Is a pine straw circle under a broadleaved tree..

[Marty Bonnar]

a crime against nature?

I'm quite enjoying the views of Atlanta, but I always get a bit annoyed when I see obvious fakery on a golf course. Augusta is clearly to blame for this particular annoyance. Can anyone think of other ill-considered treatments they might have seen?

FBD.

[Kalen Braley]

a crime against nature?

I'm quite enjoying the views of Atlanta, but I always get a bit annoyed when I see obvious fakery on a golf course. Augusta is clearly to blame for this particular annoyance. Can anyone think of other ill-considered treatments they might have seen?

FBD.

Bonnar,

Do you mean fakery like having to hit a ball over a hotel?  Or fakery like having to play a ball off a motor-car road?      

[Marty Bonnar]

Kalen,
ma bonnie wee laddie.
The gowf gourse was there ere lang afore thon concrete monstrosity...

And as for Grannie Clark's Wynd (motor-car road), well my dear gca friends MADE me play off it at last year's reverse TOC event. I moaned about it at the time, but now realise it was one of the highlights of my golfing life!!!

 
FBD.

[Melvyn Morrow]

Kalen

An old motor-car on Grannie Clark's Wynd at TOC circa 1902. Expect that is what you meant? 

[Patrick_Mucci]

a crime against nature?

I'm quite enjoying the views of Atlanta, but I always get a bit annoyed when I see obvious fakery on a golf course. Augusta is clearly to blame for this particular annoyance. Can anyone think of other ill-considered treatments they might have seen?

FBD,

Actually, it's a prudent maintainance practice and not an ill conceived treatment.  It avoids damage to valuable trees from heavy mowing equipment.

[Tom Huckaby]

Man, way back when people sure knew how to wear hats.  I was born way way too late.

Hat-loving Huckaby

[Marty Bonnar]

Patrick,
please explain the prudence whereby it's acceptable for a clearly foreign material to be imported onto a golf course simply to enable easier maintenance? Rather shoddy if you ask ma. One of the things wrong with this world is that mankind seems to think it can do what it likes to the environment without consequence. Admittedly, this is a teeny example, but an example nonetheless, of our arrogance in that direction.

Huck,
isn't that just the greatest pic? We are phenomenally lucky to have MM as a member here.

cheers,
FBD.

[Kalen Braley]

Kalen

An old motor-car on Grannie Clark's Wynd at TOC circa 1902. Expect that is what you meant? 

Very nice..

See, I don't see all this objection to golf carts....this was Old Toms first golf cart right?  Maybe he is to blame for the modern scourge that now besets us?    

Bonnar,

Ye do make a verry fine point, the course was there firrrst after all. Is there any truth to the sorrid stories about the 17th bunker being a lover-birds nest for those wicked college kids.  I suppose the sand can indeed present some of its own hazards 

[Tom Huckaby]

Huck,
isn't that just the greatest pic? We are phenomenally lucky to have MM as a member here.

cheers,
FBD.

We are indeed.

You know, hats aside... wouldn't you say Old Tom also had one perhaps the greatest BEARD in the history of man?

And Kalen, good point about the cart.  It all goes back to Old Tom.

 

[Kalen Braley]

M Bonnar,

Are you suggesting that bringing a motorized mower on to the course for "easier maintenance" is to be given a free pass?  I would hope if I showed up at your domicile, there are sheep in the yard keeping things nice and tidy.

[Marty Bonnar]

Huck,
I believe an in-depth examination and comparative analysis of the length and condition of Old Tom's beard co-related to the extent of his powers of design would be a perfectly acceptable syllabus for a pHd at any of Scotland's seats of learning!

K Braley,
my, but we're being rather polite tonite, aren't we?
I take your point re mowers and sheep. Both are aceptable means of keeping grass short. I just think that there has to be a more environmentally-sensitive method of keeping damage to valuable trees to a minimum. Patrick, I LOVE your subtlety!!!

cheers,
FBD.

[Mike_Cirba]

Is that the new hybrid model I've been hearing about?

[Tom Huckaby]

Huck,
I believe an in-depth examination and comparative analysis of the length and condition of Old Tom's beard co-related to the extent of his powers of design would be a perfectly acceptable syllabus for a pHd at any of Scotland's seats of learning!

That absolutely, most definitely, elicited audible yuks.  I now have a goal for my son's higher learning.

BTW Melvyn, no offense intended in any of this.  Just having a little fun this late afternoon (US) / evening (UK).

 

[Kalen Braley]

Sorry Bonnar,

All this business with the bailouts, poltical fighting, and financial system scnadal have gotten me into a bit of terse mood.  Not a great week to be American....

In the end I'm just jealous, I'd love to have a few sheep of me own.  I could put them in the backyard, let the small dog chase em around, and I'd be the hit of the neighboorhood.   

[Mike_Cirba]

In the end I'm just jealous, I'd love to have a few sheep of me own.  I could put them in the backyard, let the small dog chase em around, and I'd be the hit of the neighboorhood.   

