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Chip Gaskins

  • Karma: +0/-0
A picture for the firm and fast lovers
« on: August 07, 2008, 07:58:11 PM »
in the middle of the PGA with the manicured roughs and green green everywhere i though all the firm and fast lovers would enjoy this


John Sheehan

Re: A picture for the firm and fast lovers
« Reply #1 on: August 07, 2008, 08:00:35 PM »
Thanks, I needed that.  Maybe you can send a copy to Lee Westwood...

Brad Klein

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: A picture for the firm and fast lovers
« Reply #2 on: August 07, 2008, 09:00:09 PM »
First thought it was Dornoch. Great photo, and the kind of image that, were it a U.S. course, would lead to cries for an irrigation upgrade.
« Last Edit: August 08, 2008, 11:51:24 AM by Brad Klein »

Ian Dalzell

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: A picture for the firm and fast lovers
« Reply #3 on: August 07, 2008, 09:10:08 PM »
Chip - that is a great photo depicting the 11th green in the foreground and 15 green and 16 tee at my home club, Royal Portrush in Northern Ireland.  They have had little to no rain this year in Ireland, and that is the result.  They irrigate the greens, and the rest is up to nature.

Good stuff.  It is fun when your club slides behind the ball because of the "shiny" grass, and you see the puff of dust as your drive lands out there in the fairway!! ;D

J_ Crisham

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: A picture for the firm and fast lovers
« Reply #4 on: August 07, 2008, 09:15:23 PM »
This is Portrush 11 or 12-I forget which but getting close to Calamity #14 as I recall. Favorite course in the world for me! Jack

Chip Gaskins

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: A picture for the firm and fast lovers
« Reply #5 on: August 07, 2008, 09:17:43 PM »
Ian-

You are a lucky man to call that your home club.  Us Yanks can only dream.

Portrush it is...

Chip

Ian Dalzell

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: A picture for the firm and fast lovers
« Reply #6 on: August 07, 2008, 09:23:04 PM »
Chip - I am extremely lucky, and really didn't fully comprehend it until I came to the US and played some of the good ones over here - it really holds up well when comparing to the other greats of the world. 

I now reside in New Jersey, and work at Hidden Creek which is a C&C design.  Firm and fast is what we strive for, but in the American sense of the word . . .  this picture is hard to duplicate in the US, unless you are out on the tip of Long Island and you turn the water off!

Ian

SPDB

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: A picture for the firm and fast lovers
« Reply #7 on: August 07, 2008, 10:31:54 PM »
Look at the 15th fairway! It looks like the difficulty is not driving the green, but
rather holding it.

Jim Nugent

Re: A picture for the firm and fast lovers
« Reply #8 on: August 08, 2008, 03:06:41 AM »
With such little rain, has the rough thinned out some?  Heavy, penal rough was the one negative I recall from Ran's profile of Portrush. 

Mark Chaplin

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: A picture for the firm and fast lovers
« Reply #9 on: August 08, 2008, 05:01:36 AM »
Jim - I cannot speak specifically for RP but in SE England the rough tends to be pretty friendly until late May then impossibly thick until the end of July when it starts to burn off and thin out. By the middle of August the thick rough becomes whispy and easy (relatively) to play from and find your ball in.

That said a wet period in July will stop the rough thinning until later in the summer. If Ran visited within those perameters he got standard conditions. At Deal we cannot cut the thick rough in the growing season due ground nesting birds and regulations. On saying that the song of the skylark high above the links is worth the hassle of the rough!!
Cave Nil Vino

Sean_A

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: A picture for the firm and fast lovers
« Reply #10 on: August 08, 2008, 05:12:08 AM »
Jim - I cannot speak specifically for RP but in SE England the rough tends to be pretty friendly until late May then impossibly thick until the end of July when it starts to burn off and thin out. By the middle of August the thick rough becomes whispy and easy (relatively) to play from and find your ball in.

That said a wet period in July will stop the rough thinning until later in the summer. If Ran visited within those perameters he got standard conditions. At Deal we cannot cut the thick rough in the growing season due ground nesting birds and regulations. On saying that the song of the skylark high above the links is worth the hassle of the rough!!

Mark

Has the rough died back properly this year at Deal?  I know at Burnham it has ever so slightly, but it is still a bitch.  There has also been some very wierd wind going on making the front 9 much harder than the back which is quite unusual.

Ciao
New plays planned for 2024: Nothing

Mike Hendren

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: A picture for the firm and fast lovers
« Reply #11 on: August 08, 2008, 11:12:16 AM »
I doubt there are more than a dozen people on this site that prefer the ground game more than I do.  Regrettably, it's due to a lack of talent and clubhead speed - but that's another story.  That said, I don't find this photograph that appealing. 

This maintenance meld made sense in days of yore when there were no mechanical mowers and the ball was softer and rarely round.  In my opinion, this degree of firm and fast makes no sense with the modern ball. 

I'll duck now.

Mike
Two Corinthians walk into a bar ....

Paul_Turner

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: A picture for the firm and fast lovers
« Reply #12 on: August 08, 2008, 11:25:33 AM »
Chip

I saw Portrush this year in those conditions (early June), I'd never seen it burned out like that before.  The grass is tough as nails. 

Mike

Duck and stop using that daft GCA phrase "maintenance meld"!  What you want the club to do?
can't get to heaven with a three chord song

Mike Hendren

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: A picture for the firm and fast lovers
« Reply #13 on: August 08, 2008, 11:35:39 AM »
Paul,

Sorry for my use of MM - after all these years I remain unsecure and soooooo want to fit in and be accepted by the cognoscenti.

As for what the club should do - nothing.  I'm not criticizing the course condition in any way.  I'm just saying that it's not idyllic and dirt should not be romanticized.   

Perhaps I should return to loitering with intent. 

Hope to meet up again one day.

Kindest regards,

Mike
Two Corinthians walk into a bar ....

RJ_Daley

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: A picture for the firm and fast lovers
« Reply #14 on: August 08, 2008, 03:33:48 PM »
Didn't Harrington name Portrush his choice if only one  course to play for the rest of his life?
No actual golf rounds were ruined or delayed, nor golf rules broken, in the taking of any photographs that may be displayed by the above forum user.

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