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Jeffrey Prest

  • Karma: +0/-0
'Outsider' has say on GCA - your thoughts
« on: January 29, 2008, 04:57:27 PM »
Lindsay Wood is a conservation biology senior at Arizona State University. While admitting she's not a "golf fanatic", she's penned her thoughts on how GCA might progress in the future, with an eye to the environment (http://www.asuwebdevil.com/issues/2008/01/25/opinions/703250).

Braced for the worst when I began reading it, I found that she's not a million miles away from views expressed on this forum, although I remain to be sold on the idea of carrying a square of turf around with me to place beneath the ball before each shot...

Interested to know what the rest of you think.

TEPaul

Re:'Outsider' has say on GCA - your thoughts
« Reply #1 on: January 29, 2008, 05:16:07 PM »
"Once the ball drops, you pick it up, put it on your fake turf mat and then you're ready to go on with your next shot. It's a good idea, right?"

Lindsay:

NOT!!!

I repeat NOT a good idea!!

One of the two fundamental PRINCIPLES of golf is you put your ball in play on the tee and you do NOT---I repeat DO NOT" TOUCH it until you remove it from the hole!

You see, my dear conservation biology student, the LIE in golf is completely SACRONSANCT including the very NATURE of it.

Carrying around a little piece of turf undermines the fundamental essence of the game of golf.

The St Andrews Trust may do well to heed this fundamental essence of the game too in that odd little winter requirement they seem to have these days!   ;)

Michael Dugger

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re:'Outsider' has say on GCA - your thoughts
« Reply #2 on: January 29, 2008, 05:19:59 PM »
Pretty weak article, IMHO.  I actually want that three minutes of my life back, please.

REAL golf is golf as Old Tom Morris played it back in the day.

You just can't take turf grass out of the equation and call it golf.  Sorry, sand greens and mats are not even close.

It undermines the rules of the game, to boot.  Golf is not about lifting, cleaning, fluffying and placing your lie.

To my mind, a green movement in golf course architecture will pertain to lessening water usage, but never outright eliminating turf grass.

And this is already being done as people like Dave Wilbur educate the masses on just exactly what turf grass needs and what different strains can survive with less water.

Somewhere along the evolutionary chain, we golfers fell in love with lush spongy green grass.  Well, that era is over, it's back to the roots we must go where golf courses are built in sensible places (I.E. NOT the desert) using logical materials (grass which does not need a lot of water) and constructed with utmost care to the existing environment. (No more rape it, shape it and grass it.)

Talk along these lines is salient to the topic of golf and the environment, this woman's article is fodder.    
« Last Edit: January 29, 2008, 05:20:28 PM by Michael Dugger »
What does it matter if the poor player can putt all the way from tee to green, provided that he has to zigzag so frequently that he takes six or seven putts to reach it?     --Alistair Mackenzie--

Jeff Spittel

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re:'Outsider' has say on GCA - your thoughts
« Reply #3 on: January 29, 2008, 05:23:38 PM »
I have no problem with courses being a bit less manicured than they are presently. I also see no problem with striving for more environmentally friendly maintenance procedures and walking.

That doesn't exactly seem to be what Lindsay is endorsing here. Moreover, the suggestion of hitting from fake portable mats repudiates any supposed appreciation she has for golf, real or otherwise.

I think homegirl needs to spend less time in the lab if she wants to comment on this subject. If she's hot, she can serve me drinks in the men's grill though.

God I'm an a-hole.

Fare and be well now, let your life proceed by its own design.

Michael Dugger

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re:'Outsider' has say on GCA - your thoughts
« Reply #4 on: January 29, 2008, 05:26:08 PM »
I have no problem with courses being a bit less manicured than they are presently. I also see no problem with striving for more environmentally friendly maintenance procedures and walking.

That doesn't exactly seem to be what Lindsay is endorsing here. Moreover, the suggestion of hitting from fake portable mats repudiates any supposed appreciation she has for golf, real or otherwise.

I think homegirl needs to spend less time in the lab if she wants to comment on this subject. If she's hot, she can serve me drinks in the men's grill though.

God I'm an a-hole.



She goes to ASU, right?  I'm sure she's hot.
What does it matter if the poor player can putt all the way from tee to green, provided that he has to zigzag so frequently that he takes six or seven putts to reach it?     --Alistair Mackenzie--

Jeff Spittel

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re:'Outsider' has say on GCA - your thoughts
« Reply #5 on: January 29, 2008, 05:29:09 PM »
That's what I was thinking, Michael. They're not the sharpest tools in the shed, but at least they tasty.


