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  Course conditions: Has Augusta National ruined us?
  pike51
  Beautiful, lush, green... perfectly manicured, smooth greens. These are the things we've come to expect when we go out to play golf.
  Last Friday, we held a charity outing at a local course that isn't exactly in perfect condition. It's a great layout and challenging. But the course isn't overrun with money so they aren't able to eliminate every weed or brown spot. Thing is, we still played golf and had fun.
  I know that I've thought poorly of some courses because of their condition. I've heard others who refer to courses as "goat tracks". Is it the lush green we see on TV that has us spoiled? The US Open at Pinehurst showed something different. The course was brown, hard, and fast. It looked more like a British Open. British Open... where the game was invented. And then I remember the commentators talking about how course maintenance changed immediately after The Masters was broadcast in color.
  What is your take on course conditions? Are you a bright green fan boy or will you play anywhere? What is and what isn't acceptable as far as course conditions go? What is the break point of not playing a certain course for you?
  PIGDivot
  It's all relative. The greens are where I have a higher standard, because greens that are patchy and/or don't roll true don't give you a true measure of your game.
  Also, if you are hitting the ball in the fairway every time, but it's a hardpan weed fest in the fairway, that will affect how well you possibly can hit your approach shot.
  Comparison for you. The weekend course I play at has fast greens, but I'm finding myself missing two footers all over the place. The ball isn't rolling true, even though the greens look decent. Whereas, in my Tuesday evening group the only thing preventing my ball from going in the hole is me leaving putts 6 inches short every darn time; but the ball was center of the cup when it stopped.
  So you tell me - is it my game that sucks, or are the course conditions affecting my abilities?
  One other example for you. I went out to the local county 9 hole muni not to long ago and shot my best round ever, with an even par 72. But frankly, if the greens there rolled truer I probably would have been under par, as I missed a few putts here and there that might have gone in had the greens rolled true.
  I don't expect Augusta National anywhere I play, but it's frustrating when you are striking the ball great, and getting greens in regulation, but walking off with par (or even bogey) every time because you can't make a putt due to course conditions.
  One final consideration. I have never played consistently on it, but poa annua greens on the west coast definitely create a different level of greens and putting then on bent grass or bermuda greens. We witnessed the Billy Horschel show at "Carnival Bay" last June because his putts were wobbling all over the place. How sad is it that the US Open champion wasn't determined by the level of skill of the golfer, per se, but merely by the guy who happened to luck his way into a few putts going in that might not have for another guy hitting the same shots.
  Sure, there is a ton of luck involved in golf, but we shouldn't be satisfied with that as the norm when we can (for little money honestly) make the conditions decent enough to eliminate a lot of the "luck" on greens.
  Release
  Only in this country do we expect the "picture perfect" condition on a gold course.
  Some of the Scotland's golf course do not have mowing machine for the fairway, only the local flock of sheep do the trimming. No one rack the bunkers since the bunkers are the nature by product of burrowing animals ( and the location move from season to season ).
  In Japan, they only green color will be the "greens" they let the grass go dormant , natural color is yellowish and brown.
  Plus, on top of the expectation level. I'd say if the golfer did not pay the comparable green fees for "exceptional conditioned golf course " like the members of the Augusta ( they pay way more than just the member dues ) and do not have the skill like a professional golfer.....then expect less.
  Unless they are in a movie production, or in their dream.
  I dreamt of playing perfect golf courses now and then.
  azgreg
  I'm not to picky on fairway condition. All I ask for is decent greens and tee boxes that are level and vaguely point down the fairway with grass on them.
  Release
  azgreg
  You will not like many of the top rated golf courses with tee boxes not completely leveled. : >)
  Ringoblack
  I think we are a little spoiled when it comes to course conditions. I recognize, however, that there are and should be different levels of quality depending on the price of playing. I am more likely to tolerate poor fairway conditions than I am greens and tee boxes, which imho should be much better than the fairway. But, again, the cost of playing affects my expectations dramatically.
