Fairway mats

[KenL]

Personally wouldn't play anywhere that uses them in the winter. A load of hassle and takes away the whole point of golf. It's about interaction with the ball and turf. Take away either of those and you might as well go down the range or to Top Golf.

Totally disagree with this. My course (a links) uses mats in the winter. We still get out there and can enjoy the game. We don’t use mats on the tees except for par 3s.
Parkland courses would play better hitting off a mat rather than a squelchy mess leaving a foot long divot behind.

 

[rulefan]

Personally wouldn't play anywhere that uses them in the winter. A load of hassle and takes away the whole point of golf. It's about interaction with the ball and turf. Take away either of those and you might as well go down the range or to Top Golf.

Take away playable turf and you might as well go down the range or to Top Golf. Many courses suffer the problem in the winter or very dry summers.

 

[IanM]

My local parkland would have been "more fun" on Saturday using a good quality mat, than playing off the gooey fairway!

Mats come in next week. It's still better than a range session.

 

[RedEyes]

Had the email off our club today that they're compulsory from November 1st.
It was the first time I'd used them last winter, you do get used to them quite quickly, and it's actually enjoyable nipping a spiny chip of a Spurk!

 

[Crazyface]

I use a bit of artificial grass. (free) Does the job well.

 

[simsini]

Compulsory mats from arbitrary dates? The water table is so low here that ponds and lakes around the course have next to no water in them. This Saturday will be 16°C!

 

[IanM]

Compulsory mats from arbitrary dates? The water table is so low here that ponds and lakes around the course have next to no water in them. This Saturday will be 16°C!

You'll not be needing mats then!

But, I agree entirely. It needs to be conditions and weather based, not fixed calendar date regardless.

 

[Slab]

Compulsory mats from arbitrary dates? The water table is so low here that ponds and lakes around the course have next to no water in them. This Saturday will be 16°C!

I’ve never used them but is it fair to say the weather/temp on the day you play doesn’t matter as much as the expected/forecasted weather/temp for the 2 weeks after you play, since that’s when the divot will repair/regrow (or not)

 

[Robster59]

Personally wouldn't play anywhere that uses them in the winter. A load of hassle and takes away the whole point of golf. It's about interaction with the ball and turf. Take away either of those and you might as well go down the range or to Top Golf.

Of course, because playing at the range or at Top Golf gives you exactly the same enjoyment as playing on the course (not!) .

• The social aspect of playing with your friends.
• Differing weather conditions per hole.
• Wind challenges depending on which direction you are playing.
• The remaining challenges of the course (rough, bunkers, greens, etc.)
• Different greens with different challenges.
• Trying to get a decent score in difficult weather conditions.

People make playing off a mat akin to getting your backside rubbed with a brick! It's really not that difficult and allows you to play throughout the winter without severly damaging your course. You'd probably be the first person to complain if the course was cut up come the Spring.
Have a look at this article from Golf Monthy.
Should All Clubs Use Fairway Mats In Winter?

 

[Mandofred]

We are already getting plenty of lies on bare mud. I'm not much of a divot taker, but if the ball is lying on bare mud I have to swing with a steeper angle which will result in a rather deep divot. I just don't get the resistance to mats. You still have to swing the club well to get a decent shot whether it's on the mud/grass or a mat. At the moment, the course closest to me has cut the grass pretty well the same height and you can't tell where the fairway and rough meet. At this point I just don't care and am more than willing to just toss the mat down everywhere until spring. A course I was at maybe 7 years or so ago put lines down on the fairway edges kind of like lines on the road....worked really well. The paint lasted all winter as well if I remember correctly.....another couple of weeks and the grass will pretty well stop growing.

 

[Orikoru]

I'm guessing you can't put a GP card in if you're playing off fairway mats? Or can you? (Sorry if it was already asked.)

 

[D-S]

I'm guessing you can't put a GP card in if you're playing off fairway mats? Or can you? (Sorry if it was already asked.)

Yes you can as long as mats are compulsory and the correct local rule is in place (and hopefully followed).

 

[simsini]

Of course, because playing at the range or at Top Golf gives you exactly the same enjoyment as playing on the course (not!) .

• The social aspect of playing with your friends.
• Differing weather conditions per hole.
• Wind challenges depending on which direction you are playing.
• The remaining challenges of the course (rough, bunkers, greens, etc.)
• Different greens with different challenges.
• Trying to get a decent score in difficult weather conditions.

