Golf Lockdown Discussion ** No discussion of breaking Restrictions **

Keano

Time to discuss what golf is going to look like for next year, maybe more, who knows.

What is your club doing? What would you like to see happen?

Mod note: we have done to death the restrictions(5k jumping to 20k in June) so this is not a thread for discussing that topic, take it to COVID-19 forum

ChippingSodbury

Well, it's overcast but calm here today as the first golfers in yonks hit off the 1st tee. There's a combined handicap of about 5 in our first group off (one an ex-Irish International!). I'll be hacking my way around later on this evening :pac:


And yes, before anyone asks, they all live within 5kms (of all parts) of the golf course...
https://www.rte.ie/sport/golf/2020/0518/1139032-golf-clubs-begin-recovery-as-members-rush-back-in-sligo/

pinkdoubleeagle

Absolutely love that place. Enjoy

B-D-P--

Look forward to searching for my ball in the Rough, Tee off 3.45 today

JCDUB

Great to see people back out there!

Fairway looking a bit brown, although looks can be deceiving. Not much rain of late, apart from today of course!

Good idea for a thread, I'd love to see photos of great looking courses up and down the country, not least so we can praise the work of our greenkeepers!

I'll post some tomorrow evening:)

RGS

What we would like and whats feasible are two different issues.

I am sure we would also love to start 2021 like we started 2020 with handshakes on the 1st tee and 18th green, with some banter over the coffee in the bar afterwards. Raking bunkers, pulling flag poles out of cups. Trying to make an inter club team.

All this is dependant on how we as a society manage covid 19 because at the moment it does not look like we can eliminate the virus.

ChippingSodbury

This is one I took on Saturday: this is the brownest fairway. Guess which hole...

pinkdoubleeagle

8th?

ChippingSodbury

pinkdoubleeagle wrote: »

8th?

Nope...

pinkdoubleeagle

100% the 17th..

ChippingSodbury

pinkdoubleeagle wrote: »

100% the 17th..

Well, only about 60% 17th: you can't see the tee or the 1st part of the fairway!!

But yes: 17th

RoadRunner

ChippingSodbury wrote: »

Beautiful course and corner of the world!

mike12

Nice round to start back, a bit if drizzle but who cares.
We have gone with no flags on the green they are off the green opposite the hole, worked well.
Anyone get pulled in by the Guards on the way to the course

slave1

mike12 wrote: »

Nice round to start back, a bit if drizzle but who cares.
We have gone with no flags on the green they are off the green opposite the hole, worked well.
Anyone get pulled in by the Guards on the way to the course

Please stay off that topic as it's a quick route to the whole 5k that killed the other thread

mighty magpie

6 counties back open tomorrow

fred funk }{

Played 18 holes today in 3 hours. Lovely brisk pace. Golf wasn't great as expected but boy was it good to be out there playing again. The body feels a bit beaten up TBH.

jamfer

I was out today, it was like I had never played the game before. It was great to be out though and the rain didn't dampen it too much. I was a bit fatigued too, so I guess I'll be playing myself into it over the next few weeks. The course was in great nick, the greens were fantastic.

mike12

Not sure there is any point of the 14 mins tee times we were a hole and a half ahead of the group behind, don't think there was really any need for it.
Nice pace and a bit stiff after it.

ronnie3585

Well, that was glorious.

So glad to be back on the course today after 9 weeks stuck inside. It was lovely to see other human beings apart from my wife too:)

The course was is spectacular condition and after a shaky start I played some good golf, just a couple of points off my handicap.

Long may it last.

Euphoriasean

Looking forward to a round tomorrow after reading this thread. I better chip in at least once after all the practice in the garden

CalamariFritti

Was lovely today.

Weather a bit of a let down after the great weather we had the last while but it was OK enough.

Don't think I've ever seen our greens as good as this. Nice to play without all those fkn lazy pitchmarks. I will never understand that but different subject.

First time without placing but it was like getting back on a bike, not a problem. Course in great condition helps of course.

We didnt really do anything with regards to 'incentives' so it was just a lazy round of casual golf no counting whatsoever.
We flew around in 3 hours. Slightly under 3 hours even. Scoring would have been pretty poor. Rather rusty on and around the greens and a couple of bad swings too, but nothing that I didnt expect. No pressure golf.

Everyone observed distancing etc but with the 14 minute intervals the car park was only half full anyway. No issues that way.

Just felt great to sniff a bit of normality and to hit balls. And great to talk to some people other than the OH not that there's something wrong with her but you know how it is.

Back out tomorrow again this time with my regular guys. Will have to play a bit better but that should be possible.

HighLine

mike12 wrote: »

Not sure there is any point of the 14 mins tee times we were a hole and a half ahead of the group behind, don't think there was really any need for it.
Nice pace and a bit stiff after it.

The 14 minutes is more to regulate how many golfers are on the property.

FixdePitchmark

Played 9 today.

Well done to the GUI and clubs of Ireland , very professional by all.

