Ruts, horse runs and paths as a hazard.

[Tony_Muldoon]

My guess is that these fell from favour once we had a number of professional golf architects circa 1905. After all you can’t design these as a feature and they only counted when you couldn’t get relief. Tarmacked or concrete paths don’t count here.

Darwin on Bembridge - written in 1910.
“Some of its glory-or its horror, according to the light in which we view the matter-has, however, departed, for whereas it was once uniformly sandy and soft and full of the direst ruts, it is now metalled in many places, and so is naturally much less terrible”.  Others here described the rough path as the course’s greatest hazard, as it coiled serpentine like across the holes.  

Many old links courses feature roads and walls.  Walton Heath originally had horse runs close to fairways as hazards. Roads and paths were also the main hazards on the old course at Blackheath and they were a hazard on the Old Course from the beginning.  

I wonder if the closest thing we’ve had since would be Pete Dye re-introducing waste areas?

Would you think we could add variety by allowing for a few old rutted paths to be left intact and tell players they had to play from them?  Would you play a course that still featured them?


(It’s perhaps a separate thought but I think people were more accepting that they might break a (hickory) shaft playing from a hazard and that this was just a part of the game.)

[Ken Moum]

Over the last 40-odd years I have played some pretty rustic courses, including one in South Dakota that has its cart paths down the middle of the fairways.

I have also played some desert courses, both high and low. Most recently Apache Stronghold and Black Mesa, both of which have lots of unpaved paths for golf carts.

Both of these also have large areas that have relatively sparse vegetation, making for precisely the situation you describe.

Most American golfers of my acquaintance are unlikely yto be happy about such things.

Me, I think they're cool.

Ken

[Joe Hancock]

I think I remember a picture of somewhere that Tom Doak and Co. rebuilt a bunker with a replicated goat path to walk out of the bunker and up to the green level. I thought it was a very cool feature, and i'm sure it was in play.

Joe

[Tony_Muldoon]

Joe, Tom also 'reclaimed' this wall for the Renaissance Club at Archerfield. from Memory it happens to be well behind a green and therefore barely in play.  would the lawyers let him leave it hard up agianst a green?




I wonder if natural features are doomed today, bcause you can't maintain a natural feature?

[Joe Hancock]

Tony,

Here's Grandma Trixie facing some natural features immediately adjacent the the 9th green at Greywalls. She probably hit short, but ended up left of the green.

[Tony_Muldoon]

"Hello Trixie, how you doin?"

That's beautiful Joe.  I'd love to play a round.

[Joe Hancock]

Tony,

Another from Greywalls, but i think we're going OT now. This is #5.

[Jeff_Brauer]

I tried to save some ruts that were said to have been an old Steven F Austin Ranch road, but the owner said no.  I think that to do so would have been a great way to keep my designs fresh, kinda like avoiding, well, you know, getting in a rut!

[Brian_Ewen]

My home club has a road that runs alongside our 16th and 17th holes .

The road is an access road to the greenkeepers sheds , and as long as as I can remember it was in bounds .

Well until about 10 years ago , when the moaning started .

"Unfair" , "Silly" , "Not Golf" were terms all used , but the biggest complaint was , "I dont pay good money for expensive clubs to have them ruined playing off a rutted road" .

My replies of learn to not slice it onto the road , or take a penalty drop , never went down well .

And eventually they got their way , and its now bordered by OB stakes .

Everyone is happy [ including the greenkeeper who doesnt have to maintain the verges for dropping purposes] .

Well apart from me , "the nutter"  

[Dean Paolucci]

Somerset Hills has a deep compression running across a number of fairways which was initially a horse racetrack.  It is one of the many incredibly cool features on the golf course.

[Bill Brightly]

Yes, anyone have any pictures of the old race course at Somerset Hills?

First time I played there i was in it twice on different holes. Once was a great drive that did not carry it...and I think I had to wedge out, could not hit the iron i needed to the green, Very cool.

[Jon Wiggett]

Brian,

learn not to slice  

[Mark Pearce]

The Northumberland has a racecourse in play on the 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 8th, 13th, 14th, 15th and 16th holes.  Not only is the racecourse grass pretty horrible rough but hoof marks can be a nightmare.  Getting blocked out by a hurdle isn't much fun and the rails get hit every so often.

[David_Tepper]

There used to be a round-faced club called a "rut iron" that was designed & used for playing out of ruts and cart tracks. Can anyone dig up a picture and post it? (perhaps Ralph Livingston?)  

[Mike_Cirba]

From Ran's review of Inniscrone;


13th hole, 400 yards: Gil Hanse professes his fondness for incorporating existing features into a hole, and the 13th at Inniscrone backs him up in spades. There is a sunken farm road cutting across the fairway diagonally from the left that forces the player either to lay back off the tee or to take on the bunkers on the right, which if he were in one he would have little chance of reaching the green. The multi-level green itself sits at an angle to the player in front of a white oak dating to 1643 (don’t ask how they determined the date!). The tree is as close to the green as agronomics would allow, and Hanse is to be commended for integrating the tree into the green site so well and for featuring both the road and the tree without making the hole looked forced.



This awkward stance is the result of a slightly pulled drive on the 13th, bringing the sunken
road into play. The white oak dating from 1643 is behind the green.

[Kalen Braley]

There used to be a round-faced club called a "rut iron" that was designed & used for playing out of ruts and cart tracks. Can anyone dig up a picture and post it? (perhaps Ralph Livingston?)  

David,

I found this:



And another pic against some other older irons:

From Left

Rake Iron - A beautiful replica of the original 'sand rake'.
The Water Iron - Originally used to lower the resistance when getting out of that 'casual water'
Rut Iron - To get you out of these awkward cart tracks in years gone by

[Andrew Mitchell]

The Northumberland has a racecourse in play on the 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 8th, 13th, 14th, 15th and 16th holes.  Not only is the racecourse grass pretty horrible rough but hoof marks can be a nightmare.  Getting blocked out by a hurdle isn't much fun and the rails get hit every so often.

Mark
Do you have a local rule granted relief from hoof marks? My local club, Baildon, is on common land which is used quite heavily by horses.  From memory they do have a local rule giving you a free drop.

[David_Tepper]

Kalen -

Thanks for the rut iron pic.

DT

[Matthew Hunt]

I lov the look of exposed Rockfaces on a golf course.

[Mark Pearce]

The Northumberland has a racecourse in play on the 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 8th, 13th, 14th, 15th and 16th holes.  Not only is the racecourse grass pretty horrible rough but hoof marks can be a nightmare.  Getting blocked out by a hurdle isn't much fun and the rails get hit every so often.

Mark
Do you have a local rule granted relief from hoof marks? My local club, Baildon, is on common land which is used quite heavily by horses.  From memory they do have a local rule giving you a free drop.

No, no such local rule.  If you hit it on the (race)course, you take the punishment.  One further twist - on the 16th, where the racecourse runs along the right side of one of the tightest drives on the course, there's a road and a sand/fibre galloping track between the fairway and the racecourse.  Indeed the longest drive I've ever seen on that hole was hit with just a littel draw, bounced on the road and kept going!  The road and galloping track are obstacles and relief can be taken.  However, to take relief from the galloping track means dropping in the racecourse.  I don't think I've ever seen anyone take relief, I certainly haven't, I'd much rather hit a ball from a lie on sand/fibre than out of 4 inches of thick grass.