Warning about maintenance work?

[Dannyj1984]

Just wondering if others think that golf clubs should have some kind of warning online if there are doing course maintenance work.

Booked online via golfnow to play at Denton yesterday after looking at a few different courses near me, got to the first green and they were using temp greens as they were hollow tining the greens. The flags varied from 10-100 yards from the greens and in the rough so it was impossible to even attempt to putt. I appreciate that maintenance work is a vital part of looking after courses, but should there be some kind of warning on the website that this work is going on those days and temp green are in use? It ended up just being a drive and a pitch then pick up and off to the next. Seems excessive to pay the advertised price of £25 each for that, Luckily we had a free voucher. Am I expecting too much?

Danny

 

[chrisd]

No, I think it's quite wrong to not warn you when the greens are closed like that and fail to give you the option of choosing to go elsewhere

 

[Lord Tyrion]

No, you should get warned. I would feel pretty annoyed and would not go back if that was my experience. They are cheating you and no one likes that.

 

[patricks148]

Just wondering if others think that golf clubs should have some kind of warning online if there are doing course maintenance work.

Booked online via golfnow to play at Denton yesterday after looking at a few different courses near me, got to the first green and they were using temp greens as they were hollow tining the greens. The flags varied from 10-100 yards from the greens and in the rough so it was impossible to even attempt to putt. I appreciate that maintenance work is a vital part of looking after courses, but should there be some kind of warning on the website that this work is going on those days and temp green are in use? It ended up just being a drive and a pitch then pick up and off to the next. Seems excessive to pay the advertised price of £25 each for that, Luckily we had a free voucher. Am I expecting too much?

Danny

TBH, i expect as you booked with one of these cheap tee time sites there is no way of knowing what a club does until you rock up.

The club gave you a fee voucher to return so you can't say fairer than that. I expect if you booked with the club they would have told you what was happening when you booked, ours would anyway.

 

[Dannyj1984]

TBH, i expect as you booked with one of these cheap tee time sites there is no way of knowing what a club does until you rock up.

The club gave you a fee voucher to return so you can't say fairer than that. I expect if you booked with the club they would have told you what was happening when you booked, ours would anyway.

Voucher was from the American golf online club were you get a free round every few months. I had to book via golfnow as part of the T&Cs of the voucher. I normally book direct with the club if I am playing somewhere different. I did check the club website first though as I had a look at a few difference clubs and there is no mention of any maintenance work.

Danny

 

[patricks148]

Voucher was from the American golf online club were you get a free round every few months. I had to book via golfnow as part of the T&Cs of the voucher. I normally book direct with the club if I am playing somewhere different. I did check the club website first though as I had a look at a few difference clubs and there is no mention of any maintenance work.

Danny

If my club is anything to go by, we wouldn't put anything on the club website either about any maintenance. Members get emailed and notices in the locker room when any work does happen.

i would ring the club before to check

 

[woody69]

Agreed it is probably better to ring and confirm with the club, but golf clubs do need to get more savvy with their communications. It is so easy to set up a Facebook / Twitter page or add a banner to a website these days, there isn't any excuse for poor comms.

 

[Farmergeddon]

When we have hollow tining and the like they put us on temporary greens, and that is reflected in the 'course condition' section on the website.. naturally you would also be informed if you rang up the office but we also have a number on the website for the green staff where a recording will tell you exactly what is happening.

 

[BesCumber]

Nope.
IMHO freebie or not, you didn't get what you were expecting.
Had a similar experience meself recently.
Booked to play Burnley through teeoff i think, only to find on arrival they to were doing essential green maintenance and were on tempories.
The pro here though was excellent, he couldn't apologise enough, and booked us in for another free round on a day of our choosing.
I know that in a perfect world, this should of been on their website, but its hard to feel agreived, when they have been so accommodating.
Does Denton have a pro Danny ? If they do perhaps an email may get a result, if not an email to the secretary may meet with success?
Most clubs are keen to make a good impression these days. They never know when a day ticket might become a membership.
Just my tuppence 'apenny anyway. :thup:

 

[Dannyj1984]

Nope.
IMHO freebie or not, you didn't get what you were expecting.
Had a similar experience meself recently.
Booked to play Burnley through teeoff i think, only to find on arrival they to were doing essential green maintenance and were on tempories.
The pro here though was excellent, he couldn't apologise enough, and booked us in for another free round on a day of our choosing.
I know that in a perfect world, this should of been on their website, but its hard to feel agreived, when they have been so accommodating.
Does Denton have a pro Danny ? If they do perhaps an email may get a result, if not an email to the secretary may meet with success?
Most clubs are keen to make a good impression these days. They never know when a day ticket might become a membership.
Just my tuppence 'apenny anyway. :thup:

I will give them an email, I am currently a member somewhere else on an academy membership but early next year we are moving house and Denton may be the closest course so it was one of the reasons I picked it to see what it was like.

