Did any courses go through with a rest period?

[DeanoMK]

Leighton Buzzard only has 12 holes open currently and has been this way since 27th December, one of those is a temporary tee, one is a temporary green and one is a temporary hole.

Apparently some drainage has collapsed on the back 9 which is causing problems, not sure if this is being rectified or not though.

Whole course really could do with a rest and it's something I would be in support of every year to be honest

 

[Oddsocks]

Your logic and arguments are missing one key element: the customer (AKA member). People pay a lot of money to be members of a golf club. If the weather / course is playable, people want to play golf.

Which is a point I made further up the thread to someone else. Would they have rather the course rest for 2 wet months than get hammered?

 

[2blue]

Our place largely works on 'the course closes its self' ie. folk won't bother playing if it gets too bad.
When conditions dictate the course moves to yellow tees only & is shortened some 200yds using other tee areas but is always playing on grass tees, full greens & no mandatory mats, so is very popular with Societies & members from other N Leeds Clubs that are either closed or heavily restricted.
The Club's owners invest heavily in whats required for the course to stay fully open during the Winter & still be able to recover rapidly in the Spring. Whilst it will never be in as good a condition as our more restricted neighbours courses it certainly works pretty effectively.
Stages of further restrictions are...
1. Electric trolleys with winter wheels
2. Buggies on the buggy paths
3. All trolleys & Buggies on the paths
4. No Buggies. Please carry if you can with trolleys still on paths.

I'm one of the few Members using a mat though one or two are discovering the pleasures of playing off a SPURK mat especially as my current Club Comp results are raising a few eyebrows.

 

[Deleted member 3432]

Which is a point I made further up the thread to someone else. Would they have rather the course rest for 2 wet months than get hammered?

Wasn't it 16 degrees down south the other day?

Doesn't get that warm up here in summer.....

On a more serious note if courses are that wet then keep trolleys off them and I know mats polarise opinion (I was definately anti mats for years) but after the last couple of seasons the proof is before your eyes in spring as the course starts drying out and there is a lovely divot free golf course to play off.

 

[davidy233]

Wasn't it 16 degrees down south the other day?

Doesn't get that warm up here in summer.....

On a more serious note if courses are that wet then keep trolleys off them and I know mats polarise opinion (I was definately anti mats for years) but after the last couple of seasons the proof is before your eyes in spring as the course starts drying out and there is a lovely divot free golf course to play off.

Interestingly enough i walked the Old Course on Sunday and there was still lots of evidence of divots on the 6th - it's over a month since they went to mats - I like mats on our course in winter, makes a big difference to how the courses are in the spring - and winter golf is really just a way of getting out of the house for a walk.

 

[Swingalot]

We don't have "rest periods", just close when the ground is saturated, like now.
Currently I would say the ground is too soft to do anything around the course that involves more than a person.

What we are doing though now is testing for leatherjackets after the massive damage sustainied last year.

Interested in that last bit, how do they test for them?

 

[sunshine]

Wasn't it 16 degrees down south the other day?

Doesn't get that warm up here in summer.....

It only got to 15 degrees in my part of tropical Hertfordshire, but it was dry as well and it was great to get out for a couple of rounds without having to wrap up in winter gear.

Judging by the busy tee sheet, everyone enjoys their winter golf at my place, even though it's on clay, so 2 months "rest" would prove very unpopular. And I can't say our course was any better following the enforced lockdown rest periods in 2020 and 2021.

 

[Bunkermagnet]

Interested in that last bit, how do they test for them?

Rectangles of plastic sheeting are pinned to the ground in various locations, especially those most badly affected by the leatherjackets last year. It causes the ground to sweat and brings them to the surface.
They used this method (with greater area coverage) to great success last year in the fight against the LJ's as a way of killing them off.

 

[Swingalot]

Rectangles of plastic sheeting are pinned to the ground in various locations, especially those most badly affected by the leatherjackets last year. It causes the ground to sweat and brings them to the surface.
They used this method (with greater area coverage) to great success last year in the fight against the LJ's as a way of killing them off.

Yep seen that to bring them to the surface and then dispose of them. That will be the next thing, having to re-home the little buggers in a new piece of habitat rather than killing them

 

[Deleted member 29109]

Yep seen that to bring them to the surface and then dispose of them. That will be the next thing, having to re-home the little buggers in a new piece of habitat rather than killing them

Crows are still digging up large areas of our course, despite there being no leather jackets.