How firm are England's courses?

[George Pazin]

I ask because it seems to rain there almost as much as here, and it's really rare to see a truly firm course in western PA other than in maybe July or August, at least in my limited experience.

If they are firm, how do they do it? If not, is there a particularly good time of year to visit?

[Paul_Turner]

Outside of the links they aren't firm in the winter.

Sept is the best time, I think.  Or late June.

[Dave Bourgeois]

That's a good question, and I am also curious on the degree of firmness as one moves in-land.  I imagine the firmness is due in no small part to the wind by the coast.

[ed_getka]

I only played Painswick and Burnham and Berrow on my trip but they were both firmer than most courses around my neck of the woods.
   The links courses were F&F, and the funniest thing was at Elie when they gave me a divot repair tool when I paid the green fee. I never saw a divot on my whole trip! I chuckle every time I look at that repair tool.

[Mark_Rowlinson]

I agree with what has been said above.  

In the early days those laying out courses tried to find sandy or gravelly soil which dries out very quickly, and some of the driest courses of all are to be found on chalk downs.  I think they reckoned that the St Andrews fairways stimped higher than the greens during the 2000 Open.  

Traffic over our golf courses in winter used to be much lighter than today and many courses ask you to tee the ball up in the fairway or move it to the semi-rough and one or two ask you to take an artificial turf mat with you if playing in a wet winter.  

Parts of the east coast of England and Scotland remain pretty dry in winter - very cold, sometimes with the wind hurtling in unbroken from central Europe - and they say that golf at Aldeburgh in the winter is better than in the summer because in a dry summer it can become almost unplayable.  Royal Worlington and Gog Magog provide excellent winter golf for Cambridge undergraduates and Rye is always in great shape for the President's Putter in January.

True, it rains a lot on our side of the Pennines and in the Lake District in particular, but those who laid out the early golf courses (and there are dozens and dozens of them pre-1900 in this area alone) chose the bits that were naturally better drained.

Where I first played golf at Lilleshall Hall in Shropshire was impossibly wet during the winter - even a thinned drive would plug!  They scattered cinders by the hundreds of tons every year and perhaps now it is better - but it used to retain a lush fairway grass even in the driest of summers with no artificial watering.  There was almost no roll on landing even with old hard balls.  Do you remember those awful old balls with two red dots on? I think the manufacturer was too ashamed to put his name on them.  

[Mark_Rowlinson]

I played Conwy with my son the other day and it was in fine shape.  The greens are nothing special but I remarked to my son that I could not remember having to repair a pitchmark on a green at Conwy for many years - however high you throw your approach onto the green there is little chance of a pitchmark needing repair.