Course set up in adverse weather for comps

[patricks148]

We had out last big comp yesterday, and the course was set up very tough, some of the pins were in crazy positions about 4 of the downwind holes were on the front end, with bunkers maybe feet short of those positions. The weather was forcaste to be bad with 40MPH gusts. yest the course was still set up like it was a Match play final with no wind.

Does your club set the course up differently for comps depending on the weather etc?? or take the weather into consideration?

 

[Rlburnside]

I've been calling for our club to set the course up better when it's windy, just one example of many, we played our club seniors competition in very windy conditions and the whites were set right back on the tees, I argued that they should be playing nearer the front of the tee boxes on holes playing into the wind.

So last year I went to the agm and put forward my points, my thoughts were mainly, its crazy to set the course to hard in adverse weather conditions and to remember we also play this game for fun, mainly younger players it has to be said didn't think there was a problem.

But my points were taken on board and it was agreed that we would take the conditions of the day into account, also I volunteered to be one of the greens convenes, now I can go out and help set the course up.😀

 

[Slab]

Yeah its easily spotted at the local course that on windy days (for general play or comps) that the tees and pins are moved based on predicted wind strength/direction

 

[Deleted member 3432]

Course always set up sensibly. Nearly always windy so pin positions are fair and greens not overly fast to prevent balls rolling off the greens on the most exposed greens.

If we are playing off the blue tees they will be moved up if the forecast is breezier than usual so people can reach the fairways on 3 of the holes.

Helps that the head greenkeeper is a former county golfer so he knows how to set the course up properly.

 

[duncan mackie]

We take into account general course conditions; and would certainly take into account predicted extremes of weather - but these are very rare for us!

 

[Tashyboy]

What I cannot understand is this. Last week we had a stableford comp. the back nine at times was brutal with the gusting wind. Our back nine is more open than the front nine. Off the whites the course is 73, yellows is 71 sometimes 70. The conditions were the same for everyone. Yet at the end of the day top score for whites was 35 points with SS at 75. For the yellows highest score was 39 with SS set at 70. How's that happen that the differance between the two setups is 3 shots max but on that comp day it goes to five shots. Whether it is relevant or not, as has been said the game should be fun.
I played the other week and came in with 40 points,and won. I was cut 2 X 0.3. I played with a guy who is 72, he plays off 19.4 he shot 38 points he was overjoyed and was chuffed to bits to be getting a cut. He finished in the BZ and was gutted. Following week, comp was won with 39 points and the winner was cut 3x 0.3. I just don't understand it. If it is not relevant we might as well just stick the pins in the hardest place possible and let the computer sort it out.

 

[HomerJSimpson]

Being a parkland course we aren't so susceptible to extreme conditions and the greenstaff tend to change the flags for weekend play late on Friday afternoon (unless it's a big two round event like club championships). I am not sure they really make to many changes based on wind alone and generally 99% of the time they are very good about not putting flags in daft positions anyway so it's pretty playable regardless

 

[Jacko_G]

Simon at Mach Dunes is very good (especially for Open competitions) at taking conditions into account.

For instance the last hole is a 4 club green if it's into a wind he'll move the tee forward and keep the flag on the front half. Other holes as well he'll be conscious of slopes etc if it's too windy.

I played on Saturday in 25+ winds and at one point putted right off the green with a downhill, downwind putt which I hardly touched. The ball just kept going and going. It would have been impossible to keep the ball short of the flag.

 

[patricks148]

Emailed the club about this and the head green keeper came back with "they were put in high points due to the rain forecast" TBH i don't have and issue with all but 4 of those which were possible the worste place to put the flags full stop. i could think of 3 alternative locations better than the ones they chose and would still avoid any water collection locations... even though there was not a drop of rain all morning

 

[Grant85]

We had out last big comp yesterday, and the course was set up very tough, some of the pins were in crazy positions about 4 of the downwind holes were on the front end, with bunkers maybe feet short of those positions. The weather was forcaste to be bad with 40MPH gusts. yest the course was still set up like it was a Match play final with no wind.

Does your club set the course up differently for comps depending on the weather etc?? or take the weather into consideration?

We had a competition on Saturday and high winds were forecast.
There were at least 2 pins on sloping positions (with the wind blowing back down the slope) that would have been impossible to lay close to from above the hole and very difficult to stop it from below without either stopping short and / or missing on the low side or hitting the hole.

I'd imagine there were plenty of 4 putts, even from good players. Certainly there were a few in our group.
I guess the greens could have been slower, but they probably did leave them a fraction longer than they might have on a calm day.

I had one where I putted about 12 feet from the front edge of the green. Hit a nice putt that just slipped past on the high side about 6 inches, then the ball stopped and it rolled back into the hole. Who knows if it would have come right back to my feet had it not hit the hole.

 

[patricks148]

We had a competition on Saturday and high winds were forecast.
There were at least 2 pins on sloping positions (with the wind blowing back down the slope) that would have been impossible to lay close to from above the hole and very difficult to stop it from below without either stopping short and / or missing on the low side or hitting the hole.

I'd imagine there were plenty of 4 putts, even from good players. Certainly there were a few in our group.
I guess the greens could have been slower, but they probably did leave them a fraction longer than they might have on a calm day.

I had one where I putted about 12 feet from the front edge of the green. Hit a nice putt that just slipped past on the high side about 6 inches, then the ball stopped and it rolled back into the hole. Who knows if it would have come right back to my feet had it not hit the hole.

our head green keeper came back and was very diffencive, i didn't have a problem with the thought process as they did have to abandon a game a few weeks ago when it lashed it down, but on 4,6,15 and 16 there were far better alternatives that would have avoided the flat bowl area's for higer points in the middle of the green.