Golf Course Pet Peeves

[msean]

Courses that don't allow for walking is my biggest pet peeve. Usually the newer courses that were built to sell houses which also has the negative effect of houses too close to the fairways.

In course ob is irritating.

Fairways that run parralel and are either too close together or don't have anything to seperate them. Dangerous, and it slows play when you have people playing out of each others fairways.

[mosesgolf]

1. In course ob's--this makes absolutely no sense. BTW my group never plays in course obs.
2. Tricked out greens with false fronts
3. Tee shots that take driver out of your hand.
4. Front to back sloping greens
5. Courses that take recovery shots out of the game. If you miss the fairway, you should still be able to punch out and be able to save par with a good 3rd shot. Automatic double bogey for missing a fairway is lame.

[HitEmTrue]

I hate these things. Put a bunch of these near the green if you really want to slow down play.

[bigred90gt]

[quote name='msean' timestamp='1306164928' post='3255875']
Courses that don't allow for walking is my biggest pet peeve.
[/quote]

There are 2 courses that are almost the exact same distance from my house. When I was looking to get a membership to a course, I was considering the one that I feel is the nicer course. It is always in great shape, has a great lay-out, and has nice elevation change, which is very uncommon in my area. They were also the same price. After talking to the courses about their memberships, i decided on the other course (which is by no means not a nice course) only because the course I wanted would not let you walk unless you were a resident of the town (which is a very small town a few miles from my house). In the end, I am glad I chose the course I did, because I played there more and I know everyone that works there, but at the time, the ONLY deciding factor was that the other course would not let me walk.

[nickrut]

I hate courses with inconsistent greens. This may be a maintenence issue but some courses around me have hugely different greens in terms of speed. I've seen 2 very similar puts, in terms of break and distance, have horribly different results with a very similar stroke. Gets frustrating to adjust to the speed then it be completely off on a handfull of holes due to inconsistencies.

[Stekman]

I really dislike uneven tee boxes. That's my biggest. My others are inconsistent green speeds/bad green surfaces, and sprinkler heads that aren't marked.

[CowtownTexas]

I dislike any course that was designed with the mindset hard=good. In my mind, a well designed golf hole/course has multiple opportunities where the amount of risk is equal to the reward. You don't see enough of that with many modern courses.

I also dislike any course with Par 5's where you can't hit driver (I actually like a course that takes driver out of your hand on a few Par 4's). One course that's highly regarded in our town has back-to-back par 5's that don't allow for hitting driver. Just annoys me, even though I typically play that course very well.

[msean]

[quote name='bigred90gt' timestamp='1306246469' post='3258108']
[quote name='msean' timestamp='1306164928' post='3255875']
Courses that don't allow for walking is my biggest pet peeve.
[/quote]

There are 2 courses that are almost the exact same distance from my house. When I was looking to get a membership to a course, I was considering the one that I feel is the nicer course. It is always in great shape, has a great lay-out, and has nice elevation change, which is very uncommon in my area. They were also the same price. After talking to the courses about their memberships, i decided on the other course (which is by no means not a nice course) only because the course I wanted would not let you walk unless you were a resident of the town (which is a very small town a few miles from my house). In the end, I am glad I chose the course I did, because I played there more and I know everyone that works there, but at the time, the ONLY deciding factor was that the other course would not let me walk.
[/quote]

I could see myself making that same decision if I was in your shoes. The walkability of a course plays a huge part in my decision to play there or not. Obviously there are some exceptions but if I'm paying to play I'm not going somewher that I can't walk or isn't reasonable to walk.

[mozgolf]

no yardage markers!!!!

[tnord]

1) modern courses designed to sell houses and consequently force you to ride. no flow, ruins the visual impacts, usually have very close OB stakes, annoying kids running around screaming, etc. no walking just makes golf more expensive and inaccessible. especially when it rains it slows down play, and even when it's dry and people don't know how to properly share a cart it's slower than walking.
2) mickey-mouse greens and pin placements.
3) no legitimate option to hit driver on a par 5. this one has some exceptions.....some older courses have par 5s where hitting the driver is risky because you run up to a creek or something at 300 yds even from the tips, but the course can't do anything because it's landlocked and was designed before equipment got so good and everyone and their mother could bomb it 300. i get that, and just pull 3 wood. but making me hit 5 iron-5 iron-PW and the place was built in the last 20yrs? c'mon.

