Playing on frozen courses

Fyldewhite said:
St Annes Old Links down the road from me (Open qualifier) never uses temp greens. They are the best in the area too in the summer. Yet other courses seem to go to temps at the first sign of frost. Is it the type of grass, the length of winter cut, long ingrained myths or what???? there must be a reasoned logic why some courses do and some don't.
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Gleneagles dont do temps either (Parkland) and have beautiful carpets come summer
 
I had a match yesterday which was all on temporary greens as the course was frozen, that is, until we got to the 13th hole where the greenkeepers were swishing the greens and moving us back on to frozen main greens. We couldn't see the sense of this as it was getting nearer to 1pm and the temperature was dropping and the greens were a nightmare to get on to anyway - you certainly couldn't hit them and stay on them.
Although tiny, it was in someways easier on the temps as a ball landing near stopped easier and with common sense gimmees the game was almost enjoyable and some good golf played
 
Scrindle said:
I would love to get the same sort of question answered scientifically about hedgehog wheels on trollies. I don't think they make a damned difference. If anything I think they cause more damage, particularly when I see hedgehog spikes all over the fringes of a green.
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The Greens question was answered above.

Hedgehogs on push/pull trolleys do make a difference up to a point. That point is reached a lot sooner if on (heavy) Electric ones. Folk who use trolleys over green fringes are just ignorant, lazy <insert choice expletives!>! There is a lot to be said for properly managed (where path is frequently changed) roped off areas! :rant:
 
I played today with frozen greens. First few holes were quite entertaining but then it got frustrating. The lack of inconsistency annoyed me. I could pitch and it would stop quickly on one green then bounce of the next!
 
louise_a said:
you really can hit forum distances on frozen fairways, when the ball just runs and runs.
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Problem is that you also get forum distances when you attempt to chip or pitch onto a frozen solid green, as happened to me repeatedly this morning! Best option was to putt onto the green if at all possible! :rolleyes:
 
Played today on a slightly frozen course, wasnt frozen solid but it was harder than normal.
Still had great fun and will be doing the same again tomorrow.

20141230_132311.jpg
Ball on the green pitched some 30 yrds short and just bounced up. If you know it's going to happen just play for it :D
 
In answer to the original question, our place stopped using temporary greens many years ago because, apparently, the cost of preparing and maintaining them far outweighed the cost of repairing any damage done to regular greens by using them year round. So I guess the answer to the question is that playing on a frozen course does not do the damage many would have you believe.

We are a year round course, but our committee take things to extremes when the course is frozen solid - the weekend just gone saw us play a monthly stableford as a qualifier on a course with frozen greens and rock solid bunkers. All a bit of a nonsense if I am being honest.
 
We have 'frost holes' set at the front of the main greens, rather than using temps. Seems to work pretty well. Although we are a parkland course, with a lot of trees, only a couple of greens get no sun. They stay white with frost on, but the others have melted on the very surface so that they are like putting on green linoleum. Still don't take a pitch though (or much of a stud for that matter).

Although unpredictable, landing short and running it in has worked well over the last few days. Low pitches into greenside semi to kill the bounce works too. It's all about the trajectory.

The real issue has been frozen bunkers. I scraped a half against my mate due to him going in a couple of greenside traps and having no way of getting out anywhere near the hole.
 
rosecott said:
We have never had a problem with fairways and greens recovering from sustained frosty conditions. The only stipulation our Course Manager makes is that we should avoid, as far as possible, taking buggies or trollies onto frozen fairways.
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My course is the same, play on full greens the last two winters and this. The course was back to it's best this year. A couple of our temp greens have been abandoned.
 
We don't use temp greens at any time and I dont think they suffer because of it.

As for whether it's worth playing, it's just about getting out, having a laugh and sort of keeping the swing ticking over.

Pitch the ball on the green and you're 30yds over the back. Pitch the ball short and it stops dead! The only thing you can do with your approach is choose where you want to play your chip onto the green from.

What I won't do is play when everything is frozen solid, as it's not worth the risk of slipping while swinging and potentially hurting myself.
 
Well I popped into my club early on because there is supposed to be a comp tomorrow and I couldn't believe it when I saw a 4-ball halfway down the 1st and then another 4-ball waiting to tee off, to say the course is just a huge white blank would be an understatement, I'm all for keeping my swing going and I hate range mats, but even I wouldn't have ventured out their today, its solid and must be dangerous.
 
need_my_wedge said:
For years we would drop top a temp "green" at the first sign of frost. Not really a green, more a hole in the front fringe. This year we took the steps of preparing temp greens near each hole at the start of the season, they have been kept as GUR and mowed and looked after in the hope of providing better temp greens this year. We recently had a new head greenkeeper start, he has some good credentials behind him, and his aim is to keep the course open and on the main greens throughout the winter. He has put a temp hole towards the front of every green and capped them with a plastic cover. The process being that first night of frost, the pins will remain as they were, if the frost persists, then the greenkeepers will switch straight over to the front holes, thus keeping the green open whilst reducing wear and tear on the main part of the greens. From this I presume that he thinks it's fairly safe to be playing greens in the frost.
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Got an email this morning to say that we are on temp greens today after two days of hard frost.... don't know if that means a move to the front pin positions, or to the previously prepared temps....
 
Fish said:
Well I popped into my club early on because there is supposed to be a comp tomorrow and I couldn't believe it when I saw a 4-ball halfway down the 1st and then another 4-ball waiting to tee off, to say the course is just a huge white blank would be an understatement, I'm all for keeping my swing going and I hate range mats, but even I wouldn't have ventured out their today, its solid and must be dangerous.
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I'm not surprised it's white - I'm not far away today and the Oxford canal froze last night to 1/2" thick ice!
 
All the frost has gone up here we have had two very mild days and today it was 10 deg and we are back on the full greens again.

Forecast for the next few days is more of the same.
 
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