Fairway Width

[mirv]

i've begun rotating between three courses.  the first course, which is where i've played for years, has very tight fairways on the front side, maybe 20 yards wide.  they open up ever so slightly on the back to maybe 25-30.  second course is a links course and the fairways themselves are about average, but the rough is really thin until you get into the weeds, but from one side of the weeds to the other is probably 100 yards, so you could slice into oblivion and still have an open shot to the green.  third course has average fairways, probably 40 yards across, then about 10 yards of rough on either side, but every last hole is lined by trees and thorns.  if your ball goes in there, it is Gone.

[ThominOH]

I have a mix between average and narrow.. The width of the fairway isn't as much of problem as width of tree line becomes an issue..  I'm not sure how the rest of the midwest  feels, but at times I feel I'm playing in a forest and only the minimal number of trees were cut down..  Too many fairways are 20 yds wide, but you only have 3-5 yards of rough on each side before you are "IN" the trees..  Welcome to Jail..  I really don't enjoy playing a course that you're either in the fairway, or under a tree..

[trickymicky69]

I would say the course I am playing in two weeks time is tougher. www.st-mellion.co.uk

Knee high rough to the left of every hole on a steep incline (impossible to hit driver, its too narrow), and water to the right of nearly every fairway.

Some par fours are a 210 yard carry over water to a fairway about as wide as a postage stamp. The next shot is also over water about 230 yards with a stream across the back of the green and water front and right.

The fairways are so narrow the European Tour complained that it was too hard.

Todays golfer said

"The course has been a regular fixture on the UK Top 100 and narrowly lost out as the host venue for the 1993 Ryder Cup. It is also regarded as second only to Carnoustie as the most difficult golf course in Great Britain."

Its ridiculous, I lost 16 balls in two rounds when I played there last time.

[michaeljames92]

Mine are wide, but it's a long course. Before it was remodelled and lengthened, Ernie Els shot the lowest tournament total ever on the European Tour, and won by 10 shots. However the year before it was a different story as Goosen and 6 others only broke par.

http://www.iseekgolf.com/tournaments/252-johnnie-walker-classic-2002

[jshots]

Mine are fairly average in width but the entire course is on a fairly steep slope so anything that doesn't land on the uphill half of the fairway will generally end up in the rough on the other side.

[B-Con]

I went on Google maps in satellite mode used their line tool to measure our fairways. The narrowest was about 28 yards and the widest was a little over 50 yards. The average width was roughly 45 yards. However, the "short grass area" may be a little larger since the formal edge between rough and fairway is usually a little blurred. There are plenty of lies that *appear* to be on the fairway but, going by the big-picture fairway mowing, are off by about 5 yards. I voted wide. It seems like you can spray the ball a bit and still hit fairways. For anyone else interested in using Google Maps, view their satellite mode and on the left click "My Places" and "New Map". Then click the line-drawing tool that appears in the upper-left.

[ohiolefty]

I voted average relative to the overall length of my home course. My course was designed in the 20s and most of it isn't super open.