"Horribly Overgrown Championship Rough"

[David_Tepper]

It looks like Trump Aberdeen is not the only course in Britain with very deep rough in play.

http://www.geoffshackelford.com/homepage/2012/7/15/photos-surfacing-of-horribly-overgrown-open-championship-rou.html  

[Sam Morrow]

The bottom picture looks like it's next to a tee box, doesn't seem like it's in play.

[Adam Lawrence]

I think the members of Royal Lytham would be surprised to be told they were in Scotland. As previously discussed, the record wet weather means the rough is up everywhere in the UK. (Oddly except Askernish, where it has hardly rained in months).

[Sean_A]

I played at Deal yesterday and, wow, getting off the fairway is instant lost ball territory!! We have had an inordinate amount of rain and I must say it adds great definition but losing balls is never fun. That being said, how much manpower and resources would it take to really tackle thinning that stuff out - presumably it's just an impossibility without crazy amounts of bodies but I would love to hear what the greenskeepers views are.

According to Chappers it never rains at Deal - tee hee. 

I too would like to know how badly the budget would be hit (at a typical links) if the rough were hacked down every 2-3 weeks from say mid-May through July.  Basically, 4 serious chop downs to stop the rough from ever getting stupidly harsh.  Mind you, much of the problem of harsh rough could be solved with wider fairways.  It would be interesting to know how much an extra 30% of fairway width would hit the budget.

Ciao 

[Sean_A]

Brian

Burnham is pretty bad right now and as you know the course isn't very wide to begin with - though they did some hacking down last week. 

The thing about letting rough like this go for the year or two years is the broad leaf grasses underneath thrive so when the hot weather does come the rough doesn't thin like it should.  I know its sounds drastic, but a lot of links which watered for 20 years need to burn the rough out and replant with fescues.  The other alternative is to keep hacking down the rough on a regular basis or a serious make hay jobbie every few years. 

I don't buy the "deal with it" attitude because most members I know don't want anything to do with harsh rough within something like 10-12 yards of fairways.  I have yet to meet a guy who is in favour of thick calf high rough close to fairways and greens.  The thing about winter golf is the course plays far longer than in the summer so there are different challenges to deal with.  In conditions like we have now the course still plays fairly long and there is nasty rough - bad combo. 

Ciao

[Mark Chaplin]

It's rained very little during the day, but a reasonable amount at night, this and warm days make for perfect rough growing.  If we run mowers through the rough the skylarks will no longer be singing so I'd sooner lose a ball. Are are also preparing for a major amateur event next week.

[Rich Goodale]

I'll wait to "hear" more than a couple of irrelevant photos and some guy posting on a blog pretending he's Tiger to make my independent assessment of "horribly overgrown," but based on my experience at Carnoustie 2007, where the R&A was demanding and getting rough control from springtime through showtime (in order to not repeat Carnoustie 1999), I'd be really surprised if the old boys from Pilmour Place have allowed Lytham to go wild over the past 6 months.  As others have said, it's been a wet year, but not consistently so.  England was in major drought lock-down less than 3 months ago, and the Western Isles of Scotland have been arid.  Maybe because of the early year drought, Lytham (and/or the R&A) got caught on the hop with the recent diluvian months.  I suspect that they will make the course eminently playable by Thursday (even if it means that there are fewer exaltations of skylarks....), and that somebody (Tiger with his Stinger, or Donald with his normal game, or some HamiltonianCurtesian from the masses) will find their way to golf their balls onto the fairways and onto the greens and into the holes fewer times than all the others.

[Sean_A]

Sean - I asked a greenschair of a links course recently about the struggle to keep the fairways and roughs free of thicker / non fine grasses - and asked how much it would cost just to reseed. He said several million. Sounded like a lot to me but what do I know. I have no idea how that would apply to roughs but presumably greensstaff would just say: reseed? Are you joking? That would be absurdly expensive. I guess we'll have to wait until someone chimes in that knows more about this kinda stuff.

But, yes, you'd have to think reseeding and militantly addressing anything that could cause that rough to thicken and get out of control is the way to do it.

Yes, of course I don't expect any club in the UK to entertain the idea of burning acres of rough and re-seeding.  That sort of thing is strictly for the Augusta's of this world, but of course Augusta doesn't really believe in proper rough no matter how much purists bellow.

Ciao

[Adrian_Stiff]

Brian - I would like the job of seeding most golf course's rough in the UK for £100,000. The cost of the seed is about £30,000 for a normal sized new course... you can double triple even on size and there are costs to get rid of the old but several million is *&^%.

Long horribly overgrown championship rough just occurs when we have conditions like this year and in the Hoylake year 2006 it was kinda the opposite.

On balance its probably best to just put up with it.

[Scott Warren]

Don't we love links golf because it's natural? This is what nature does when it's hot and wet. Horribly overgrown?

Looking forward to seeing the field tackle the challenges dealt out by the course this week.

[Tom_Doak]

I have not ever seen a course tear up all its roughs and re-seed them, mostly because doing it without irrigation would be a bit of a crapshoot.  But, it would NOT cost millions of dollars.  It costs about half a million dollars to seed a whole new golf course, and another half million to grow it in til opening day.

[MikeJones]

Just to clarify something about the British 'drought' earlier in the year. We didn't get a drought in the north of the UK, it's been very damp all year apart from one or two days here and there. The rough everywhere on all the courses in this area is damp and thick, lost balls are a strong possibility.

