Set up of your course

[GG26]

I play of what I believe to be a good tree-lined parkland course, 6360 yards off of the competition tees. Its not long, but not particularly short either and there is a stream that runs across eight of the holes which needs to be taken into account on a number of shots. Its always been in reasonable nick and the greens are often excellent.

The head groundsman retired a few months ago and the person who took it over has implemented a few minor changes. What I noted the other week is that the fairways have been narrowed slightly in places, but are now much more clearly defined and the aim is to get a proper first cut before the main area of rough. The rough itself is about an inch high (the height of a ball), which to me gives a penalty for not being on the fairway, but a fair one. The greens are currently a reasonable pace and in great condition. I like the changes.

Last week I played in a competition and right from the first hole one of my PP just moaned incessantly about the state of the course. Everytime he mishit a shot it was because it was in a divot, putts were clearly being deflected by bobbles in the green, the rough was too penal, fairways too narrow, the greens had been scalped and were way too fast, etc etc. I just listened without passing comment. The following day took my son to play in a junior competition at The Leicestershire. Similar set up, other than the greens were lightening fast compared to ours, so he certainly wouldn't be happy there.

Claimed he was going to join another course next year after several years at ours becuase its been set up to suit the low handicappers to try and prevent the high handicappers from winning. As a high handicapper myself, I have no problems with the set up, if I play good golf I will be rewarded with a good score.

The only item that I felt that he may have had a point on was that seniors / ladies can sometimes struggle with the rough when its wet, but to me that's an incentive to keep the ball on the fairway.

Question is are you happy with the set up of your course and does it favour a certain type of player. I am sure that we have all listened to the glass half empty merchants on the course. Any in particular leap to mind?

 

[Jacko_G]

You always get someone who would rather blame the course than their own game. I've done it myself, looking for excuses etc but I can always appreciate when a course is set up well and presented in good condition.

My biggest bugbear is slow greens. Hate having to "hit" a putt.

 

[Blue in Munich]

Delighted. Some on here have played mine, but they might struggle to recognise 2/3's of it now, and all of it by the end of the year.

We are a downland course; we are on chalk, which is not the most fertile of ground. However the bonus is that this leads to fine bladed grasses which are great for golf, and it drains very well. Over the years there has been a huge amount of tree encroachment, leading to increasingly fertile conditions from leaf mulch and the growth of thicker bladed grasses. Last year we began a programme to strip out a number of trees; non-native species, those that had grown too close to the course, those affecting play. The remaining 6 holes are due to be done this year.

Removing the trees has revealed previously hidden vistas, specimen trees hidden amongst the wealth of average ones, humps and hollows alongside the fairways long since overgrown and in the case of the 7th should give us a second fairway later this year.

The changes have allowed more light and air, resulting in better growth & drainage. It looks a bit rough in places but this will grow back and you can't make an omelette without breaking eggs. It will take a few years to complete but if all seen through will be an improvement on a course I was already very happy with.

 

[chrisd]

Delighted. Some on here have played mine, but they might struggle to recognise 2/3's of it now, and all of it by the end of the year.

We are a downland course; we are on chalk, which is not the most fertile of ground. However the bonus is that this leads to fine bladed grasses which are great for golf, and it drains very well. Over the years there has been a huge amount of tree encroachment, leading to increasingly fertile conditions from leaf mulch and the growth of thicker bladed grasses. Last year we began a programme to strip out a number of trees; non-native species, those that had grown too close to the course, those affecting play. The remaining 6 holes are due to be done this year.

Removing the trees has revealed previously hidden vistas, specimen trees hidden amongst the wealth of average ones, humps and hollows alongside the fairways long since overgrown and in the case of the 7th should give us a second fairway later this year.

The changes have allowed more light and air, resulting in better growth & drainage. It looks a bit rough in places but this will grow back and you can't make an omelette without breaking eggs. It will take a few years to complete but if all seen through will be an improvement on a course I was already very happy with.

I'd be delighted to be a member of your place BIM

 

[Imurg]

We're tree lined as well and, on some holes, there's more emphasis on putting the ball in the right place rather than banging away with the driver.
We have nicely determined fairway, 1st cut and 2nd cut before getting to the bundu. And, to be fair, unless you're in brambles the deeper rough isn't that deep. The grass is, mainly, kept low under the trees so you can find your ball but it's a chip out.
Greens have quickened in the last few weeks and only a couple have big slopes - both back to front. One of my pet hates on a golf course is fast greens for the sake of fast greens, with no thought given to the slopes. We're not Professionals. We don't need 12 on the stimp with slopes like buried elephants!
It's quite remarkable that we have just 3 greenkeepers....that they can keep the course the way it is presented is a credit to them and I tell them every week.

