Ottawa - Gatineau Spring Golf Conditions

[jeffc]

played Stonebridge yesterday. The tee boxes and fairways are in great shape, actually the fairways are in phenonminal shape. The bunkers were all well raked and in great shape as well. Fescue is minimal at this time of the year. The greens were punched either late last year or early this year so are a bit bumpy but will fill in in the next 2-3 weeks. Despite two days of rain, the course showed little signs of standing water, etc.

[Golfer_Gofer]

played Manderley - North - South on sunday morning.

North - Fairways were damp but no standing water. Greens are in great shape. Slow because of the rain but after a few sunny days they'll speed up

South - A few spots of standing water especially on par 3s between green and tee box. greens are just the same.. slow but rolling true.

both courses have some tee boxes that need some work - lots of divots and very damp.

[The Shtick]

I played Le Sorcier yesterday. $65 for 2 w/cart.

Course was in great shape! Greens were slower than a fat turtle but that's expected there. Only a couple of soggy spots but the course was a great deal for the price we paid. We even got two free coupons to play Algonquin as well (valid until mid May).

It's a must play course for that price at this time of year.

[Maverick]

65$ for 2 with cart? Until when is that special? Was it twilight? I will be booking there Tuesday afternoon for sure

[The Shtick]

We played on Wednesday morning at 11:00.

[Bullet]

Played Hammond on wed, I was very impressed with the greens. The best early conditions in years that I've seen there.

[Andy4Par]

Played Calabogie today. Course is in fantastic shape. Greens were fast and perfect. Fairways were great. Tee boxes on some holes were sparse but overall very good conditions. The usual two soggy fairways...#4, and #17.

[Kiwi]

Played (1-6, 16-18) here on Monday (30th). Good spring conditions and I was surprised at how dry the fairways were. New greens (1,3,5-6) coming along. Overall greens were a little shaggy but all green and growing in well. Improvements/re-contouring noted on #3 and #6 will greatly improve quality of those holes. Heard that they are planning to do another 6 holes this fall and the last 6 the following year.

[Kiwi]

Played here Friday AM. Tees, fairways and greens in good shape. Greens very lush and not cut down to mid season height but still very puttable. Fairways very dry for this time of year and it appears that they have worked on the drainage over the off season.

[John]

Played Anrprior this morning. Course is looking good and is fairly lush fairway wise. The greens are rolling fast and are still showing signs of aeration but aren't bad at all. They are surprisingly rock hard for this time of year though.

[Daft_driver]

Well now I know why Casselview opened late. Their greens were horrible. Looked like someone dropped cluster bombs over each one. Sucks cause their greens were fantastic last year...

[DIbit]

Casselview's greens actually looked worse than they played. The fairways and tee boxes are in excellent shape. They said in 2-3 weeks the greens should be cleared up.

[LBH]

That's very odd of Casselview - I used to be a member there and the greens were always pristine early on in the season. I'm very surprised by this...

[stevek]

Played Calabogie today. Course is in fantastic shape. Greens were fast and perfect. Fairways were great. Tee boxes on some holes were sparse but overall very good conditions. The usual two soggy fairways...#4, and #17.

Played there last week and hit a bomb well past the soggy part of 17 to 100 yard marker. Thank God 'cause my wife plugged and couldn't get a good hit because of the bog.

Were the mosquitos bad? (on 4/5) They almost carried me away!

[dH]

You know what, poplar grove is a good test of golf. Lots of 400+ par 4's and lots of holes has alot of trouble on it; particularily water around the greens on long holes. That being said the problem with the place is it's not kept in the best shape. The greens were kinda like a fairway most of the time very slow and bumpy and the fairwarys were in the worst shape of any of the courses I played yet this year.

That being said I still enjoy playing there and it's hard to score well with 190 yard par 3's over water and the like. I'm going back today to play the par 3 with a wedge. Great place to work on your short game. All and all I kinda like the grove as I like shot making golf courses that reward a good shot and punish a bad one. Just wish the greens were in better condition. Maybe if it was a 27 instead of 36 hole course it would be in better shape.

[Big Johnny69]

Played Greensmere Saturday. Course looks in great conditon. Think the fairways need to grow just a bit, tight lies on fwys are tough.

Greens were rock hard and lightening quick (and this coming from a member at Edgewood, although Edgewood's greens have never been called lightening quick, but they do get rock hard, but I can still hold those greens). A little disappointing. I don't remember the greens being like that ever. I'm not used to having to run the ball onto greens at Greensmere. Couldn't fly the ball onto the green, it didn't have a chance of holding. Had a 1/2 swing 58* from about 60 yds into 13. Hit about 20 ft below the flagstick (green that slopes back to front) and ball almost ran off the mound at the back of the green. Other than that and the wind, it was a great day.

[Maverick]

I played Le Sorcier yesterday. $65 for 2 w/cart.

Course was in great shape! Greens were slower than a fat turtle but that's expected there. Only a couple of soggy spots but the course was a great deal for the price we paid. We even got two free coupons to play Algonquin as well (valid until mid May).