[Mark_Rowlinson]

I second what Mike Jones has written. There was no drought in the north-west of England. We had some pleasant weather in March but as our reservoirs were already full there was no need of a hosepipe ban. It has been filthy ever since April. We have been so over clouded that light has been an issue as the vegetables in our garden prove. Many of those plants that need dry weather, such as dwarf French beans, have failed miserably. Broad beans failed to set pods as there was a lack of insects at the time of pollination. Our own course, Wilmslow, one of the best drained in this part of Cheshire has been closed several times recently because it has been waterlogged. It is pretty dangerous on the steeper hills on the course. Our rain has not been accompanied by warm weather. It is 16 degrees C as I write and this is one of our warmer days. It was 10-12 degrees C at Trump.

[David_Tepper]

Tiger thinks the rough is pretty thick.

from espn.com:

"Woods noted that the rough is more difficult than he remembered it at Lytham, likely due to the prolific rain the area has seen. "In some places, it is almost unplayable,'' he said."

[Rich Goodale]

Thanks Mike and Mark for letting us know that it has been soggy in NW England too this year (although sorry to hear this).

Greenkeepers out there--if it has been soggy at Lytham this year is it not possible to aggressively manage the growth of rough, particularly if you know that in Mid-July you are going to be on show?  My memory of 2007 is that is exactly what Carnoustie did, and successfully, too.  If players start losing balls a foot or two off the fairway, heads are going to roll, and we may not see Lytham as a Rota course for many years to come.  I hope this is not true, for I think at its best it is one of the best venues of the lot.

[Adam Clayman]

Shaq showed a field next door where Sheep have been getting fat and the native looked manageable. Golfwise.

Who will be the first to suggest sub-air? 

[Adrian_Stiff]

Thanks Mike and Mark for letting us know that it has been soggy in NW England too this year (although sorry to hear this).

Greenkeepers out there--if it has been soggy at Lytham this year is it not possible to aggressively manage the growth of rough, particularly if you know that in Mid-July you are going to be on show?  My memory of 2007 is that is exactly what Carnoustie did, and successfully, too.  If players start losing balls a foot or two off the fairway, heads are going to roll, and we may not see Lytham as a Rota course for many years to come.  I hope this is not true, for I think at its best it is one of the best venues of the lot.

Not really Rich, you either cut it (take the hay off) or you leave it, the out of play rough is just what it is, if you take the view you want the rough as say 5 inches, its a multiple cut situation you let it get to 5 and manage from there. The Open set up is by the same people that set the rota so it wont be the greenkeepers making the call especially in year of the Open. Any spare heads you might see rolling around will be R & A officials.

[Peter Pallotta]

Don't we love links golf because it's natural? This is what nature does when it's hot and wet. Horribly overgrown?

Looking forward to seeing the field tackle the challenges dealt out by the course this week.

My thoughts too, Scott.

To me, there is a world of difference and value between set-up men and supers ACTIVELY altering a course prior to a championship and set-up men and supers PASSIVELY allowing nature to rule the day.

My pea-brain can justify complaining about the USGA  and what it does to US Open courses; but it can't comprehend complaining about that AND the R&A's (opposite) approach to this Open championship.

[Carl Nichols]

I second what Mike Jones has written. There was no drought in the north-west of England. We had some pleasant weather in March but as our reservoirs were already full there was no need of a hosepipe ban. It has been filthy ever since April. We have been so over clouded that light has been an issue as the vegetables in our garden prove. Many of those plants that need dry weather, such as dwarf French beans, have failed miserably. Broad beans failed to set pods as there was a lack of insects at the time of pollination. Our own course, Wilmslow, one of the best drained in this part of Cheshire has been closed several times recently because it has been waterlogged. It is pretty dangerous on the steeper hills on the course. Our rain has not been accompanied by warm weather. It is 16 degrees C as I write and this is one of our warmer days. It was 10-12 degrees C at Trump.

I blame the cold weather on global warming.

[Mark Chaplin]

One thing you cannot expect R&A people to second guess is the weather. RStG was in danger of being a wide open "field" last year due to an exceptionally dry spring. Two months before the Open the rough barely existed after management the previous year. They were saved by a mild and damp late June & early July. As Scott rightly says the Open gives you the conditions of the day.

[Bruce Katona]

Could you not brush hog the rough down to a managable height on a monthly basis if the weather is wet/
The brush hog/box blade  is the attachment that does on the back of a tractor that hacks down high grass and weeds.  You might have to let the cuttings dry out and blow them away with the heavy duty blowers used for leaves in Fall but that should work.

[Jason Thurman]

I'm doubting many of the Open rota courses use blowers on leaves in the fall...

[Tom_Doak]

I blame the cold weather on global warming.

Carl:

I saw a climate change model 10-15 years ago that showed most of the world heating up, but northern Europe getting colder ... because the warmer temps would alter the Gulf Stream current and bring less warmth to Europe.

Of course, since we are assured by political experts that it is all a hoax, there is nothing to worry about.  Nothing at all.

[Dónal Ó Ceallaigh]

We've had an awful Summer here in Sweden as well. Anything hit into the rough at my home course is almost certainly a lost ball. Every October just before the course closes for the winter, the rough is cut and baled. I think that it should be done about two or three times over the golfing season.

Yesterday, I played with a yellow ball for the first time since the 1980s, and it really does help when you're searching in the rough.

[Mark Chaplin]

Bruce - there are no dryers in the gents locker room let alone on the course.