GreeBo

Euphoriasean wrote: »

Looking forward to a round tomorrow after reading this thread. I better chip in at least once after all the practice in the garden

I'll be disgusted if I dont break at least one window on the course after all my garden practice!

morrga

I was surprisingly shocked with how poor our greens were. Slow I can understand but bobbly greens and bare in places hard to fathom. What were other courses like?

I can only think it is a finance issue not to have true rolling greens no matter what speed after 8 weeks of rest.

jamfer

The greens in my club were excellent. The rain slowed them a little. But they were running true, no pitchmarks as the ground was hard inspite of the rain.

JJTippBhoy

Played 36 holes on 2 different course’s yesterday. Body a bit broken up but playing another 18 on a 3rd course today. Well worth the aches and pains 😂. I’ve really missed golf.

mike12

JJTippBhoy wrote: »

Played 36 holes on 2 different course’s yesterday. Body a bit broken up but playing another 18 on a 3rd course today. Well worth the aches and pains 😂. I’ve really missed golf.

Cool who are taking green fees

BraveDonut

Euphoriasean wrote: »

Looking forward to a round tomorrow after reading this thread. I better chip in at least once after all the practice in the garden

I didn't play well yesterday but I chipped in twice!!

JJTippBhoy

mike12 wrote: »

Cool who are taking green fees

Am a member of 2 clubs so not green fees. I was just starved for golf

JimmyVik

I may never post here again
Im going to play every single day from now on, so no time for the internet
I did get the odd round in during the lockdown but they were few and far between, so really enjoyed yesterday and same again now come 4 o clock.

Golfgorfield

morrga wrote: »

I was surprisingly shocked with how poor our greens were. Slow I can understand but bobbly greens and bare in places hard to fathom. What were other courses like?

I can only think it is a finance issue not to have true rolling greens no matter what speed after 8 weeks of rest.

Course staff were on part time hours, courses had zero income. Its sad to think golfers expected the gates of Augusta national type conditions would open for them yesterday.
Rest does not help with perfect conditions, greens need traffic.

fred funk }{

Golfgorfield wrote: »

Course staff were on part time hours, courses had zero income. Its sad to think golfers expected the gates of Augusta national type conditions would open for them yesterday.
Rest does not help with perfect conditions, greens need traffic.

Had to explain this to one of our members who was complaining about something not being in pristine condition that the green staff were on part time hours and I'd say the club were only spending cash on anything that was essential. All other stuff is put on hold.

morrga

Golfgorfield wrote: »

Course staff were on part time hours, courses had zero income. Its sad to think golfers expected the gates of Augusta national type conditions would open for them yesterday.
Rest does not help with perfect conditions, greens need traffic.

Not sure its quite sad to think golfers might expect decent greens 8 weeks after greens were hollow tined. Its human nature to dream and wish for realistic and unrealistic things. Everyone dreams. Dream big.

Golfgorfield

morrga wrote: »

Not sure its quite sad to think golfers might expect decent greens 8 weeks after greens were hollow tined. Its human nature to dream and wish for realistic and unrealistic things. Everyone dreams. Dream big.

Dream on so.

morrga

Golfgorfield wrote: »

Dream on so.

Ha ha its ironic the only thing sad about all this is your mindset. Life must be pretty dull for you.

Fingers crossed you can find some positivity in your life soon.

Golfgorfield

morrga wrote: »

Ha ha its ironic the only thing sad about all this is your mindset. Life must be pretty dull for you.

Fingers crossed you can find some positivity in your life soon.

Im fine thanks, just a realist and tbh you clearly have unrealistic expectations of the greens staff at your club. Every club has members like that, and thats fine. id say you should approach club managment and give out to them about the state of the greens. thats the best way to get a straight answer about your predicament.

GreeBo

Golfgorfield wrote: »

Im fine thanks, just a realist and tbh you clearly have unrealistic expectations of the greens staff at your club. Every club has members like that, and thats fine. id say you should approach club managment and give out to them about the state of the greens. thats the best way to get a straight answer about your predicament.

My greens were perfect and I'm sure many others were also. The weather has been ideal for this time of year, albeit requiring some sprinkler use.
Why would you assume the OPs course staff were on part time hours? Is this factual or conjecture?

Golfgorfield

GreeBo wrote: »

My greens were perfect and I'm sure many others were also. The weather has been ideal for this time of year, albeit requiring some sprinkler use.
Why would you assume the OPs course staff were on part time hours? Is this factual or conjecture?

if you read his post you would see he mentioned finance issues, and one can only assume this is a contributing cause.
I would expect, given its wealth for The Grange Gc greens to be perfect,id imagine they had a full team working through the weeks. However not every club has this luxury, so its a bit mean to be giving out about greens being a bit off when staff may have been on reduced hours and minimal resources.
There will be plenty of courses closing as a result and most of those will have had the moany members turn their back and not want to pay subs etc when that money may just keep them open and allow them to plan for 2021 recovery. But hey, you enjoy those lovely greens in the Grange, they are always gorgeous there to be fair.

morrga

Golfgorfield wrote: »

if you read his post you would see he mentioned finance issues, and one can only assume this is a contributing cause.

