At what stage of winter golf is your Club in?

[sunshine]

All this talk of winter is quite miserable. It was a beautiful autumn day in Hertfordshire today, 22 degrees, many people wearing shorts. I thought most of England was enjoying similar weather!6

 

[rulefan]

All this talk of winter is quite miserable. It was a beautiful autumn day in Hertfordshire today, 22 degrees, many people wearing shorts. I thought most of England was enjoying similar weather!6

Poured down all day 12*

 

[Golfnut1957]

6 months with zero growth. Where are you? The North Pole?

North East..........same thing.

 

[Neeko1988]

I’d rather still get out than be dragged out shopping with the wife and kids.

When your only chance of a game is Saturday morning then I’ll be out playing unless it’s a hurricane.

I get that, In that case I would pay and play somewhere else

 

[Neeko1988]

Better than no golf for 4-5 months. It really isn't that big a deal to hit off a mat and it's a definite improvement on getting a face full of mud.

I get where you’re coming from, not sure what it’s like where you’re from but I’d just find somewhere to play that’s relatively dry.

I don’t see the fun in using fairway mats or getting a face full of mud ?

 

[Mandofred]

I get where you’re coming from, not sure what it’s like where you’re from but I’d just find somewhere to play that’s relatively dry.

I don’t see the fun in using fairway mats or getting a face full of mud ?

N England.....relatively dry.....?....???? Guess I could join a club in the dry desert midlands?

It's the UK...it's wet...it's muddy unless you are on a sandy soil......

 

[Lord Tyrion]

I get where you’re coming from, not sure what it’s like where you’re from but I’d just find somewhere to play that’s relatively dry.

I don’t see the fun in using fairway mats or getting a face full of mud ?

Northumberland. Unless you play links golf here then it's either mats or mud face ?. I'm not a fan of links golf so.................

To be fair there are plenty of good draining courses here but it gets wet, temps are low and so it can get soggy. It's the reality of the situation ?‍

 

[SwingsitlikeHogan]

Out of interest I asked our golf manager why we have winter rules in places for mark, pick (clean) and place on short cut areas given our fairways are generally dry and keep in good nic over winter. We do it for fairness, so that players can clean picked up dirt/mud off the ball, and to help in players enjoyment of playing over the winter months. We also only go on to winter greens/temps when the main greens are frozen/frosted.

 

[Golfnut1957]

We had the first closure of this winter yesterday. Torrential rain saw ours and just about every other parkland course in the area closed due to saturated conditions. It is open again today but as predicted we are now on the shorter winter course, and I imagine we will be until spring.
What surprises me is the huge amount of support for changing to the short course, people have been clamouring for it, predominantly because a shorter course means shorter, quicker rounds.
NB, it is short in length, not holes and is a measured course.

 

[bernix]

our Old Course will close from December 12 to mid March
our New Course remains open whenever weather allows play

 

[Orikoru]

All this talk of winter is quite miserable. It was a beautiful autumn day in Hertfordshire today, 22 degrees, many people wearing shorts. I thought most of England was enjoying similar weather!6

Yeah, Saturday was stunning as was most of October. Right now it seems like we're going to pay for it with a thoroughly miserable November!

 

[Orikoru]

I don’t know if it’s just me but I would rather not play if I had to carry and use a fairway mat!

Better than no golf for 4-5 months. It really isn't that big a deal to hit off a mat and it's a definite improvement on getting a face full of mud.

I've got no problem carrying, I just go down to 8 or 9 clubs for winter, but I've never played off mats and I'm not sure I'd want to. If you're hitting every shot off a mat surely you might as well be at a nicely heated driving range under cover?

 

[Mandofred]

I've got no problem carrying, I just go down to 8 or 9 clubs for winter, but I've never played off mats and I'm not sure I'd want to. If you're hitting every shot off a mat surely you might as well be at a nicely heated driving range under cover?

Yeah, kind of like just hitting off a range mat......I'm fine with that, you still have to hit a good shot to get the ball to go where you want it to. Biggest advantages, no mud in the face, no huge wet divot out of the ground, and....a slightly fat shot isn't penalized as badly as hitting off the ground/mud. I've already paid my membership fees, last thing I want to do is spend a bunch more money to hit at a driving range....golf costs quite a bit as it is.

 

[Lord Tyrion]

I've got no problem carrying, I just go down to 8 or 9 clubs for winter, but I've never played off mats and I'm not sure I'd want to. If you're hitting every shot off a mat surely you might as well be at a nicely heated driving range under cover?

First off, you get heated driving ranges! That's posh .

Playing a course is entirely different to whacking balls on a range. You still have to work your way around it, you still have a sociable chat with pp. It's a compromise but not that big a one.

 

[BiMGuy]

First off, you get heated driving ranges! That's posh .

Playing a course is entirely different to whacking balls on a range. You still have to work your way around it, you still have a sociable chat with pp. It's a compromise but not that big a one.

Other than the hassle of carrying the thing around. I used to love playing off a mat. Who doesn’t like a perfect lie ever shot. Much better than playing of a soggy fairway. Oh and the spin ?

Edited to add. There is also the comedy value of someone hitting it mega fat the the mat going further than the ball ?

 

[Orikoru]

First off, you get heated driving ranges! That's posh .

Playing a course is entirely different to whacking balls on a range. You still have to work your way around it, you still have a sociable chat with pp. It's a compromise but not that big a one.

If my club went down this route I'm sure I would warm to it. It does beat closing the course!

 

[Backache]

There was a thread on mats recently.

Since I bought a spurk mat last year as was recommended on the forum I have no issues with mats , they are a better surface than soggy fairways, better than many range mats and if they help preserve the fairway whats not to like?

 

[Mandofred]

Other than the hassle of carrying the thing around. I used to love playing off a mat. Who doesn’t like a perfect lie ever shot. Much better than playing of a soggy fairway. Oh and the spin ?

Edited to add. There is also the comedy value of someone hitting it mega fat the the mat going further than the ball ?

And then the guy complaining and blaming the mat. When I've tried to explain to the person that you are supposed to hit the ball FIRST.....they just don't deal with it well.

Spin....oh yeah. Sometimes it just shocks me hitting a wedge into the green and getting "pro" type backspin.

 

[sunshine]

There was a thread on mats recently.

Since I bought a spurk mat last year as was recommended on the forum I have no issues with mats , they are a better surface than soggy fairways, better than many range mats and if they help preserve the fairway whats not to like?

What is a spunk mat? No wonder you have soggy fairways.

 

[clubchamp98]

What is a spunk mat? No wonder you have soggy fairways.

Think it says Spurk!
It’s just a makers name .