Metcalfe Conditions??

[NoBack]

Anyone play Metcalfe this past weekend?? How's the course playing? What are the greens like??

Thanks

[Eldred]

Anyone play Metcalfe this past weekend?? How's the course playing? What are the greens like??

Thanks

Did you play? How are the greens? We are going this Sat.

[jeffc]

the greens were definitely subpar. At least one of the greens should be torched and reseeded. The older greens were slow, bumpy and shaggy. The newer ones a bit better but nowhere near where they should be. Personally, I would spend my $ elsewhere right now.

[Pinshark]

It is a shame to hear this. At the start of the season I thought all the greens except the new ones were great. It is really too bad they have not grown in as expected. Is this due to the weather or bugs anyone know?

[Kiwi]

I played the "old" front nine a few weeks ago and they were not bad. Unfortunately the "new" course is in questionable shape. The good greens have been punched and the ball bounces like it's on a dirt bike track. Played again last Monday and although most of the punch markes have "healed" up they are still tough to putt. The bad ones, such as #5, par 3, are getting better, but #6 the par 5 is a write off for the third year in a row. #7 through #15 which are newer, are good shape, but #16 (new) and #18 (new) greens are rather sparse, hard and tough to read. IMHO I think they rushed them a little.

[leftylucas]

I played in May and the greens were the longest I have ever seen on a course. When I brought it up at the clubhouse I was told that no one else had complained, I guess that meant the greens were superb. I never went back except for the NCGT tourny and I hoped it was all better but no such luck, or is it????

[Weazl]

I believe the head greenskeeper that was there, either left for Bearbrook, or works them both now - could that be the issue?

[Paddy963]

Seems there is some interest in the situation at Metcalfe so I'll let you all in on what I know.

Late last fall four greens were re-sodded (1,3,5,6) with number 6 being rebuilt completely to reshape it and remove about 3 feet of clay. Unfortunately the soil that Metcalfe got had clay in it and the sod came with a lovely disease that kept the grass from retaining water.

As anyone that has played recently can see, hole 6 is a disaster. It is going to be redone again this fall. Holes 1 and 5 had patches of new grass put in earlier in the year and they are now starting to grow in properly (you almost can’t see where the patch is on 1 green now). Hole 3 was the only one that survived intact.

Also opened this year where the completely new greens on holes 16 and 18 that were grown from seed. In my opinion, they were opened too soon to compensate for the other problems. They were very sparse and are only now filling in.

The greens on the new nine (holes 7-15), well I have no idea what’s wrong there but they haven’t been very quick this year. They are getting better every week, but I think that the other problems led to these greens being neglected a bit.

One thing that I believe contributes to the problems is the amount of tournaments Metcalfe hosts. The inexperienced players leave ball marks, spike marks etc all over the greens. I even saw one guy driving his cart over the ninth green one weekend. I don’t know how much damage they are doing, but they certainly don’t help.

As someone who plays there a lot, this year has been a bit disappointing.

Sorry for the long-winded post, had to get a few things off my chest.

[jeffc]

thanks for the update. Actually, I didn't find the greens that bad with respect to ball marks, though I certainly fixed my share - but no worse than most courses I play (except the Marshes which is horrendous in this respect). The real issue was #6 green and a good number of the others being bumpy and too shaggy.

[Paddy963]

Ya, #6 is a complete write-off.

I think they weren’t cutting the greens too low to try and help them grow in. That’s probably why they were always so shaggy.

Also if anyone is interested to know, #4 is getting a new green for next year. It is being moved a bit, you can see it being built now. #5 has new tees to make room for the new green on 4. #2 is getting a new green, which will make the hole shorter and be a par 4. And eventually they are going to build new tees and a new green on 17.

[Weazl]

Speaking of Metcalfe, anyone know why its not on Corporate Golf? Us East Enders ( I know ts not int he East but its close ) need more courses? And what about any of the three Links courses?