  Release
  Ringoblack
  Condition of the greens, most definitely because that's a major part of the scoring.
  I'm not so particular of the conditions of the teeing ground. After all, I do tee up the golf ball and the uneven ground makes it interesting.
  azgreg
  Release You will not like many of the top rated golf courses with tee boxes not completely leveled. : >)
  I get that. let me rephrase. I don't care for tee boxes that are overly crowned like standing on a basketball like some of them on our local munis.
  Darrell_KC
  Understanding that golf is a true "rub of the green" sport, I will play on pretty much anything. That being said, last year we went to a course that was always a cheapie but still long course, and it was clear the place is nearly dead. The greens were 50% dead, and by dead i mean sand. Not sanded like we are fixing it. Sand as in like a bunker. You could hit a perfect shot 5 feet right of the hole and have a bunker in your way. Thats completely unreasonable, and the last time i will ever play there. I will play greens that are being repaired, and sanded or arrerated, but that was terrible
  Ive played muni courses that were little more than grass cut in different lengths and played professionally manicured courses. Other than sheer beauty, i may play a bit better on the professionally manicured courses for the simple fact that the grass isnt hardpan or the ball has a somewhat normal lie. Its not going to be enough for it to make a huge difference for me either way.
  PIGDivot
  Let me post an addendum to my earlier reply. I played the local 9-hole muni after work today, which is $10 to walk all the holes you want, and I kid you not that the greens were the best I've ever seen them there. Not as fast as better courses, but honestly, who cares. It was a heck of a lot of fun putting on them too. It was hard to get myself to hit the ball hard enough on slower greens, but the darn thing rolled as true as can be. It was also fun hitting chip shots around the green, because you could throw one right up to the hole and it would just stop within a couple of feet. Good times!
  I guess my point being that if a $10 county owned muni can have such fabulous greens, then any course should be able to do it.
  Umfaan
  I expect my greens to be bikini waxed!
  Sneakylong
  Luckily my course has reclaimed water, so watering isn't as much of an issue. However, with joint issues I like hitting off real grass in the fairways. The last few years my course has not over-seeded in the winter (Florida).
  They actually paint / dye the fairways green so the snowbirds who pay top dollar think they're playing off of live grass fairways and not painted dormant grass. If they played there more often they'd realize the divots never fill in with growing grass.
  DC300
  If I'm spending $60 and up for a round, I expect pretty good conditions, but I'm pretty familiar with the $10 muni and accept that it won't be perfect. You get what you pay for.
  BigDaddy13440
  DC300
  I know that what we up here in NY refer to as "$60 and up" courses, that a LOT of the guys here are paying upwards of $125-150 to play. Casolwood in Canastota is a perfect example, we both know it well. I've played similar courses while traveling, and for the $28 with cart that we are paying, those other courses are $60-75.
  Where I live, I've been told that there are more golf courses in a 30 mile by 60 mile "oval" than there are anywhere else in the United States. We've been pretty damn spoiled with green fees that are more than reasonable.
  DC300
  BigDaddy13440 I know that what we up here in NY refer to as "$60 and up" courses, that a LOT of the guys here are paying upwards of $125-150 to play. Casolwood in Canastota is a perfect example, we both know it well. I've played similar courses while traveling, and for the $28 with cart that we are paying, those other courses are $60-75.
  Where I live, I've been told that there are more golf courses in a 30 mile by 60 mile "oval" than there are anywhere else in the United States. We've been pretty damn spoiled with green fees that are more than reasonable.
  That's very true, I have so many good courses I can at for less than $30 for 18, it's crazy. I look at spending $60 or more as a premium to play and honestly only do it once or twice a year. Usually I'll hit those courses on a golf now special for $35-45 so I don't have to fork over the cash, but get the experience. Spoiled.
