[tomwed]

I am a very experienced golfer and before coming to the villages I was used to the ball sitting on top of the grass. I almost always had about a half inch room for error to hit the ball. If I scraped the ground the ball would go up in the air. If I was a half of an inch higher I would still have the same results.
Don't get me wrong, I love playing everyday but I know that my score will be higher on many of the executive courses I play on the south end of town because the ball is lying flat on the ground.

I played Bogart or Bacall last week and missed all but 1 green, but the grass was fluffy so I could chip. It was very rewarding.

I played Pelican today and the only thing I could do if I missed a green was to whack it with a putter. Whether it got close to the pin or not had more to do with luck than skill.

I don't understand why the grass is not fluffy all over.

I don't think a chipper is the solution but I should give it a try. [anyone selling a left handed chipper?]

If you are a beginner I would suggest teeing it up in the drop zone. Don't think of it as cheating. You are working on your swing and not trying to perfect hitting from an almost impossible lie. It's easier to hit out of the sand.

The fun of golf, for me, is the walk, the camaraderie, the park like setting and to a minor extent the game. So a bad score means very little to me.

But all things being equal including the age of the course, why are the conditions so different?

Do the courses on the north end of town have fluffier lies?

[Walter123]

Originally Posted by tomwed

I am a very experienced golfer and before coming to the villages I was used to the ball sitting on top of the grass. I almost always had about a half inch room for error to hit the ball. If I scraped the ground the ball would go up in the air. If I was a half of an inch higher I would still have the same results.
Don't get me wrong, I love playing everyday but I know that my score will be higher on many of the executive courses I play on the south end of town because the ball is lying flat on the ground.

I played Bogart or Bacall last week and missed all but 1 green, but the grass was fluffy so I could chip. It was very rewarding.

I played Pelican today and the only thing I could do if I missed a green was to whack it with a putter. Whether it got close to the pin or not had more to do with luck than skill.

I don't understand why the grass is not fluffy all over.

I don't think a chipper is the solution but I should give it a try. [anyone selling a left handed chipper?]

If you are a beginner I would suggest teeing it up in the drop zone. Don't think of it as cheating. You are working on your swing and not trying to perfect hitting from an almost impossible lie. It's easier to hit out of the sand.

The fun of golf, for me, is the walk, the camaraderie, the park like setting and to a minor extent the game. So a bad score means very little to me.

But all things being equal including the age of the course, why are the conditions so different?

Do the courses on the north end of town have fluffier lies?

Maybe you can carry a piece of astro turf around with you in the winter!

Seriously though I have noticed the same thing. I play winter rules and move my ball to a section of good turf if it is within a few inches. No shame in that.

[billethkid]

I think there is a dramatic difference in some of the conditions of courses north of 466 like nice well kept greens and t boxes.

South of 466 not nearly as well kept greens...and some t boxes are a shame....Pelican and Heron come to mind.

I have often asked why the difference.

Have yet to hear a good response.

[tomwed]

Originally Posted by Walter123

Maybe you can carry a piece of astro turf around with you in the winter!

Seriously though I have noticed the same thing. I play winter rules and move my ball to a section of good turf if it is within a few inches. No shame in that.

The shame or rules don't make a difference to me.

I would roll it over too if it was a bare spot. You do that a lot in South Jersey on a public course. Down here, It's not a bare spot. It's grass laying down or cut down close to the ground all over. It's green and it looks good but hitting out of the rough or sand is easier.

Since it can be fluffy at a different course less than a half mile away that gets just as much play, I come to the conclusion that one greenskeeper knows how to do it and the other one doesn't, no harm, no foul.

I also thought the executive course were kept up by the same team. Was I wrong?

[tuccillo]

In an ideal world you are hitting your chips with a descending blow so it really shouldn't matter whether you have a tight lie. I can't do that on a consistent basis so out comes the putter! I didn't hit a single chip last sunday at Palmetto - all putts from around the green.

Originally Posted by tomwed

I am a very experienced golfer and before coming to the villages I was used to the ball sitting on top of the grass. I almost always had about a half inch room for error to hit the ball. If I scraped the ground the ball would go up in the air. If I was a half of an inch higher I would still have the same results.
Don't get me wrong, I love playing everyday but I know that my score will be higher on many of the executive courses I play on the south end of town because the ball is lying flat on the ground.

I played Bogart or Bacall last week and missed all but 1 green, but the grass was fluffy so I could chip. It was very rewarding.

I played Pelican today and the only thing I could do if I missed a green was to whack it with a putter. Whether it got close to the pin or not had more to do with luck than skill.

I don't understand why the grass is not fluffy all over.

I don't think a chipper is the solution but I should give it a try. [anyone selling a left handed chipper?]

If you are a beginner I would suggest teeing it up in the drop zone. Don't think of it as cheating. You are working on your swing and not trying to perfect hitting from an almost impossible lie. It's easier to hit out of the sand.

The fun of golf, for me, is the walk, the camaraderie, the park like setting and to a minor extent the game. So a bad score means very little to me.

But all things being equal including the age of the course, why are the conditions so different?