I agree with the above about communications, Denton have a Facebook page and nothing on there either, shame really as it's easy to do and I am sure most golf clubs must have a PR person?

Danny

 

[Hosel Fade]

I will give them an email, I am currently a member somewhere else on an academy membership but early next year we are moving house and Denton may be the closest course so it was one of the reasons I picked it to see what it was like.

I agree with the above about communications, Denton have a Facebook page and nothing on there either, shame really as it's easy to do and I am sure most golf clubs must have a PR person?

Danny

Would be very surprised if that was the case, they might have a secretary/club manager who is savvy in new media but unless you are some sort of multicourse operator like Crown or one of the resort chains I imagine that will not be the case.

As said it is so easy to put a little box on the website that the greenkeeper can update daily or a twitter feed that can be updated daily. Wouldn't help with advance bookings but every little helps, just a modern version of the answering machine

 

[SwingsitlikeHogan]

Our Head Greenkeeper puts a message at 6am every mornring on our Course Information option when you phone the club. Today it's warm and humid; he's doing scarifying to tees; all greens are in play; nothing on other than Thursday Roll-Up

So at this time of year anyone playing can phone in a few days or a week in advance if they are worried about greens

 

[Deleted member 21258]

I agree it would be nice to be told when booking if work is being done or even recently done, as if you are a green fee it is normally quite expensive and you could choose another time to play.

I remember paying £90 to play Thorndon Park on a golf day and on the day they were doing this kind of work on some greens and even on the fairways(not sure what that is called) but they didn't have any temps so we just putted on the newly done greens, which was disappointing especially as no mention of this as made to us.

At the other end, when I looked to book up a golf day at Little Aston, they refused to offer certain dates to me, as they had planned greens work for IIRC a two week period. Which I thought was great that they do that.

 

[KitaScot]

When I was scheduling rounds for Scotland on a once-in-a-lifetime trip, Moray replied that maintenance was being performed the week I would be there, prompting me to contact all the other clubs asking whether they had any maintenance scheduled...they all were kind to reply.

Since there were posts here regarding "discount" booking sites, I'll add that I wish clubs would identify days/times when discount passes sold on the net would not be accepted. So many web sites are out of date or have incomplete information that needs to be confirmed, and it made me feel uncomfortable having to ask each one whether the pass could be used at the times I wished to play.

 

[user2010]

I hope the greens get back to playing quite quickly.......we`ve an exchange day with them in a couple of weeks!

 

[HomerJSimpson]

Nope.
IMHO freebie or not, you didn't get what you were expecting.
Had a similar experience meself recently.
Booked to play Burnley through teeoff i think, only to find on arrival they to were doing essential green maintenance and were on tempories.
The pro here though was excellent, he couldn't apologise enough, and booked us in for another free round on a day of our choosing.
I know that in a perfect world, this should of been on their website, but its hard to feel agreived, when they have been so accommodating.
Does Denton have a pro Danny ? If they do perhaps an email may get a result, if not an email to the secretary may meet with success?
Most clubs are keen to make a good impression these days. They never know when a day ticket might become a membership.
Just my tuppence 'apenny anyway. :thup:

Great effort by the pro in your case but something I'd be doubtful happens on a regular basis.

If you book through a tee booking system it's unlikely they will have any contact with the club and so it's down to each club to be able to publish the conditions on the course each day. With websites, facebook, twitter and all social media it shouldn't be too hard to do and you could argue is something necessary to attract visitors on a regular basis. I know we have a course status bar on our front page but I've rarely seen anything added to include any remedial work on the course. We do as members get emails, but that's sod all use to a casual visitor

 

[Dannyj1984]

Hi all, just an update,

I emailed the club mentioning it might be a good idea to keep the Facebook page and club website updated with Any maintenance work they are doing, they emailed back saying they do actually keep the brs up to date with any maintenance. They have kindly offered us a free round at a time suiting us.

Danny

 

[HomerJSimpson]

Hi all, just an update,

I emailed the club mentioning it might be a good idea to keep the Facebook page and club website updated with Any maintenance work they are doing, they emailed back saying they do actually keep the brs up to date with any maintenance. They have kindly offered us a free round at a time suiting us.

Danny

Seems a proactive and decent outcome

 

[Tashyboy]

Good man and good result. Played Sherwood on a freebie, and smashed me drive down the fairway on the first. Sat nav said 150 to the pin so smashed it onto green, only my ball went 40 yd past the temp pin. Every green except the 18th was a temp and it was blazing sunshine. Sat nav was a waste of time. It ruined the round. The pro in the shop said there's a couple of temps.

 

[KitaScot]

So I got a notice from the Pitlochry Golf pro (at my request) telling me that 2 weeks before I'm to play there that they are coring the greens...do you think that THAT'S enough time to get the ball rolling smoothly....

...and any opinions on the course?

Thanks....