Are short game areas becoming more popular?

[Mark_Fine]

Does anyone else agree that short game areas are becoming more popular?  We've designed and built two in the last 12 months and three or four more are in the design/approval stages.  Anyone else see this trend?  Seems if people don’t have time to play 9 or 18 holes they want to do something more than just beat golf balls on a driving range.

[Jim Franklin]

Short game areas are essential to improve your game and I really like some of the new ones I have seen. Pine Valley's is about the best, but Kinloch and Friars Head also have outstanding areas to name a few. The more the better IMHO.

[Powell Arms]

My club installed a rather large short game area about 6 years ago.  It gets a significant amount of use.  A side benefit that might not be appreciated at the outset of planning is the value of this area for beginners and juniors.  

It's great to take my son out to pitch, chip and putt.  Pounding balls can't be fun, and it will be a long time before you "can be as good as dad".  However, the short game is an area in which kids can compete on a level playing field with adults.  Makes the practice time fun, and has the side benefit of greatly improving the area of the game that has the largest influence on score.

Ours is set up as an oversized green surrounded by bunkers, rough and fairway.  I'm not sure, but there would seem to be a better configuration that minimizes conflicts resulting from mis-hits while keeping the maintenance manageable.

[John Kavanaugh]

They are like hot tubs.

[Powell Arms]

They are like hot tubs.

Good idea until you have one, or only used when attractive women are around?

[RJ_Daley]

A short game area is a wonderful luxury to have.  It is the obvious best situation to have.  The extra land, maintenace and operation is worth it, in my view.  I also see such an area as a safety valve for on-going turf maintenance, for a last ditch source of stripping turf for course repair, and a place to spray out chems overage, or testing sprayers, and spreaders effective outputs.  

Wild Horse has one of my favorite practice facilities, putting green, chipping and sand practice green and varied uphill, down hill shots, and a good range.  It isn't gaudy or extravagant, yet it is functional, very high quality and matches the course conditions.

[Michael Ryan]

My biggest frustration being a muni course player in Fairfield County, CT is the lack of a quality short game facility that I have access to.  I drive about 40 minutes north to a town golf course that at least has a so called facility, with a chipping green that has a small area of closely mown turf to at least practice.  The usual muni routine of having one practice green with 6 inch rough surrounding doesn't leave a guy much of a chance to practice the type of chips you get about 80% of the time you miss a green in a typical round.  I like to hear about people thinking the new trend is to design quality short game areas, unfortunately for me, it seems to be mostly taking place at private clubs...at least in my area, which I understand is not the best for a golfer with the "addiction".

[JESII]

Tough to devote the resources required to a non-earning asset...I love them and wish it were an easier sell to put one in place because I can practice short shots all day but can't spend 15 minutes hitting balls. Give me a killer wedge and short game area and a net to hit long shots into and I would be a happy guy...in fact, that's going on my to-do list when I build my course...

[Phil Benedict]

If possible I think taking a cart onto your course and hitting various short-game shots to a variety of greens is a more effective way to practice the short game.  Probably only possible in a private club and for someone who can get out on the course when it isn't busy.  

[John Kavanaugh]

If possible I think taking a cart onto your course and hitting various short-game shots to a variety of greens is a more effective way to practice the short game.  Probably only possible in a private club and for someone who can get out on the course when it isn't busy.  

This should never be allowed.  I do not want to see your cluster divots in the fairway or additional ball marks on the greens.  I don't care how well you claim to repair each they leave a psychological indentation on the course.  I would also love to know how much you pay for the cart.  It is thievery plain and simple.  I feel the same way about people who wonder all over a driving range hitting from wherever they please instead of the designated areas.

[JESII]

Agree with everything other than the psychological effect...

Sets a bad precedent.

[John Kavanaugh]

Agree with everything other than the psychological effect...

Sets a bad precedent.

