Angry thread - why are some courses open at this time of year?????????

[Smiffy]

I booked to go to Old Thorns on one of their winter warmer packages. There had been a bit of rain during the preceding week, we were due to go down on a Sunday morning and I was advised to phone the pro shop before leaving home to make sure the course was playable.
Bearing in mind we were going to be travelling for the best part of two hours to get there, it left it a bit "nip and tuck".
Anyhow, managed to get hold of the pro shop just after 7am and the guy said it was a "bit wet in places" but was open. So off we went.
What a bloody shambles.
The course should never (ever) have been open.
Every bunker was completely full (and I mean COMPLETELY full) of water, you could not take relief from casual water because there wasn't anywhere better on the fairways to place a ball down!
A complete and utter nightmare and a waste of both time, money and effort to travel down there.
In hindsight I'd much rather have just lost the money and not bothered to go.
And to top it all off, we were supposed to get a roast dinner included in our package.
What did we get??? Naff all.
I WILL NEVER GO BACK TO OLD THORNS TO PLAY GOLF AGAIN.

 

[CheltenhamHacker]

I booked to go to Old Thorns on one of their winter warmer packages. There had been a bit of rain during the preceding week, we were due to go down on a Sunday morning and I was advised to phone the pro shop before leaving home to make sure the course was playable.
Bearing in mind we were going to be travelling for the best part of two hours to get there, it left it a bit "nip and tuck".
Anyhow, managed to get hold of the pro shop just after 7am and the guy said it was a "bit wet in places" but was open. So off we went.
What a bloody shambles.
The course should never (ever) have been open.
Every bunker was completely full (and I mean COMPLETELY full) of water, you could not take relief from casual water because there wasn't anywhere better on the fairways to place a ball down!
A complete and utter nightmare and a waste of both time, money and effort to travel down there.
In hindsight I'd much rather have just lost the money and not bothered to go.
And to top it all off, we were supposed to get a roast dinner included in our package.
What did we get??? Naff all.
I WILL NEVER GO BACK TO OLD THORNS TO PLAY GOLF AGAIN.

So you're saying you don't like Old Thorns? Just to be clear.

 

[chrisd]

I booked to go to Old Thorns on one of their winter warmer packages. There had been a bit of rain during the preceding week, we were due to go down on a Sunday morning and I was advised to phone the pro shop before leaving home to make sure the course was playable.
Bearing in mind we were going to be travelling for the best part of two hours to get there, it left it a bit "nip and tuck".
Anyhow, managed to get hold of the pro shop just after 7am and the guy said it was a "bit wet in places" but was open. So off we went.
What a bloody shambles.
The course should never (ever) have been open.
Every bunker was completely full (and I mean COMPLETELY full) of water, you could not take relief from casual water because there wasn't anywhere better on the fairways to place a ball down!
A complete and utter nightmare and a waste of both time, money and effort to travel down there.
In hindsight I'd much rather have just lost the money and not bothered to go.
And to top it all off, we were supposed to get a roast dinner included in our package.
What did we get??? Naff all.
I WILL NEVER GO BACK TO OLD THORNS TO PLAY GOLF AGAIN.

Phils answer to Dufferman !!

So you knew it's bad in the rain - booked to play in december - we have had some big downpours and you still went to play ? Sorry but it's not the courses fault

I disagreed!

 

[Smiffy]

So you're saying you don't like Old Thorns? Just to be clear.

Hate the place with a passion

 

[Foxholer]

Hate the place with a passion

It certainly used to have the reputation for being poorly drained. But that was so long ago that I thought it would have been sorted.

I played it a couple of times in the Japanese ownership days, or maybe just after. Only place I've 5-putted! And from what I thought was going to be a birdie chance!

 

[el marko]

Crown Golf is the problem here. I hate them.

 

[Banzai]

Traditions can be boggy in mid summer, I just wouldn't go there at this time of year.

As for Old Thorns, I quite like it! Isn't the worst by a long chalk for bad conditions if its been raining and I like the 5th hole (I think) going off the side of the hill.

 

[HomerJSimpson]

Old Thorns has always had a reputation for being wet as does Traditions. I'm surprised Silvermere wasn't "too bad" as the back nine and low lying holes always use to be sodden. A few from my club tried Windlesham last week. That use to be really bad in the winter but they had apparently done a load of drainage work in the last few years. Apparently they clearly hadn't done enough and they vowed not to return

 

[delc]

Crown Golf is the problem here. I hate them.

As a member of a Crown Group course, I think that is a little unfair! It is true that their portfolio of courses includes some modern courses that are built on less suitable land than many traditional heathland and links courses, but these were often inherited from failed debenture companies, and they do generally look after them pretty well, given these difficulties. Our course, Batchworth Park, is rarely less than immaculate.

 

[chrisd]

Shouldn't courses and their managers be just a little bit more honest and they would retain much more goodwill. If, like Dufferman you book and have to pay at the time of booking, they know who you are and they should know how to get hold of you. If the course is unplayable to the level that 3 holes are closed, surely in today's age of mobile phones, Facebook, Twitter etc it shouldn't get to arrival at the course to find it is a quagmire and unplayable.