People make playing off a mat akin to getting your backside rubbed with a brick! It's really not that difficult and allows you to play throughout the winter without severly damaging your course. You'd probably be the first person to complain if the course was cut up come the Spring.
Have a look at this article from Golf Monthy.
Should All Clubs Use Fairway Mats In Winter?

We had no mats last winter and the course wasn't damaged. We did have mats in pervious years, but members complained so they ditched them. Without mats the course looked as good as it would otherwise in early May, as the green keepers and members went round the course and filled in any remaining divots.

I wouldn't join a course that had mats, especially from a set date when the forecast is at least 13°C during the day for the next 2 weeks. Where I am if they were introduced, or temporary tees or greens used for that matter, our group are already saying they'd join somewhere where they are guaranteed to never need them like Chart Hills.

Also, when we had mats, we didn't have a qualifying round for over 4 months, which is ridiculous.

 

[rulefan]

Also, when we had mats, we didn't have a qualifying round for over 4 months, which is ridiculous.

Why not?

 

[Backache]

I prefer playing off mats than a sodden fairway. Certainly here they seem to make a significant difference to the condition of the course in spring, we used to have a rule about using mats within a certain distance of the green and the difference between the areas where mats were compulsory and not were stark.

 

[Klimski]

I feel that in my country, where we mainly play on low lying muddy courses, playing off mats in the winter months would be a great assistance.

 

[simsini]

Why not?

I don't know what rules the club applied, but thankfully it's a moot point now. Our club have already confirmed no compulsory mats this winter.

 

[Mandofred]

We had no mats last winter and the course wasn't damaged. We did have mats in pervious years, but members complained so they ditched them. Without mats the course looked as good as it would otherwise in early May, as the green keepers and members went round the course and filled in any remaining divots.

I wouldn't join a course that had mats, especially from a set date when the forecast is at least 13°C during the day for the next 2 weeks. Where I am if they were introduced, or temporary tees or greens used for that matter, our group are already saying they'd join somewhere where they are guaranteed to never need them like Chart Hills.

Also, when we had mats, we didn't have a qualifying round for over 4 months, which is ridiculous.

Sorry, but there is no possible way (at least in this climate) that come March/April that your course is in the same exact condition whether you are using mats or not. Not possible. You can argue that it doesn't make all THAT much difference.....maybe. You can't go all winter digging holes in the course and say that the course is in the same condition after the winter......makes no sense.

 

[simsini]

Sorry, but there is no possible way (at least in this climate) that come March/April that your course is in the same exact condition whether you are using mats or not. Not possible. You can argue that it doesn't make all THAT much difference.....maybe. You can't go all winter digging holes in the course and say that the course is in the same condition after the winter......makes no sense.

I said once we get to early May, which most would consider the start of the proper golf season anyway. Around the time the clocks go forward, the club leave bags out of seed mix for players to take out with them, and they are positioned on different tee boxes around the course too. The green keepers also do a great job, so in that month or so, the grass really grows back. It won't be the same throughout the winter of course, but it's worth it to play on grass.

This never even used to be an argument, nowhere I know that I used to play in winter used them 10-15 years ago, and we weren't playing at ploughed fields with massive divots everywhere then, and these were some of the top clubs in Kent, SE London and Surrey.

I mentioned earlier about Chart Hills not using them. Do you think their fairways look worse than other clubs in Kent come May?

 

[Mandofred]

I said once we get to early May, which most would consider the start of the proper golf season anyway. Around the time the clocks go forward, the club leave bags out of seed mix for players to take out with them, and they are positioned on different tee boxes around the course too. The green keepers also do a great job, so in that month or so, the grass really grows back. It won't be the same throughout the winter of course, but it's worth it to play on grass.

That's the problem.....there isn't much grass around here in the middle of winter. The grass you do have gets less and less as people use preferred lies to move to a clump of grass and then destroy that as well.

Yes, we use bags of sand as well. Helps fill the divots so at least they are level come spring. Grass seed just isn't going to start to grow until at least into April and the soil temps get up to 10C or so. How long after that before the grass actually fills in decently?.....June?

Then, there are the not insignificant amount of golfers who just can't be bothered to take a bag of sand with them......or rake sand, repair ball marks etc.