A picture for the firm and fast lovers

[Chip Gaskins]

in the middle of the PGA with the manicured roughs and green green everywhere i though all the firm and fast lovers would enjoy this

[John Sheehan]

Thanks, I needed that.  Maybe you can send a copy to Lee Westwood...

[Brad Klein]

First thought it was Dornoch. Great photo, and the kind of image that, were it a U.S. course, would lead to cries for an irrigation upgrade.

[Ian Dalzell]

Chip - that is a great photo depicting the 11th green in the foreground and 15 green and 16 tee at my home club, Royal Portrush in Northern Ireland.  They have had little to no rain this year in Ireland, and that is the result.  They irrigate the greens, and the rest is up to nature.

Good stuff.  It is fun when your club slides behind the ball because of the "shiny" grass, and you see the puff of dust as your drive lands out there in the fairway!!

[J_ Crisham]

This is Portrush 11 or 12-I forget which but getting close to Calamity #14 as I recall. Favorite course in the world for me! Jack

[Chip Gaskins]

Ian-

You are a lucky man to call that your home club.  Us Yanks can only dream.

Portrush it is...

Chip

[Ian Dalzell]

Chip - I am extremely lucky, and really didn't fully comprehend it until I came to the US and played some of the good ones over here - it really holds up well when comparing to the other greats of the world. 

I now reside in New Jersey, and work at Hidden Creek which is a C&C design.  Firm and fast is what we strive for, but in the American sense of the word . . .  this picture is hard to duplicate in the US, unless you are out on the tip of Long Island and you turn the water off!

Ian

[SPDB]

Look at the 15th fairway! It looks like the difficulty is not driving the green, but
rather holding it.

[Jim Nugent]

With such little rain, has the rough thinned out some?  Heavy, penal rough was the one negative I recall from Ran's profile of Portrush. 

[Mark Chaplin]

Jim - I cannot speak specifically for RP but in SE England the rough tends to be pretty friendly until late May then impossibly thick until the end of July when it starts to burn off and thin out. By the middle of August the thick rough becomes whispy and easy (relatively) to play from and find your ball in.

That said a wet period in July will stop the rough thinning until later in the summer. If Ran visited within those perameters he got standard conditions. At Deal we cannot cut the thick rough in the growing season due ground nesting birds and regulations. On saying that the song of the skylark high above the links is worth the hassle of the rough!!

[Sean_A]

Jim - I cannot speak specifically for RP but in SE England the rough tends to be pretty friendly until late May then impossibly thick until the end of July when it starts to burn off and thin out. By the middle of August the thick rough becomes whispy and easy (relatively) to play from and find your ball in.

That said a wet period in July will stop the rough thinning until later in the summer. If Ran visited within those perameters he got standard conditions. At Deal we cannot cut the thick rough in the growing season due ground nesting birds and regulations. On saying that the song of the skylark high above the links is worth the hassle of the rough!!

Mark

Has the rough died back properly this year at Deal?  I know at Burnham it has ever so slightly, but it is still a bitch.  There has also been some very wierd wind going on making the front 9 much harder than the back which is quite unusual.

Ciao

[Mike Hendren]

I doubt there are more than a dozen people on this site that prefer the ground game more than I do.  Regrettably, it's due to a lack of talent and clubhead speed - but that's another story.  That said, I don't find this photograph that appealing. 

This maintenance meld made sense in days of yore when there were no mechanical mowers and the ball was softer and rarely round.  In my opinion, this degree of firm and fast makes no sense with the modern ball. 

I'll duck now.

Mike

[Paul_Turner]

Chip

I saw Portrush this year in those conditions (early June), I'd never seen it burned out like that before.  The grass is tough as nails. 

Mike

Duck and stop using that daft GCA phrase "maintenance meld"!  What you want the club to do?

[Mike Hendren]

Paul,

Sorry for my use of MM - after all these years I remain unsecure and soooooo want to fit in and be accepted by the cognoscenti.

As for what the club should do - nothing.  I'm not criticizing the course condition in any way.  I'm just saying that it's not idyllic and dirt should not be romanticized.   

Perhaps I should return to loitering with intent. 

Hope to meet up again one day.

Kindest regards,

Mike

[RJ_Daley]

Didn't Harrington name Portrush his choice if only one  course to play for the rest of his life?