Do the courses on the north end of town have fluffier lies?

[dewilson58]

Originally Posted by tuccillo

In an ideal world you are hitting your chips with a descending blow so it really shouldn't matter whether you have a tight lie. I can't do that on a consistent basis so out comes the putter! I didn't hit a single chip last sunday at Palmetto - all putts from around the green.

I'm a seven iron type of guy...............get it up a little and let it run on the green.

[Polar Bear]

Originally Posted by tuccillo

...it really shouldn't matter whether you have a tight lie...

[emoji15]

[tomwed]

Originally Posted by Polar Bear

[emoji15]

that's a great face for that remark

[tuccillo]

Might want to read the whole sentence instead of pulling out a phrase.

Originally Posted by Polar Bear

[emoji15]

[tomwed]

click here
click here
click here
click here

A descending blow on a tight lie is very difficult for me to control. If I hit it thin it rolls over the green. A full swing on a tight lie is a little easier. Both are low percentage shots.

All good advice about hitting a tight lie that I'll try.

I'll need to get some tennis balls.

I have an extra cheap pitching wedge I'm going to try hitting a ball off a 2 x 4.

When the ball is sitting up there is an extra half inch and it's a much higher percentage shots.

[Irie Brown]

Thank for the education. I thought a fluffy lie was something to do with a fluffy white dog or a little fib...

[kcrazorbackfan]

Tight lies in Florida? Seriously? Oboy, something else my recent surgically repaired right shoulder has to worry about when I get there in a couple of months; sand the consistency of concrete slurry in a sand trap is what damaged it last September.

[tomwed]

Originally Posted by kcrazorbackfan

Tight lies in Florida? Seriously? Oboy, something else my recent surgically repaired right shoulder has to worry about when I get there in a couple of months; sand the consistency of concrete slurry in a sand trap is what damaged it last September.

no worries, you are not playing football without shoulder pads

the sand is just fine including the course sand

why care about what you shoot?

i just wondered why some courses in the same area and the same age give the golfer fluffy lies and other courses have tight lies

the best of golf to me, has very little to do with the score

[Dr Winston O Boogie jr]

When people say that they are a very experienced golfer, I assume that to mean that they are a very good player which I guess may or may not be the case.
The fact is however that good players prefer tight lies. I was a pretty decent player before I was forced to retire because of some physical issues. I grew up playing golf in New England where we had mostly blue grass fairways that could not be cut as short as the Bermuda grass we have here. I never realized that I was getting flier on almost every shot until I came to play in Florida.
Since then, a lot of the better courses up north have been transitioning over to bent grass fairways which can be cut down.
For years, Jack Nicklaus refuse to play the tour stop at Pleasant Valley Country Club in Sutton MA because he said that it was impossible to control a ball from blue grass fairways.
If you can't hit a shot from a Bermuda or bent fairway, you need to take some lessons to improve your technique.
I attended a clinic with short game guru, Stan Utley. Stan talked about the bounce on a club and the fallacy that you need low bounce to hit shots off of tight lies. The demonstrate this, he hit a 58 degree wedge with 12 degrees of bounce off of cement. He was able to hit high soft shots from the cement. Even with 12 degrees of bounce, if the ball is struck properly, the leading edge will be well below the center of the ball. It's not the conditions or the club, it's having, or lacking, the proper technique.

[fred53]

Originally Posted by tomwed

I am a very experienced golfer and before coming to the villages I was used to the ball sitting on top of the grass. I almost always had about a half inch room for error to hit the ball. If I scraped the ground the ball would go up in the air. If I was a half of an inch higher I would still have the same results.
Don't get me wrong, I love playing everyday but I know that my score will be higher on many of the executive courses I play on the south end of town because the ball is lying flat on the ground.

I played Bogart or Bacall last week and missed all but 1 green, but the grass was fluffy so I could chip. It was very rewarding.

I played Pelican today and the only thing I could do if I missed a green was to whack it with a putter. Whether it got close to the pin or not had more to do with luck than skill.



I don't understand why the grass is not fluffy all over.

I don't think a chipper is the solution but I should give it a try. [anyone selling a left handed chipper?]

If you are a beginner I would suggest teeing it up in the drop zone. Don't think of it as cheating. You are working on your swing and not trying to perfect hitting from an almost impossible lie. It's easier to hit out of the sand.

The fun of golf, for me, is the walk, the camaraderie, the park like setting and to a minor extent the game. So a bad score means very little to me.

But all things being equal including the age of the course, why are the conditions so different?

Do the courses on the north end of town have fluffier lies?

and the ability to adapt to different conditions is one of the things that make it such a challenge. If you don't have to ability to hit off of tight lies then perhaps you could practice that aspect of the game more often.

It isn't the problem with the course conditions....it's the lack of imagination and talent of the player. Most anyone can hit/chip from a fluffy lie(as you call it)...it takes a really good "golfer" to master many different conditions.

Good luck. Oh and you often see professionals in PGA tour events using putters from tight lies off of the greens...if they can practice and excel at that perhaps you can too.