[Thomas Dai]

Which do folks prefer on golf courses?
Holes bordered by trees or holes bordered by gorse?
atb


PS -
Sometimes folks mistake gorse for heather.
When gorse blooms it's flowers are yellow and it normally grows about 10-15 ft high.
When heather is in bloom it goes purple and doesn't normally grow more than 2-3 ft high.
Trees of course come in all sorts of varieties both evergreen and deciduous and grow to various different heights and have different size and depth root systems.


Gorse -



Heather -

[Duncan Cheslett]

Does there have to be a choice between trees and gorse lining fairways?


My preference would be for small copses of trees sited strategically or aesthetically, with heather in abundance around and before the fairway.


Gorse looks very pretty when in bloom. That’s about all that can be said for it.

[Daryl David]

Does there have to be a choice between trees and gorse lining fairways?


My preference would be for small copses of trees sited strategically or aesthetically, with heather in abundance around and before the fairway.


Gorse looks very pretty when in bloom. That’s about all that can be said for it.

+1

[Kalen Braley]

Other than aesthetics, I have a hard time differentiating between gorse and water in terms of playability. Yet a course with gobs of it everywhere seems to be OK vs a course with water everywhere....not so much.

[David_Tepper]

Thomas -

I find it interesting that the water-lined courses in Florida get routinely criticized here, yet gorse on links seems to get a free pass. Hit a ball into either and your ball is lost. Gorse is a more harmful obstacle as it costs you stroke and distance, where relief from water is taken at the point of entry.  What would people think if the gorse at St. Andrews was replaced by ponds and lakes?

While trees can impact the quality of turf on a golf course, at least you can find your ball and usually advance it forward if you have hit your ball into them.

DT




 

[Marty Bonnar]

Plus, Gorse smells better than a twenty-dollar hooker.
F.

[Jeff Schley]

Thomas -

I find it interesting that the water-lined courses in Florida get routinely criticized here, yet gorse on links seems to get a free pass. Hit a ball into either and your ball is lost. Gorse is a more harmful obstacle as it costs you stroke and distance, where relief from water is taken at the point of entry.  What would people think if the gorse at St. Andrews was replaced by ponds and lakes?

While trees can impact the quality of turf on a golf course, at least you can find your ball and usually advance it forward if you have hit your ball into them.

DT

Not to mention the large amount of time and effort wasting the groups time searching for the needle in the haystack.... a. la Walton Heath for example.

[Jason Topp]

Tree lined.  Gorse is basically out of bounds.


Grass grows better around gorse however,

[jeffwarne]

Tree lined.  Gorse is basically out of bounds.


Grass grows better around gorse however,

This.
Gorse sucks when it lines both sides, as many second tier courses don't have the resources to control it.
The odd gorse bush or area, or side is beautiful, but both sides OB no fun.
Low lying heather is incredible-you're sure you can hit it, it's sitting up, it's right there, you grab a 7 iron....and it goes 70 yards left

[Ken Moum]

Where's "none of the above?"


 

[Tom_Doak]

Luckily the Scots [and Winnie the Pooh] were hardier about putting up with a gorse bush than most of you guys   


I'm in Jeff Warne's camp -- if the gorse lines both sides of the hole, golf can be an awful experience, and I know it's a nuisance for the maintenance crews, but to me there should always be some room for it.  Gorse has always been a part of the game.

[Sean_A]

Gorse is an evil weed, but a bit of evil in golf is OK. Its sort of the same thing for trees, but I think their potential for aesthetically enhancing a course is much greater than is the case for gorse. I don't want fairways littered on both sides with either.

Ciao

[Thomas Dai]

Some interesting responses.
Trees grow high, steal water from the playing surface, drop leaves, put down expansive root systems that invade drainage, spread shade across greens and some varieties can be prickly.
Gorse grows low, uses little water, doesn't steal water from the playing surface, is evergreen, doesn't have large root systems, doesn't spread shade across greens and some varieties aren't prickly.
Curious, I would have thought gorse would have been the preferred option for golfers.
atb

[Kalen Braley]

I thought the answer was clear.

- Gorse is basically on course OB and spreads quickly.