 

[chrisd]

We're tree lined as well and, on some holes, there's more emphasis on putting the ball in the right place rather than banging away with the driver.
We have nicely determined fairway, 1st cut and 2nd cut before getting to the bundu. And, to be fair, unless you're in brambles the deeper rough isn't that deep. The grass is, mainly, kept low under the trees so you can find your ball but it's a chip out.
Greens have quickened in the last few weeks and only a couple have big slopes - both back to front. One of my pet hates on a golf course is fast greens for the sake of fast greens, with no thought given to the slopes. We're not Professionals. We don't need 12 on the stimp with slopes like buried elephants!
It's quite remarkable that we have just 3 greenkeepers....that they can keep the course the way it is presented is a credit to them and I tell them every week.

Very similar to my own course, our only bugbear is the M20 motorway running alongside so quite some noise 😣

 

[Deleted member 3432]

Very similar to my own course, our only bugbear is the M20 motorway running alongside so quite some noise 😣

Sounds like my idea of hell!

 

[Foxholer]

...
It's quite remarkable that we have just 3 greenkeepers....that they can keep the course the way it is presented is a credit to them and I tell them every week.

Btw. I like 'right speed' greens! And love the speed at my course.

I played 'away' last week and was constantly a few inches (or feet!) short. But they were consistent, so whose fault was it?!!!

 

[duncan mackie]

Yes, any length of wet rough will make it challenging to Tonka a hybrid or fairway wood down near the green....shame.

If I had a complaint it would be that the pace of the greens is just too slow, and inconsistent. I understand the reasons, but don't like it. The nature of our greens means that only 6" on the stimp can make a massive difference to the balls behaviour both in reacting to the surface with spin and in rolling out without it.

 

[ScienceBoy]

They should try playing boring golf to score better.

 

[Backache]

I guess most of the time I take courses as I find them including my own.
Our greens often take quite a bit of time to come into condition though now they are playing reasonably fast and true.
My one bug bear on any course is rough to close to the fairway where you can readily lose a ball, it's not so much that I mind the punishment but it slows the game up to much, even if you're accurate someone on the holes in front may not be and it slows the round up terribly.
A couple of years ago they decided to narrow the fairways and grow the rough, it actually coincided with a time when I was playing very straight and I was barely punished but the speed of the game became painful. Medals were taking nearly 4 1/2 hours and we don't have a long course .
In my view the average golf club is better for not having penal rough

 

[Siolag]

Granted, I haven't played many courses, but mine is great. Fast greens, and the greenkeepers have the course in great nick. Pins and tee boxes are regularly changed. I have played medals with guys between 3 and 19, and none have had a bad word to say. Last week the fairways were running incredibly, which helped some of my not so great shots travel more. Our greens are very fast, but you get used to them after one or two holes.

 

[HomerJSimpson]

We're 6294 off the whites. Like the OP our semi-rough is a few inches deep so not so bad you can't find it but definitely a half shot penalty. Granted we still have three fairways that have struggled to recover from last year but aside from the that our greenkeeper over the years has grown the thick stuff strategically on key holes which itself defines the hole. The fairways have been shaped and the greens are running about 9 on the stimp. It has definitely been quietly refined in the last few years. A lot of the old boys won't play medals off the whites citing its too hard. I don't think it really favours the low handicappers (we have divisions for each comp bar majors) so in essence you are playing against those around your own handicap mark.

 

[Lord Tyrion]

My place is 6800yds off the whites and 6400 off the yellows. It is generally quite forgiving, as it needs to be with those lengths. I've argued it would be a better course with some shorter holes, as did the old pro, but the owners aren't interested. This week we are two greenkeepers down and the semi has grown too long. Your ball settles down and it becomes difficult to both find it and then get it out with any distance. You can't have that with a course of this length, for handicap golfers, but this should be resolved in a week or two. Generally they have the set up right.

My real bugbear is our greens. They are too slow, you have to hit the putt rather than stroke it. I have played a number of courses in the area since i joined and whilst the greens are true they are always the slowest. We have a new head greenkeeper starting next weekend, I'm hoping he puts some zip into them. I'm not talking Augusta pace, just stroking pace.

I would generally defend the set up of my course but I would not defend the pace of the greens.

 

[Wolf]

We're at 6566 off the Whites. Par 72

Our course is still maturing as it was only opened in 1990, so still a fair few trees to grow. But that being said we do have a lot of very flourishing trees pretty much everywhere. Its a course built on Fenland, so despite the trees were very much at the discretion of the elements when it comes to scoring. Very rare even on a hit day like today to not have a wind and it can have a big effect on scoring.

Our opening 9 can break you before you even think about getting to the turn. We have a mix of holes that vary from very tight to others that let you open the shoulders a bit. But the penalty for inaccurate driving can be tough, all trees have had the grass cut down for ease of finding your ball, but it's still a chip out sideways if your lucky to have a swing.