Ike beat Tina with a phone book and she still showed up to sing.  No matter how well you repair divots or pitch marks there is an underlying damage that adds up over time.

[Jim Sweeney]

I practice my short game at a county facility which has a very good short game area- a large putting green and a pitching/bunker play area. A few years ago I sucessfully lobbied the pro and superintendent to mow some of the grass around the putting green to fairway height, but then the super retired and the new guy has let it all grow up again.

My only real frustration is the lack of care the area receive from users- the bunkers are never raked after use and people- mostly the high school teams that practice there- enter and exit at the front of the bunkers, causing a lot of damage to the lips, and vall marks are rarely repaired.  

A prominent private club in Cinci is about to vote on removing its two tennis courts and building a short game practice area.

[David Whitmer]

The club where I worked had a great short game area, where you could practice every imagineable shot from 70 yards and in. Tight fairway lies, heavy rough, uphill, downhill, bunker shots, flop shots over bunkers...you could try them all. Sadly, I would walk out of the pro shop at 5:30 in the evening, and see a jam-packed driving range and an empty short game area.

The better players at the club practiced at the short game area much more than they hit balls at the driving range. I believe a nice short game area is a great way to get better and lower your scores, if only it is taken advantage of. I also agree it is in bad form to practice on the golf course, where divots and the like will inevitably be taken and not replaced. Also, many people don't realize how many ball marks are made when you're hitting a 40-yard shot. Our short game practice green had ball marks all over it.

[Phil Benedict]

If possible I think taking a cart onto your course and hitting various short-game shots to a variety of greens is a more effective way to practice the short game.  Probably only possible in a private club and for someone who can get out on the course when it isn't busy.  

This should never be allowed.  I do not want to see your cluster divots in the fairway or additional ball marks on the greens.  I don't care how well you claim to repair each they leave a psychological indentation on the course.  I would also love to know how much you pay for the cart.  It is thievery plain and simple.  I feel the same way about people who wonder all over a driving range hitting from wherever they please instead of the designated areas.

I don't practice shots where I take divot or make a pitch mark on the green.  If this means hitting from the rough rather than the fairway (where a divot is more likely), I'll hit from the rough.  At most I hit shots that fly 20-yards or less and don't make a pitch mark.  The pro shop always knows what I am doing with the cart.

What about when you are playing as a single or a twosome and have to wait on every tee?  Is it a crime to practice chipping or putting after you have finished a hole rather than waiting on the next tee, presuming there is no one behind you?

[JESII]

Agree with everything other than the psychological effect...

Sets a bad precedent.

Ike beat Tina with a phone book and she still showed up to sing.  No matter how well you repair divots or pitch marks there is an underlying damage that adds up over time.

As crude as that analogy is, I think I get where you're coming from...the results cannot be hidden! Three or four divots from 110 cannot look like one...but you're still stretching with a phsycological impact.

How do you think it effected the phsycology of Shady Oaks in Ft. Worth to have Hogan tearing up patches of the property during his practice sessions?...which were not typically on the driving range...

[Mike Sweeney]

Here is the reality of living between, Shinnecock, Winged Foot, Baltusrol.........

You get to practice your short game here on astroturf masquerading as cement:

[RJ_Daley]

How do you think it effected the phsycology of Shady Oaks in Ft. Worth to have Hogan tearing up patches of the property during his practice sessions?...which were not typically on the driving range...

But, if they allowed every member to do that, then what would it look like?  One priveleged and high profile pro member or a couple pro members is one thing... but the whole dern membership?

[RJ_Daley]

Mike, your reality of living in those confines causes me to thank my lucky stars that I live in this little provincial enclave of Green Bay...  

[JESII]

RJ,


Are you suggesting Phil Benedict would not be a priviledged, high profile member? Is it just the PROFESSIONAL designation missing?



My point is that Hogan improved the phsycology of Shady Oaks by doing something similar to what JK was equating to beating your wife/stage partner...

You have to go to really deep depths to get one in on the big guy from Indiana...