  Going to see Peter up in Ontario, it's nothing to see $100 a round, I would play a whole lot less there. I guess I don't have the passion I used to, it seems like it's too much for the reward. A couple of rounds a year there is fine, but I'd be in for $5k in green fees to play what I'd like to and that's just not happening.
  Release
  Yeah,
  Around here, even the Muni courses are $40 - $50 per green fee, walking during the weekends.
  Average public daily fee golf courses are into the $80-$300 per round now. Price to pay for the progress and thank for those invented the luxury tax added on to the golf fee, and Friday as a weekend rate.
  Unfortunately the average pay did not keep up with this and certainly not those retirees with fixed income.
  PA-PLAYA
  Having worked in the industry for several years and getting to know some of the club superintendents in the area, I've learned to be a little more understanding of certain conditions. Water restrictions, budgeting issues that prevent the ability to chemically treat certain weeds from overtaking the grass, or maybe budgeting issues that prevent a superintendent from having enough greens staff on hand to stay on top of everything. Then you have harsh winters that bring certain diseases like snow mold, or, harsh summers with drought conditions and water restrictions that prevent the superintendent from actually growing grass in the fairways or teeing areas.
  Some things are preventable, some things aren't. Sometimes it's impossible to determine the how's and why's, sometimes it's not. And some things, no matter the extenuating circumstances, are just downright unacceptable. But I will say this - of the dozen or so supers that I know - they all take pride in their work. If it's a public facility, they're fighting for every last penny of additional maintenance budget money they can get. And not just for new blades on the mowers, or bunker rakes, or new flags to replace the old faded and tattered ones. We're talking everything involved with maintaining grass, manicuring grass, growing grass, maintaining the very soil underneath the grass itself to keep the needed nutrients for healthy grass to grow. All of those guys I'm talking about - they went to school for this stuff... they graduated top-rated turf programs in the state. They know what they're doing. And they network together, as a group, to help each other out. Because let me tell you - when you have pythium blight going on at one facility - that means every course in the entire region is subject to the same fungus conditions. Or poannua infestations... especially since the seeds can be tracked in from different courses via the golfer's shoes.
  Although they all are fighting for the same needed dollars, as competitors in business, and maybe one course would stand to benefit from another course undergoing some serious challenges as far as conditions, influencing customers to play where conditions are nicer - these supers respect each other greatly and understand how difficult their jobs can be even in the best growing seasons. They don't want to see one of their fellow supers under unneeded stress, or even worse - losing a job because of something that maybe they had little control over. By and large - the average greens superintendent is held hostage by two things: Mother Nature, and budget. And they're all generally fighting the same battles, season to season.
  What I tend to become impatient with, more than any greenskeeper I've ever come across quite frankly, is fellow golfers just ignoring their part of the obligation. Cigarette butts in the bunkers. Sunflower seeds on the greens. Unraked bunkers, unrepaired divots, ball marks on the greens that literally kills the grass if not repaired properly. Then you have the idiots who don't deserve to be out on a golf course, taking the carts where they're not supposed to, especially if the conditions are mushy and wet. Or taking gouges out of the tee box after a bad tee shot, or taking a divot out of a green after a missed 2-footer. Those are cardinal sins that frankly I cannot and will not tolerate from a playing partner.
  I'm a member of a private club, a nice private club. I pay the extra money for nicer conditions and the avoidance of a 5-hour round on the weekends. But I see the same stuff happening at my club. The guy who bitches about his ball landing in the center of a divot quite often doesn't replace the ones that came from his club. The same with ball marks on the greens. The same with footprints in the bunker. I picked up no fewer than 5 cigarette butts today that were either in the fringe of a green or in a bunker. I'd like to assume that they were from guests who played in front of us, but even then - members should hold them to a slightly higher standard compared to wherever else they ordinarily play.
  As golfers - we ourselves can do an enormous amount of good by just being good golfers. Being ready to play when it's our turn, and taking care of the course we're playing on. That is certainly not asking too much from anyone, regardless of whether it's at Pine Valley or the local muni.