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What is the most important part of a golf course?


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Just curious to see what people value the most when playing a golf course.  Is it good greens, good fairways, tee boxes, facilities (Driving range and putting green), club house, layout, etc.

For the most important thing on a golf course is the greens.  I would rather hit off hardpan and divots all day as long as the greens are rolling perfect.

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The companies management. If the corporation employees good managers then everything else tends to follow, budgets are in order which leads to proper upkeep of the facility , service staff is well trained and efficient , turf equipment is well maintained, grounds crews are well trained and proud of thier work , in my younger days I worked on 2 different course. 1 was well managed ( beaver creek, co ) and the other was not. a course with good management pays attention to the detail and that is most important to me.

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I would agree with good management, due to the fact that I golf @ a few courses two of them are owned by same company and the company redid all the greens @ all of their courses within the last year. My clubs greens are in great shape and roll amazingly, the other course while owned by same company hasnt had a great management team in the past and course def shows that as the greens roll terribly. The course that has the bad greens has recently recieved a new gm and hopefully he will be able to turn the course around as it was once one of the nicer courses in the area.

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Sorry maybe I wasn't as clear with my OP.  I am curious to know what would cause you to overlook imperfections at certain clubs.  There is one course around here where the fairway conditions aren't always great and the course layout isn't the greatest, but for whatever reason their greens are always perfect.  So I overlook the other things because of the conditions of the greens.

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For me, it's the course design.  If the layout is boring, it doesn't matter what condition it's in.  I have enjoyed well designed courses by top name architects, even when the conditions are not quite perfect.  If the conditions are maintained as well, then it is truly a delight.

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Layout is a hugh factor, I dont care if I can roll the ball great all day if the course is stragiht hole after straight hole over and over then its hard to have fun.

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  • Irons: T200 P-4
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  • Putter: Ping Anser Milled 
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Properly matched conditions and design. I've seen plenty of courses try to become something they are not and many that couldn't sustain what they were intended to be. Either way, it destroys the experience.

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The tee boxes. I find them a litmus test to the overall quality of the construction and maintenance. I have seen plenty of golf courses with good greens buy crummy tee boxes, but I have never seen a course with good tee boxes and lousy greens.

From my experiences, if the tee boxes have good construction and quality turf, the golf course overall is excellent.

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First impressions go along way. First point of contact is normally the pro shop.If you get a good feeling to start with the rest of the day normally follows suit.Of course you cant turn a goat track into Augusta by having welcoming staff and a tidy car park but I have found those who make the effort at base camp have normally done the same on the course.

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Its different for most people but usually it's what suits the eye. What keeps people coming back to the course is the aesthetic balance of it. That is the overall condition of everything on the course. If there's one specific factor that is highly regarded, it's the greens; where the ball finds it's final resting place. The greens are a key factor in the acknowledgement of a good golf course. My home course has great fairways for a public course, but since the greens aren't maintained, I still hear people complaining all the time (including my self every once in a while).

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I believe without question it is course condition.  If the course isn't properly maintained it is difficult to enjoy the game. Given that the course is well maintained, the layout is what separates courses for me.  I like courses that make you think your way around them.   Better courses will make you consider what club to use on the tee for the par 4 & 5 holes, where to place the drive and approach shots, and putting is a gambling game (contoured & reasonably fast greens).  Conversely courses where you just pop a driver on all the par 4 & 5 holes, don't need to give much thought to where on the green to place approaches (go for the pin no matter where located on the green), and greens are all sloped back to front and relatively flat are less enjoyable.  But I do subscribe to the cliche' of "my worst day on the golf course is better than my best day at work".

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Butch

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These aren't aspects of a course, but speed of play and reasonable fees. I'll sacrifice fairway and teebox conditions first, layout, then greens if the above are very good.

Steve

Kill slow play. Allow walking. Reduce ineffective golf instruction. Use environmentally friendly course maintenance.

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Originally Posted by WUTiger

The tee boxes. I find them a litmus test to the overall quality of the construction and maintenance. I have seen plenty of golf courses with good greens buy crummy tee boxes, but I have never seen a course with good tee boxes and lousy greens.

From my experiences, if the tee boxes have good construction and quality turf, the golf course overall is excellent.


You know that I come to think of it, this pretty true with the exception of my home course.  They have some tee boxes that are just horrible but the rest of the course is always in great shape.  But I would say with the majority of the other courses this holds fairly true.

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Originally Posted by WUTiger

The tee boxes. I find them a litmus test to the overall quality of the construction and maintenance. I have seen plenty of golf courses with good greens buy crummy tee boxes, but I have never seen a course with good tee boxes and lousy greens.

From my experiences, if the tee boxes have good construction and quality turf, the golf course overall is excellent.



I agree completely.

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Course condition - that's fairways and greens in acceptable conditions.

The next thing for me would be the practice area, here are two examples:

- my homecourse doesn't have a real driving range, but a net to hit into. It's not perfect, but at least you can warm up properly. The shortgame area and putting green are great.

- the second course I play sometimes is also a small 9-hole course. But it doesn't have a driving range, you can warm up on the range of the nearby partnerclub, but it's a 5-10 minute drive afterwards. But what's much more disturbing to me, it doesn't even have a putting green! The greens on above partnerclub are about 3 times faster than the ones on the small course, so you won't be able to get some feel for the greens you will be playing. Just horrible...

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There are many factors but even if the course is in perfect conditon with a great staff, if the layout is poor I won't like the course. I'll put up with less than stellar conditioning if the layout is great.

I played Bethpage Black in the 1990's and at that time the course was in terrible condition, well before it was reconditioned for the US Open. Even in that condition it was a great track.

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