[mshills]

Par 3s make or break a course for me. I don't like multiple over-length par 3s, but even worse is a setup where I hit the same club on all four par 3s. There is a course I play from time to time that sometimes gets lazy with the par 3 tee boxes and pin placements - ends up where I hit the same club on all four!

That is no good, but it's easily addressed. I just tee my ball somewhere else on the tee box or play a different tee altogether.

[fearnobogey]

Apparently at my home course they let the greens keeper go on vacation for a week, and no one bothered to pull out a mower. You could pull blades of grass from the green to test the wind. They have a State level qualifier there in about two weeks and there are bare patches in the fairway and everything is just in S shape.

[jswaykos]

Found a new one over the weekend - people who take forever to decide on a club, even when there's no chance whatsoever in getting to the green with ANYTHING in their bag.

I played with a guy who's been away from the game for a long time, so I expected a slower round. No big deal to me, it was an early morning 'back nine' discount. But from 200+ yards out, he kept going to and from the cart with an 8 iron, then a 9 iron, then a pitching wedge... back to the nine... dude, you're admittedly just hitting safe shots down the fairway until you get your swing back, JUST PICK A CLUB. It got ridiculous. He'd wait for people to tee off before getting his club out of the bag, stuff like that. "Ready golf" should become a rule, not an exception to speed things up. It took over two hours for nine, and it should've taken 1.5 hours tops.

If the club selection doesn't matter, don't worry about it. Pick a club you can control and hit it. Repeat.

[sgniwder99]

See bold for points of agreement.

Well said, fellas.

[quote name='CowtownTexas' timestamp='1306252789' post='3258432']
[b]I dislike any course that was designed with the mindset hard=good. In my mind, a well designed golf hole/course has multiple opportunities where the amount of risk is equal to the reward. [/b]You don't see enough of that with many modern courses.

I also dislike any course with Par 5's where you can't hit driver ([b]I actually like a course that takes driver out of your hand on a few Par 4's[/b]). One course that's highly regarded in our town has back-to-back par 5's that don't allow for hitting driver. Just annoys me, even though I typically play that course very well.
[/quote]

+1 on both counts.

[quote name='msh0146' timestamp='1307114192' post='3282210']
Par 3s make or break a course for me. [b]I don't like multiple over-length par 3s, but even worse is a setup where I hit the same club on all four par 3s[/b]. There is a course I play from time to time that sometimes gets lazy with the par 3 tee boxes and pin placements - ends up where I hit the same club on all four!

That is no good, but it's easily addressed. I just tee my ball somewhere else on the tee box or play a different tee altogether.
[/quote]

+1 on both counts, except that I'd reverse the order of which is more irritating to me. I'm a decent player, but I don't have an iron I hit 230 yards. It bugs me when a course where the lengths of the other holes from the tees I'm playing make sense, but they decide to make me pull out a fairway wood 3 times over the course of the round to hit par 3s in regulation. Once is okay. Multiple times is not realistic for the skill level of players playing from those tees. (This is probably less of an issue with modern hybrid technology, but it's still bothersome.)

[quote name='mozgolf' timestamp='1307102034' post='3281824']
[b]no yardage markers!!!![/b]
[/quote]

+a bajillion. I can't afford a scope or a GPS unit. Just give me something that gives me a reasonable estimate.

[Auditor_Kevin]

Surprised this hasn't been mentioned yet since I know it was in the previous thread:

[list][*]Concrete cart paths placed way too close to the green. The worst is when they're too close on long par 3's, which is usually our best opportunity to miss pin high left or right. An 8 yard short-sided miss becomes a 35 yard short-sided miss with an utterly impossible up and down from the next tee box.[/list]
[list][*]Pointing all four Par 5's in the same direction (even worse, pointing them all west - into the prevailing wind). Golf Club of Illinois, I'm looking right at you![/list]

[avrag]

Any holes that require a carry of more than 165 yards off the (shortest) tee without the possibility of bailing out somewhere. I am all for risk/reward design, but every hole on a course should be playable in some way for everybody. I know a few holes that simply are not. No matter which tees one uses, there is still a forced carry that is too long for some people, who can otherwise play reasonably useful golf. That is just bad design.
Also, putting a short par 5 right after a short par 3 is stupid course design, as it will always create jams.

