Are golf courses becoming easier?

[Simbo]

Every year my workmates hold a "works open" always at the same course. the open is usually the only time I go and play this particular course. I never played last year as I was on holiday so it's been 2 years since I last played it, but played this year and I noticed a huge difference in the difficulty of the course. It's a fairly short course who's defence IMO has always been its long grass for rough. While you didn't need to be a big hitter you needed to be straight. Not the case this year, while it has t gone completely it's certainly noticeable. Iv noticed this happening at a few courses, my own included, I play a few opens and generally only play the course once a year and in the last few years Iv certainly noticed a difference in the courses difficulty.
This seems to be courses answer to the slow play issue now IMO, make it easier so they don't lose as many balls and get round quicker or is it to enhance people's enjoyment of the game as they don't want to/can't practice to up their game to beat the course??

 

[Hobbit]

Its both. I used to be a member at a course that had 150-180 yard carries off the tee and 4 inch rough fairly close to the fairways. Whilst checking the cards, post comps, it became apparent that a number of seniors I used to see playing in the comps were no longer putting their names down but were still seen out in the mid week seniors comps of the yellows.

I canvassed them and asked why. The answer was the carries were too long off the whites and it was becoming a chore. I asked that the rough be cut back to 100yds and the blades dropped to 2 inches apart from out in the jungle areas.

Result; more seniors started playing in them. The rounds took less time and more people enjoyed themselves.

The average scores came down but the winning scores stayed pretty much the same.

 

[palindromicbob]

Every year my workmates hold a "works open" always at the same course. the open is usually the only time I go and play this particular course. I never played last year as I was on holiday so it's been 2 years since I last played it, but played this year and I noticed a huge difference in the difficulty of the course. It's a fairly short course who's defence IMO has always been its long grass for rough. While you didn't need to be a big hitter you needed to be straight. Not the case this year, while it has t gone completely it's certainly noticeable. Iv noticed this happening at a few courses, my own included, I play a few opens and generally only play the course once a year and in the last few years Iv certainly noticed a difference in the courses difficulty.
This seems to be courses answer to the slow play issue now IMO, make it easier so they don't lose as many balls and get round quicker or is it to enhance people's enjoyment of the game as they don't want to/can't practice to up their game to beat the course??

Can we assume you brushed aside the competition and shot a personal best?

 

[Capella]

They do cut the rough back on ours way more than they used to at this time of the year as well. Makes it a lot easier to find your ball, but does not make that much of a difference for the difficulty at ours. Because if you are in the rough at ours, you are normally either under trees or behind a hill or something, so even without the grass being overly long, you are still in serious trouble. There are two or three places where they still keep the longer rough. I am not sure if that has some ecological reason (like cover for birds or something) or if it is because there isn't much of an obstacle on that side of the hole otherwise. We also had massive problems with ticks in the past, that might have been another reason why they decided to keep the rough shorter. I really don't miss the thick and high rough, to be honest. I really find the course hard enough as it is.

 

[HampshireHog]

So many courses have been sanitised over the past few years, primarily to help pace of play. Bad shots are no longer penalised due to shorter rough and bushes being removed. Setting up a course fairly shouldn't mean you don't get penalised for being well off line.

 

[Simbo]

Can we assume you brushed aside the competition and shot a personal best?

Go and read the thread in out of bounds about pointless bickering

 

[patricks148]

probably, at least the few i know have even in the 11 years i've been playing.
my home course has removed a fair bit of gorse even in the time ive been a member, same with Tain far less than when i first played there back in 2006.

even the short parkland course local has made the course far easier, tree's that were once 20 yards in the deep rough, are now on the edge of fairways and the rough there is is not the jungle it
was.

 

[HomerJSimpson]

I think it depends on the type of course. A few P&P's are definitely keeping rough short and easy to find balls and play out of. Ideal for pace of play but not a golfing challenge. Most members clubs I've played recently are tough with club champs coming up or just played

 

[Face breaker]

Not if this evening was anything to go by, played like a true novice...

 

[palindromicbob]

Go and read the thread in out of bounds about pointless bickering

It was a throw away tongue in cheek comment, maybe the amount of bickering on here has raised sensitivity levels but wasn't meant to start a row.

I've heard a few people comment about courses being "easier" but I haven't noticed many changes in the winning score trends which would either indicate the handicaps have lowered to balance the changes or reflect the fact that when people are on their game the bits that made the course tougher didn't affect them.

I remember one local course a few years back decided to grow the second cut and narrow the first cut to toughen up the course because it couldn't add length. It was felt lower handicap players were ripping it apart. Result - low handicap players continued to score because they weren't going into the crap and higher handicap players were still scoring well on the days they played steady because they were also avoiding the crap. Only difference was that anyone on an off day were losing balls with ease resulting in more NR's.

Think courses need to work on getting balance right. I've played a fair few parkland courses where rough is short enough to find a ball without too much hassle but it's lush and cut away from the greens causing it to stand up so balls sit down a bit making it difficult to play a shot that would allow you to really attack the hole from it. Add in a little moisture and it's like velcro to the ball meaning you could easily lose 30 yards or more in run on a slightly errant tee shot. Never mind the fact you need to play out with a more lofted iron than the yardage for your next shot might dictate. Still penal but not resulting in a 5 minute delay while someone uses their full allotted search time before having to go back and play another because they didn't bother thinking about the provisional.

