A huge increase in fun factor and improvement in playability!

[David Davis]

Two months into my role in our greens committee I managed to convince everyone including the head greens keeper to nearly eliminate most of our ball losing rough that lined the fairways on several holes. I used photos and explanations from other links courses as part of the tactic in doing so not to mention the poor performance of the top players in our country on the course as well as the poor scoring during club competitions this past year.

Today was the first tournament played in the new conditions, with the course still full of hay bails in the newly mown areas. The following were the positive results we experienced in this tournament, which was #2 in a series of 6 winter events called The President's Cup.

1. cut the average time/round from 5 to 4.5 hours. All 4 balls.
2. made the course visually far more pleasing and more true to other links courses.
3. made the course naturally far more playable.
4. hugely cut down on the lost balls. Let's face it losing balls on shots that are not terrible or balls just a yard off the fairway just sucks! Not anymore!
5. heard constant positive feedback from the 120+ participants from our club.
6. course did not become easier for the very strong players but more fun and more playable for us hackers.

There are probably more but I just loved the round today, although to be fair I love every round on our course but this was really special.

Part of the motivation for doing this came from GCA no doubt...as I used photos and many of you as references without mentioning names, in my tactics. I'm calling you guys all the experts and using you to validate my points carefully.

Thanks guys! Just thought I'd share this. Hope we can keep it up.

[Mike Policano]

David,

Congratulations on getting your club to cut down the hay. As you know, I really like Noordwijkse. I was fine with the playing cooridors but the twosome in front of us spent quality time together searching for tee shots. I look forward to getting back there and seeing the course. Do the holes look even better with the increased width?

[Terry Lavin]

This is a real gca.com success story. Thanks for the update.

[Dane Hawker]

Do you have any before and after photos?

What is the increase in man hours now to mow these areas?

[Patrick_Mucci]

David,

While rough can have it's place, courses with width and mild rough seem to be the most fun to play.

ANGC, Seminole and Pine Valley seem to be courses that golfers enjoy, although, PV can be extremely penal.

4+ inch rough tends to remove a good deal of the fun, especially on a day when the golfer is a little eratic.

Good job, I'd like to see more courses recapture width, irrespective of the form.

[Ivan Morris]

Well played, that man!

[David Davis]

Gentlemen thanks, I don't have pictures of all the areas especially the ones that really make a big difference unfortunately. I did take one photo in the morning, the rest of the time I was focused on trying to get the ball in the hole.

You have to look at this with a bit of imagination. The first photo is how the rough was, it's like knee deep, and thick. The fairways look wide but I assure you they are not. If I think of something you've all played to compare it to, say Bandon or Pacific Dunes. The fairway are maybe 1/3 as wide and the average green size is also about 1/3 the size.

The before photo is taken looking back towards where the "as it is now" photo was taken from and lighting is of course different.




This second photo is taken at 8:15 am on Sunday looking back down the 9th directly with the 10th off to the right. Note the first photo is taken looking over the 10th and up to the 9th green and the clubhouse.



If you look closely you can see the hay bales off to the right. also you can see the lighter color line of where the deep stuff was. Again it's not all gone but where it was taken away, miss the fairway by a couple feet and you are searching and lucky to find anything.

Patrick, we were not talking about 4 inches of rough, which I know is also tough as nails to hit out of when done up right. We are talking about knee deep hay with probably 5-6 inches of that kind of rough mixed in. Rough dense enough that you are lucky to get out of. Here is a photo that I posted before demonstrating a miss of less than 2 inches which almost amounted to a lost ball.

[Mac Plumart]

The course looks incredible.  Great job!!

[Jeff Taylor]

The right thing was done.
Congratulations.

[Josh Tarble]

Does your bet of a first-timer breaking 80 still stand? 

The course looks fantastic.  Great work.

[David Davis]

Thanks for the comments guys! I'm curious to hear from something that thinks it was a bad call and why? Incidentally, I did have one complaint and major discussion about this yesterday. This came from one of the people heading up our nature committee. She said it was a huge mistake and the local bird population that relies on the creatures living in that long grass would suffer. I'm going to refrain from posting the response I had in my mind, as there are too many F bombs in it and I don't want to sound like that division 3 college coach. :-) Fortunately, the opposition is a pretty good friend of mine and I even play some mixed foursome events with her. I truly believe in keeping your friends close and your enemies (potential enemies) even closer. Ha ha...especially with these kinds of things.

Josh, yes it absolutely still stands. You see here's the thing about this, the course is not easier, if you are that good, say scratch or better then you weren't worrying about the rough in these places anyway. It wasn't in play for you. Don't think because there is more space for the hackers among us and that they will lose less balls and have the course be more playable for them that it becomes easier for the very good players. Back tees, first time and at least our normal wind. Yes 80, never lost that bet. :-)

[Ivan Morris]

Have I missed something? Where's this golf course? It looks great! I want to play it. If the area of a golf course is 120-acres, 30-35 acres are required for the golf players; the birds and the bees can have the rest of it. 

