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The Irritable Golfer

bkuehn1952

Entry posted by bkuehn1952

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Well, the snow is gone and I have had a chance to wander out to the course a few times. While a casual round is a time to relax for most of us, often all I do is work on my ulcers thinking about the myriad ways course owners and green keepers do a number on me.  To be sure, not every course is guilty of these transgressions but they are common enough that most of us are familiar with a few of these issues.

Tee Markers – One is allowed to tee the ball in a rectangular area defined by the markers and two club lengths deep.  Inevitably some green keeper will place the tee markers 18 inches shy of the rough at the back of the tee.  If the tee box is chopped up between the markers you are given the option to go back up to 2 clubs and hit from a 45 degree slope out of 6 inch grass.  If placing the markers close to the end of the tee box isn’t enough, our friendly grass mower will routinely set tees 30 degrees off from the preferred direction.  Yes, one can always correct one’s aim and not rely on the markers for directional assistance.  Still, with the markers squarely aimed OB or at a hazard, it is really tough to overcome the power of suggestion emitted by the poorly placed markers.   Come on guys, the last 5 feet of the tee should never see a tee marker.  And while we are at it, take that extra 15 seconds and sort of line up the markers properly.

Cart paths – So who hasn’t hit a marginal shot that appeared like it would miss the green by about 5 yards or so?  Your ball was going to be pin high with a 5-10 yard chip until the intervention of a cart path.  After a healthy bounce off the path you end up in jail rather than attempting a routine up & down.  My guess is most of us are hurt rather than helped by paths at a minimum ratio of 20:1.  At best the path ruins your ball but usually your ruined ball ends up in places that require greater skills to extricate it than you possess.  Yes, shortening the walk from the cart to the green helps a bit in pace of play but cart paths were never intended to be a surprise hazard.  Let’s keep those asphalt booby traps 20 yards or more from the green.

No Drinking Water – This is a recent development.  Admittedly, in some instances those ubiquitous water jugs on golf courses have been the source of serious bacterial infection.  Many courses pulled the water jugs in reaction to the perceived risk of illness.  Very noble of the owners one might think, until you have to buy a bottle of water for $1.50 or $2.00.  Talk about turning a bad situation into a money maker.  There are ways to prevent contamination of water jugs but apparently selling over-priced bottles of water was too attractive for some courses to consider alternatives. What’s next?  Paying rent for a bunker rake?  Carrying my own water bottle has become mandatory now with courses cutting back on drinking water.

No Benches – Courses have saved money by not installing benches at each tee.  The course is subtly telling everyone, if you want to sit, rent a cart.  In an effort to increase cart rentals, a local club owner who purchased a private facility went so far as to actually remove all the benches from the course.  Most of us don’t tend to lounge around on the course.  If you are like me, you prefer to keep moving.  When things are slow or I am a bit tired, however, it is nice to put my butt down on a bench rather than try to find a boulder or tree stump.

Unmarked/Incompletely Marked Hazards/OB – As maintenance budgets have been squeezed, more courses have unmarked hazards.  Yes, it takes time to maintain those stakes or paint the lines.  When a course stops the maintenance, however, it becomes very difficult to know where to make the proper drop or whether one is allowed to take a drop at all.  Water hazard? Lateral water hazard? Lost ball?  OB?  It makes a difference.  Is this soggy patch of weeds a water hazard or am I subject to a “lost ball” stroke & distance penalty?  Come on course owners, give me a clue.

So what ulcer-inducing condition have I missed?  Share your misery with the rest of us!

 

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RandallT

I have a few muni's near me that have closely mown grass seemingly in great condition, just in front of the mats. The sign 100% of the time says "Mats only today please." In my years of playing, I think I can count on one hand the times that we could practice from the grass. I typically play weekdays, so maybe that's a weekend only thing?? 

First world problem, but I'd love to practice more from real grass that is in fairway condition. It just seems that the owners never open that area up on days when I'm there, like they're deliberately taunting me now at this point.:-D

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Jeremie Boop

I'd love for courses to make more of an effort to flatten/level the tees. It's quite annoying to get on the tee and have large humps and dips making it difficult to find a nice spot to tee off. Also, it would be great if the tees were mowed closer than intermediate rough length. Admittedly, most of the time I only see these problems on our less than stellar league course, but I have noticed it from time to time at other courses as well.