Fare and be well now, let your life proceed by its own design.

George Pazin

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re:'Outsider' has say on GCA - your thoughts
« Reply #6 on: January 29, 2008, 05:48:59 PM »
Not terribly clever solution to a non-existent problem.

But hey, why should she be any different than all those bozos running for President...?

 :)
Big drivers and hot balls are the product of golf course design that rewards the hit one far then hit one high strategy.  Shinny showed everyone how to take care of this whole technology dilemma. - Pat Brockwell, 6/24/04

Voytek Wilczak

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re:'Outsider' has say on GCA - your thoughts
« Reply #7 on: January 29, 2008, 05:48:59 PM »
I am amazed that you guys are killing her.

Golf was not made to be played in the desert.

Totally wasteful.




George Pazin

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re:'Outsider' has say on GCA - your thoughts
« Reply #8 on: January 29, 2008, 05:50:21 PM »
I am amazed that you guys are killing her.

Golf was not made to be played in the desert.

Totally wasteful.





Unfortunately, the logical extension of this is that golf is not made to be played on our planet. Don't give in to her premise that golf as currently played is automatically bad for the environment.
« Last Edit: January 29, 2008, 05:50:56 PM by George Pazin »
Big drivers and hot balls are the product of golf course design that rewards the hit one far then hit one high strategy.  Shinny showed everyone how to take care of this whole technology dilemma. - Pat Brockwell, 6/24/04

Jeff Spittel

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re:'Outsider' has say on GCA - your thoughts
« Reply #9 on: January 29, 2008, 05:54:37 PM »
I am amazed that you guys are killing her.

Golf was not made to be played in the desert.

Totally wasteful.


This man must be a casino owner/operator.
Fare and be well now, let your life proceed by its own design.

TEPaul

Re:'Outsider' has say on GCA - your thoughts
« Reply #10 on: January 29, 2008, 06:07:43 PM »
You know, maybe "Man" ought to just give back to "natural habitat" all forms of physical civilization all over the world and just start all over again!   ;)

Michael Dugger

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re:'Outsider' has say on GCA - your thoughts
« Reply #11 on: January 29, 2008, 06:20:32 PM »
I am amazed that you guys are killing her.

Golf was not made to be played in the desert.

Totally wasteful.

I totally agree with this statement.  Desert Golf is really quite over the top.
What does it matter if the poor player can putt all the way from tee to green, provided that he has to zigzag so frequently that he takes six or seven putts to reach it?     --Alistair Mackenzie--

Dan King

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re:'Outsider' has say on GCA - your thoughts
« Reply #12 on: January 29, 2008, 06:45:54 PM »
TEPaul writes:
One of the two fundamental PRINCIPLES of golf is you put your ball in play on the tee and you do NOT---I repeat DO NOT" TOUCH it until you remove it from the hole!

Yet if you decide to play by USGA rules you get all sorts of opportunities to touch the ball. What makes the USGA reasons more or less compelling than Ms. Wood? Even the USGA's most recent rule change was permitting more touching the ball.  Instead of constantly liberalizing the rules, wouldn't it be cool if some day the USGA would change a rule to return to the principles of the game?

Cheers,
Grandan King
Quote
Running through the Rules are underlying principles, that, like the steel rods which lie below the surface of reinforced concrete, serve to bind together the brittle material and to give it strength.
 --Richard S. Tufts, 1960

Sam Morrow

Re:'Outsider' has say on GCA - your thoughts
« Reply #13 on: January 29, 2008, 06:53:31 PM »
Maybe she sabatoged GCA.

Jay Flemma

Re:'Outsider' has say on GCA - your thoughts
« Reply #14 on: January 29, 2008, 08:12:26 PM »
Awright!  A Dan King sighting!  

Regarding the article:  Brian Silva told me a funny story.  he was building a course and he was showing it to 1) the real estate guy and 2) the money.  When they got to one par three, the money guy asked "why four sets of tees all the time?  especially here on this short hole?"  Brian explained about having different tees for different skill levels.  $$ guy asked again - the same question.  This time Brian explained about making the angle less severe as you got closer to the hole.  Finally the $$ asked the $$ Q...

"Why dont you just use mats?"