Quote:
Originally Posted by ColdNoMore
This being your first post, and although I don't play the executives so don't really have a dog in this fight, maybe it would still be a good idea if you could use your second post...to give a synopsis of such "struggles?"  |
Though not directed at me, I will give it a shot. The post about yours is a good start. Add to that the fact that the executive courses are open every day from September through May since they start the one week closures in June. During that period, there is usually someone on the courses from opening through late afternoon/early evening. The vast majority of the play on these courses involves two golf carts per foursome, many of which have the RA tags so they can, and do, drive off the cart path every hole. Since the holes on these courses are shorter and narrower than those on the championship courses, there is more wear and tear from cart traffic damaging the turf by compaction. with the long season, the damage is additive and not truly addressed by the work done during the summer closures. Not enough time. 90* rule? Forget it. Now this is not to say the RA tags themselves are a problem. They are appropriate and I am glad they allow people to continue to play and love this game. But please, people, adhere to the requirement to stay away from the greens. I've seen carts right on the fringe and carts driving between the green and bunkers.
I've seen many posts in threads that minimize the effect of the volume of play the courses get, but I don't agree that courses outside TV get the same amount of play. If they did, they wouldn't need or offer the deals they do to attract players.
As stated in the prior post, the level of care exercised by players on these, and to some extent on the championships, is also a problem. Unfilled divots, unrepaired ball marks, unraked sand bunkers all contribute to the condition of the course. I watched a player walk out of a sand trap and carefully step over the rake on the way to the cart, leaving deep footprints into the trap and back out, as well as the deep gouges where they tried repeatedly to get the ball out.
I play with a nice gentleman that, no matter how much we remind him, will exert maximum body English on each putt, twisting his feet dramatically and tearing up the green each time. Then walks to the hole, stands right on the lip while he rakes the ball out with the head of his putter and destroys the clean edge of the hole. Consider this being done by someone on every hole on every executive course every day and repeatedly.
Now let's talk about those that are actually trying to care for the course, but are, in fact, damaging it. I refer to those that think repairing a ball mark involves digging the tool underneath the depression and lifting it up. That may work on bent, but it basically kills the bermuda, leaving a dead spot and depression in the green. Or those that think that banging the putter head on the untouched ball mark magically heals it, rather than just depresses the ground around it to make the mark appear less deep.
Here's how I gained this perspective. I was a member of a lifestyle group that met with the district Director of Executive Golf Maintenance and representative of GMS on a quarterly basis to discuss course conditions. My responsibility was to monitor six courses. As a group we monitored all the courses. I rode the courses without playing so I could examine the conditions without slowing play. I watched group after group inflict damage without regard to the course or the players that followed and would have to deal with it. I once toured a course right behind the crew raking the bunkers and was amazed, but not surprised, to see a group walk into the newly smoothed bunker, hack out the balls, and walk out without touching a rake. I asked Eric if the contractors ever got frustrated seeing things like this and he replied it was considered job security. Think about the cost of this. Money/time spent re-doing maintenance unnecessarily can not be used to work on other things or upgrade conditions.
My thanks go to those out there who carefully, properly, repair ball marks in addition to their own. Who fill their divot and some around the same area. Who rake their footprints and divot in sand traps and also those around them. I was always told as a new golfer to leave the course in better shape than when I arrived. Never forgot that.