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Does a poorly maintained course ruin your game?

I too agree with the majority here, the greens must be at least decent, putts that bump and hop around, roll at inconsitent speeds and just in general are a crap shoot as to what is going to happen put a huge damper on my mental game.
 
I've found that a lack of practice and a bad swing affect my game more than bad course conditions.
 
We had some horrible conditions last year that really put a hurting on a some of the local courses. One in particular was worse than others and yes, it did ruin the round. I was basically putting on dirt and that's no fun. As for sort of bad conditions, I try not to let it bother me. I may not go back, but I don't like letting little things ruin my day.
 
Not nearly as much as a poorly maintained swing. My most frequently-used courses are in pretty good shape, but getting stuck in huge t-bone divots and large expansions of browned-out earth certainly don't help.
 
A friend of mine invited me to play a course that was $20 to play including cart. Sweet deal and for that, I don't expect much. But, the greens were in such bad shape, there wasn't even grass on portions of them. One shot in particular, I attempted to pitch onto an elevated green and hit a weak shot. It hit the fringe and I figured it would rstop there. Instead, the ball rolled onto the green and kept rolling all the way across and down the other side. This was a an almost flat green but because much of it was like concrete, there was no friction to stop the ball.

I don't expect PGA type greens for low budget courses but they should at least have some grass on them lol.
 
Bad conditions are one thing but it is better than bad company.

After watching the History of Golf series on the Golf Channel and seeing the conditions and equiptment the early golfers played with I no longer complain about conditions. As long as I am with people I like, I can play through just about anything. It is sad however, to watch some idiot destroy a public asset like a Muni.
 
It won't ruin my game because I won't play there. If a course isn't doing the minimal maintenance, I'm sure not going to give them my money.
 
The mental side of my game is effected. I get so angry and think about how bad the conditions are that I don't focus on my game and just lose it.
 
tdinbr said:
Sand greens??? What in the world is that??
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The greens don't have actual turf or grass. They compact a sand mix on the greens and it actually allows you to putt to a cup. I've played sand greens before at a course where you would pay on the honor system. They had a locked mailbox and you would just drop fees right there. Nobody was ever in the clubhouse that I recall. And I was the only golfer I ever saw too.
 
The first summer I started playing golf, I signed up for a membership at my hometown course. It doesn't make a lot of money and they don't really keep it in great condition because of the financial difficulties. It was my first summer golfing and had never golfed on a different course until last summer. I moved away for university and last summer worked at a private course, where money was not an issue. They course was always well maintained, the only time it was not, was during a dry spell we had last year and everyone in the city was limited to water usage.

Long story short, it's the greens that are the major difference. The course I worked at always wanted to have the best greens and they're fast, but become predictable, no bumps, very well maintained. Went back and played my hometown course once last summer and every putt was an adventure. It then becomes mental and you find yourself second guessing your line and becoming frustrated, which then effects the rest of your game.

Being new to the game, my mental game is still developing and to have something like that happen really got to me. Plan on going back to my hometown again this summer to play the course with a bunch of high school buddies and plan on being prepared for those greens this time round.
 
I can relate...fairways sans grass, etc. I had a friend recently return from Florida and he said the ball actually sits up a little bit in the fairway. What a concept.
 
McRock said:
I went out and played my local course yesterday. It's never been perfect, but it seems to be set up for the worst year ever. Our grass is green, but the fairways are half dirt, bumpy, and I'm not sure what's growing is grass. The mowers killed 6 trees last year by rubbing the bark off, the greens have ruts because the mowers went to fast and in a circular pattern rather than 'back and forth.' My paved driveway is softer than the dirt in the tee off blocks, and my yard has shorter grass than the tee off blocks (and nicer grass too). I hit a full swing 56* wedge into the up slope on a green, and the ball bounced 6 feet high on the first hop clear over the green. We have the mower to cross-cut the greens, but that hasn't been done in over 5 years. We haven't plugged (aerated) the greens in 3 years, even though we have the equipment.

Needless to say, it just bugged me, and I didn't play that well because all I could think was how horrible the course has gotten over the past 10 years.

The biggest effect a bad course has on me is my mental game and mental stability. I seem to just lose it. Does a bad course effect your game? Which part of your game is most effected?
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Was thinking almost the same thing today. My local course is normally not bad. But today was the worst I have ever seen it. I left there saying I would never go back.
 
When I play some of the cheaper courses around here I don't really expect that much. I tend to like them a little more actually as they tend to have fewer golfers and I can actually take my time a little without someone hitting balls at me. The main thing that seems to happen to me on these courses is losing balls. I think I lost 4 balls in one round last year due to them landing in the grass clippings.
 
All three local courses suffered from ideal weed growing conditions last year. The muni, the rural public & the now public former country club all had turf issues. Still things firmed up and were all playable...

