Played the Abbotts course at Stapleford Abbotts GC today. The tees and fairways were in a great condition, especially with all the snow/rain we've had over the last few weeks. Our only problem was the greens, snow, hail and ice on them. Not every hole but I'd say fifty percent of them. If you were given a choice would you play? I did, and to be honest I was glad I played. The only thing was that we should have played to the greens and then picked up our balls. Some of the greens didn't have much snow/ice on them but they were very bumpy. So, would you have played? Russ

I would not have bothered, if I needed to hit balls because of withdrawal symptoms then the practice range would have been sufficient.

Russ, I played today & it was snowing on the 1st tee, we were on temps also! I'm glad I played as it got me out & somehow I managed to shoot an 86!

I would have played, well done to you Russ

Not for me i'm afraid only hit the range in the winter try to find a swing for the summer lol

absolutley not. i am officially a lightweight.

My clubs only seem to work on BST.  

 CGL played last Sat...rock hard...mind you it's a good feeling when you reach a par 4 with a 3 iron lol.

I'm going to have to do some google research but I'm sure if you repeatedly stand on frozen grass it damages the root system and can cause long term problems ie killing it!

Many years ago, when I first started playing golf on a regular basis.  The moment you saw any frost on a green you went straight onto temporary greens, no questions!

One of the boasts at Crown Golf is that they never use temporary greens.  The problem is that walking on the greens like I did earlier this week cannot be doing them any good.

I had to hit the bottom of my shoe with my putter before walking onto the green to get rid of all the ice on my spikes.  It was pretty obvious looking at the greens that most people were not doing this.

Russ

Looks like the killing problem is caused if the ground starts to thaw,  If it stays frozen during the day/rounds they all is fine.

Nice golf forum for the turf industry

http://www.pitchcare.com/message/message/19010

 I think the need for money outweighs the detrimental effect.

Col Astbury and I played on Saturday started at 0752 in the gloom. mats and winter greens on the Par 64 Jubillee course at Three Rivers.

The winter greens were shocking and everywhere was frozen solid including the water in many of the bunkers and a good number of the paths.

For all that we had an enjoyable round and despite the unpredictability of the bounce we both shot 78's.

For some strange reason I seem to play my best golf when conditions are bad.

I thought I was the only golf nut out there. I played Epping on 27th Dec in the pouring rain got absolutly drenched would not have missed it for the world. Also played New Years day fantastic day but the greens were covered in snow and ice still great fun and beats staying in, played the next day as well did not finish round untill 4.30 and the last hole was completly black, luckily enough I was driving and hitting the ball straight and never lost one still scored quite well see you all soon David