Has anyone ever seen this (Washington state golf)

Quote:

Originally Posted by calvie7 

I was recently in Washington state (Seattle area) and I played a course where they have actually put seemingly pebbles in the middle of the fairway (sometimes in heavy layers.  I was told by my friend and playing partner that it was to help with drainage due to all of the rain in the winter.  Trouble is that it creates almost every lie like a bunker, so the ball doesn't come out of it consistently, not to mention you are basically hitting off of pebbles, not too good for my AP2's!  

 

Do all courses in the area do this?  I was playing a Harbour Point in Mukilteo WA.

I would be pissed if I played somewhere like that.

They should at least tell you before you tee it up.....did it mark your clubs at all?
 

Quote:

Originally Posted by calvie7 

It didn't because after the first shot, i considered it to be ground under repair, and found a place to hit from where it wasn't sandy pebbly.  I am still baffled because, while they get a lot of water, their ground also accepts a lot of water. I would think this would ruin the course completely for the summer, just to have better drainage in the winter.  

Just don't stand around when they're mowing the fairways....projectile pebbles!

I play at Harbour Pointe all the time. It's on a natural wetland type of terrain so their drainage in the winter in terrible. Great course in the spring and summer. I noticed they put those pebbles (mainly on the 1st hole) a few months back. I'm pretty sure this is a temporary fix. 

It's funny that you mention this because I was thinking the same thing and I also have a set of AP2's. I just hit them off the fairway and I didn't notice any marks on my irons actually. They are relatively small pebbles and I don't think they will damage your irons much. Maybe it's because I take a divot when after I hit the ball.

As far as I know, this is the only course that does that. 

Yeah, I play north of seattle in bellingham, and they don't have pebbles in the fairways.  Albeit, all the courses around here have trouble with drainage in winter.  Because it rains so much, the ground is very moist, and really hard to play on.  Especially this last winter it rained a ton, doing a lot of work on these courses.

Do they spread the gravel all over the fairway, or is it just localized?  The reason I ask is that this may be a French drain if it is just in a depression that helps to drain the water away from the fairway.  This is basically a trench which is dug out, then filled with gravel to allow the flow of water.  The rules allow relief from a French drain.  If the gravel is spread all over the fairway, then they need to find a better solution.  I know that I wouldn't return to a course which had that sort of situation in the fairway.

I played Harbour Pointe last week, and didn't notice the pebbles. That being said the commenters are right this has been the wettest winter in at least the last 10 years! It was a real challenge to find courses that didn't try to suck off your shoes in the fairway. Chalk it up as an "abnormal condition" and take relief next time. It's not normal.

To beat the sloppy conditions, I recommend The Home Course in Dupont, and Mt. Si in North Bend. Chambers Bay in University Place drains well, too, but it will drain your wallet quickly unless you live in Pierce County.