My club has closed the course again!!

Hi all

Rather frustratingly, the club I am a member of has been closed again since Wednesday due to water and their understandable desire to protect the private members' course. It is still closed today and is likely to be tomorrow.  It was closed for a month in December due to the snow, and has been closed for a total of about another month since middle of January (they open for a couple of days and then close for another week).

I know the owner has secured a televised pro-comptetition for sometime this year and so he is obviously keen that the course looks as good as possible.  It is frustrating since membership is about £1200 per year.  I wonder whether proper drainage should be put in.

Is this experience of such frequent and lengthy course closures common at many courses? Your course?

Oh well - another week without golf!

Cheers,

Andy 

Andy I dont think I could be a member at a course that suffers from wet weather to the extent of closure. Is the 2nd course open? I assume this would be in your membership. Otherwise I would have thought that the owner could have sorted a deal with a neighbouring course to have you and your fellow members play alternative course at the owner of your courses expense during closure. I have been looking to join a course recently and my no1 priority is the ability to stay open in very wet periods.

Dave CAC handed Geordie. 

Dave - there is a second course, which is a pay and play for the public. It is over 2000 yards shorter, is nowhere near as nice as the private course and it's a muddy bog at the moment as this does stay open.

I think the problem is that proper drainage is required on both courses.  It is very frustrating to pay reasonably expensive fees and not be able to play. I just don't know how common the problem is as I have only played golf for about 15 months and having paid for membership at my local club, I rarely play elsewhere as of course there wouldn't be much point in having paid the membership.

Having taken next week off (kids half-term) I was hoping to play a couple of times this week but I can see them keeping it closed again!!

Andy

Andy, do yourself and your lads a  favour and join an old established club that will not have been built on farmland. All these new courses tend to suffer greatly in the winter months.

John

Trouble is that the club is literally three minutes in the car from my door.  Very convenient and quite a nice course when it is open. Very convenient for my wife to drop our boys down there in the hols as they go round the shorter course on their own.

I do take your point though - I think the club could lose members if they can't improve things as patience has been tested recently (lots of green closures with on-going criminal damage due to a vendetta against the owner).

I am open-minded about a change.

Andy

Andy, the decision is entirely yours dependant on exactly what you hope to gain from this game. Even your children would benefit from playing under conditions that were more conducive to good golf.

One cannot even contemplate scoring well unless greens are in perfect condition, able to receive a well struck shot, and run true, especially for the short putts.

I started my golf in Essex and I know there are many excellent old established clubs in the County that would not be any more expensive than what you are paying.

John - I can see this is good advice. I have just got back in from a very sloppy muddy round with a friend. We played on the shorter public course because of course our decent private one is still closed.  Shot a 90 despite the conditions. I am sure that some less boggy conditions would have helped me make fewer mistakes ans shave five or six strokes off.

We did chat about looking at another club. The thing that keeps me there at the moment is the fact that it is on my doorstep. I think I should look at what other clubs may offer. I really haven't played many others.

Andy

Andy,

Isn't you course the old Hanover G & CC. It's 20yr old now so the drainage should be sorted by now.

I agree with JP, the closest course is not always the best.

TheLyth

I was once a member of a club with similar issues. Barely played through the winter and even a couple of rain in the summer would close the course. Was a shame as it has one of the best lay outs in the area, but I'm not a fairweather golfer, I want to play whenever. You just have to bite the bullet and have a look around if you want to play more golf

This is just an interesting topic.  

I was looking to join a local club but then talking to members have discovered that from October 2010 - Feb 2011 they have overly protected the greens and been on temps most of the time.  Plus midweek they close 2 holes whilst some reconstruction is completed.

Obviously now looking somewhere else.

Chaps - it seems that the issue is one that separates the really good courses from those that want to be but don't quite make the cut. Went to play again today (taken kids half-term off) and guess what - members course is completely closed as per usual. Getting to be a joke! Don't suppose any kind of discount will be forthcoming for the 2.5 months of closure since December!!!

Andy

Hi im new to the forum did u all forget this is england and most of my locals close when it wet  trust me i play min 3 times week and with the local closures we been travelin around  and found some real nice courses but all have sufferd from rain snow melt frost and a gfew with deseased greens i think it part of english winter golf ,, ps playing in crap conditions sure tightens up your game so sod the weather and muddy fairways that aint  just play more 

Hey Shaun - I'm guessing that quite a few courses suffer around this time of year and being fairly new to the game and this being my first experience of a course being closed, I wondered whether this was normal, particularly as it totals nine weeks closure in the last 11. My membership costs around £100 per month.

