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Course Conditions

Course Conditions

  • Yes, report it to both

    Votes: 6 37.5%

  • Report it to the Architect

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Report it to the Owner

    Votes: 7 43.8%

  • Forget about it, you're spinning your wheels

    Votes: 3 18.8%
  • Total voters
    16
Gummi Bear

Gummi Bear

Sporadic Golfer
Joined
Oct 16, 2008
Messages
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Location
D/FW, Texas
Handicap
Bean Dip
Saturday night, I was all fired up, now I'm not sure whether I should or not...

I played a course, designed by one of my favorite architects, and the layout was awesome, but the conditions were awful. I wrote down a list of the complaints, and I'm debating whether to send them or not. I'll send them both to the architect, and the course management company.

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Great pictures at that pasture. But you know this is a golf forum.

All kidding aside, that is depressing. Courses go up and down over the years, but that one needs some serious TLC.
 
I'll be interested to hear what others say, I would say no. All of the courses in our area look like that right now, it's just winter conditions. I, of course, don't know what would be normal for your area in winter, but you have had worse winter weather than normal.



Edit: I voted for reporting it to the owner, just to let him know you're disappointed in the conditions. Give him a chance to explain if it was weather related or whatever caused it to fall into disrepair.
 
As much as I hate Cart Path Only conditions, it looks like that course should have enforced that rule.
And see MO's post above, that's normal for winter here. I don't know about the tracks across the greens? Our grass is brown right now because a lot of our courses are Zoysia. There's some bad spots that should be addressed, no question, but why is there so much water in the traps? Did it just rain? Maybe the drainage system needs to be addressed if you didn't have precipitation beforehand. It definitely needs some work, sure, but it is winter (and I don't know what it usually looks like in winter down there).
 
That is pathetic. None of the courses around here look like that or even anything close to that. I'm thinking there could be some kind of autumn prep work that could be done to minimize that (fertilizers, etc).
 
We tee'd off at 11:30, not first thing. Let me share with you my laundry list of complaints:


· Unfriendly staff
· Hundreds of ball marks on greens
· Water in sand traps
· Rocks in sand traps
· Water standing in fairway
· Trash everywhere
· Huge divots in fairways
· Untrimmed trees
· Hydraulic leak ruined green
· Old hole locations not properly managed
· Grass clippings dumped in rough (just off fairway)
· Brush trimmings dumped in rough (just off fairway)
· No bathrooms anywhere on course
· No ball washers
· No attendant at bag drop
· Driving range hitting area in poor condition
· No course marshalls
· No ‘call’ for food at the turn on the GPS
· GPS very inaccurate
· Premium summer rate in dead of winter
· Gouges in tee boxes (tee blocks not moved for extended periods)
· No sand in many bunkers, it was pulled out
· Water & mud standing on the cart paths
· Only saw ‘cart girl’ once in whole round, she wasn’t very friendly
· Still no permanent clubhouse (open nearly 9 years!)
 
Some of those are not really considered something to complain about. But others really are. I would say dont bother and walk away and let your check book be your complaint, but it is a catch 22, because when that happens, less money goes into fixing it.
 
Well based on your list of complaints I would say tell the owner, although you're probably spinning your wheels.

I don't know that the architect would have any authority to improve the conditions that you described.
 
It's very dry here in the winter, drier than the summer even. We haven't had a significant rain since early October. That water in the bunkers was deep, probably 8-10" in some of them.

I play about every weekend, and while many courses are brown in the winter, this one's just awful. I was most upset because they advertise themselves as an 'upscale'

I paid $48 for green fee to play this course.
 
Gummi Bear said:
I paid $48 for green fee to play this course.
Click to expand...

ouch! I can see it being winter and all... but some of those pictures are just terrible
 
MO_Hacker said:
Well based on your list of complaints I would say tell the owner, although you're probably spinning your wheels.

I don't know that the architect would have any authority to improve the conditions that you described.[/QUOTE]

They advertise it as being his design, and I feel he has a right to see what kind of work they're advertising his name being associated with. He has a right to know I believe.
Click to expand...
 
That's absurd. If that was this past Saturday, then it was BEFORE the bad weather hit. The brown grass is to be expected in the winter in Texas, as are the unfixed pitch marks and tee box divots, but there is no excuse for that many rocks or that much water in the bunkers. It's not like that could happen overnight (as I recall, it did not rain Friday night.) The condition of the water cooler cages suggests long term neglect.

I'm not sure what kind of tracks those are on the green, but if it is a cart, the offender should be drawn and quartered and/or tarred and feathered. What kind of idiot does that?
 
Gummi Bear said:
We tee'd off at 11:30, not first thing. Let me share with you my laundry list of complaints:


· Unfriendly staff - needs addressed
· Hundreds of ball marks on greens - falls on members/players (hard to enforce without staff seeing it happen)
· Water in sand traps - hard to avoid
· Rocks in sand traps - needs addressed
· Water standing in fairway - hard to avoid
· Trash everywhere - needs addressed
· Huge divots in fairways - falls on members/players (hard to enforce without staff seeing it happen)
 · Untrimmed trees
· Hydraulic leak ruined green - needs addressed
· Old hole locations not properly managed - needs addressed
· Grass clippings dumped in rough (just off fairway) - needs addressed
· Brush trimmings dumped in rough (just off fairway) - needs addressed
· No bathrooms anywhere on course
· No ball washers - not unusual for winter around here (freezing temps)
· No attendant at bag drop
· Driving range hitting area in poor condition
· No course marshalls
· No ‘call’ for food at the turn on the GPS - attendance is low at my home course and they don't typically have much food in the winter
· GPS very inaccurate - needs addressed (if you're going to have it, make it work)
· Premium summer rate in dead of winter
· Gouges in tee boxes (tee blocks not moved for extended periods)
· No sand in many bunkers, it was pulled out - needs addressed
· Water & mud standing on the cart paths - hard to avoid
· Only saw ‘cart girl’ once in whole round, she wasn’t very friendly - needs addressed (the friendly part anyway)
· Still no permanent clubhouse (open nearly 9 years!)
Click to expand...

I don't know anything about your course (high-end, muni, etc), but I based my thoughts on an average course in this area as to what I would expect during the "slow season".
 
I agree that those things need to be addressed, and with this being the slow season, I expect to see some extra work being done to prepare for the upcoming busy season. Things like levelling out the divots so new turf can grow, repairing the ball marks on the greens (yes, it should be the responsibility of the players, but ultimately the condition of the course falls on the management) There's no excuse for water to be standing anywhere, it hasn't rained. In my mind, that's a tell-tale sign that they're not paying attention to their watering schedule, and the saturation of the soil. Too much water is as damaging (if not more) to turf than not enough.
 
Well, most of us are at a disadvantage of not being there and not knowing the weather at the time, etc. Having not rained for days, there is no excuse for standing water. All in all, it's just my 2 cents.
 
Gummi Bear said:
They advertise it as being his design, and I feel he has a right to see what kind of work they're advertising his name being associated with. He has a right to know I believe.
Click to expand...

I guess he does have a right to know, I just don't know that it will do any good. I would do like JB said, take your business somewhere else if the conditions don't improve.
 
It looks to me like a course thats about to go under and they are trying to get the most out of it.
 
I am so used to crap like this.... I play one nice course, one dog track and so on and forth... the whole season!

try putting on 10.5, 7, 10, 8, 9.5, 6, 7, 10.5 and find some cosistency in your feel and touch!
 
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