- On a tree lined hole you can still almost always find and play your ball.

[Thomas Dai]

I thought the answer was clear.

Obviously not!
atb

[Kalen Braley]

I thought the answer was clear.

Obviously not!
atb

I wasn't trying to grind your gears Thomas.  I'm just not sure how else to interrupt the responses up till this point.

[Sean_A]

Some interesting responses.
Trees grow high, steal water from the playing surface, drop leaves, put down expansive root systems that invade drainage, spread shade across greens and some varieties can be prickly.
Gorse grows low, uses little water, doesn't steal water from the playing surface, is evergreen, doesn't have large root systems, doesn't spread shade across greens and some varieties aren't prickly.
Curious, I would have thought gorse would have been the preferred option for golfers.
atb

ATB

I was once told by a green keeper that gorse emits a chemical which encourages broad leaf grasses to grow.  I don't know if this is true, but when I inspect areas near gorse I do sometimes notice crappy grass which probably needs to be controlled/killed.  It would be good if a few greenkeepers could chime in. 

Ciao

[Jim Sherma]

When I've been fortunate enough to be playing a course with gorse we simply decided to play it as a floating water hazard. One stroke and drop someplace reasonable. Seemed like a reasonable way to keep up pace of play and you didn't need to dig around and try to identify the ball in order to take an unplayable.


Blind shots with gorse can be very annoying as you have no idea whether or not the ball bounced this way or that. Blind hazards are tend not to be looked upon nicely.

[Pete_Pittock]

Other than aesthetics, I have a hard time differentiating between gorse and water in terms of playability. Yet a course with gobs of it everywhere seems to be OK vs a course with water everywhere....not so much.

Gorse burns, water don't (well maybe in Detroit). The only US gorse courses that I know of is the Bandon complex, just because the town's founder was homesick and planted some from back home in Ireland.

[Mark_Fine]

Prettiest gorse I have seen on a golf course is at Royal Dornoch when it is in bloom.  Gorse is a hazard that has been on golf courses since the beginning but it still sucks because you not only can't recover from it, but it also can be dangerous.  As I have said many times, any feature over used is not good.  It gets old,  becomes repetitive, and golfers lose interest.  One hole or two that is lined with trees and/or gorse on both sides you can deal with, but if there are a series of them, both trees and gorse are bad.  Depending on the trees, at least sometimes you can recover from them. 

[John Chilver-Stainer]

Gorse as a random hazard or out of play areas for aesthetics is fine, but walls of gorse either side of the fairway can be unpleasant, intimidating, claustophobic, delaying, costly, view blocking, killjoying, bloodletting ....


Lossiemouth Nr 2 and Hopeman come to mind where 3m walls of the stuff either side spoil the enjoyment of the otherwise interesting undulating fairways and potential far reaching views.


As for trees .......

[Thomas Dai]

This place seems nah bad and has a bit of gorse ......
atb

[Mark_Fine]

John CS,
Variety of the playing fields is a big reason why golf is so special.  If every course we played had gorse or trees or ... it would get old.  Augusta National has a few trees and seems to be considered a decent track    And so does Winged Foot and Olympic and San Francisco GC and Brookline,... 

[David_Tepper]

Thomas D. -

No doubt a bank of gorse in full bloom is a pretty sight, but that bloom rarely last more than 6-8 weeks during the year. In terms of playability, out of bounds and gorse are likely the two worst features to encounter on a golf course.


What would people think about your aerial photo of St. Andrews if you photoshopped in lakes and ponds where all the gorse is located? It would look like many of the courses in Florida that are so reviled here.

DT   

[Thomas Dai]

DT,
I don’t see water-gorse as the same scenario and the blooming period isn’t really relevant either. As to playability, folks need to learn to hit it straight and if you can’t hit a driver straight take a fairway wood and if you can’t hit that straight hit a hybrid etc etc down to a putter. They coped a hundred plus years ago likely with more of the stuff around and with pretty erratic equipment too. Gorse has played a part in golf forever, it’s part of the games tradition, planted trees aren’t.
Atb

[Tags:]

Tags:

[Tags:]

Tags:

Call to undefined function theme_linktree()