[avrag]

[quote name='Auditor_Kevin' timestamp='1307116816' post='3282325']
Surprised this hasn't been mentioned yet since I know it was in the previous thread:

[list][*]Pointing all four Par 5's in the same direction (even worse, pointing them all west - into the prevailing wind). Golf Club of Illinois, I'm looking right at you![/list]
[/quote]

Ah, thank you, I almost forgot that, although it is the same at my home course. It plays 4 shots easier on the few days, when the wind is comimg from the southeast instead of the northwest, because than it is helping on all four par 5s.

[Shipwreck]

Oh where to begin this list. In no particular order:

-Excessively long par 3's....I mean seriously? Why should you have to hit a 3 or 5 wood into a par 3?
-Uneven tee boxes
-Tee markers that are not 5-6 paces apart
-Tee markers that are set in a direction other than the fairway
-Short par 5's. Granted it is a nice eagle op but I shouldn't be hitting a 9 iron into a par 5 for my second shot
-People that don't play ready golf. Tournament play I understand but I hate people pacing off who is further away and lining up 3 footers like they are playing for the Masters? GTFO
-Pin placement on slopes (there should be a USGA rule against this!)
-Playing as a 4 some and pushing a 2 some of riders
-People that park their carts 30 yards from the green, walk up to the green, then walk the 30 yards back
-People that drive their carts up next to the green. Handicapped? By all means do so. Otherwise stop being lazy!
-People that hit a 230 yard drive on a par 5 and wait for the green to clear from 270+
-Jeans on the course *opens can of worms*
-People that say they can play the tips (and drive the ball 300+) yet every drive you see of theirs is a nice 225 yard hard slice
-Courses that don't mark ground under repair
-People too lazy to fix ball marks and divots
-Extremely long forced carries over a hazard
-Long par 4's that don't let you hit driver off the box
-Green side bunkers that only have about 1/4" of sand in them, the rest is pretty much concrete
-Fairway bunkers that are fluffy
-In course out of bounds
-Courses where one side is OB the other side is a lateral hazard
-Paying full price for a course to find out they just punched or sanded their greens. Or both.
-Paying ridiculous amounts for out of state Municipal courses because I don't have a 'resident card' (I'm looking at YOU Torrey Pines!)
-Courses that make you ride and have crap carts that die out on you
-Marshall's that spend their time looking for lost balls instead of enforcing pace of play
-People that take their sweet time marking their cards while still on the green instead of waiting till they are off

I know I'll come up with more. That's just a start

[Pr3cision]

-Tee Boxes Markers Un-even
-Jeans
-Un-Tucked Shirts
-Extremely Slow Playing
-Divots In Fairway/Green That Are Not Filled
-Tee-Boxes That Are Not Well Kept

[Bscary]

[quote name='nickrut' timestamp='1306248870' post='3258234']
I hate courses with inconsistent greens. This may be a maintenence issue but some courses around me have hugely different greens in terms of speed. I've seen 2 very similar puts, in terms of break and distance, have horribly different results with a very similar stroke. Gets frustrating to adjust to the speed then it be completely off on a handfull of holes due to inconsistencies.
[/quote]

this....putting is way too hard as it is. we dont have someone out there the morning of reading greens and ish.

[JCLJorgenson]

Uneven tee boxes are lame, but I can usually find a relatively decent spot, even if I have to bring the ball back five or more feet.<br /><br />I have played a few courses that have fast greens with steep slopes.  Occasionally they place the pin on the slope and so even if you are putting uphill and miss by a hair, the ball will roll all the way back down, which will leave you with a 20 plus foot putt.  That is just wrong to me.  <br /><br />Also related to greens, I know some courses that place the pins less than 10 feet from the edge of the green - weak<br /><br />While this is pretty rare, I have played a course or two that puts a big patch of rough in the center of a fairway.  From a tee box, you don't even know there is trrouble or expect it.  So your shot may look dead center, but then you can't find your ball in 3&quot; rough.  Don't punish a good shot.