[John Kavanaugh]

If possible I think taking a cart onto your course and hitting various short-game shots to a variety of greens is a more effective way to practice the short game.  Probably only possible in a private club and for someone who can get out on the course when it isn't busy.  

This should never be allowed.  I do not want to see your cluster divots in the fairway or additional ball marks on the greens.  I don't care how well you claim to repair each they leave a psychological indentation on the course.  I would also love to know how much you pay for the cart.  It is thievery plain and simple.  I feel the same way about people who wonder all over a driving range hitting from wherever they please instead of the designated areas.

I don't practice shots where I take divot or make a pitch mark on the green.  If this means hitting from the rough rather than the fairway (where a divot is more likely), I'll hit from the rough.  At most I hit shots that fly 20-yards or less and don't make a pitch mark.  The pro shop always knows what I am doing with the cart.

What about when you are playing as a single or a twosome and have to wait on every tee?  Is it a crime to practice chipping or putting after you have finished a hole rather than waiting on the next tee, presuming there is no one behind you?

I think it is a crime to kill even a single blade of grass outside the scope of your round.  I do not like practice swings for this reason and also believe that any practice chip from more than ten feet off the edge of a green causes damage.  Practice putting is fine if you do it to an area away from the hole just played.  I believe the people behind you deserve to play a course no less damaged than you and doing a polka around a cup because you are bored is both selfish and rude.

[RJ_Daley]

I'm no rules maven, but at least in medal play tournaments, it is against the rules to practice while waiting for slow players ahead.  I'm not sure how far you can go in match play... practice putts, or can you go so far as practice chips while waiting to tee off?

Our county course, chipping and hitting shots within the confines of the actual course, is strictly verboten anytime.  We have a very nice couple of practice greens and a third short game and high low sand bunker green and area plus range.  No need to go on the course to practice.  

But, I can see that going around the course randomly might be a sundown perk of the club pro, assistants, super, or clelebrity pro... of whom Hogan might qualify.  

Sully, were the members of Shady Oaks depressed prior to Hogan, or what?  I don't go as deep as the Indiana sage...

[John Kavanaugh]

RJ,


Are you suggesting Phil Benedict would not be a priviledged, high profile member? Is it just the PROFESSIONAL designation missing?



My point is that Hogan improved the phsycology of Shady Oaks by doing something similar to what JK was equating to beating your wife/stage partner...

You have to go to really deep depths to get one in on the big guy from Indiana...

Hogan does more for the game as a memory than a member.  One thing though is that I bet his divots were consistent.  It wouldn't surpise me if he was a picker of the ball.  It is the amateur cluster divot that has the random pattern of Seal's complexion that is offensive.  Not a big fan of the linear VJ gash either.  You know a nice tight cluster divot when you see one...hard to define.

[RJ_Daley]

JK, I recently saw just such an example of what you said, and I chewed the guy out.  We were playing our most beloved muni, Brown County GC last week among the usual suspects, and we noted a few 4somes of unfamiliar faces.  Then, I figured it out, I think.  They were country clubbers from one of the two high end tracks here, playing ours because theirs was being aerated.  They were all in carts, played slow, and one all of them took practice swings taking divots that they didn't even replace.  Our local muni regular guys are very good about replacing divots and it seems only the outsiders are negligent.  At any rate, one of the guys ahead was taking two and three huge practice swings on every shot, taking large beaver pelts.  I finally went ahead to them and told him to respect our course, and pointed out how there are many obvious replaced divots.  We don't have a sanding program, and our people are expected to repair their damage.  The guy looked at me like I was from outer space and just shrugged.  I kept my cool, but it didn't go too far to soften my stereotype of many folks that play the two high end private clubs around here...

[John Kavanaugh]

RJ,

Good for you...You will be happy to know that when considering my post last night about how all my friends have attractive wives I came upon your name.  I wish you still sent me Christmas Cards.