 

[pokerjoke]

Shouldn't courses and their managers be just a little bit more honest and they would retain much more goodwill. If, like Dufferman you book and have to pay at the time of booking, they know who you are and they should know how to get hold of you. If the course is unplayable to the level that 3 holes are closed, surely in today's age of mobile phones, Facebook, Twitter etc it shouldn't get to arrival at the course to find it is a quagmire and unplayable.

Im totally in agreement.
If it was unplayable then it should not have been open,if it was open it has to be playable,imo.

 

[Foxholer]

As a member of a Crown Group course, I think that is a little unfair! It is true that their portfolio of courses includes some modern courses that are built on less suitable land than many traditional heathland and links courses, but these were often inherited from failed debenture companies, and they do generally look after them pretty well, given these difficulties. Our course, Batchworth Park, is rarely less than immaculate.

Batchworth Park is nowhere near a typical Crown course!

They didn't 'inherit' any of the courses! They chose to buy them or the group that was for sale!

 

[delc]

Batchworth Park is nowhere near a typical Crown course!

They didn't 'inherit' any of the courses! They chose to buy them or the group that was for sale!

OK they acquired them as 'Fire Sales' after the original debenture or management companies got into difficulties! I have played a number of other Crown Group courses and most of them have been quite nice. The only one I didn't enjoy playing was Merrist Wood, which did seem to be a bit of a bog when I played it, and wasn't that well maintained. The grass on the fairways there was about as long as our semi-rough! Maybe I just caught it on a bad day though! :mmm:

 

[Foxholer]

OK they acquired them as 'Fire Sales' after the original debenture companies got into difficulties! I have played a number of other Crown Group courses and most of them have been quite nice. The only one I didn't enjoy playing was Merrist Wood, which did seem to be a bit of a bog when I played it, and wasn't that well maintained. The grass on the fairways there was about as long as our semi-rough!

I guess you haven't played Traditions then!

Merrist Wood was actually ok when I played it a couple of times. Pre Crown days and not a Fire Sale purchase. Same sort of purchase as Pine Ridge - owner cashing in at retirement. So maybe it was Crown that let it go, or you just encountered it on a poor day/week.

I've no gripe with Crown nor their courses btw. Though they don't normally have the same feel as 'proper' clubs. Batchworth is different in that regard.

 

[HomerJSimpson]

Not sure you can blame Crown Golf per se. Surely it ha to be an on the ground decision by the course manager and in this instance Traditions got it horribly wrong. Mind you a lot of these pay and play courses stay open at all cost. I've played Blue Mountain and Downshire when there was standing water on every hole and there was nowhere to take relief from casual water. Both were slogs and I didn't enjoy either. Neither should have been open and to be honest I should have stopped after nine both times

 

[el marko]

As a member of a Crown Group course, I think that is a little unfair! It is true that their portfolio of courses includes some modern courses that are built on less suitable land than many traditional heathland and links courses, but these were often inherited from failed debenture companies, and they do generally look after them pretty well, given these difficulties. Our course, Batchworth Park, is rarely less than immaculate.

Well in all honesty they are total money grabbers. They have ruined Pine Ridge which about 10 years ago was voted #1 public course in the country - Now they pile on as many people onto the course as possible to sell as many tee times as possible, totally ignoring the fact they have a time sheet. The way they treated Blue mountain last year during the floods was a joke. They didn't even ban trolleys - the place was a bog, but as long as Crown golf was selling tee times they stayed open. I guess the same can be said about Traditions.

They don't care about a lot of their courses and it is a real shame because what was once great independent courses have been taken over.

 

[delc]

H

I guess you haven't played Traditions then!

Merrist Wood was actually ok when I played it a couple of times. Pre Crown days and not a Fire Sale purchase. Same sort of purchase as Pine Ridge - owner cashing in at retirement. So maybe it was Crown that let it go, or you just encountered it on a poor day/week.

I've no gripe with Crown nor their courses btw. Though they don't normally have the same feel as 'proper' clubs. Batchworth is different in that regard.

Batchworth Park is, AFAIK, the only Crown Group course that will not take casual green fee players or (in theory anyway) societies. You have to be a guest of a member, or a member of another Crown Group club.

 

[USER1999]

One of the reasons that I would only ever join a members club. Any where proprietary owned will be run as a business, where closure equals a loss of revenue.

 

[USER1999]

H
Batchworth Park is, AFAIK, the only Crown Group course that will not take casual green fee players or (in theory anyway) societies. You have to be a guest of a member, or a member of another Crown Group club.

My club has taken quite a few members over recent years from Batchworth. They all had the same issue, for the money asked, they can't get on the course when they wanted to. No complaints about the course, just the way the club was run.

 

[delc]

My club has taken quite a few members over recent years from Batchworth. They all had the same issue, for the money asked, they can't get on the course when they wanted to. No complaints about the course, just the way the club was run.

You must be a member at Northwood, Sandy Lodge or Moor Park then? With the online booking system we now have, I never have much of a problem getting the tee time I want.