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David_Tepper

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« Last Edit: August 22, 2013, 02:37:13 PM by David_Tepper »

Daryl David

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: What Really Makes Golfer Happy?
« Reply #1 on: August 22, 2013, 02:11:25 PM »
Apparently the average golfer has no problem with slow play and only cares about conditioning. Wow, now I know just how big an outlier I am!   ;D

JLahrman

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: What Really Makes Golfer Happy?
« Reply #2 on: August 22, 2013, 02:15:22 PM »
Pay a reasonable rate.

Have a decent pace of play.

If I can't enjoy the day from there, it's my own problem.

Steve Lang

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: What Really Makes Golfers Happy?
« Reply #3 on: August 22, 2013, 03:00:31 PM »
 8)  teeing off
Inverness (Toledo, OH) cathedral clock inscription: "God measures men by what they are. Not what they in wealth possess.  That vibrant message chimes afar.
The voice of Inverness"

Paul Gray

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: What Really Makes Golfer Happy?
« Reply #4 on: August 22, 2013, 06:47:13 PM »
Apparently the average golfer has no problem with slow play and only cares about conditioning. Wow, now I know just how big an outlier I am!   ;D

Not necessarily.....

During the prolonged dry spell in England of late I heard member after member tell me how much they were enjoying the course. They couldn't really tell me why because it was always tempered with "of course, it's too dry" but it was clear from the smiles on their faces that they were enjoying their golf on firm and fast conditions far more than they ever did when everything looked to have been prepared for a gardening competition.

I was very heartened by this but equally frustrated. It seemed to me that what people thought they wanted, i.e. a golf course akin to a well tended lawn and what they actually enjoyed i.e. the firm and fast conditions I just referred to, were two very different things. The consumer is still sold on the idea that a good golf course should have lush fairways, with obvious distinctions between cuts of grass.   They don't actually enjoy it so much, particularly when their game doesn't allow them to carry the ball any great distance, but they honestly don't know why (or, in part, the idea that green is good is so engrained that they fear speaking out in defence of a more rugged looking affair, fearing on some level that expressing such an opinion would demonstrate some sort of lack of appreciation for the finer things in life).  
In the places where golf cuts through pretension and elitism, it thrives and will continue to thrive because the simple virtues of the game and its attendant culture are allowed to be most apparent. - Tim Gavrich

Ken Fry

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: What Really Makes Golfer Happy?
« Reply #5 on: August 22, 2013, 07:50:17 PM »
Apparently the average golfer has no problem with slow play and only cares about conditioning. Wow, now I know just how big an outlier I am!   ;D

Not necessarily.....

During the prolonged dry spell in England of late I heard member after member tell me how much they were enjoying the course. They couldn't really tell me why because it was always tempered with "of course, it's too dry" but it was clear from the smiles on their faces that they were enjoying their golf on firm and fast conditions far more than they ever did when everything looked to have been prepared for a gardening competition.

I was very heartened by this but equally frustrated. It seemed to me that what people thought they wanted, i.e. a golf course akin to a well tended lawn and what they actually enjoyed i.e. the firm and fast conditions I just referred to, were two very different things. The consumer is still sold on the idea that a good golf course should have lush fairways, with obvious distinctions between cuts of grass.   They don't actually enjoy it so much, particularly when their game doesn't allow them to carry the ball any great distance, but they honestly don't know why (or, in part, the idea that green is good is so engrained that they fear speaking out in defence of a more rugged looking affair, fearing on some level that expressing such an opinion would demonstrate some sort of lack of appreciation for the finer things in life).  


Paul,

I wish the average golfer in the US was half as tuned in as an English, Scottish or Irish golfer.

The typical American golfer wants three very simple things:

1.  a course that looks like Augusta
2. greens that will hold a 3 wood hit from rough 200 yards out
3. free or darn near free green fees every time out

I'm sorry if I appear jaded but this Golf Digest survey supports everything wrong with the typical American golfer.  It's embarrassing.

Ken

Tommy Williamsen

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: What Really Makes Golfers Happy?
« Reply #6 on: August 22, 2013, 09:01:01 PM »
This list really shouldn't be a surprise.  I think the biggest surprise is that design is second and not further down the list.
Where there is no love, put love; there you will find love.
St. John of the Cross

"Deep within your soul-space is a magnificent cathedral where you are sweet beyond telling." Rumi

David_Tepper

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: What Really Makes Golfers Happy?
« Reply #7 on: August 22, 2013, 09:39:08 PM »
"I'm sorry if I appear jaded but this Golf Digest survey supports everything wrong with the typical American golfer.  It's embarrassing."

Ken Fry -

I may well be wrong, but I am wondering if a similar survey of GB&I golfers might not yield fairly similar results. The "August National syndrome" has infected golfers on both sides of the Atlantic. ;)

DT

Ken Fry

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: What Really Makes Golfers Happy?
« Reply #8 on: August 22, 2013, 10:44:44 PM »

I may well be wrong, but I am wondering if a similar survey of GB&I golfers might not yield fairly similar results. The "Augusta National syndrome" has infected golfers on both sides of the Atlantic. ;)

DT


David,

A sad time for our sport if this is true.  I watched the Solheim Cup strictly to see Colorado Golf Club and how firm and fast would play out on a big stage for the women.  It was fun watching shots be played into hole positions and not purely by an aerial assault.

Ken

Jim Sherma

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: What Really Makes Golfers Happy?
« Reply #9 on: August 23, 2013, 09:55:36 AM »
In terms of public golf it's all about the greens. The only times I've ever seen players abandon a course was because their greens got lousy. Most everything else can be forgiven if the greens are consistent and decent. I've played iin good games on uninteresting courses that happened to have resonably well maintained greens. This course always had a full tee sheet and an active game.

After the greens are deemed ok, all the rest of the choice dimensions get taken into account and weighed against price.

Private course decisions are different because the financial commitment to membership is much greater and the basic level of conditioning is assumed to be pretty good. Architectural merit and other concerns are likely taken into account before the plunge is made.

Sean Remington (SBR)

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: What Really Makes Golfers Happy?
« Reply #10 on: August 23, 2013, 10:13:33 AM »
 Randy Wilson offers his take on the same article:

http://www.turfnet.com/page/turfnet-tv.html/_/randy-wilson/