Things you do on bad courses that private club members don’t understand (play related)

Move the ball to a decent patch of grass to hit off of. I don't improve my line and if I'm under trees (or areas that grass ordinarily wouldn't grow on well maintained courses) I play as it lies. But if I'm in the rough/fairway that would normally have grass but doesn't, I'll drop on some grass.

I play it where it lies no matter what and always get pissed if I birdie the hole.






Obviously I’m kidding. I suck pretty much regardless of how I try to give myself an advantage, so normally I really do play it where it lies just so I can figure out how to get out of the situation. You don’t learn if you’re always giving yourself a handout!

Main thing is putting it on good grass if you hit a good drive. Once you get well into the rough, near the cart path, under trees, I’m cool with moving it if you need to get out of some rocks or off of a root. No need to damage clubs or risk a wrist injury. Just be reasonable on it by not improving line or distance. This ain’t the US Open, but there is a right and a wrong way to do it.

On the chipping out of the rough, I definitely prefer it on poorly irrigated courses, and poorly draining courses for that matter. At least when you’re in Bermuda rough, you can gauge how much spin and roll out you can get based on the lie… Would much rather have that than dealing with hard pans or mucky collection areas.

Unless I’m in the hazard area, bump the ball to some decent grass.

Bump the ball to a dry spot around the green if it’s soggy from a broken sprinkler head.

Bump the ball a bit on the green if there’s sandy bare spots in your line.

Race to my ball if there’s another fairway running parallel. An old man will pick up your ball with the quickness.

Mentally expect a 5 hour round as to not get pissed off when out there.

Always walk so I don’t get paired up in a cart with a chatty stranger or fat guy that smells.

Add a few strokes to my score when putting in my GHIN as public courses always move the tees up on weekends for pace of play.

quote:

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laying up in the rough on purpose

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I am a big fan. The courses here rarely have terrible rough, and, especially in the Spring, the fairways are cut down to nothing meaning my ball is probably in a tiny depression with zero grass under it.

Back before tamping down spike marks was allowed, I used to do that all the time on dumpy munis (obviously not in tournament play, just everyday goofing around). You have no real idea of what kind of putt you hit on a green that has had hundreds of people shuffling around on substandard grass.