Those walking paths

[Matt_Cohn]

So let's say you mow walking paths (I've heard them called "Hogan's alleys" through the rough from tee to fairway. But you have a par-3, like #8 at Muirfield Village, with no fronting fairway. What do you do? This doesn't seem like the ideal answer...

[Cal Seifert]

Doesnt Bethpage Black do something similar on 17? I understand if you make a path to prevent walking through fescue but that picture of MV implies that maybe the rough shouldn’t be so thick to begin with?

[John Emerson]

Quite possibly the biggest waste of time, money, and labor for these damn walk paths.  Whoever invented these should be embarrassed.

[John Kavanaugh]

They are called dew strips. They protect your shoes and slacks in the morning or after a rain. Also not bad for you members of the push cart mafia.

[Pete_Pittock]

If you walk down that strip it seems that it directs foot traffic through the narrow entrance. It should angle more to the right on the overhead (green left)

[Cal Seifert]

They are called dew strips. They protect your shoes and slacks in the morning or after a rain. Also not bad for you members of the push cart mafia.

If the rough at a course is so harsh they need “dew strips” to save my shoes maybe that’s an indicator they went overboard on the rough?

[Anthony_Nysse]

Doesnt Bethpage Black do something similar on 17? I understand if you make a path to prevent walking through fescue but that picture of MV implies that maybe the rough shouldn’t be so thick to begin with?

Most of Bethpage's walk paths go through their fescue areas & don't connect to the fairway-theyre mowed at normal rough height.

[Anthony_Nysse]

Quite possibly the biggest waste of time, money, and labor for these damn walk paths.  Whoever invented these should be embarrassed.

Not even close. Bunker maintenance absorb the most time, money & labor. Walk paths aren't mowed but 2-3x a week w/ 1 staff member.

[John Emerson]

Quite possibly the biggest waste of time, money, and labor for these damn walk paths.  Whoever invented these should be embarrassed.

Not even close. Bunker maintenance absorb the most time, money & labor. Walk paths aren't mowed but 2-3x a week w/ 1 staff member.

Yeah of course bunkers are...guess I worded it poorly.  Biggest frivolous addition to golf
course ever and something that I hate.  It is a waste.  It’s like lip injections, or ass implants—one person said it looked good and now everyone does it, but really it looks like shit.  Seems like these strips are always at courses where 95% ride in carts🤦🏻‍♂️

[Tim Martin]

Quite possibly the biggest waste of time, money, and labor for these damn walk paths.  Whoever invented these should be embarrassed.

Not even close. Bunker maintenance absorb the most time, money & labor. Walk paths aren't mowed but 2-3x a week w/ 1 staff member.

Yeah of course bunkers are...guess I worded it poorly.  Biggest frivolous addition to golf
course ever and something that I hate.  It is a waste.  It’s like lip injections, or ass implants—one person said it looked good and now everyone does it, but really it looks like shit.  Seems like these strips are always at courses where 95% ride in carts🤦🏻‍♂️

Seems like a small potatoes issue based on time, manpower and expense to accomplish.

[Jeff Schley]

Quite possibly the biggest waste of time, money, and labor for these damn walk paths.  Whoever invented these should be embarrassed.

Not even close. Bunker maintenance absorb the most time, money & labor. Walk paths aren't mowed but 2-3x a week w/ 1 staff member.

Yeah of course bunkers are...guess I worded it poorly.  Biggest frivolous addition to golf
course ever and something that I hate.  It is a waste.  It’s like lip injections, or ass implants—one person said it looked good and now everyone does it, but really it looks like shit.  Seems like these strips are always at courses where 95% ride in carts🤦🏻‍♂️

They are a welcome addition IMO, especially I noted them in Ireland at Ballybunion and a lesser extent at Lahinch. At BB for example, they were so pristine that I remember 17/18 almost felt like artificial it was so uniform. Very flat and soft, as John said in the morning limited dew and made it much easier for our push carts. Certainly no carts there unless medical reasons.

[Tommy Williamsen]

As a walker I appreciate those caddie walks, especially in the morning or after a rain.

[Bernie Bell]

As a walker I appreciate those caddie walks, especially in the morning or after a rain.

+1.  Even moreso with a push cart.  When I look at that aerial, with those bunkers and that continuous cart path, the caddie walk is not the first thing that seems to me like low value added.

[Kalen Braley]

I assumed they mowed these just for tournaments, not every day play where most of the traffic will likely be in carts...

I can't recall any course I've played that had these.

[Anthony_Nysse]

Quite possibly the biggest waste of time, money, and labor for these damn walk paths.  Whoever invented these should be embarrassed.

