for a Google Account, visit google.com/accounts.

5. Once you've built and uploaded your golf hole, fill out the contest entry form.

Starts 9:00 AM EDT 6/5/10 and ends 5:00 PM EDT 8/15/10. Open to amateur designers who are legal residents of the 50 United States/D.C. and Canada (excluding Quebec) 13 or older, except employees of Sponsor, their immediate families and those living in the same household. Void in Quebec, outside the 50 United States/D.C./Canada, and where prohibited. A.R.V. of prize $2,500: Sponsor: Golf Digest Publications. Click here to view complete contest rules.