Course set-up and lost balls

[Thomas Dai]

“There should be a complete absence of the annoyance and irritation caused by the necessity of searching for lost balls.” says one of Dr Mack’s 13 Principles and certainly searching for a lost ball is no fun especially if it’s someone else’s ball!

Whilst other aspects do effect things, for example the maintenance budget and the severity of the terrain, course set-up plays a very significant part.

On a scale of 1-10 how easy is it to lose a ball (search time less than 3-minutes) at the course you play the most (with 1 being hard to lose and 10 being very easy to lose)?


Should the set-up be changed such that the requirement to look for lost balls is less frequent?
What would such a set-up change involve?
Would such a change reduce your enjoyment, the fun you have, in playing the course?

Atb

[Matt Schoolfield]

Should the set-up be changed such that the requirement to look for lost balls is less frequent?
What would such a set-up change involve?
Would such a change reduce your enjoyment, the fun you have, in playing the course?

Yes, very much yes. Everyone moans about pace while also praising parkland courses with ankle deep rough.


Most of the pace problems I see lie with course management, and if a course is priding itself on fairway-or-bust, then I don’t want to hear any moaning about “if people would just play ready golf”.

[Ally Mcintosh]

On many well kept links courses, it depends on the time of year. Mid-May to end of June when the warmth and moisture is in the air and growth of the broad leaves has run amuck, it is usually easy to lose a ball even in the managed rough.


Once the broad leaves start to burn off, it then becomes about width of hole corridor between unmanaged roughs (note not fairway width).

[Tom_Doak]

Crystal Downs has cut back some of its native rough to reduce lost balls, at my former associates' recommendation.


There has been a surprising amount of carping from the old guard members that they have made it too easy.  The golf course is not the least bit easy.

[Sean_A]

Crystal Downs has cut back some of its native rough to reduce lost balls, at my former associates' recommendation.


There has been a surprising amount of carping from the old guard members that they have made it too easy.  The golf course is not the least bit easy.

Crystal Downs does an excellent job with the rough. You generally get enough room to hang yourself around the greens.

Ciao

[V. Kmetz]

On many well kept links courses, it depends on the time of year. Mid-May to end of June when the warmth and moisture is in the air and growth of the broad leaves has run amuck, it is usually easy to lose a ball even in the managed rough.

Once the broad leaves start to burn off, it then becomes about width of hole corridor between unmanaged roughs (note not fairway width).

Not just links courses... In the time period you mention, the second factor of that broad leaf growth is the resulting lack of "strength" of the rough to hold a ball up... those soft thickening leaves just let the ball sink to the bottom. Once the July heat reliably comes on, it gets thinner and wispier, resilient and even thick spots tend to support the weight of the ball. keeping it more accessible to a strike.

[Richard Fisher]

And NB some British seaside courses are not permitted to manage their rough in the way that 'pure golf' requirements might otherwise suggest. Major limitations on much of the Welsh coastline about how often cutting the rough back is allowed - sometimes only two or three times per annum - and this can really impact playability. Parts of Abersoch were borderline unplayable in a 3-club wind last month.

[Jeff Segol]

I would say Baylands is about a seven, because California Department of Fish and Game required Forrest Richardson to maintain/plant very thick native vegetation in the areas bordering the fairways, as part of the wetlands-related mitigation for the course and the associated flood control project. Consequently, while the fairways are wide, if you do miss one, it's nearly always a lost ball or an unplayable lie. We lost a number of older members because of that. They just said the course is too hard now, and have been replaced by younger bombers.