30 yards off the fairway you deserve to lose a ball but 5-10 yards you should at least have a good chance to find it and have some sort of shot?

 

[the_coach]

think the median scores & handicap indexes would attest to most folks not finding improving scores out in play so golf courses cannot for the majority be getting to easy to play

if they were/are then the scores returned & the handicap indexes would be improving rapidly across the board & that just isn't what is taking place

over the golf industry as a whole there is definitely a downturn which is not only affecting poem's but also greatly affecting many clubs
whole bunch of golf clubs finding it tough to exist from what the decline in membership is bringing in annually

so across the board from all pga tours & the manufacturers right down to small clubs both public & private the big question is what to do to keep the game relevant so attractive to a younger generation not just to grow the game but to halt the decline - especially with a whole generation of folks who's family heritage does not include golf - i'm not quite at half of 3 score & ten yet - so at the youngish end of the whole age spectrum and come from a family history of good golfers so I was always goin to play the game - but the game faces very tough competition to bring completely new blood into the fold - as many kids spend a whole bunch of time indoors with screens now

more & more clubs to exist at all rely heavily on the footfall of visitors & visitor groups who by nature tend to be largely made up of recreational golfers who maybes don't play that much throughout the year and those that do play as members elsewhere tend on the whole not to be cat1 golfers
further aways these clubs are from vacation areas the harder attracting visitor footfall is
plus the global change in weather is for sure making a difference in certain geographical areas in the time span through the year of decent weather to get out & play - guessing the uk is perhaps feeling that

so for all those folks to have an enjoyable game of golf so they will come back overtime it makes little sense for the course to be punitively set-up
& also for superintendents there is little sense in the flow of play being even slower as group after group have to spend a whole bunch of time looking for balls - or simply taking a whole bunch of shots to arrive at green high

golf as a whole is in somewhat of a crisis - too difficult course set-ups & too old fashioned club rules certainly ain't goin to help any at all

are courses too easy - would have to say no looking at scores & indexes

 

[mikejohnchapman]

Definately a combination of things I think.

Courses generally are being set up to be more playable and reduce the time taken to play.

Equipment has also improved greatly which helps keep things on the straight and narrow.

 

[Nickrat]

Definately a combination of things I think.

Courses generally are being set up to be more playable and reduce the time taken to play.

Equipment has also improved greatly which helps keep things on the straight and narrow.

My handicap over the last 3 rounds would indicate my course is becoming increasingly difficult

 

[ScienceBoy]

I think this is a good thing, if it helps pace of play then that's great.

Opening up the course not the righ solution for all courses however. Some need to just cut rough under trees and in well used areas, others need to shorten holes or offer alternative to large carries.

IMO many courses try to be more difficult that their usual audience requires, resulting infrustrat golfers and longer rounds.

I hope, where appropriate, this trend picks up pace and continues.

 

[patricks148]

I think this is a good thing, if it helps pace of play then that's great.

Opening up the course not the righ solution for all courses however. Some need to just cut rough under trees and in well used areas, others need to shorten holes or offer alternative to large carries.

IMO many courses try to be more difficult that their usual audience requires, resulting infrustrat golfers and longer rounds.

I hope, where appropriate, this trend picks up pace and continues.

TBH, with my home course and the others mentioned in my post i have found the opposite. I'm not sure its always course difficulty that is the cause of slow play

 

[Lord Tyrion]

Searching for balls in thick grass under trees, searching in thick semi rough just off the fairway. Being in the trees is a punishment, cut the semi by another 1/2"-1" so we can see the ball but still not be able to hit it cleanly. All of that would have taken 15-20 minutes off my round on Sunday. I know this because we searched on 4 occasions for the full 5 minutes for balls in this situation, only once mine I might add. I am not counting big hooks or slices that deserve to be lost. The course would still be hard, just not as hard and not as slow.

I have played other courses recently, Gosforth GC being the stand out one, that did cut under the trees, kept the semi so balls were visible, and it was a joy to play.

 

[patricks148]

on the links courses i'm a member of, Tain had to cut a lot of the broom out as it was dying, once it was all gone grass grew in its place, before the bushes regenerated. Nairn has also cut back a lot of gorse and a couple pg holes now have next to none.

When people fired a ball in the gorse, the ball was gone so a provisional was played. now its rough you get "i might find that", don't and then have to go back to the tee, slowing up play.

 

[Khamelion]

MY home course, added two new holes as part of a redesign, in that redesign, many trees were removed, but many new were added or existing trees moved, also as part of the tree planting, the club has added many new gorse bushes which are native to the area and in time both the trees and gorse will become prominent features of the course.

The club also did the sensible thing of mowing the grass under the tree and removed some of the really low branches. I mean it penal enough you've gone into the trees so not having any grass there, speeds up play in ball finding and at least some of the time you get a swing at your ball.

While the club has taken away it has put back as well, all this done as part of a Golf Architects plan, there's still a couple of holes to be rejigged. The good thing is that the club is not only thinking for the present but also for the future, making the course challenging but not to difficult.

 

[jim8flog]

Definitely not where I play. A few years back they planted over 20000 yes 20k new trees these trees have made a massive difference as they as they now are taller thean a house with a spread that means many shots from the side of fairways can only be played to one side of the green. Rough which was once so short you could get a 5 iron on the back of the ball from virtually anywhere now at such length you are worried about finding the ball in the first place.

25 years ago the winning score was around 9 or more under par nett in the higher divisions that is probably around 5 now.