Listening to a podcast, the advice from a prominent golf architect was very simple. He said, 90% of what you need to do is cut down all those damn trees and find the old / correct grassing lines. You do that and you will have a brand new golf course, a better golf course, a more strategic golf course, a better conditioned golf course, an easier to care for golf course, a PLAYABLE golf course.
That was super cool suggestion, the only problem is…what if you did that already? Hearing his words was simply validation to what I have been working towards for a decade. I have tried to cut down every tree on this property, and the ones I have kept, we have worked hard to make beautiful and out of your way. I have been vigilant about grassing lines. Making sure greens, tees, fairways don’t shrink, and using the hard edges between fairway, rough and fescue to set up illusions, and dictate angles of play. The hard part for us, only the fine tuning of the 10% remains. These are often things that the average player, finds hard to see.
We are very lucky to have a course where people have cared deeply since day one. Other courses, experience eb and flow. Owners that aren’t passionate, then new owners that are. Money that is bountiful, then money that is tight. Generally the first things that get put on the back burner is not necessarily course upkeep, but more course… playability. Someone in every organization has to know what playability looks like, and what can be done over time to keep that intact.
