How long is the rough on your course?

[delc]

Our club seems to have a policy of not cutting the rough at all during the summer. It's now waist high in places, so if you hit a ball into it, you have little chance of finding it and even less chance of playing out of it if you do! If you complain about this (proprietary owned members club), the standard reply is "Well you shouldn't hit your ball into the rough in the first place". (They also mention things like creating a habitat for butterflies etc.) However most of the higher handicap players and even the lower handicappers are not good enough to avoid doing so occasionally. All the incessant searching for balls in the rough is really slowing down play, with rounds often taking 5 hours or more, and with some horrendous scores being returned. I don't think that golf is much fun under these conditions.

I suspect that the real reason for not cutting the rough is nothing to do with butterflies, etc, it's to save on green keeping staff and costs, so they make more profit! However I am now seriously considering moving to another club that does keep its rough at reasonable lengths, so they will lose the several thousand pounds a year I spend on membership and in the bar. :angry:

What is the rough like at your course?

 

[Imurg]

Much like yours.
Long enough to make playing a Provisional a must even if the ball goes inches in.
One action in particular, on our 18th is ridiculous.
There is a hedge to one side on the hole that many people fade or slice over and into this thigh high rough.
You can't see if the ball bounces in, rolls! in, pitches in or whatever.
You're virtually looking blind and more often than not, judging by the number of other balls you find in there, you won't find yours.
Just St cut it to 6 inches or so.
Long enough to cost a shot but short enough to find it.
Other rough I can live with as at least you can see it go in.

It is a 2 fold thing.
Firstly it does provide habitat
Secondly it would be costly to kept it low

 

[chrisd]

We had our Club Championship at the weekend so 18 holes Saturday and Sunday. Our rough wasn't waist high by any means but was thick and lush even a few feet from the greens. If, after a search, you found the ball, it was difficult to move it from the lie and, if you got it out, it was unlikely you could make it stop on the ultra fast greens. Our greens are pretty small by comparison to many that I've played and apparently were running about 11 on the stimp meter.

I scored a 47 (yep) on the first 9 on Sunday and didn't have more than a 6 on any hole and with two par 3's! I played with our a Secretary/ manager and he said that the rough was stupid and that he'd get the green keepers on it on Monday and the round Sunday took an unprecedented 5 hours!

 

[Deleted member 15344]

1st Cut - how it should be , ball will sit on it nicely

2nd Cut - very lush and thick but ball can be found - tough shot to get out of it

Deep rough is deep rough - its long and thikc and you will struggle to find your ball - if you are that wide to find it then its a poor shot and have been punished for it

 

[chellie]

They've cut back some of ours on a couple of holes which they didn't do last year. You can still have a ball roll in a couple of inches off the fairway and not find it though. If you send it direct in fair enough but really annoying when it's just trickled in and is lost imo.

 

[DAVEYBOY]

On the PGA a hook or a slice is lost in rough knee-waist high and on the Brab and the Derby the rough is very thick and the ball seems to be sitting down in it lately :angry:

 

[duncan mackie]

1st Cut - how it should be , ball will sit on it nicely

2nd Cut - very lush and thick but ball can be found - tough shot to get out of it

Deep rough is deep rough - its long and thikc and you will struggle to find your ball - if you are that wide to find it then its a poor shot and have been punished for it

this is the key point; the deep rough positioning becoming the equivalent of thickets, copses, hedges and OOB on many other courses.

the argument used on many parkland/open courses is that it adds definition and aesthetic value.

the question of whether it's appropriately set up is another matter entirely; we made some relatively small changes recently that have had a significant impact on speed of play with little effect on scoring. Clubs should actively pursue these as they are the route to long term profit not reduced maintenance!

 

[GB72]

Played 9 holes on my iwn last night and list 3 balls that were only about a foot into the rough that I had good lines on.

 

[HomerJSimpson]

Our semi rough is quite penal at the moment with lots of clover in there so the ball will often sit down and it's definitely a 1/2 shot penalty in terms of being able to hit it that far out of it. I don't mind as the premium should be on accuracy but the ball can normally be seen easily and so its fine from a speed of play perspective.

However we do have some areas of knee deep rough on some holes that are no go zones. Zero chance of finding it and less chance than that of moving it forward. Some of these areas (right of the 3rd & 4th that run adjcent to each other) is quite close to the fairway and being on the right wil attact a sliced ball. This needs to be looked at I think

Other areas are a long way off line and so going in there and the inevitable lost ball is a fair penalty for a rank bad shot. Others though seem to be getting close and closer and the semi rough seems to be narrowing. I'm all for making the course difficult but we're club golfers and so it shouldn't take away from the enjoyment of club golfers and should still represent a fair test in competitions. At the moment they have the balance just about right although the clover issue in the semi rough needs addressing and I feel there are still areas where the knee high bundra needs taking back a touch

 

[Airlie_Andy]

Bad enough that im just using pickups in bounce/practice rounds. The thing is some of our rough is unplayable if you find your ball anyway. At least they've cut down the rough in the blue staked areas so you can find your ball and then drop it in the rough anyway.

