The purists won't like it....

[Tashyboy]

Played today. Normal back nine, 16 points. Par three 17 points. a PP said ave done nowt for 17 holes then on the 18th said “ ave pipped you on the par three”.
The greens were a frozen lottery. But it was gorgeous and a laugh. Out of 14 players, 33 points won it overall. Me and 2 others. £5. Boom.

 

[RichA]

Played today. Normal back nine, 16 points. Par three 17 points. a PP said ave done nowt for 17 holes then on the 18th said “ ave pipped you on the par three”.
The greens were a frozen lottery. But it was gorgeous and a laugh. Out of 14 players, 33 points won it overall. Me and 2 others. £5. Boom.

It's these big pots that are encouraging mid-handicap banditry and ruining amateur golf.

 

[mikejohnchapman]

I have seen a few opinions about people thinking it doesn't hurt the greens.....haven't seen this info on debunking. Even without official studies, common sense would indicate there would be at least a little bit of damage. I read a piece earlier that said it wouldn't be too bad, but would take an extra 3-4 weeks in the Spring to get the greens back to where they would have been. But then again, plenty of people who hate winter mats claim that they see no difference in the fairways. Again, common sense says that if you take a big chunk of turf out at this time of the year....it will be the end of March before the grass starts growing half way decently and then another month or two to fill in decently.

I think it's very dependent on the grass on the green. The old advice to keep off frozen greens was very much based on bent & fescue grass but as poa grass is increasingly used then the need to keep off them is much less.

From memory BIGGA published something a couple of years ago but I can't recall where.

 

[Tashyboy]

It's these big pots that are encouraging mid-handicap banditry and ruining amateur golf.

It was actually £4.66.33 recurring. It cost £5 to enter the fuddle and I was cut a shot

 

[Backache]

Went out this morning everything frozen solid and visibility not too great couldn't see the flags still it made for interesting golf and fresh air. Just played 11 holes as there was dense fog at the far end of the course but worthwhile, distance judgement was a lottery depending on bounce.

 

[Orikoru]

We've elected to play in the afternoon on Sunday rather than the morning - hopefully with it being 4° instead of 1° we might be able to avoid this frozen greens nonsense.

On the 17th at ours they have no choice but to move to a temporary green when it's frozen - the green is slightly elevated and in the corner of the course with a road running behind it! If you bounced through there you'd smash somebody's car window.