St Andrews installing new rubber roof to counter golf ball damage

[nevets88]

Rubber roof will protect Old Course Hotel from wild shots

They were spending 1500 pounds a week on repairing roof damage from stray golf balls. Some contractor's cash cow just dried up, it's gonna be a blue Christmas, but don't cry for him, there will be other roofs. Must be weird collecting golf balls from gutters.

Quote

The five-star resort has now hired a Canadian company to fit a new rubber roof to the top of the building.

Work will begin next month on replacing the 7,000 square metre 28-year-old roof and is expected to be completed by the start of the golf season in April. The hotel is due to close in January for internal refurbishments.

Calgary-based Euroshield's roof material is made from 70 per cent recycled tyre and has been developed to resist impact.

http://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/743197/Rubber-roof-protect-Old-Course-Hotel-golf-balls

 

 

[iacas]

£1500/week?!

Really?

And if true, they've let it go on this long?

[nevets88]

Wonder if it'll make for more favorable bounces, maybe even change the outcome of an Open. The rubber roof controversy, 2017.

[JGus]

First, that's a lot of money a week to fix a roof, but can understand how easily and how often it is hit.

Second, I couldn't get that dang roof out of my head when I played that hole, but luckily I hit a decent shot and made it to the fairway, unfortunately my second shot wasn't as good. 

[iacas]

12 minutes ago, nevets88 said:

Wonder if it'll make for more favorable bounces, maybe even change the outcome of an Open. The rubber roof controversy, 2017.

The British Open isn't at St. Andrews next year.

[nevets88]

3 minutes ago, iacas said:

The British Open isn't at St. Andrews next year.

Aahhhhh, you know what I meant, the next Open at St. Andrews. 

[bkuehn1952]

When we were up on the "Observation Deck" (off the 5th/top floor) of the Old Course Hotel, I was surprised at how often balls would end up ricocheting around the deck.  I can see how the roof would receive a good share of the tee shots hit from the 17th tee.  Prime slicer territory but not something I would expect to be in range for the pros.

[RussUK]

Im wondering if they are using a special sort of rubber is i would have thought that over time with abosorbing the heat from the sun (although we are talking Scotland here ) plus the usual weathering the rubber would start to degrade and crack potentially causing higher repair bills?

Im no chemist though so i could be talking a load of b*llocks (wouldnt be the 1st time!)

[iacas]

@DaveP043 and others can correct me if I'm wrong, but now that I think about it, I was the only person in my group - IIRC (and that's important here) - who hit over the hotel. The rest - IIRC again - teed off from closer and further to the left, so they had almost a clear shot to the hotel. I was alone back on the tee (I was allowed to play the back tees when I visited), and IIRC the hotel was not really in danger except for very, very, very bad shots from the "forward" tee.

So seriously, how are they getting $2k worth of damage A WEEK?

[DaveP043]

I remember hitting a gentle draw over a corner of the hotel, a single-story part, and ended up in the fairway.  I was miles away from the actual "tower" and I'm sure my ball was a couple of stories below the level of the roof.  I'm astounded that so many people manage to hit it that high AND that far right.

[Hardspoon]

6 hours ago, RussUK said:

Im wondering if they are using a special sort of rubber

Rubber roofs are pretty common, usually as a flat membrane, but the rubber they use is pretty durable (20+ years). Sounds like this is a thick tile to look like slate, so it should hold up for a while.

4 hours ago, iacas said:

So seriously, how are they getting $2k worth of damage A WEEK?

Yeah, that seems nuts. Maybe they are repairing it really often? Slate is expensive, and that roof has to be difficult to access...if they fixed it every week, that $2k might buy them something like 5 slates, once you factor in a lift or scaffold or whatever.

[Gunther]

Played it twice, both my shots went over the shed, one a rip, the other a couple days later a weak push fade, both playable (although I doubled each time).  Never saw a ball come anywhere near the roof of the hotel.  Although, my buddy sliced one off the Russacks on 18 and it bounced back into fairway...that was some crazy luck.  Old Tom must have been watching.

Edited December 19, 2016 by Gunther

[Buckeyebowman]

5 hours ago, DaveP043 said:

I remember hitting a gentle draw over a corner of the hotel, a single-story part, and ended up in the fairway.  I was miles away from the actual "tower" and I'm sure my ball was a couple of stories below the level of the roof.  I'm astounded that so many people manage to hit it that high AND that far right.

Well, remember that about 90% of golfers hit a slice, particularly off the tee. I'm reminded of a Feherty story where he's in the Dunhill Cup. They show up at the 17th and his caddie advises him to hit it over the "F" in hotel! Feherty looks at the sign on the wall out front of the hotel, and tells his caddie that there is no "F" in hotel! Now, Feherty is hung over yet fortified by a couple of snootfulls from his faithful following.

His caddie advised him to hit it over the "effing" hotel, which changed his original idea quite a bit! Feherty did so and the wind, which was blowing hard from right to left, wafted his ball right into the fairway. He made a great approach, sunk the putt, and won the Dunhill cup for Ireland.

Remember, you don't hit it like the pros do!

 

[RussUK]

10 hours ago, Hardspoon said:

 

Yeah, that seems nuts. Maybe they are repairing it really often? Slate is expensive, and that roof has to be difficult to access...if they fixed it every week, that $2k might buy them something like 5 slates, once you factor in a lift or scaffold or whatever.

Yep, plus its often not just a case of replaceing the actual broken slates. To get to that damaged one they roofers generally have to remove a number of slates above and below due to the way they are overlapped for waterproofing.

Plus, this is St Andrews so they wont be using the cheapo stuff you get from the local builders merchant. Its probably hand picked by trained craftsmen (and women) from a secret slate mine in the highlands.....or something like that, either way they wont be slumming it like the rest of us!

[bkuehn1952]

The Old Course Hotel is owned by the Kohler's so I think they can afford it.  Like many wealthy folks, I suspect they want to hold on to their billions and don't like to spend money needlessly, hence the change to synthetic "slates".

[Gunther]

49 minutes ago, bkuehn1952 said:

The Old Course Hotel is owned by the Kohler's so I think they can afford it.  Like many wealthy folks, I suspect they want to hold on to their billions and don't like to spend money needlessly, hence the change to synthetic "slates".

Wealthy folks?  Don't we all dislike spending money needlessly?