The courses are changing Brocton Hall looks fantastic with lush manicured fairways/fringes and the recent autumn warmth has got to be good for the greens. It was interesting watching the Dunhill Cup in Scotland last week, witnessing the tour pro’s playing in more wintry conditions than they are accustomed to and I noticed a couple of elements you may benefit from: One came when Rory Mcilroy missed a green and had to play a lob shot over a bunker from the rough. We’re used to seeing them on tour, slide the club under the ball, letting the ball pop up off the club face to land softly on the green - even from thick rough. Rory experienced at Kingsbarns what we all face in the winter in the UK - trampled grass from footprints as golfers walk off the green and a more soggy lie than we’d get in the summer. His solution was to make a longer swing than normal and add extra speed to the downswing for a shot which would normally be quite delicate, this allowed for the club to be slowed down by the grass and the ball finished right by the hole. Of course, if the grass hadn’t slowed the club down by the expected amount, the shot would have finished way past the cup - but that’s what you have to allow for in autumn and winter conditions. The other area of note was medium length putts. The maxim of ‘never up, never in’ might be true on perfectly smooth, quick greens but as the players showed this weekend, there’s nothing wrong with leaving a few longer putts short. A putt may be hit at a speed to drop into the hole on its last roll on perfect greens but on seasonal greens the same putt can easily get disrupted and finish short, through no fault of the golfer. So, around the green it’s okay to finish long of the hole and avoid the worst danger and on the green it’s okay to finish short and avoid a 3-putt. After all, Ross Fisher showed that on his last hole at St Andrews as he managed to 3-putt and still shot a course record 61! The clearing out and de-silting of the lake started this week and the machines they were using look like great fun to drive. Some of the roots were massive as 30 years of growth was being removed. I reckon there must be up to a quarter of a million balls in there somewhere, if you think there may be one or two of yours in the depths you can claim them by clicking here and leave a description of any identifying marks. I personally lost a Srixon Z-Star number 3 in there in May 2012 and have sifted through the pile of weeds daily without finding it yet. Watch the de-silting video here. |