Now I know what firm and fast means.

[Dave_Miller]

Just completed a trip to Ireland played the following courses in this order:
Druid Heath
The European Club
The K Club
Druid Glen
Royal County Down
Ardglass
Portmarnock

All over the US I hear lip service to firm and fast conditions but in Ireland I actually experienced this.  It was great to actually bring the ground game into play and experience the joy of having options other than the aerial game.  
This was golf at its most enjoyable.
Anyone else concur?

Best
Dave

[wsmorrison]

Dave,

You mean you didn't know what firm and fast was in Scotland?  How about your overseas club's courses?  You knew what it was, you just needed a fix  

I guess I'll see you on Friday.  Hopefully the rain the preceding days will not compromise firm and fast.  Looks like Thursday is the better day.  Friday has a 40% chance of rain, temps in the low 60s.  You're coming down, right?  How many of you?

Here in PA, we have firm and fast when nature allows at Huntingdon Valley, Oakmont, Merion East and West, Philadelphia Country Club, Manufacturers and Aronimink, among others.  You need to spend more time in your home state  

[ed_getka]

Dave,
   I haven't made the Ireland tour yet, but on my Scotland trip a few years back the ground game was just too fun for words. It is just so cool to use your imagination to come up with all kinds of interesting shots.
   Of course, when the tee shots just won't stop running and end up in a bunker or worse, then you are just praying for the ball to stop.

[Jeff_Brauer]

I got my first taste of firm and fast in similar drought conditions at TOC in 1980. I dropped three balls on the putting clock and two of them rolled to the beach while I wasn't looking.....

(in Rodney Dangerfield voice) ....It was so dry, I think even the Firth of Forth was playing fast that day (or it was so dry you could skip one over....)

[Dave_Miller]

Dave,

You mean you didn't know what firm and fast was in Scotland?  How about your overseas club's courses?  You knew what it was, you just needed a fix  

I guess I'll see you on Friday.  Hopefully the rain the preceding days will not compromise firm and fast.  Looks like Thursday is the better day.  Friday has a 40% chance of rain, temps in the low 60s.  You're coming down, right?  How many of you?

Here in PA, we have firm and fast when nature allows at Huntingdon Valley, Oakmont, Merion East and West, Philadelphia Country Club, Manufacturers and Aronimink, among others.  You need to spend more time in your home state  

Wayne:
Will see you on Friday.  There will be three of us including Eddie Baker.
Best
Dave

[wsmorrison]

Great!  Looking forward to seeing you, Eddie and your mystery guest.  Bring rain gear...just to ward off the rain    What time do you want to meet?  We're scheduled for an 11:12 tee time.  Do you want to stick to that or shall I try to get an earlier one?

[Dave_Miller]

Great!  Looking forward to seeing you, Eddie and your mystery guest.  Bring rain gear...just to ward off the rain    What time do you want to meet?  We're scheduled for an 11:12 tee time.  Do you want to stick to that or shall I try to get an earlier one?

Wayne:
That works just great.  11:12 AM it is.
Bet
Dave

[Ed_Baker]

Wayne-O,

The late morning tee time is perfect.
I have been on the cheesburgers and pizza all summer and as a consequence Davey3 has imposed a weight limit in his vehicle.
So I will be arriving by UPS ground delivery traveling in the company of several refrigerators and sundry appliances. I will need two caddies, one to carry my bag, and one to carry me.

[wsmorrison]

I'll be at the pro shop about an hour before hand.  See youse guys on Friday.  Ed, the club now has Roman Sedan Chairs with four caddies to carry you around.  There's a cooler inside with 12 bottles of Yeungling Lager

[Dave_Miller]

I'll be at the pro shop about an hour before hand.  See youse guys on Friday.  Ed, the club now has Roman Sedan Chairs with four caddies to carry you around.  There's a cooler inside with 12 bottles of Yeungling Lager

Wayne:
If it's Baker it's got to be "Lite Beer by Miller"
Dave

[wsmorrison]

I'll notify the club to purchase some of that swill for the Barbarian from Boston  

[Mark_Fine]

Dave,
A few of those courses would surprise me if they were firm and fast but I do know where you are coming from.  

Maybe those on this site who want to play firm and fast courses need to play more muni designs instead of the high end private designs.  I can't think of too many of those that over water  
Mark

[Padraig Dooley]

Dave

Was the trip in September?

We had a very dry summer, all golf courses were playing very firm and fast but it rained a lot in August and September, most golf courses have softened up since then.

As current conditions are I would have said that the K Club, Druid's Glen and Druid's Heath would have been quite soft.

[Mark_Fine]

Padraig,
Those were the three I was thinking of as well.  I would have been surprised if they ever played firm and fast (at least nothing like a true links course).  When the ball rolls out 80+yards on drives and you have to land a wedge 20 or more yards short of the green to keep it from going over the back, then you have "firm and fast"

How fast does Cork ever get?
Mark

[Padraig Dooley]

Mark

Cork gets as fast as that, especially this summer, early in August the whole course was brown, it looked like Hoylake in the Open, angles of appraoches became very important.

I like it when it's like that easier for the average guy to score, but very difficult for the low guy to bring in a low one.

[Mark_Fine]

Padraig,
Now if we could just your guys to understand what they could have vs. what they do have      In time!
Mark

[TEPaul]

My introduction to ultra firm and fast was in Ireland in 1999 in a little hillside course called Mallow in Mallow Ireland. It was so hot and dry over there that summer all the Irish I ran into looked like they were suffocating.

But that little Mallow course was a total revelation to me. I've never seen firm and fast like that before or since. On some holes I ended up hitting a club like a wedge from over 200 yards or so.

I loved it because ultimately what it did with me is force me to study the ground like a hawk because if I didn't I was gonna get screwed by it somehow.

[Peter Galea]

I dropped three balls on the putting clock....

Putting clock?  That's the first time I've ever heard that. Is the "putting clock" only at TOC?