Name Something Your Course Can Do to Improve Golf

[boogielicious]

Move some of the front tees more forward. My wife and I play a lot together with another couple. On many holes including par 3s, their tee makes the hole much longer in comparison to my tee. Many par 4s are really par 5s for their distance. On par 3s, I would be hitting 7 iron and they would hit a driver. I feel this would bring the average women golfer more enjoyment. The better woman golfers are already playing my tees.

[RGoosen]

How about a light on the top of your golf cart that lights up like a strobe light if you are behind pace.

[bm85]

There needs to be an electronic screen on carts that cycle messages like:

Do not pick up or hit balls in play that are not your own. No, just don't.

Please turn your radio that's blasting music down for non-alcoholic golfers.

Do not start on the back 9, especially if there is a group playing the 9th hole as they will hit into you and you will erroneously think they are the *******s.

If you're already shooting a 10 on a par 4, please don't act like Tiger when you get on the green and take all day. If you're role playing Memorial Tiger, then carry on.

[mcanadiens]

I played a course (Curituck Club, OBX) while on vacation that had GPS on the carts. We had a couple of new guys with us and picked a late afternoon tee time to insure we wouldn't hold anyone up. Predictably, we fell way behind and the GPS screen started displaying rather vividly how many minutes off pace we were. It got as bad as 30 minutes behind at the turn. Then the frustration got too much for our new guys and we made up the difference in about four holes.

[jcjim]

I think GPS carts are one of the best ideas ever even if they charged a couple bucks a round to offset the cost. I don't use a range finder and my eyes aren't what they used to be so GPS would be a welcome addition to my game. Heck just thinking about it, why wait for GPS carts I'll probably just get a range finder

[RussUK]

Snipers in the tree's to target slow play?

maybe not, they would need suppressed weapons and there is also the issue of littering with all the shell cases

Oh well, have to stick with better range balls and maybe 2 day (weekend) memberships as opposed to weekday only or 7 day ones

[DeadMan]

Cut down the tall native grass so that people don't spend ages looking for balls in that grass.

Provide a reasonable women's tee - most of the tees on most courses for women make the course too long for women.

Actually have rangers that will help the course maintain the pace of play (i.e., help golfers speed up as opposed to just telling them they're behind).

[Grumpter]

I don't have a 'my course' but general things I can see help improving the game at some courses I play:

- Marshall - actually having a Marshall making rounds rather than needing to phone the course to send someone out

- Spacing out tee times appropriately. 2 tee times every 15 minutes or even 8 minutes between tee times is not enough

- Maintenance of trouble areas.

a) I have seen a tight courses with out of bounds on at least one side of nearly every hole have unkempt pine trees on the bail out side of the hole. The pines go all the way to the ground making it not only harder to find the balls but then to even advance the ball out of the lie.

b) High fescue making it a long search to find a ball slightly off course.

- Allowing chipping to the putting green. If they don't have a separate area to chip on a real green then allow chipping to the putting green.

- If they don't have a driving range then have at least a 1 stall net area to at least hit a few warm up shots before tee'ing off. Oh and maintain that area so it is in decent condition.

- Tear out the plants in sand traps. The sand itself is enough of a penalty for 90% of the golfers on most courses. Adding tall plants to the middle of the traps serves no good purpose in my opinion.

Along with the scorecard and pencil....at checkin give everyone a simple ball mark repair tool.

Everyone already has one..... a tee.

[MrDC]

Well, the red tees at my course have a rating for men 67.1/117, 5604 yds, and they cleared the underbrush in the woods making balls easier to find. You guys would just have to man up and play the reds if you want to play a shorter course. They're essentially "senior" tees. There are no "ladies tees" at this course. Just Red, White, Blue, and Black.

I know how to replace a 2" X 10" beaver tail.

And no cameras. We're under enough surveillance already.

I'm fine with that, but most aren't, guys want to play the whites, so make then shorter.