 

[CMAC]

Our club seems to have a policy of not cutting the rough at all during the summer. It's now waist high in places, so if you hit a ball into it, you have little chance of finding it and even less chance of playing out of it if you do! If you complain about this (proprietary owned members club), the standard reply is "Well you shouldn't hit your ball into the rough in the first place". (They also mention things like creating a habitat for butterflies etc.) However most of the higher handicap players and even the lower handicappers are not good enough to avoid doing so occasionally. All the incessant searching for balls in the rough is really slowing down play, with rounds often taking 5 hours or more, and with some horrendous scores being returned. I don't think that golf is much fun under these conditions.

I suspect that the real reason for not cutting the rough is nothing to do with butterflies, etc, it's to save on green keeping staff and costs, so they make more profit! However I am now seriously considering moving to another club that does keep its rough at reasonable lengths, so they will lose the several thousand pounds a year I spend on membership and in the bar. :angry:

What is the rough like at your course?

so you have fairway then immediately off that is waist high rough? unbelievable. It should be graded.

No problem with waist high stuff 20 yds off the fairway

 

[delc]

so you have fairway then immediately off that is waist high rough? unbelievable. It should be graded.

No problem with waist high stuff 20 yds off the fairway

We have fairways, a couple of yards of semi-rough, and then the very deep stuff. It is close enough in in places to catch even slightly off line shots, and playing the course on a windy day is a nightmare! :angry:

 

[Deleted member 1147]

My club has it about right in my opinion.
The first cut is about 5 yards wide, then into about 3 inch deep rough, maybe a bit more in the open spaces. The deepest stuff is well away from the targets, so if you're in it you deserve to lose the ball.
Under trees has been cut down, as the trees are the hazard.
The real problem is that the rough is very thick & it's hard to move the ball any distance from it, ie a good punishment.

My old club was just like the OP's, I ended up writing to complain & the complaint was dismissed as just moaning so I did as I promised, left the club (as have quite a few others)! I found deep rough to be a dull hazard, water & bunkers are interesting but having to search for lost balls isn't of any interest to me.

Not cutting down the rough is something of a false economy IMO, if you lose members & visitors don't want to come you'll lose more money. As I understand it the invitation day at my old place was nearly cancelled as only 7 pairs had signed up, I can only assume more signed up after the threat to cancel went out.

 

[HomerJSimpson]

We have fairways, a couple of yards of semi-rough, and then the very deep stuff. It is close enough in in places to catch even slightly off line shots, and playing the course on a windy day is a nightmare! :angry:

I played at Tylney Park several years ago in a club match. They had fairway, three yards of semi and then knee high rubbish which not only went down both sides of each hole but also encircled the greens. This meant if you missed the green by about 10 yards in any direction it was usually a lost ball. It was a soul destroying round and I think our group (one single figure, two low teens and an 18 handicapper) had lost 5 balls between us in the first four holes.

It was so bad at one point they were having nearly half the fields NR'ing in competitions. I played it again last year and they had reduced the rough height and taken it further away from the edges of fairways and green and it was like playing a different course. Much mre enjoyable and a very good course to play which didn't need to have been tricked up that severely to start with

 

[BTatHome]

Pretty much as LiverpoolPhil stated, in terms of differences between them all.

Whilst our deep rough 'looks' treacherous it is quite thin (blows about in the wind) and this is achieved by ensuring that when the rough is cut down that it is bailed and taken away. If the cut down rough is simply left then the next year it comes back very thick and it's impossible.

At the moment it's just below the knee and if you have an idea where the ball (and that is generally the problem most people have, as they turn away or don't follow it in the air) then you can find it, but it's hard to get a good shot out of it ... which I think is exactly how it's supposed to be.

 

[Mastercracker]

Pet hate of mine. Now't worse than hitting a reasonable drive that's yards off the fairway and not being able to find it. It's especially a problem on blind tee shots.

Luckily it's reasonable at my place. Got out of hand a few weeks ago when it was wet and humid but back under control now.

 

[One Planer]

1st Cut - how it should be , ball will sit on it nicely

2nd Cut - very lush and thick but ball can be found - tough shot to get out of it

Deep rough is deep rough - its long and thikc and you will struggle to find your ball - if you are that wide to find it then its a poor shot and have been punished for it

Pretty much like this at our place just now.

 

[HawkeyeMS]

1st Cut - how it should be , ball will sit on it nicely

2nd Cut - very lush and thick but ball can be found - tough shot to get out of it

Deep rough is deep rough - its long and thikc and you will struggle to find your ball - if you are that wide to find it then its a poor shot and have been punished for it

Pretty much as ours is (or at least was last time I was there 2 weeks ago)

 

[HomerJSimpson]

Pretty much as ours is (or at least was last time I was there 2 weeks ago)

There is loads of clover in the semi rough now which is making it harder and the thick stuff is encroaching more on some holes. You might get a shock tomorrow.

 

[Doh]

They did an experiment at our a few years ago where they let the rough grow between the 1st and adjoining 18th. It resulted in countless lost balls and added 1/2 an hour to your round.
Thank God they saw sense, they now have the first cut which is fine it then goes to about 4 inches which is also fine it just means you can find your ball but you have to usually have to wedge it out, so, punishment enough.
We do have areas where we allow the grass to grow wild but these are areas where you would be very unfortunate if you ended up in them.