James,
I would have thought that your club would either use tees that left the player reaching a different part of the fairway or use mats. To use both measures seems a little overkill. Yes, you do get more wear and tear in winter but the effect on a course like Notts will be mainly cosmetic IMHO and with winter rules in use will not affect play.
Jon
Jon,
I see what you are saying regarding it possibly being overkill, BUT the condition of some parts of the course isn't great. Its certainly not bad, but probably not quite what would be expected, so I'm starting to feel like I welcome these measures, though as mentioned above, the lengthening option is certainly different!
Niall,
Interesting options regarding the box system, as I've not come across that before. I'm sure members would get used to it, but I can't imagine visitors being keen, though as Sean and Adrian discuss, visitors in winter is a whole other issue!
Speaking of which, I'd say the biggest point regarding winter visitors, is the type of course. Sean's Winter Tours are often to links or heathland courses, which will drain well and play better in the winter. I often take advantage of the cheaper winter rates at these type of courses also. If a parkland course that gets wet underfoot drops its fees in a desperate effort to get more money in the till, well its only ever going to work on the finer days of winter, so probably not be too much of a problem.
My experiences at Burnham though are that the place is always full at winter, at weekends anyway, as the course is very playable all year round, so disappointing to hear of the reduced rates!
Lastly, mats! My old course firstly had a rule that you had to tee any fairway shots up, which reduced the problem a little but they eventually went to mats. I always found the mats got wet and muddy and carry a heavy wet mat around a real pain. I'm therefore not really looking forward to it, however, I can certainly see how they will benefit the course so happy to do so.
Cheers,
James