It's a must play course for that price at this time of year.

I just got off the phone with Le Sorcier golf course and they mentionned that they don't have spring time special...?

What did you have to do to get that deal?

[John]

I played Greensmere on Friday and definitely mirror Johnston's sentiments exactly. The greens were incredibly hard and very very fast, they definitely need to soften them up a bit.

[jvincent]

A question for the agronomists out there, is there some new trick about not watering the greens early?

Reading Geoff's and John's comments about Greensmere, I have the same comment about Stonebridge. The fairways are nice and lush but from the looks of them, I'd say they haven't watered the greens at all this year an as such they have been very hard as well.

Anybody know a greenskeeper that could comment?

[Big Johnny69]

I was wondering the same thing about watering the greens. I hit a towering PW into one of the greens on Sat at Greensmere and couldn't find my pitch mark.

[John]

Have to say too that if you thought Greensmere was bad that the greens at Anrprior are definitly much worse softness wise. It was very very hard to hold greens there and i didn't see a pitch mark all day!!

[The Shtick]

I just got off the phone with Le Sorcier golf course and they mentionned that they don't have spring time special...?

What did you have to do to get that deal?

That's odd. It was my buddy who paid for me when we played. I questioned him about the price and he didn't have any coupons or anything like that. For all I know, It could have been a morning special (before 11:00am) or a Wednesday special. I have no idea, but that's the price we paid.

[spackler]

Played Greensmere Saturday. Course looks in great conditon. Think the fairways need to grow just a bit, tight lies on fwys are tough.

Greens were rock hard and lightening quick (and this coming from a member at Edgewood, although Edgewood's greens have never been called lightening quick, but they do get rock hard, but I can still hold those greens). A little disappointing. I don't remember the greens being like that ever. I'm not used to having to run the ball onto greens at Greensmere. Couldn't fly the ball onto the green, it didn't have a chance of holding. Had a 1/2 swing 58* from about 60 yds into 13. Hit about 20 ft below the flagstick (green that slopes back to front) and ball almost ran off the mound at the back of the green. Other than that and the wind, it was a great day.

I played there Thursday, and though the greens might be a bit harder than normal, they are consistent through 18 holes and are rolling very true. The aprons in front of the greens can be very soft, but they are also firmer at the moment, making it easy to run a ball up. It's supposed to be a links style course on the front, and conditions are playing very true to that.

Aside from that, I think the lack of rain is affecting a lot of courses. Mid-July conditions out there.

[Big Johnny69]

I played there Thursday, and though the greens might be a bit harder than normal, they are consistent through 18 holes and are rolling very true. The aprons in front of the greens can be very soft, but they are also firmer at the moment, making it easy to run a ball up. It's supposed to be a links style course on the front, and conditions are playing very true to that.

Aside from that, I think the lack of rain is affecting a lot of courses. Mid-July conditions out there.

I didn't seem to find them consistent. In general perhaps, but I found three or four to be even quicker than most of them. I can't recall the numbers, but had a few putts that went zipping by the holes that I thought should've stopped much sooner based on the previous holes.

But I can't deny about the true roll. Ball was rolling great. To compare, I played Manderly on Wed and those greens were running just as true and smooth, but no where near as hard and fast. The greens at Manderly were receptive and rolled at a very nice and controllable pace. I just found the greens at Greensmere to be stupid fast. I had one up hill putt that I thought was going to end up a good two or three feet short and it ended up rolling to about 8". Just wasn't very enjoyable to putt on, for me at least. I like fast greens, but these were too quick in my opinion.

[Bullet]

That's very odd of Casselview - I used to be a member there and the greens were always pristine early on in the season. I'm very surprised by this...

I never seen anything like the situation they have with their greens. Look like all last years holes are coming back up. Very odd situation but I aggree that it didn't affect the putting so much.

[knickers]

Played manderly yesterday(central/north) and the course was in great shape. Greens where hard and fast with no signs of aeration. Luckily I like them like this. The fairways were in very good shape. Just a few of the tee boxes will need some time to grow in.

[John]

Anyone play Loch March yet?

[leftylucas]

I never seen anything like the situation they have with their greens. Look like all last years holes are coming back up. Very odd situation but I aggree that it didn't affect the putting so much.

This is odd seenig that they waited so long to remove the tarps on most of the greens.

[Big Johnny69]

Anyone play Loch March yet?

LobWedge did a review in the Ottawa Local forum.

[curls]

Played 18-West at the Canadian on Sunday morning. VERY good shape overall, and the greens were excellent. Firm but not too much so, and they rolled very, very true. The only dryness we encountered was on 14 (?) fairway but the green on that hole was still great.

Nothing was soggy at all, and we hoenstly felt like we were playing it in mid-July conditions (except for the lack of leaves, and the 8*C temps that morning!). Marshalling was proactive and we appreciated that. Pace was excellent (4h10m).

Even sweeter was the fact we had a coupon for a free round with the purchase of a round + GPS cart. So $43 taxes in PP and we were on our way.