Fairways are now clearly defined, we have a small first cut of rough, that then naturally develops into some severe tiger country. The only real gripe anyone can have at the moment is the greens have been a little slow recently, and with some of the undulations once these quicken up it's going to see scores go up a lot as will make things a lot harder.

 

[garyinderry]

We pinched an aspiring assistant green keeper 2 years ago and gave him the top job at our place.
The guy fairly knows his stuff. Spent so much time taking the thatch out of our fairways and greens and has made an amazing difference to how dry the course is. You can walk off it in winter with barely a speck of mud at times. It used to be so soft and balls plugging all over the place. Now not so much.
In turn the greens have firmed up a fair bit in summer and roll great. He can get them up to very very slick speeds on comp days when they set the course up beautifully.
We will never feature on top golf lists the course itself is a real test.
It tops out at 6637yards par 71 off the whites which is longer than most parkland courses around here. Anyone that comes to play says how much of a slog it is when the wind blows. Fairly keeps the scoring in check.
Off the yellows it's much easier imo at 6344yards. Much more birdies are carded.
Few changes this year have tightened the place up. You can spray it about a bit but where the rough is long it now hip height and a lost ball. The semi has been grown longer and catching people out this year when its wet. You just get no purchase on the ball out of it.
All up the left side of our 6th hole for 100yards near the green has been toughened up. Long grass and whispy stuff where it's now a no go zone. It used to be a bail out area and pitch on for 3.
Grass let grow out the back of the par 3 8th. Looks nice but shouldn't come into play.
Big bank on the left of par 3 13th has long whispy grass which you can now lose a ball in. Before it would always trundle down onto the green. Looks visually much better now too.
Grass grown left of 10 before the lake. Real heavy stuff. Lost ball. Visited there today.
All in all some real changes to the course that has improved it no end. If you can shoot your handicap around here off the whites you will have played well. SSS is +1 so 36 will get you a small cut.

 

[Bunkermagnet]

We are 6299 off the whites, a parkland course.
A few years ago our old head green keeper retired, and a new much younger one took over. He has made a huge difference to how the course is prepared and worked on. We have also spent quite a bit of time and effort improving out greens, which now are payng dividends and easily makes up for the hassle of the work done on them and resultant effect on play.
I would say my course is one that requires a little thought to your tee shot and how you play each hole. To simply blat the driver on each hole could give you big problems.
It is said that a handicap here travels well

 

[Tashyboy]

Think ours is about 6800 off the white tees. Quite frankly and ave said this before, distance as an obstacle on a golf course is lazy design. All of our par threes are plus 160 yds. Our seventh is near on 190 yds often playing into the wind. OOB on the right. And there is a pond for 70 yds down the left. The green is past the pond. Me I would bring the green back 30 yards. The green would be tucked between the pond and a 300 yr old oak tree. It would look stunning. I cannot believe a course planner never saw that. Me I love a distinctive first cut around the greens. Then another to the fairways. On some of our holes it looks like the greens literally run straight into the bunkers. Good shots 180'yds into par threes are lost by balls rolling into bunkers that on other courses would not. Talking of bunkers. They are terrible. It's easy to come across as moaning about the course. But the course every year does get better and better. But over the winter the staff will do 10 jobs improving the course but should do 7 and do them well. Eg, a new tee was put in on one of our par threes to shorten it to 130. The tee was turfed. But the ground around seeded. It still looks a pigs ear. Another 300 yds of turf and it would now be stunning. But it was done on the cheap. The tee lasted two weeks, coz now it's a wedge for some and it's all dug up. We're back on 180 yds into the green.

 

[Deleted Member 1156]

I'd be delighted to be a member of your place BIM

Me too

 

[Deleted member 15344]

Delighted. Some on here have played mine, but they might struggle to recognise 2/3's of it now, and all of it by the end of the year.

We are a downland course; we are on chalk, which is not the most fertile of ground. However the bonus is that this leads to fine bladed grasses which are great for golf, and it drains very well. Over the years there has been a huge amount of tree encroachment, leading to increasingly fertile conditions from leaf mulch and the growth of thicker bladed grasses. Last year we began a programme to strip out a number of trees; non-native species, those that had grown too close to the course, those affecting play. The remaining 6 holes are due to be done this year.

Removing the trees has revealed previously hidden vistas, specimen trees hidden amongst the wealth of average ones, humps and hollows alongside the fairways long since overgrown and in the case of the 7th should give us a second fairway later this year.

The changes have allowed more light and air, resulting in better growth & drainage. It looks a bit rough in places but this will grow back and you can't make an omelette without breaking eggs. It will take a few years to complete but if all seen through will be an improvement on a course I was already very happy with.

Was one of my favourite rounds of the year last year - really enjoyable course , great clubhouse