My bad green story was particularly tragic. It was the weekend after Labor Day a year ago and the local course had us go off on the tougher back 9. I was hittin it pretty well and carded a 39 and was thinking I had a great shot at breaking 80 for the first time. We made the turn and I hit my approach on #1 just over the hole leaving a downhill putt. As we get to the green I'm thrilled to see I've got 6 feet for birdie. Then I realize the greens have been aerated! No notice from the proshop, no discount, just holes everywhere - not even filled with sand yet... I tap my downhill putt toward the hole and it rolled, plinko style and stopped in one of the holes 4 inches before the cup. It set me off a bit and I never got things going again finished with an 83 for the day... Booooo.
 
McRock said:
I went out and played my local course yesterday. It's never been perfect, but it seems to be set up for the worst year ever. Our grass is green, but the fairways are half dirt, bumpy, and I'm not sure what's growing is grass. The mowers killed 6 trees last year by rubbing the bark off, the greens have ruts because the mowers went to fast and in a circular pattern rather than 'back and forth.' My paved driveway is softer than the dirt in the tee off blocks, and my yard has shorter grass than the tee off blocks (and nicer grass too). I hit a full swing 56* wedge into the up slope on a green, and the ball bounced 6 feet high on the first hop clear over the green. We have the mower to cross-cut the greens, but that hasn't been done in over 5 years. We haven't plugged (aerated) the greens in 3 years, even though we have the equipment.

Needless to say, it just bugged me, and I didn't play that well because all I could think was how horrible the course has gotten over the past 10 years.

The biggest effect a bad course has on me is my mental game and mental stability. I seem to just lose it. Does a bad course effect your game? Which part of your game is most effected?
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Thats a pretty horrible course, especially the green, so I can see that hurting your game. Ive played on some course that were pretty poorly maintained and didnt fell that it hurt my score all that much.
The only aspect where I feel it really does hurt your game is on the greens. If theres lots of ball marks and spots of dead grass and whatnot it can make putting difficult.
 
Sand greens....at least the course around here that has sand greens is basically a sand trap. You chip into the sand, and there will be a piece of string. You use the string to measure the distance to the cup and move your ball onto compacted sand. You putt then. If the sand is flat, putting is not a trick.

To add to the muni story. I played a full round yesterday at the local muni because I didn't have time to drive an hour round trip after work. I hit a full 7 iron into a green, I heard it hit the green from 150 yards away, and never found the ball mark. The ball went 15 yards past the green. Also, a few of the greens had more than one hole in them. Apparently, when they plugged the holes last fall, they didn't water it, so the grass would die and the dirt would collapse on itself? It didn't make sense to me, but who knows, either way, I putt for the one with the flag in it. And apparently, we managed to grow sod over the water sprinklers, so now we have a sprinkler system that does not work. *Sigh*
 
It certainly throws me off a bit. My closest muni is that way. Will probably shut down within a year. Great Palmer Company design, good location, but no money. $18 fees on Golfnow a lot of times. But even that is more than it is now worth. Same problem with no grass in the fairways - mostly dirt and clumps of something that may have been grass at one point. But the rough is no better so there is really no good place to hit off the tee to leave you a decent lie for your approach. So making good contact with irons is almost impossible. Oddly enough the greens are all in nice shape - smooth, uniform, consistent speed, green, grassy, etc. It's almost unbelievable that a couse so crappy everywhere else could have pretty nice greens...
 
dmb012 said:
Poor fairways don't bother me that much. It is when the greens are crappy. That just messes up my game the worst. I get so frustrated, because I can never get a rhythm with my putting.
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+1 Fairways are never perfect around here, they are uneven and bumpy with some good grass and allot of dead spots and bare spots, i can handle that, bad greens make me want to not even play the course. Luckily my home course does a great job with the greens, even after the horrible floods we had last year they have brought them back to life. They plug/aerate them every year ect..
 
Never really bothered me. I play a lot of crappy courses. Actually, in retrospect, I play better on a crappy course than on a good one...
 
McRock said:
Sand greens....at least the course around here that has sand greens is basically a sand trap. You chip into the sand, and there will be a piece of string. You use the string to measure the distance to the cup and move your ball onto compacted sand. You putt then. If the sand is flat, putting is not a trick.
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This whole concept just blows my mind. Putting on sand? Using a string to mark?? Much less being charged money for this?? Yikes!!!
 
I have a hard time with poorly maintained courses. One thing I really do not like is that at some point you really can't tell what is going on at the level of the turf. Often you end up with rocks and stones all over the place. I really take good care of my clubs and don't much like it when a hidden rock or stone comes up and bites one of my clubs.

It does not happen much anymore as I am really careful about that sort of stuff but on some courses it is almost impossible to enjoy yourself and watch out for that kind of stuff at the same time. I do notice that even when courses have the equipment in some cases they don't train their personnel to use the equipment properly.

Hope things bet better for folks playing on courses that are not cared for.
 
simple answer to original post...yes
 
We played at a course last weekend that seems to still be recovering from last summer and the winter. There were times that the conditions messed with my game. I couldn't tell you how many shots I had off of bare dirt or in small hole. It's still very early in the season, though. Still, it was annoying.
 
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