Trees and Bunkers in Fairways, Graphite Irons Shafts, and Other Random Musings

[MrDC]

I don't get the "rewarded" mentality, the only reward I want is the sound of the ball falling into the cup.

Everything mentioned is asking the player to choose different clubs, risk/reward, forced carries and demanding shot shapes to get the reward, so I accept the challenge, it's called golf.

 

[tequila4kapp]

Graphite shafts are great. Give it a try.

I think it’s almost funny that people would object to a tree or bunker in a fairway. It’s certainly irregular, not something we commonly see on courses in the states. But nobody promised us a rose garden. We know what the hole requires us to do when we step on the tee. It’s up to us to do it. So I put this in the “suck it up buttercup” category...hit the golf shot that is required of us regardless of the reason it’s required of us.

 

[alexped2393]

Trees in fairways are cool when done well. Not so when they are only 100 yards off the tee and huge forcing a certain shot into a tiny portion of the fairway. I'm looking at the last holes at Woodham and Rockliffe

 

[CBaker]

I don't mind the obstacles. If you think about it - if you know the bunker is there, and you hit it, then it wasn't a good shot. Even if that means it's straight down the center. Courses can over do it for sure, but a hole or two that way is tricky and I don't mind them.

Now overgrown or oddly placed trees right off of tee boxes that make certain shot shapes obsolete is when it starts to get aggravating to me. Being up in the fairway though, I know it can be avoiding with a good shot.

Shaft wise - GW doesn't play graphite, but guys like Kuchar and Snedeker do. Graphite shafts have come a long way and I absolutely love my Recoil's.

 

[TheDoctor]

The only thing I am not a fan of is when courses put bunkers in the fairway that you can't even see from the tee

I played a course a number of years ago, and when you stood on the tee the hole looked like a simple par 4 with a generous width fairway, some trees on either side and then bunkers around the green, but what you couldn't see was 3 fairway bunkers placed right across the fairway that were invisible from the tee due to a slight dip in the fairway, and all of us in our group managed to hit one of them

A couple years later I was back there again and when stood on the tee I said to the other guys in the group that there were bunkers out there at driving range that you couldn't see - needless to say they thought I was pulling their leg and all hit driver off the tee, but I hit 5W and guess who was the only one not stuck in a bunker

Trees in fairways are cool when done well. Not so when they are only 100 yards off the tee and huge forcing a certain shot into a tiny portion of the fairway. I'm looking at the last holes at Woodham and Rockliffe

I agree with you on that one

 

[Sean]

Golf is hard enough. Trees in the fairway just make it that much more difficult, lol.

I switched to graphite after having severe elbow problems...couldn't pick up a glass of water. They have worked great. Technology has come a long way, you would probably like the AeroTech Steelfibers. I believe Kuchar and Couples play those.

 

[ntanygd760]

As long as they don't put trees in the middle of small 25-30 yard fairways there really shouldn't be an issue or anything "unfair"

I agree with cbaker that the worst is overgrown trees around forward tee boxes that screw with back boxes. Forcing a 12+ LA driver type player to hit a shot shape that half the time the hole isn't meant to be played with because a course doesn't tree trim enough is the worst. (yes I am talking to you 16 and 18 at Big Met)

 

[DonJuan]

I've played courses with trees directly in the center of the fairway and with a huge boulder in the fairway. I kinda like it.

Sent from my SM-G950U1 using Tapatalk

 

[rollin]

Ok, even with Pebble Beach being as iconic as it is, I hate when there are trees and bunkers in the middle of the FW. Or even trees guarding the green such as the tree to the right at Pebble’s 18th. To me that shouts at tricked up golf. I don’t like that personally. If you hit a good shot it should be rewarded. I know that you need to hit a good shot to avoid that stuff. But hitting the FW shouldn’t be punished. On my day to day courses, one has a center of the fairway bunker (only comes into play into the wind but it’s ALWAYS into the wind) and one has a very tall tree that isn’t in the FW but blocks out the entire right 2/3’s of the FW for most golfers. It’s not a huge issue for me since I hit the ball extremely high, but I’m the only golfer I’ve played with that doesn’t have to worry about it too much. I can elevate over it unless I have a bad lie or get too close to it. I still hate it as it often forces me to hit a shot I don’t want to hit. I’ll have to hit a fade that starts out over water, which is a recipe for disaster.

I can see your points and wouldn't totally disagree. But what about when things go the other way on very many holes on many the courses we all play? What about people spraying balls all over on holes that don't penalize much at all? How many pars have been made by (accidentally) hitting a tee shot to the next fairway? How about playing par5's that you can still farily easily par even after a poorer tee shot or blown second shot? How about par 4's that are drivable but also that containing little to no integrity or obstacles to deter it. How about when on enough holes (and sometimes courses) many not only suffer nothing too much for playing poorer but in fact can still shoot well and make bogeys and enough pars anyway?

Should that be rewarded? I mean just like you mention we shouldn't be penalized for hitting fairways and making decent shots, do you complain when we are rewarded (via not being penalized) for many poorer shots we hit on many holes we play? Fwiw it works both ways. And also (although far from perfect) this is why courses have rating and slope ratings. That rating system is suppose to account for just how forgiving or extra difficult a course may be. Far from perfect but it does exist and odds are that if you were hitting good shots and still finding obstacles and difficulty then your likely on a much higher rated and higher slope rated course. And of course the opposite way around too. So your actual golf performance would idealistically be reflected properly via the rating/slope anyway. Its all relevant.