I have heard spur before but in regard to a local road "the black spur". I think it's in reference to a mountain ridge off the main ridgeline. Also in the irrigation areas some channels are a "spur" off the main channel, None of the formations we are talking about really fit with my understanding of the term.
I have read a lot about these changes to the 4th hole but still don't know exactly which of three possible "spurs" they're referring to. There's the one in the driving zone for club golfers finishes around about 200 yds from the tee, the second and largest is the one right of the bunker about 280-300 from the tee and the last is shaved and right in front of the green.
So from all of this I can establish that it's probably not the one at the green getting the chop.
As for the other two I can't ever remember looking for a ball on either of them for more than 30 secs. The landing zone one gets a lot of play and the rough was very light. The mid-hole ridge didn't get a lot of play as it was too long for 90% of golfers without a very strong tail wind and any sensible long player took 3W max. It also rarely came into play for a club golfer's second shot. I was there in a non-open year. There was plenty of rain and a bit of sun so decent growing conditions I would have thought. I never had any concerns that either of these two areas were a maintenance problem.
Of course in an open year they might encourage the growth of the rough a little more and I can see problems for the club golfer in those circumstances.
I think Niall maybe confusing the treehouse's love for short grass around the green to mean short grass everywhere. I also think the simple answer is to bring back the sheep and rabbits not carve up the "acute spur formation"