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Patch

I suppose it's not really a course condition, but playing in the wind (2 club +) is not something I like to do. I dislike windy days in general in anything I am doing. 

As for course conditions, it would have to be my GIR shot that lands on the wrong side of a kidney shaped green. I am on the green, but no way to get to the pin with out adding an extra putt, or ( heaven forbid) a pitch shot off the green's surface. :-O

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WUTiger

Tee Markers, Part Deux

This usually happens on holes with tight landing areas. The greens crew will set up the blocks to far left or far right, maybe about 8 feet between them. It would really help to have the full width of the tee box, so draw players can to tee up on left side, and fade players on the right.

Bring in the Lumberjacks

At a some of the struggling golf courses, you see tee boxes and fairway areas that don't have much grass. Surprise, the trees planted 30 years ago have grown large, and the surfaces don't get the 8 hours of sunlight a day they need to grow good turf. The course needs to bring in the tree guys to limb-back the trees - prune back lower limbs to head high so you can hit a recovery shot - and cut down some fairway edge trees so the sunlight can get in.

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iacas
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On May 9, 2016 at 8:45 AM, Jeremie Boop said:

I'd love for courses to make more of an effort to flatten/level the tees.

It's not what you were talking about with bumps and things, but all tees should be slanted just like all greens have to have tilt: to drain water. I've read that 1.5-2% slope is the minimum.

I'd rather have a flat tilted tee than the crowned tees we see so often. And sometimes the back tees get the worst treatment: they're small and just kind of "added on" after the fact. Particularly on older courses where those tees weren't designed, but were added later because the 6400 yards wasn't enough anymore.

On May 9, 2016 at 1:17 PM, WUTiger said:

Tee Markers, Part Deux

This usually happens on holes with tight landing areas. The greens crew will set up the blocks to far left or far right, maybe about 8 feet between them. It would really help to have the full width of the tee box, so draw players can to tee up on left side, and fade players on the right.

Though I can appreciate the psychological impact, you're really talking about very little angle here.

Let's assume your tee shot goes 250 yards. Eight feet is an angle of about… 0.6°.

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WUTiger
38 minutes ago, iacas said:

Though I can appreciate the psychological impact, you're really talking about very little angle here.

Let's assume your tee shot goes 250 yards. Eight feet is an angle of about… 0.6°.

Thanks for the insight. One less thing I need to worry about.

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Lilfrier

None of this stuff bothers me too much. I always get a cart, so the bench thing's a non-factor. I can't remember a time I played a course with benches anyway. I don't concern myself too heavily with the tee markers. The ground quality might matter as I go more and more with a 3-wood off the tee (haven't hit my driver for crap lately), but if I have the ball on a tee, I'm not that worried about some streaks.

The cart path luck can be annoying, but only one hole at my course has that issue. #5 is a 150-yard par-3. The area in front is sloped HARD, and there is a cart path across it. So, a 145-yard shot ends up being about 100, maybe less on a particularly unfortunate day. Even then, I blame myself more for mishits than the course designer, given I've been playing there for 2 years and know what I'm getting into. Because of that, I've actually gone up a club from the tee lately. Better to end up 10 over than 5 under on that hole.

The drinking water one is a tricky thing. We have coolers out there. However, I still buy a bottle of water (and refill it at a cooler mid-round, if necessary). The problem is the prices. It's $1.75 for a bottle of water. What's more, they don't allow you to bring your own beverages. To me, if you're going to tell me I have to buy something, at least be reasonable with the pricing. At $1.25, even $1.50, they'd probably sell more bottles, and get people to take less of the free water. On the flip side, the place is only $15-25 for 18 holes and a cart, so I am willing to give then some extra change on a bottle of water because the course rates are so much better than everything else here (the others, for 18 and a cart, run $35-60).

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Valleygolfer
On 5/9/2016 at 1:17 PM, WUTiger said:

Tee Markers, Part Deux

This usually happens on holes with tight landing areas. The greens crew will set up the blocks to far left or far right, maybe about 8 feet between them. It would really help to have the full width of the tee box, so draw players can to tee up on left side, and fade players on the right.

 

Our guys are doing this to now allow the grass to heal

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