The coolest thing I have ever heard about a golf course!

[mike_malone]

Before we began play at Littlestone Brian Hopper, an enthusiastic Littlestone member, told me that the course was built on shingle. As a result the greens can change WITHIN MONTHS !!!


  I immediately thought that Donald Trump will build a course with moveable greens some day!

[Melvyn Morrow]

Mike

"The coolest thing I have ever heard about a golf course".. its got no carts or distance aids

Now that is Cool

Melvyn
 

[Mark McKeever]

Moveable greens.  I winced just reading that...

Mark

[Scott Warren]

"Got them hydraulics dumpin and makin' it drop"

Don't tell me Xzibit was rabbing a forecast about The Donald's adjustable greens?!

[Michael Blake]

Mike, looks and sounds like it was a fun trip.  Littlestone 'recognized' the GCA'ers:

http://www.littlestonegolfclub.org.uk/news.htm#Golf Club Architects



Unfortunate that an anti-cart/distance aids post made its way to THIS thread.  

[Andrew Mitchell]

Mike, looks and sounds like it was a fun trip.  Littlestone 'recognized' the GCA'ers:

http://www.littlestonegolfclub.org.uk/news.htm#Golf Club Architects



Unfortunate that an anti-cart/distance aids post made its way to THIS thread.  

Brian also explained the moveable shingle underneath the greens to me whilst he and Joe Fairey were administering a severe beating to Fairey junior and myself.  He showed us several greens where undulations had changed significantly which was fascinating.  Clearly you could be an experienced member and still not be able to read the greens.

Michael B
I agree there is no need for an anti cart/distance aid post (or indeed a pro cart/distance aid post) to pollute this thread.  After all there's enough threads devoted to that topic already.

[mike_malone]

Nick Leefe chimed in about peat under the greens at his course. I believe he said it leads to changes there as well. I recall he mentioned a course where they placed a layer above the peat.

[David_Tepper]

I recall reading in LINKS magazine that some of the greens at Beau Desert (in northern England and a favorite of our esteemed Sean Arble) are built over coal mines that have been closed for many years. Every so often there is movement/slippage in the mine shafts deep underground and the contours of the greens there have changed over time.

[Tony_Muldoon]

Mike when you mentioned this at Deal on the Monday night, David Dobie the Club Historian said that their first green was also on shingle and that the pronounced ridges had magnified when a gas pipe was put in near the road, altering the water table flow. 

[Ian Andrew]

That the irrigation system works on gravity - there is no pump station

- Capilano

[Ally Mcintosh]

Before we began play at Littlestone Brian Hopper, an enthusiastic Littlestone member, told me that the course was built on shingle. As a result the greens can change WITHIN MONTHS !!!


  I immediately thought that Donald Trump will build a course with moveable greens some day!

Hey Mike,

You make the joke about Donald Trump... But you are very close to the way it might be at the new Menie Estate course in Aberdeen.... The course could (and many say should) be built in such a way that it allows the mobile dunes to continue their movement, thus providing a shifting golf course over time... See a Mike Wood article in Adam Lawrence's GCA magazine for the best explanation of this (I think that is where it was published)

[Lou_Duran]

Someone here once sang the virtues of grain and how it should be encouraged.  Not!  I've seen quite a few GCAers play golf and the last thing we need is "moving" greens and/or more grain.  As an architect I played with recently said of the underlying theme of his work: "golf is supposed to be fun".  Three and four-whacking is not fun for most normal folk.

[Mark Pearce]

Someone here once sang the virtues of grain and how it should be encouraged.  Not!  I've seen quite a few GCAers play golf and the last thing we need is "moving" greens and/or more grain.  As an architect I played with recently said of the underlying theme of his work: "golf is supposed to be fun".  Three and four-whacking is not fun for most normal folk.

Lou,

I think you're missing the point.  Any movement is on a scale of months or years, it's not going to affect day to day play.  And this thread has nothing to do with grain.

[Jim_Kennedy]

Mike,
We experience some changes in the contours of our greens after the winter. It's been a bit more noticeable after a deep aerification was done a couple years ago, but certain combinations of thaws and frosts get our push-ups moving a bit.

I've played these greens for 28 years or so and it's noticeable. It's not a huge amount of movement, and it certainly doesn't happen during the season because by mid-May everything seems to be back to normal, or we get used to the minor changes.   

[Kyle Henderson]

The coolest thing I ever heard about a course was that I was going to be allowed to play it.