I was merely speculating by mentioning finance, maybe it’s a poor job done. Staff hours shouldn’t have been an issue as covid subsidy contributed to 70% of staff wages so all staff were retained.

GreeBo

Golfgorfield wrote: »

if you read his post you would see he mentioned finance issues, and one can only assume this is a contributing cause.
I would expect, given its wealth for The Grange Gc greens to be perfect,id imagine they had a full team working through the weeks. However not every club has this luxury, so its a bit mean to be giving out about greens being a bit off when staff may have been on reduced hours and minimal resources.
There will be plenty of courses closing as a result and most of those will have had the moany members turn their back and not want to pay subs etc when that money may just keep them open and allow them to plan for 2021 recovery. But hey, you enjoy those lovely greens in the Grange, they are always gorgeous there to be fair.

So sheer speculation. I did read his post and he queried finance issues as a possible cause.
It's a bit mean to jump all over someone for raising a valid question, not to mention labelling them as moany members.
Perhaps they just did a crap job getting them ready, if they are bumpy then it would appear so.

Golfgorfield

GreeBo wrote: »

So sheer speculation. I did read his post and he queried finance issues as a possible cause.
It's a bit mean to jump all over someone for raising a valid question, not to mention labelling them as moany members.
Perhaps they just did a crap job getting them ready, if they are bumpy then it would appear so.

Good work on reading his post, as you may have not read mine.
I certainly didnt label him/her as a moany member, i referenced courses closing and the members that moan turning their back on paying subs in that situation.
Its a time to support clubs, support staff, help keep clubs afloat. not criticize them if the greens are a bit slow and bumpy.
If you are healthy, your family are healthy, who gives a damn about greens being a bit slow or bumpy.
You'll never have those issues, The Grange Gc is always immaculate!

Glebee

Really enjoyable 14 holes yesterday eveing. Lost about 6 balls but who cares. The 14 minute between groups really does spread out the groups and there was no hold up. Lets hope this weather keeps up

JimmyVik

I had the worst round ever yesterday. But theres always today. Im going to play every day now i think. Nice to be able to meet mates on the course again too.

mighty magpie

Our course opening today and we have 5 days of bookings on BRS so far.
Must be a lot of unhappy members who were not able to book, restrictions from monday are now 3 rounds per week and only 1 at weekends. Any more and name will be removed from all slots for that week.
Members have been asked to not play at weekend if they can play 3 rounds through the week i.e. furloughed/retired etc.

Obviously we don't have the 5km rule here so everyone can play.

Euphoriasean

mighty magpie wrote: »

Our course opening today and we have 5 days of bookings on BRS so far.
Must be a lot of unhappy members who were not able to book, restrictions from monday are now 3 rounds per week and only 1 at weekends. Any more and name will be removed from all slots for that week.
Members have been asked to not play at weekend if they can play 3 rounds through the week i.e. furloughed/retired etc.

Obviously we don't have the 5km rule here so everyone can play.

We're on 2 rounds a week which is fair as there was over 30 on the waiting list each day prior.

Euphoriasean

Glebee wrote: »

Really enjoyable 14 holes yesterday eveing. Lost about 6 balls but who cares. The 14 minute between groups really does spread out the groups and there was no hold up. Lets hope this weather keeps up

Yeah it was great not having to wait on tee boxes. You usually had the full hole to yourself. Around in 3 and half hours and that was at a leisurely pace.

A lot of people mentioning the green,ours were ok but they have done a lot of maintenance over the last 2 months and we'll see the benefit of it over the rest of the summer.

The hard ground took some getting used of. Thinking the ball was short of the flag to find it had thundered on to the back of the green.

Drew the skins match with a strong finish. After all the chipping practice over the last few week of course it was the worst part of my game Overall think the break done me good, had less swing thoughts in my head which certainly helped me.

slave1

Keano wrote: »

Time to discuss what golf is going to look like for next year, maybe more, who knows.

What is your club doing? What would you like to see happen?

Mod note: we have done to death the restrictions(5k jumping to 20k in June) so this is not a thread for discussing that topic, take it to COVID-19 forum

slave1 wrote: »

Please stay off that topic as it's a quick route to the whole 5k that killed the other thread

No more travel restriction chat please, posts just going to be deleted

sweetswing

my course was in ****e condition too , i wonder if we play at the same course ?

mighty magpie

Our sunday times released there tonight for booking which I always knew was going to be an interesting one with our 1 tee time per weekend rule.

Counted at least a dozen players not abiding by this rule. Commitee will need to look into this but i wonder would BRS have the capability to block users who already are in a slot.

If commitee don't remove these players from the slots then it just makes a mockery of all rules including the 3 per week one.

callaway92

I see the new version of BRS is up and running.

Tis fine