Hoylake and true confesssions.....

[Bob_Huntley]

I loved every minute of watching the Open, however, I have a question for all and sundry.

Would you really want to play in conditions as presented this week, on a regular basis?

Bob

[Adam Clayman]

Bob, The conditions were not much different than playing winter golf on dormant turf.

I can answer with a resounding affirmative.

The bounce and roll permitted when courses are that firm, not only inspire the creative shot making, it separates the thinker from the whaler, big time.

[Brian_Ewen]

Bob
With all respect , dont you think there is Golfers who DO play this type of golf , week in , week out ? .

I am always amazed at how many people think we drag the Open Championship out of a drawer for one week , then tuck it away until next July , for the amusement of the world .

Brian

[Tom Zeni]

A resounding "No !" for me.

When Nick Faldo pronounced the course, referrring to the grass, as "dead," I definitely lost my enthusiasm for the venue, let alone wanting to play that condition on a routine basis.

Needing all the help I can get, having grass beneath the ball is an inclination I always leaned toward, and never away.

Besides, that dust-up with each shot would cause total havoc with my allergies!

[Sean_A]

So long as there is grass on the fairways and they water greens just enough to be able to keep them running at a decent pace I would say yes.  What often happens in the heat is that clubs don't water greens, but they don't cut them.  They get too slow and the ball doesn't run out properly.  I spose this is the proce to pay for cheap membership.

Tom - ignore what Nick said.  He is wrong.  The grass at Hoylake is far from dead.

Brian is right.  My club was playing wonderfully on Friday.  Getting tee shots in the right place was crucial because greens wouldn't hold.  You had to have the angles to bounce in for birdie opps.  But they are too cheap to water so now the greens have slowed down today.  

Ciao

Sean

[Mike_Sweeney]

I once played with the Captain of Enniscrone, and his favorite place to travel to was Myrtle Beach. Variety is the spice of life.

[Gary Daughters]

I believe I'd do it, yes.

Especially with a bit more breeze in the equation.

But a bit of rain certainly wouldn't have hurt.

[Tom Zeni]

Sean,

Even though you're their, since Nick was playing the course, I'd have to respectfully disagree.

Regardless, I believe Bob's question was playing a course in Hoylake's current condition on a "regular basis."

Maybe for you Brits, since it's all in what you grow up with or are mostly familiar, but not for a Pennsylvanian who grew up on grass courses.

Of course, none of this means I wouldn't play there if I had the opportunity. I would.

[Bob_Huntley]

Bob, The conditions were not much different than playing winter golf on dormant turf.

I can answer with a resounding affirmative.

The bounce and roll permitted when courses are that firm, not only inspire the creative shot making, it separates the thinker from the whaler, big time.

Adam,

Thinker you may be, but do you have the game to play this type of game daily? I've played TOC many, many times when it was firm and fast but I don't remember it being quite as arid as Hoylake was this week.

Bob

[Mark_Rowlinson]

But Hoylake isn't like that on a regular basis.  If it rains tomorrow it will green up.  That's the great thing about true links turf - it never dies.  We'll have rain one of these days.  We always do.  But I'm jolly glad to have been able to eat outdoors for most of the last fortnight.  It's not like that every summer at this time, I can assure you.

[Sean_A]

Tom

You have to learn to take what Nick says with a pinch of salt.  He often plays up for media.  I guarantee that the grass is far from dead.  3 or 4 good rains and you would swear you weren't looking at the same course.  Didn't you see the difference between Thursday and Sunday?  The greens were much greener on Thursday.  

Ciao

Sean

[Mark_Rowlinson]

They are planning to instal roofing over the courts at Wimbledon.  We've had a fabulous heatwave over the last few weeks.  These things happen occasionally, sometimes even in consecutive years (1975/6 for instance).  But we do also get summers such as 1999 when things can get out of hand in the wintery direction.  The R&A don't do a bad job in coping with whatever is thrown at them.

[Bob_Huntley]

Would you really want to play in conditions as presented this week, on a regular basis?

Bob

Sean and Mark,


Please read my initial post. I was referring to playing in conditions as we saw them today. I am well aware that a good rain will restore some normalcy to the course, but that wasn't the gist of my question.

Bob

[Mark_Rowlinson]

Bob, That's the whole point, you don't.  There are no regular conditions.  

[Bob_Huntley]

Mark,

With respect, I never mentioned "regular conditions", you did. I said "on a regular basis" meaning.....oh, what's the use.

Bob

[James Bennett]

Bob

I enjoy 4 seasons.  My golf course changes through the year.  In summer, I feel young (?) and athletic (?) as the ball goes further, and bounces further.  In the winter my game is more controlled as I have a chance to pitch a ball at a green and stop in in say 10 feet.  But the ground is currently reasonably firm and running.

I wouldn't like to play Hoylake every week in such conditions, just as I wouldn't want to play the best course in the world in its best condition every day, if it meant the conditions were the same every day.

If I wanted the same conditions every day, I would move to Hawaii or to Tenerife.

James B

[Bob_Huntley]

Bob

If I wanted the same conditions every day, I would move to Hawaii or to Tenerife.

James B

James,

I guess that's why I live on the Monterey Peninsula.

Bob

[Sean Walsh]

I played Hoylake during the last heatwave in 2003 and the course looked very similar to what was displayed on t.v.  

The only difference I saw was the the rough was longer and the greens were marginally drier.

[Mark_Fine]

Bob,
There is nothing more fun and interesting than playing a links course under conditions like you saw at Hoylake.  I used to tell my buddies that if I could throw my golf ball down on the turf and it would bounce back up to me, I was going to have a good day on the golf course    

Links courses are by far at their best when they are firm and fast.  

Having said this, I recently played Cog Hill #4.  If they had similar firm fast conditions there, I might have walked off.  It would (as Tom Doak said in another thread) be essentially unplayable and absolutely no fun at all.  The course is designed for aerial golf.

[James Bennett]

Bob

I would guess that Monterey Peninsula has three seasons.  One winter (mild mediteranean, not NE USA winter), two springs and an autumn.

By contrast, San Francisco has a different three seasons - winter, spring, winter, autumn. .  To experience summer, you need to drive 40 miles inland.

I recall speaking to a Kiwi (New Zealand) who was returning home from a few years in Hawaii.  He was really looking forward to returning to seasonal changes in weather.

James B

[Jay Flemma]

"Blow winds rage!  And crack your cheeks!

Rage!  Blow!"

[Adam Clayman]

Bob, I'm not sure I get the gist of your question to me.

I have played golf on turf exactly as we saw today, when I lived in New Mexico, during the winter months. It was truely great fun especially if one doesn't have the game I think you are speaking of for aerial assualt play.

As a matter of fact, it could be argued that the summer time green grass version is repetetive boredum, especally when judicious juice is used.

Courses like Wild Horse, while not brown, can play just as firm, if not firmer, with proper care. And still keep the grass green.

[John Kirk]

James,

I guess that's why I live on the Monterey Peninsula.

Bob

Granted, lots of intelligence and hard work precedes the decision to move there.

[Tom Zeni]

Sean,

Never having been on that side of the pond, and not having the exposure you have had with Nick, your word is good enough for me.

[ForkaB]

Bob

Even if it were possible to have conditions like that on a day to day basis (which, of course, it is not) I would say no.  It's a lot of fun to play a highly tuned links course a few times a year (which is about all that is possible, every few years), but it would lead to mental breakdown if done on a daily basis.  Look what happened to Adam after he moved to New Mexico!