I've played with many and can count the players on one hand that wouldn't be better off playing a shorter course, less yardage is the more common need, those that can actually play 6,000+ well can simply move back.

[WUTiger]

Clean out the wooded hazard short right of the No. 12 green. This is a long Par 5 (590 from back, about 542 from whites) that has a sunken fairway around the long landing area. The wooded area, circled, is full of heavy grass and vines among the trees.

Players coming up the hill have a blind approach shot, and you almost need to send someone ahead to watch for balls coming through or across this area.

I wish they would clean out the prairie grass and vines, and leave maybe three mid-sized trees there - mow it first-cut of rough. The hard ground feeds the ball into the hazard from any number of angles. The mini-jungle makes an already hard hole even more difficult, and is a major slow-play trap as golfers try to decide if the ball is inside, or on the edge, of the hazard.

[Yukari]

Have a local rule on some of the tough holes where OB is in play so that one can drop from a drop zone with 2 stroke penalty. This would speed up play. Also cut down the rough to a reasonable height so it doesn't take 2-4 minutes to find the golf ball. Make all native rough as hazard area.

[Dave2512]

Or just stick a sign on the tee that says if you have hit towards OB hit a damn provisional. The time wasted looking for balls OB is usually due to someone not playing a provisional. I rarely have doubt when I hit it OB, I see it clear the white stakes and keep going. It's not a provisional as much as that's what you do.

The native areas are a tough call and I usually play a provisional. Even if I could find my ball in the 3 foot high scrub how am I going to hit it out of there. Countless times I've tried and whiffed it or barely moved it a foot. I'd rather courses just mow it down to a height that makes it playable if it's not ESA. At the course I play native area is a nice way to say weeds.

[DaveP043]

Along with the scorecard and pencil....at checkin give everyone a simple ball mark repair tool.

And maybe a lesson in how to use one...pull and "stretch"  the grass in toward the center, don't lever to pull the bare dirt in the center up to the surface.

Quote:

Originally Posted by RGoosen

How about a light on the top of your golf cart that lights up like a strobe light if you are behind pace.

I played a course (Curituck Club, OBX) while on vacation that had GPS on the carts. We had a couple of new guys with us and picked a late afternoon tee time to insure we wouldn't hold anyone up. Predictably, we fell way behind and the GPS screen started displaying rather vividly how many minutes off pace we were. It got as bad as 30 minutes behind at the turn. Then the frustration got too much for our new guys and we made up the difference in about four holes.

Amazing that by steadily reminding players that they're behind, they find a way to speed up.  BTW, I really like the Curituck Club, although its been a few years since I played there.

[Jeremie Boop]

The main course I play doesn't really need to do anything. Perhaps, as others have said, mow the "native" areas, but really there are only a handful of those on the course. Now, on my league course all I can say to help there is maintain the damn course. The tees are tore up, not level at all, and have crab grass all over them. The greens are rock hard and have dead spots all over them and those can't even be blamed on people not fixing pitch marks because you can't even really leave a mark on them. There is hardly any difference between the rough and the fairway when it comes to length of grass.Seriously, the condition of the courses are night and day and the cost to play them is almost identical. And I think that the better course is actually cheaper at some times...

[saevel25]

Have the starter or ranger help push slow players.

[mcanadiens]

Yeah, Curituck Club is a nice course although they were have some real issues with the front 9 tee boxes when we played. Frankly, fearless leader could have picked a more beginner-friendly course for our two newbies. I'd have liked to see em play the shorts on Carolina Club. Don't know how much the pace warnings bugged them, but they'd both had enough by the turn anyway.

[DrvFrShow]

Course A:

1. 5th hole par 5 - change the out of bounds markings making the left edge of the cart path out of bounds. Right now it is a NPR, but there are yard fences and trees planted close preventing one from making a stance thus causing a waste of time going through the motions when the relief will be on the fairway side of the path anyway.

2. 7th hole par 4 - cut the fork of the tree that is growing out over the fairway narrowing the approach. While it's cute, this isn't TPC Sawgrass. The tree looks like it has goal posts: one fork grows straight up and other out and then bends up. The two very mature oak trees near the green do enough to narrow the approach.