Some of them actually are. They're called Hydroturf.
Not even close. Bunker maintenance absorb the most time, money & labor. Walk paths aren't mowed but 2-3x a week w/ 1 staff member.

Yeah of course bunkers are...guess I worded it poorly.  Biggest frivolous addition to golf
course ever and something that I hate.  It is a waste.  It’s like lip injections, or ass implants—one person said it looked good and now everyone does it, but really it looks like shit.  Seems like these strips are always at courses where 95% ride in carts🤦🏻‍♂️

They are a welcome addition IMO, especially I noted them in Ireland at Ballybunion and a lesser extent at Lahinch. At BB for example, they were so pristine that I remember 17/18 almost felt like artificial it was so uniform. Very flat and soft, as John said in the morning limited dew and made it much easier for our push carts. Certainly no carts there unless medical reasons.

[David_Tepper]

As a walker I appreciate those caddie walks, especially in the morning or after a rain.

+2, even more so playing golf in the SF Bay Area, where courses are wet from rain in the winter and wet with dew from the fog in the summer. 

[Jeff Evagues]

For the Tour I don't think the rough can be high enough. If they're going to hit it 350 there must be some penalty for missing the fairway. Someone mentioned bunker maintenance and I was thinking while watching on Sunday that most greenside bunkers could be eliminated since they always announce that rough is much tougher on the chip shots. Obviously everything can be cut down for the other 50 weeks. 

[Wayne_Kozun]

Whoever invented these should be embarrassed.

Ben Hogan?

[Tommy Williamsen]

I assumed they mowed these just for tournaments, not every day play where most of the traffic will likely be in carts...

I can't recall any course I've played that had these.

I think you'll find that almost every club that has caddies will have them.

[Stewart Abramson]

[quote author=Cal Seifert link=topic=68573.msg1644126#msg1644126 date=1594782619]
Doesnt Bethpage Black do something similar on 17?



Bethpage Black #17 

When I took the above photo the fescue was relatively tame. I've seen it much higher,but the dew strip has been their each of the few times I've played it.


2009 US Open Bethpage Black #17 par 3 207 yards

[Sean_A]

To me the issue isn't are the paths good or bad, but more the location. For instance, in the case presented, there is a cart path just to the left for those that care about a bit of moisture . Let's try to remember that golf is an outdoor game. Jesus, it's no wonder golf has an awful reputation.

Ciao

[Garland Bayley]

I assumed they mowed these just for tournaments, not every day play where most of the traffic will likely be in carts...

I can't recall any course I've played that had these.

You must play to much cartball. I know you walked Wine Valley and Chambers Bay. Both courses have them. I particularly remember Chambers Bay because when we played the USOpen challenge there at 7700 yards, there were two fairways I couldn't reach from the tee, 4 and 14. On 14 my drive found the Hogan strip. Hogan alleys are different. They have to do with how well he played, not with how wet his pants got. If you want to use the alley moniker, I suggest the strip on 14 at Chambers Bay be henceforth be known as Bayley's Alley.

[Garland Bayley]

To me the issue isn't are the paths good or bad, but more the location. For instance, in the case presented, there is a cart path just to the left for those that care about a bit of moisture . Let's try to remember that golf is an outdoor game. Jesus, it's no wonder golf has an awful reputation.

Ciao

Jack Nicklaus and I prefer to walk on grass. If you want to walk on a hard surface, you can go to the mall.

[Tom Fussell]

So it seems the question is why they end the paths in front of the bunker, and not all the way to the green.   We all know the answer, which is that is how Jack wants them to be, end of story!   His place, his rules, problem solved!

[Carl Johnson]

Whoever invented these should be embarrassed.

Ben Hogan?

For what it may be worth (it was free), from liveabout.com:



Alas, it turns out the origin of that mowed pathway is more mundane than the Hogan legends. Here's the real story, told by one of the longest-serving superintendents in the GCSAA and passed on to us by GCSAA officials:

[size=1.125rem]"In the days before hydraulics, superintendents would mow a tee box and then before progressing to the next one (or to the fairway), would have to take the mower out of gear, get off the mower, manually lift the cutting deck and then get back on the mower and proceed. As you might expect, this took time and slowed down the process. Superintendents then decided to just mow the strip rather than lifting the deck. It became a more efficient process for superintendents and the by-product was that golfers did not have to walk through the tall rough."[/size]


That long-serving superintendent remembered this mowing practice from at least the late 1940s — his father did it at the golf course where he served as head greenskeeper.

So that's the real story: Hogan had nothing to do with it.