Kalen,

As long as it's the dog chasing them around...   

[Melvyn Morrow]

Tom

That’s my great aunt Agnes with the dead hat, she is Old Tom’s granddaughter, the driver is Willie Rusack (her husband) a golfer, course designer (apparently in Germany & perhaps one or two in the USA) and part of the Hotel Family that owned the Rusack Hotel. To those that are interested the car is a 1900 Napier.

Kalen/FBD

Guilty, first golf cart, that’s why I am so anti them, trying to live it down. But then Old Tom was open to new ideas, but he was wise enough to decline a trip to the USA in 1895 by the inventor of the Gutty ball, otherwise he might have designed Merion, improved NGLA and extended Myopia Hunt. Now that would have upset our Mr MacWood.

[Kalen Braley]

In the end I'm just jealous, I'd love to have a few sheep of me own.  I could put them in the backyard, let the small dog chase em around, and I'd be the hit of the neighboorhood.   

Kalen,

As long as it's the dog chasing them around...   

Mike,

You wicked, wicked man you....very bad!! 

[Mike_Cirba]

 

You shouldn't have teed it so high. 

[Kalen Braley]

You shouldn't have teed it so high. 

Lol...true.

But unlike you, I only consider Lamb for dinner plate inclusion, not as male companionship......

Ahhh, it must be Friday, I think I'm starting to lose my mind with all this politics, job related crap, and bailout business.  On the bright side I'm playing a gorgeous mountain course tommorow that I think could give that famous one in Canada a run for its money in terms of amazing views and fall colors.  Is it Cape Breton, is that the one I'm thinking of?

Anyways, I'll post some pics and let GCA be judge and jury.

P.S.  Damn just remembered you used to live here.  Its the mountain course at Wasacth State Park.

[Dean Stokes]

Sorry Bonnar,

All this business with the bailouts, poltical fighting, and financial system scnadal have gotten me into a bit of terse mood.  Not a great week to be American....

In the end I'm just jealous, I'd love to have a few sheep of me own.  I could put them in the backyard, let the small dog chase em around, and I'd be the hit of the neighboorhood.   

Kalen, is that the neighborhood full of empty homes in foreclosure............

[Kalen Braley]

Sorry Bonnar,

All this business with the bailouts, poltical fighting, and financial system scnadal have gotten me into a bit of terse mood.  Not a great week to be American....

In the end I'm just jealous, I'd love to have a few sheep of me own.  I could put them in the backyard, let the small dog chase em around, and I'd be the hit of the neighboorhood.   

Kalen, is that the neighborhood full of empty homes in foreclosure............

Thankfully I'm one of the lucky ones.  My home is still worth 25-30% more than what I paid for it...but it was close to 40% for awhile.   

Hey when you live in the ghetto, you got nowhere to go but up right? 

[Patrick_Mucci]

please explain the prudence whereby it's acceptable for a clearly foreign material to be imported onto a golf course simply to enable easier maintenance?

It's really a matter of common sense.

When you have minimum wage workers, unacquianted with the finer points of architecture, agronomy or golf, driving large mowing equipment, it's not uncommon to see damage to trees, bushes, shrubs and flower beds.

You can fool yourself and think that by explaining the finer points of the job function that you'll get a perfect performance, or, you can build margins of error into the job function.

One of the most effective and cost efficient methods for building in margins of error is to create visible buffer zones that don't need to be mowed, thus keeping the heavy equipment a good distance from the trees.

If you served on a green committee that had this problem, you'd better understand the expediency of the remedy.

Rather shoddy if you ask ma.

One of the things wrong with this world is that mankind seems to think it can do what it likes to the environment without consequence.

You're off base on this issue.

This is an effective way to safeguard and protect the trees from damage that would lead to their demise.

Admittedly, this is a teeny example, but an example nonetheless, of our arrogance in that direction.

Nothing could be further from the truth.
It's a practical, efficient method for protecting the environment.
It's a prudent method for insuring that the trees that are valuable to the golf course and the environment are protected from carelessness and human error.

[Kyle Harris]

Martin,

To be fair, sand is typically a completely foreign material (bunkers) as are most green fills. Especially so if a USGA Spec green is built.

Just sayin' is all... 

[Patrick_Mucci]

a crime against nature?

I'm quite enjoying the views of Atlanta, but I always get a bit annoyed when I see obvious fakery on a golf course. Augusta is clearly to blame for this particular annoyance.


Nothing could be further from the truth.

ANGC is laden/saturated with pine trees, hence, having pine straw as a ground cover surrounding those trees is perfectly natural.

Why would you object to that ?

[Wayne_Kozun]

On the bright side I'm playing a gorgeous mountain course tommorow that I think could give that famous one in Canada a run for its money in terms of amazing views and fall colors.  Is it Cape Breton, is that the one I'm thinking of?

It probably is Highland Links in Cape Breton that you are thinking of, but hopefully Ian gets the approval to thin those trees a wee bit and restore the views that were in evidence when Stanley Thompson built the course 70 years ago.