3. 8th hole 164 yd par 3 - remove the bunker or redo the green. The green is a nightmare. It's heavily sloped, and there are no flat spots on it. There is a forced carry over water then a large gaping bunker onto the green. If you're above the hole, you're looking at bogey. If you're in the bunker you're looking at double... unless you're Phil. The play from the women's tee box is the same distance but eliminates the forced carry over the water and puts the bunker off to the left, making the hole more reasonable, still being that the hole is elevated it's a 3W or more for most women, and in most rounds I've played everyone is short. Only a handful of us make it in one. I hit a strong 6 iron to leave it on the front of the green or fringe even if it's a back pin placement.

4. 9th hole - par 4 - that cedar tree that leans over the fairway that's been struck by lightning a couple times needs to come down. It's leaning at about a 55 degree angle. I think money is the issue there.

5. 10th hole par 5 - fairway bunker - someone thought it was cute to plant a tree blocking the shot toward the green making the escape a chip out. It's bad enough that the FW bunker is there in the first place. Someone needs to come in with a chain saw and remove the tree.

6. 15th hole par 4 - the dike road is a lateral hazard. It's part of the river. However, there are some trees over there that need to come down. If you hit your ball into the hazard with your drive, you're looking at not one stroke but a two stroke "penalty." The trees weren't a problem a few years ago when you could hit an 8 iron over them, but they've grown taller and the only shot is a chip out. The lower branches are even too low for a knockdown and trust me, I'm good at knockdowns.

7. 16th hole par 4 - they went to the trouble to post the distance to the water hazard and the distance needed to carry it. Unfortunately, they posted it on a tree 40 yds in front of the tee boxes measured from that tree and you can't see it. Post it at the tee boxes.

8. All tee boxes. Level and resod. There is nothing I like more than hitting from a sidehill lie in a tee box. In a casual round I won't care  because I'll ignore where the markers are and hit from where i can find a level spot. But in a competition round it really sucks.

9. 18th hole par 5 - cut down the pine or cedar tree or whatever it is that's blocking the approach to the green. I love it when they decide to tuck the pin behind it. That green is bad enough.

10. 5th hole - remove the tree just off the fairway at 250 yds. There is nothing like getting penalized for hitting a good shot.

Geez, I think I've given enough reasons why I don't like the course and haven't played there much this year. But these improvements would speed up play.

[Dave2512]

Worth mentioning here is I have seen first hand how neglect affects a course. I started playing the course I frequent most in 2012. It's a decent out of the way course in a rural community and at the time was owned by Escalante Golf. I could never put my finger on it and despite better than average playing conditions for a muni some features didn't seem quite right. Early 2015 the super/greenskeeper quit and a new guy came in.

Immediately he started making changes. At first little things like removing wild bushes that had grown around hazards. It wasn't until those were gone that I noticed how much different the hole looked visually. Because I am a regular I am friendly with everyone and eventually asked him questions about what he was doing. In a nutshell he went back to the original course blueprints and saw how over time either due to lack of upkeep or maintenance it changed how the course looked and played.

One of the biggest changes he made was very simple, he brought the level of the water hazards up. It took several million gallons but getting the water to where it should be and getting rid of the most of the cattails really changed how the holes played. Suddenly it was more challenging. He also started mowing differently. The previous guy had let collection areas around greens grow in. He had also lazily let the fairways become blah with straight forward shapes.

It was a welcome change and when the course was up to be rated this year going back to the original design changed the rating increasing it by nearly a stroke. The only "bad" thing is he's a real bugger when it comes to cutting holes. The old way everything was simple. He puts them in very challenging spots and I like it.

If you have questions about your course I would address it with the pro. I went round and round with our former pro because I felt everything was wrong right down to the rating. It took getting a completely new staff for our course to come alive and play the way it should. I had no clue so much could be changed and they are still at it.