Are we hard to please??

Just been looking at reviews for a course im playing this weekend and noticed something.

Through the winter people were saying the course was boggy, muddy ect - Everything that you could expect from an English winter.

Then recent reviews are saying that the course is too dry and cant hold greens ect - which you can expect from the summer?

Are we too fussy?? How can courses please some poeple??

The particular course in question has £12 after 11am weekend through winter so surely you cant expect to be playing on a carpet??

I'd possibly agree with courses being boggy in the winter.  Some courses just aren't built on quick draining "stuff" (like sand), however, in the summer, the greens should be beautifully manicured, as that is where the income is (mainly).

The course I play at is woefully dry due to the hot weather, as it is built on sand it just bakes, however, the greens at the moment are fabulous. Nice speed, rolling true and look the business

http://yfrog.com/ca9r4hj

We can be fussy, but really, if we are paying a lot for a green fee, we should expect the greens to be in very good condition!

I'd agree with boh above. I think the point I was trying to make was that we have to sometimes expect to see such things. But I don't think it's fair to base a review on it. Matt, I know your course is dry in the summer- how would you feel if someone went to play there a left a poor review for being dry? Not the best is it!!

I suppose that is the beauty of this game.  You can play the same course week in week out and it play differently every time.

£12 green fee - Bargain.

I like to moan about courses (if I have a bad round) although wouldn't leave a review, especially on playing it once - obviously if the green had divots in it and the likes then it would deserve a bad review, although I am unlikely to leave a review, positive or negative on playing a course once.  Your not going to get a perfect course with a million greenkeepers for £12 a round. I wouldn't expect that for £40-£90 a round.

We can't control the weather, we just have to learn to deal with it.

None of us have any control on what condition any course will be in, as all of what is required is dependant on many things, as we all know.

Where we do have a gripe is the price they still expect players to pay for this continued mediocrity in course preparation for the amateur player, when, as we all know, the professionals have their courses manicured up to the eyeballs, yet even then, still conplain.

Ground conditions are the most important when building  a golf course and a lot of the new ones have been built on farmland and will never ever be the quality of a course laid down on natural, un-farmed land, be it heath, moorland, links and old established parkland.

I agree John, you can tell as soon as you see a course whether it's a new or well established course and personally I'd rather play an old 'tatty' municipal, putting up with the poor bunkers and sometimes undercut greens (ie Temple Newsham in Leeds) than an 80's manufactured course built for the then boom in interest for the game. One good thing is that we golfers have never had it so good for getting value for money so we should be grateful for the relatively cheap golf we enjoy which is still getting cheaper (you can now play well respected private clubs for less than it costs on a municipali I'm sure the majority will agree that  we can't complain about the cost. Just visit the sites of direct teetimes etc.

 Having a course in good nick means having to have the green staff and I'm sure in this economic climate that green staff nos are dropping with the inevitable consequences of less manicured courses.If we're talking about paying less than £30 a round, and most courses are, then really we can't complain. Twenty years ago you wouldn't have got on some of the courses you can now.

Ar, the Green-keepers lot.

I have seen two letters from the same person sent into the Greens Committee. Letter 1 complained about how a member of the Green-keeping staff got in his way during a recent round, cutting the greens in numerical order. Letter 2 complained about the grass not been cut often enough.

TheLyth

David.

Maybe that has answered my question, obviously we dont all fall into this mould though. Some of us are just too happy to be playing no matter what the conditions.

My big complaint; but not with every Golf Club; is that they takes your money and then present a course using Mats and Winter Greens. Even as a Club Member some course will not allow daily play off the back Tees.

I don't play as much now as I used to (injury & old age) but I always knew what to expect when visiting a course. You get to know which course is in best condition at what time of year. I wouldn't expect Mats and Winter Greens at Ganton during the winter, but visit on a frosty morning and they may have the Pins on Tempory Greens. But visit a Muni or a Pay & Play and Mats will be there and maybe a Winter Green or two, or three, or four. Some private clubs on wet ground may also use mats during the winter too. You just get to expect these things.

TheLyth