I hope you are right about it helping the game. Played again today - again on the shorter course (yes because main one closed still...). Even though I stuffed up a few holes in the slop I still hit a 90, which I'm hoping I can start improving on - particularly as the playing conditions improve. Goal for this year is to get a hc of 18. Who knows - maybe if I play enough and work on my short game. 

Andy

For £100 per month you could join Orsett Golf club, oer 100 years old, a James Braid design and on heathland which, as you know, always drains well. Holds Open qualifiers. so has a fine pedigree.

I have played it many times and it is a true test.

I'm a member of a private members' club in Warwickshire that has been established for well over 100 years.  Unfortunately, the course is built on clay based land and drainage has always been an issue during the winter months.  In the last 6 - 7 years we have done a lot of work on drainage spending well in excess of £150k.  By and large the work has been pretty successful although it is a constant batlle as there is a bit of a tendency with drainage work just to move the problem to another part of the course.  We are now in a position where the course is kept open in all but the most extreme weather which is great for the membership but it would be difficult to justify this level of expenditure if was a pay and play or a commercial concern of some other nature.

Living in the South must be the main difference, then, because none of the clubs that I have been a member of for the past fifty five years have ever been closed through wet weather, never had temporary greens and most certainly not temporary tees. I would not join a club that suffered from these problems.

John

I certainly suspect that drainage is a problem on quite a few courses in my part of the country. Lots of clay in Essex. The club you mentioned in Orsett looks good. Trouble is that it is quite a few miles away and so a good 20 minute drive and of course more in heavy traffic. I'm going to try to play some more courses so I can be a little more informed.

My local club is so handy and it has the second shorter 18 hole course, which is really good for my boys. I will have to see how much more closure the main course suffers and that will affect my decision. It's raining all day today and the forecast is for some at the weekend - so I can see it staying shut for at least another week or so.

I suspect that many other part of the country have better draining landscape than we do here - although on the plus side the weather in this corner can be quite nice and drier than many other part for much of the year.

Andy

20 minutes Andy, I have never had a club within 20 minute drive apart from my latest one, which is on my doorstep.

The problem with courses that suffer with rainfall is that they are not the easiest to play on, because there is no turf as such, just grass on clay, making hitting the ball correctly, very difficult. This then leads to inconsistency in the stroke and progress becomes more difficult. One of the reasons that players state that they cannot take their range form to the course, as hitting off artificial grass mats becomes very easy. due to the consistency for every shot from the mat.

When I first started, I lived in Wood Green and caught the bus to Chingford to play, not a quick journey, I can tell you.

John - I thnk you are right.  I guess that it's not far really if the course plays so much better. I played a course in spring last year - I recall the fairway felt like carpet! I also played a club in Minehead. Wow - beautiful surroundings and so cheap by comparison - that one is a lttle far though!! Andy

Richard - that sounds very frustrating!!

John - I am taking the advice and looking around.  After speaking with the people at Three Rivers Golf & Country Club, I have a complimentary round arranged for Saturday week for myself and a friend.  It is slightly cheaper than my current club (that is not a deciding factor - just a bonus), has two 18-hole courses, and membership also allows me to play at Stockbrook Manor Monday to Friday (which has 27 holes). Stockbrook Manor is also a very nice club - that was the one I mentioned with the carpet-like fairways.  Three Rivers is about a 15 minute drive. We shall see!!

Andy 

Andy

As I was looking for a course to become a member.

After reading your thread you have prompted me to definitly go for holligbury Park. I have played there half a dozen times over the winter and it is in very good nick. It has had mats but they are pretty good to play off. My main concern was playability during winter but also cost factor as I will only be able to play weekends. I have set the wheels in motion ( missus says its OK ).

Dave CAC handed Geordie.

Dave - glad the subject was timely. It's certainly important.

As an inexperienced golfer it never occured to me. I've just come back home this afternoon having been turned away from my club as whilst the members' course is of course still shut (nearly three months now...), the smaller course was shut as well today. Such a shame having come home early from work, sun shining, kids on half-term, taking them for a round. Bearing in mind it was 2.30pm - it wouldn't have hurt to re-open the small course (not many people would be turning up that time of day). Head green-keeper was really very rude. I know what to do with my membership money now. 

Andy

hi guys..a rude green keeper club closed indef dont think it would  get my money i would take my money and play else where ,, id have thought that a green keeper would be pleased to talk to club members and explain whats goin on ,,but on the clik side mayb he,s frustrated  that the course is closed and not in very good condition and he embarrassed about bein confronted ,, afterall he the 1 who preps and keeps the   course 

At many Clubs the Green-Keeper doesn't have the final say, the Greens ChairmanCommittee does. And alot of them don't know how a Course works.

It may be great to play off Grass Tees onto normal Greens during the winter, but it can cause expensive damage. A happy medium is needed.

TheLyth