Show Your Worst Course Markings

[DeadMan]

I came across a terrible course marking this weekend, and I was inspired to start a thread where we could post terrible course markings.

Here’s the one I saw:

 

Just completely baffling. You are totally screwed if your ball ends up there. The odds are small, but still. 
 

Post your other ones! I want to see something that rivals this. 

[StuM]

  On 10/2/2023 at 9:35 PM, DeadMan said:

I came across a terrible course marking this weekend, and I was inspired to start a thread where we could post terrible course markings.

Here’s the one I saw:

 

Just completely baffling. You are totally screwed if your ball ends up there. The odds are small, but still. 
 

Post your other ones! I want to see something that rivals this. 

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The part of this that is odd to me why are they marking the heather as a penalty area in the first place.  Many will play out of heather and there is no requirement that says you can't play out of the heather even though it is marked as a penalty area.  I can see many playing out of it if they find their ball.  Even the fence, if you can get a club on it, even a little, you may be able to advance it better than a drop.

[DeadMan]

  On 10/3/2023 at 5:40 PM, StuM said:

The part of this that is odd to me why are they marking the heather as a penalty area in the first place.  Many will play out of heather and there is no requirement that says you can't play out of the heather even though it is marked as a penalty area.  I can see many playing out of it if they find their ball.  Even the fence, if you can get a club on it, even a little, you may be able to advance it better than a drop.

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You can play out of a penalty area, though. They're not discouraging play from there. It's marked that way because it's unmaintained and they just let it grow out. Also, just beyond there is more unmaintained similar grass, a creek, which is all marked as penalty area as well. They definitely could mark a lot less as a penalty area, but this course marks most unmaintained areas like this as penalty areas. I think they believe it encourages faster play because people are more likely to take drops. I'm not sure that's the case, but that's the reasoning. Marking that stuff as a penalty area does not bother me.

Here's an overhead of the hole, with the penalty areas marked (roughly). The black arrow is where this picture is taken, and the area you're looking at in the picture is to the left of the arrow. You can see how the grass changes there, and you can see the creek and the other penalty areas on the holes. I think that makes it more clear why this area is marked this way.

[GolfLug]

  On 10/3/2023 at 6:08 PM, DeadMan said:

You can play out of a penalty area, though. They're not discouraging play from there. It's marked that way because it's unmaintained and they just let it grow out. Also, just beyond there is more unmaintained similar grass, a creek, which is all marked as penalty area as well. They definitely could mark a lot less as a penalty area, but this course marks most unmaintained areas like this as penalty areas. I think they believe it encourages faster play because people are more likely to take drops. I'm not sure that's the case, but that's the reasoning. Marking that stuff as a penalty area does not bother me.

Here's an overhead of the hole, with the penalty areas marked (roughly). The black arrow is where this picture is taken, and the area you're looking at in the picture is to the left of the arrow. You can see how the grass changes there, and you can see the creek and the other penalty areas on the holes. I think that makes it more clear why this area is marked this way.

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Likely people complained about having to hit out of deep heather. Unplayable wouldn't provide enough relief. They probably don't want people jamming their club into the fence either. Just guessing here..

[DaveP043]

  On 10/3/2023 at 8:51 PM, GolfLug said:

Likely people complained about having to hit out of deep heather. Unplayable wouldn't provide enough relief. They probably don't want people jamming their club into the fence either. Just guessing here..

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I see two different issues here.  Since 2019, its perfectly acceptable to define red Penalty Areas in any way the Committee chooses.  This approach is often used for areas like the heather, where even if you find a ball your only really viable Unplayable Relief option is stroke and distance.  As a Red PA, you can take relief at the point of entry without having to go back to the ball's previous location.  But the red PA probably should stop where the heather stops, so that free relief from the is available.  In my opinion, I'd define the fence (where its in the General Area) and the cart path as a single bstruction, eliminating the potential for multiple consecutive drops from multiple different Obstructions..

[GolfLug]

  On 10/3/2023 at 10:40 PM, DaveP043 said:

I see two different issues here.  Since 2019, its perfectly acceptable to define red Penalty Areas in any way the Committee chooses.  This approach is often used for areas like the heather, where even if you find a ball your only really viable Unplayable Relief option is stroke and distance.  As a Red PA, you can take relief at the point of entry without having to go back to the ball's previous location.  But the red PA probably should stop where the heather stops, so that free relief from the is available.  In my opinion, I'd define the fence (where its in the General Area) and the cart path as a single bstruction, eliminating the potential for multiple consecutive drops from multiple different Obstructions..

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Maybe the other side of the cart is perfectly playable GA. But yeah, I generally agree.