Do the quality of fairways affect your play

TonyB

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I play a muni course here that is the driest course in western WA during the winter but the fairways and first cut can be bare/hard. I have wrist issues and I start to get weary of beating on my wrists which ends up with topped shots.

A better course I play when it hasn't rained for a few days, I don't have the same problems. I have played that course 3 times this winter and had 2 of my best ball striking days ever. I played the front 9 there twice on Wed and shot a 42-41 for a personal best. My confidence starts building when I can hit ball, take divot and not wince in pain from hitting unforgiving fairway ground.
 
100% yes.


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Do the quality of fairways affect your play

20000000% yes. On better fairways I tend to blade the first few iron shots as I get used to them as my local course has more of a goat track fairways. Hate this and its more mental than anything but still gets me


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Yes - course conditions and quality of fairways definitely affect my scoring - can i mentally get past it is also some of the challenge


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Absolutely! Easier to make good contact when there is good, thick grass under the ball than when it is sparse grass and dirt or just dirt.
 
Absolutely. A beat up, soggy fairway will hurt my scores.
 
I score about the same all year round. I do find, however, that dormant grass is easier to play off of than the thick summer stuff...especially the rough.
 
From Western WA here myself and no doubt. Our fairways become very soggy and wet during the winters. We get no roll on drives and the wedge shots on greens can become tricky because if you hit slightly behind the ball, the club just digs in. Not only does the ball not go far, it actually hurts the elbow area a lot as well.
 
Yes yes yes. I make more consistent contact, have more confidence, and score better when playing courses that are well maintained and have nice fairways.
 
Definitely makes a difference, that is why I love the treat of playing a upper tier Course. Around here we have a lot of cheap golf but few places that take really good care of the fairways and this time of year it is either overseed on top of hard pan or just dormant hard pan.
 
Firmer and tighter for me the better. Soft, plush, long fairways are awful. Easy to just catch everything high on the face on iron/wedge shots, and woods get zero roll.
 
Hard and bare doesn't bug me, at least you can spin it and drive the ball miles. Shaggy to the point of worrying about fliers from the fairway is annoying.
 
Of course. But consider that part of this is your swing and that learning to play under different course conditions makes you a better golfer. Some of us live in arid or desert climates and face the opposite challenge.
 
Sure does. Wet squishy early spring before the grass starts growing is the toughest for me. I'd rather be in the rough during that period to be honest. Best is healthy well maintained zoysia fairways. The ball sits up on it like it's on a brush.
 
It does for sure. We have areas on our muni the same way, or get off the fairway and you don't know if the club head will slide under the ball because of the dead grass and soft dirt or be unknowingly on the hard pan. It is very frustrating.
 
Simple answer. The condition of the FW's will most certainly effect ones play.
 
Ideally, it shouldn't matter since we're supposed to hit the ball before the fairway?

I can see how wrist/elbow/other joint issues would be affected by rock hard fairways though. I would prefer fast and hard fairways instead of soggy ones for maximum rollout and not plugging a drive in the middle of the fairway.
 
Ideally, it shouldn't matter since we're supposed to hit the ball before the fairway?

I can see how wrist/elbow/other joint issues would be affected by rock hard fairways though. I would prefer fast and hard fairways instead of soggy ones for maximum rollout and not plugging a drive in the middle of the fairway.

Ideally my swing would not suck but that is a whole new thread.......
 
Other than wedges, I typically take a very shallow divot so I'm not as affected by fairway conditions as I once was.

Psychologically though, yeah. Whether bare or overgrown, it can affect me a little mentally until I see some positive results. Then I'll forget about it and just play.
 
yes, of course. No one likes sore wrists. It is the one thing I love about Florida. My wrists are much happier.
 
Firmer and tighter for me the better. Soft, plush, long fairways are awful. Easy to just catch everything high on the face on iron/wedge shots, and woods get zero roll.

That's me. too! I can hit the purest irons off basically hardpan, but hate fairways where the grass is cut long enough to almost be considered light rough!
 
100% yes

We've had a very wet winter. the dormant bermuda around here has no thatch in it because it has been washed away from all the rain. I can't hit off it (I'm a picker/sweeper). I'm so ready for grass to grow!
 
100% yes

We've had a very wet winter. the dormant bermuda around here has no thatch in it because it has been washed away from all the rain. I can't hit off it (I'm a picker/sweeper). I'm so ready for grass to grow!

I have to agree with you here. Most of the Georgia fairways are still dead from winter and its hard to find a decent lie anywhere...unless I’m playing a course that overseeds! (But that’s rare ha)


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I think so. I play at a course where the rough has a lot of dead spots. I’d rather play out of (slightly) thick rough than off dirt.
 
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absolutely
 
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