[chili_dip]

On the yardage issue... At least get me in the ballpark. We played a course last month where we were in between clubs and nobody had a GPS. We found a sprinkler head that read 245, yet we were well within 100 yards. We never did figure out what was 245 from that sprinkler head!

[teejaywhy]

The topic is golf course design/layout.

Off topic are discussions of maintenance practices, patrons style of dress, playing habits, etc. THANKS.

[mshills]

Another dislike is a par 5 that limits options. I don't even mind if I cannot hit driver as long as there are at least two separate and distinct ways to play the hole. Golf is the thinking man's game for good reason. Let me think, and give me at least two options to choose.

 

Case in point are #18 at two courses near Atlanta called The Coweta Club and Crystal Lake. They are each ~595 from the back tees. The second and third shots play uphill. Deep woods all down the left hand side. Both holes are a slog, no doubt about it. But what tees me off is that from the back tees, there is a huge swale / ravine that starts almost exactly 300 yards from the back tee box.

 

Stupid design, removes all the options. Unlike the majority of this board I don't pump it out there and carry it 305, but if I do hit a very good drive that catches the slope in the fairway correctly, it rolls right into that swale. So I'm penalized for hitting a long, straight drive. So the hole becomes fairway wood, fairway wood, short iron. Dumb design, and makes for a mindless finish. If anything, the end of the round is when a designer should be forcing me to make a big decision, and these holes just don't permit it.

[zanna5910]

1. illegally tight to fringe pin placements
2. uneven tee boxes or tee boxes that aim or are cut to aim you in the rough
3. spike scrapes and non-filled divots
4. 90* fairway bends at 220
5. those bushes that feel like they are made of razors
6. incorrectly marked sprinklers
7. unfair bunker placements (even though i love an oak tree in the middle of the fairway)
8. terrible bunkers - too much sand, not enough sand, hard, etc...
9. trees on par 3s that overhang into your shot
10. marshals that don't know what they are talking about, or are crabby.
11. pros NOT telling you the greens were punched and/or paying full price when they are punched.

(We were playing in Austin, had 2 holes open behind us, and we were tired of waiting on the group in front of us so we ate at halfway house, at the 12th teebox, a marshall comes up to us and tells us to pick up the pace... lol)

[skinny99]

I love golf so much that I only have a couple.

1) Uneven,Unmown, and/or Bare tee boxes. I know boxes have to have some crown but they dont need to be undulating.

2) Teeboxes so close to greens that you have to wait til the group ahead clears the tee box before you can "safely" tee off.

I play a course where the Green on a 190 yd Par3 is only sepersated by about 8 yards from the next holes tee box (No more than a couple steps each side of the cart path). And the wind is usually blowing at the next tee box also.One of my playing partners has played his second shot off that box more often than not (Plays a draw with a draw wind and the other side is dead)!

[dmadelung]

1) Shared Green's - I think this is just because I really love the courses where they make you feel like you are the only ones out there.

[jswaykos]

Maybe a stupid question, but what do you all mean by "in-course out of bounds"? Something that is technically OB but is perfectly playable?

[Potatohead]

[quote name='jswaykos' timestamp='1307130016' post='3282822']
Maybe a stupid question, but what do you all mean by "in-course out of bounds"? Something that is technically OB but is perfectly playable?
[/quote]

Lots of courses have this so that you can't cut a corner of a dogleg or something by hitting into an adjacent fairway. It's against the rules of golf to have this actually but they do it for safety. It's just a stupid design in the first place to have that possibility.

[JAVink]

I hate, HATE when you don't get important course information when making a tee time or before paying. Played at a local muni for the first time a week ago with my stepfather. After paying, the proshop girl informed us that only 9 of 18 holes were open--due to flooding--and handed us a piece of paper with 9 seemingly random holes on it. She told us just to play those holes twice to get our 18 in. Didn't matter much, I suppose, but I would have liked to know when I called and most certainly before I paid.