[Ally Mcintosh]

Have I missed something? Where's this golf course? It looks great! I want to play it. If the area of a golf course is 120-acres, 30-35 acres are required for the golf players; the birds and the bees can have the rest of it. 

It's in Holland, Ivan... Get yourself over there - one of the best short trips for links lovers you are likely to find.

David - I'm sure it plays a lot better with the hay down. Whether this was an easy sell or not, it should have been at this time of year because one cut will do you for the next 5 months. As I'm sure you know, the trick will be next summer...

I notice that they've taken the natural mowing lines around the dunes now which looks much better than the straight lines you had previously. Hopefully you can keep that up when the stuff starts growing again...

[David Davis]

Ally, of course you are exactly right. Hey, one step at a time don't you think? :-)

I'm looking at it like this. The tone has been set, there has been lots of positive feedback except the save the birds discussion. Hopefully we can build on this. Don't get me wrong I'm not against having long rough that allows you to find your ball and play it with perhaps a half a shot penalty it's just that's not what we have as you can see in the photos. If we could make it like what all of you have across the stream in the UK and Ireland then I'd be perfectly happy. However, this is a great alternative.

[Ivan Morris]

Thanks Ally - I suspected it might be. I think I've seen that little hut on TV during the Dutch Open? Is it Nordwikje or something? What about those fairways? Remind me of the 12th at Dunluce and 18th at Lahinch. Dutch golf is great. Some of my best golfing friends are Dutch. Van Gogh is my favourite artist. His museum in Amsterdam is well worth going to see.  Have played one course in Holland - Crossmoor in Horn - nice, pleasant course with a run of 4/5 excellent holes on the back nine.  

[David Davis]

Ivan,

de Noordwijkse is the name of the course. You've one upped me in my own country as I've never heard of Crossmoore, just looked it up and it's in Weert which is Limburg it's about a 3.5-4 hour drive from Hoorn though. The closest course to Hoorn is the Westfriese Golf Club www.westfriesegolfclub.nl. It's been built on an old garbage dump which gives it a little undulation on what would otherwise be the some of the flattest of flatlands.

Some of your best golfing friends are Dutch...? For this you have my heartfelt sympathy. 

Ally,

If you've already done all the other great short trips for links lovers then by all means NL is a must.

[John Chilver-Stainer]

David,

Congratulations on widening the fairways, particularly the landing zones.

The birds issue is a touchy one which can get quite emotional.

Here in Switzerland new golf courses are subject to environmental impact studies, including an ornithological survey.
 Often the routing of the golf course has to take into consideration the breeding areas and habitats of rare birds, or even provide alternative areas for their habitats.

Generally I have found by listening to ornithologists and ecologists and genuinely seeking a solution to their ecological needs, compromises can be found rather than locking into a conflict situation.

The solution, even if it means altering the routing or some local tightening of the fairways, usually adds a worthy “natural” element to the golf course which will enrichen the golf experience.

Quite often selected areas of long rough are not cut until July, to allow birds to nest in the grass and rear their chicks. It also allows flowering plants to develop their seeds and shed them on to the soil. After the different deadlines have been reached, depending on the habitats, the grass can be cut and the hay collected.

Cheers
John

 

[Ivan Morris]

Thanks David - I'll be over to play de Noordwijkse someday. You've found 'my' Crossmoor okay. It's very close to the Belgian border. Weert is indeed close by but the place where we stayed was in Horn - one 'o,' about half-an-hour from the golf course. The pro at Crossmoor is from Dublin which was an unexpected bonus. It's a mixture of heathland and parkland. I preferred the heath part - some very good holes - featuring water hazards well populated by our feathered friends. By the way - one of my best, lifelong, friends is a David Davis! He lived in St. Petersburg, Florida. He was quite a golfer amongst many other things.   

[Jud_T]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1c3OWCQaeYw

[David Davis]

Jud, there's some strong advice in that video, do you think it would help our cause if I forwarded to the Bird Party, opposing factions? Do you have one of those I could forward to the Organization that is in charge of protecting the natural dunes land as well? I wouldn't mind getting some of this prime links land utilized in a much more golf efficient manner. I think we could easily fit in another 5 x 18 hole courses if we can convince them to hand over the land. :-)

John, thanks, yes fortunately I don't have to be that involved with all the parties against us. I'm relatively new and the wars were waged long ago before my time. I definitely understand what you are saying and know we are dealing, actually have dealt with many many issues from bats to endangered invisible snails, to trees and shrubs that need to be replanted someplace else to grey areas that need to remain grey. Clearly it's all part of the fun.

If it weren't for large fines I'd highly recommend the old adage that it's easier to ask forgiveness than permission....What? You mean we weren't suppose to cut down those 1000 trees? Darn it anyway! Well, now we know, sorry about that!

[Jon Wiggett]

David,

I have a large area of grassland between 3 of my holes in the Scottish Highlands. I am not supposed to cut between beginning of June and end of September when I have Skylarks nesting (14 pairs this year). Here they do like me to cut the rough hard back mid may to ensure it does not become too high as this too can be a problem.

Jon