Do our courses need to try harder?

Ghosts?

  • Yes

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • No

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JustOne

JustOne

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Following on from a post by Bratty about a course he played in Florida I couldn't help but think just how crap most of the courses really are that we/you might play locally, I mean does your course have bunkering like this?...

13256318.gif


Dp you think our golf courses should make more effort (especially for the amount they charge) or are you happy?
 
The question is also, do you want to play on a course like that?

There are plenty of other ways to make a course challenging without putting in acres of bunkering. Granted it looks good but does it actually make the course better?
 
I would rather try to "plot" my way around places like Walton Heath or Hankley Common than play courses like that.
Nice as it looks, it reminds me of Pyrford.
Lot of good those bunkers would be during November/December/January/February when they are either bone hard because they are frosted over or full of water
 
I can think of 6 courses local to me that are over 100 years old.... dont think Florida was populated until the 1920's.

Things were done different in Britain all those years ago.
I do like american style courses tho.
 
They do look nice from above. Lush green fairways and gleaming white sand.
Just cannot see them looking like that over here considering the difference in weather we receive when compared with Florida.

Also, the game is hard enough without having to negotiate your way round large swarths of bunkers protecting the greens.
 
I agree with Smiffy :eek: ;) - much prefer to plot my way round a course

Not a huge fan of 'resort' courses which just encourage you to blast away, although granted they are excellently maintained and offer fantastic value golf.

You also don't need loads of bunkers on a course to make it tough - I was a member at London Scottish on Wimbledon Common for years which didn't have any. It wasn't long - most of the par 4's were around the 300 yard mark, but every hole was pretty tight and it's main defence was the length and toughness of it's par 3's, and also the pace and difficulty of the greens. Was very rarely taken apart.

As for my own place, yes they do need to try harder on course maintenance, which is probably the main reason I will be looking elsewhere next year!!
 
I like courses with real bunkers that are penal if you go in them, such as those at courses like StAndrews.
Click to expand...

Definitely. Go somewhere like Woodhall Spa and play the Hotchkin course and you'll see what proper bunkering is like.

Size isn't everything! :D
 
Bunkers are only any good if they're put in the right place. At my old club, I'm sure they just dug some holes and put sand in them wherever thr digger happened to be.

With regard to the picture, I'm not sure I'd want bunkering like that on the course I play every week. Sure as a one-off visit to a club like that - Oxfordshire springs to mind - then brilliant. But get in one of those and it can take all day to get out. I'm sure I saw a Camel train in the bunker on the 5th at The Oxfordshire when I played there...

Fairly happy with the condition of APGC. It could always be better but for what we pay it's not bad. I just have an issue with areas of rough halfway along some fairways that are supposed to stop mahoosive drives but in reality nobody can reach them and the shorter hitters tend to get caught in it with their 2nd shots.
 
I prefer courses that have a natural look and feel. Some modern ones seem "over designed" just for effect. Courses should be well looked after but the over manicured look doesn't really work for me.
 
Strategically placed bunkers are all that is required on any course, and lets face it, on the Hole that the OP has posted, which looks like a Par 3, if I went into any of that sand, I think I'd be giving the game up !!
 
I agree with Smiffy :eek: ;) - much prefer to plot my way round a course

Not a huge fan of 'resort' courses which just encourage you to blast away, although granted they are excellently maintained and offer fantastic value golf.

You also don't need loads of bunkers on a course to make it tough - I was a member at London Scottish on Wimbledon Common for years which didn't have any. It wasn't long - most of the par 4's were around the 300 yard mark, but every hole was pretty tight and it's main defence was the length and toughness of it's par 3's, and also the pace and difficulty of the greens. Was very rarely taken apart.
Click to expand...

Good point. Amazing how many people look at the card on the 1st and confidently predict an easy 36 point round and come off the 18th shaking their heads as they add their score up and find its a long way short of that mark.
 
Not a fan of this type of bunkering. Played at a Dave Thomas Designed course in Aberdeen that had bunkers every where and no bugger bothered to rake after themselves.
 
If our course had swathes of bunkers like in the picture. I would need a 6 iron with SW bounce on the sole. And the rest of the irons as well.

Can you imagine bunkers like that in this country. Flipping great holes in them when the local wildlife decides to make them home. Full of leaves for 2 months of the year. Full of water for 4 months of the year. All the sand raked to the back edge by well meaning golfers. Trodden edges. Full of stones ready to take a chunk out of your gleaming forged wedge. No thanks.

I'm sure it's easier for the ground staff to mow a bit of grass than look after huge great bunkers.

But back to the op. Of course courses could be better looked after or maintained. I'm sure even the best courses in the UK the greenkeepers think that it would be nice to do this that or the other. It all comes down to cost. Not just of the upkeep, but also the staffing.

You pays your money...................
 
can't see the picture but to answer the question, yes the course could try harder - or perhaps could focus the hard work that they do a little better.
we have few bunkers (we're getting another as a fix to a perennial drainage issue) and some of those are badly positioned - you would have to try really hard to catch one or two of them.
I don't think there is any excuse for the badly overhung, sparsely sanded bunkers that you meet on too many courses.
 
The only course that I've played comes close to this much bunkering is Chart Hills (the Anaconda!?!) and that's only one hole. However, given the state of most bunkers here, I'd hate to play Old Corkscrew (pictured in James' post) layout in the UK!

I think more investment is needed in making bunkers more durable or playable. Let's face it, all the tips I've read in magazines teach me how to play bunker shots out of bunkers with sand! Soft, fluffy sand. Not builder's yard waste!

Certainly the bunkers at Westerham need a good amount of TLC and cash!
 
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