Quote:
Originally Posted by donassaid
Good to know. I played Evan's Prairie on Thursday. Greens were "fair" and fairways were awful. Lopez yesterday. Greens were magnificent but a tad firm. Fairways and tee boxes were very poor. According to David Williams, Director of Golf, the mowers are set to cut fairways at 5/8" but that is a joke. More like 1/8". I realize it has been dry but they are watering everyday and we have been blessed with cool nights and warm days - ideal grass growing conditions. They should just quit mowing altogether for a couple of weeks and let the grass grow.
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I haven't had a lot of experience with Bermuda fairways, but 5/8" seems pretty low. What most good players complain about is fairways being too long and hitting fliers.
That was the one thing that I loved when I first came to Florida from the northeast. I played a lot of bluegrass fairways where you never knew what you were going to get. You could hit a pitching wedge 120 on one shot and 150 on the next. That was the main reason that Jack Nicklaus refused to play in many events in in New England.
I came to Florida and the ball was sitting like it was on a table top with not grass growing up around it.
Now that's not to say that is was sitting on dirt like so many of the lies that you get in The Villages. There was a bit of a cushion under it. But, you could catch it cleanly. And you knew how far it was going to fly every time.
Higher handicap golfers from areas where fairways are cut higher have learned to scoop the ball with their irons and have a lot of trouble learning how to hit a ball properly. I often hear them comment that they didn't get "under it". That's the problem. You are not supposed to get under the ball. You are supposed to hit it with a slight descending blow and allow the loft of the club to get the ball in the air. I've seen players hit wedges off of concrete. They were not getting the club under that ball.
I recall the correct fairway height as being 3/4" but that was for bluegrass, fescue and bent fairways. I think that Bermuda needs to be cut shorter. But it's not just the height of cut. The quality of the lie has to do with a lot of other things.
For people that are saying that they'd like to see 2", believe me, you'd never want to see your ball in 2" of Bermuda.