Members will have no doubt noticed a number of large trees have recently been removed or pruned and this had been for a variety of reasons.
- The diseased pines on the right hand side of the first fairway have been removed.
- The casuarina tree alongside the 13th tee has been lopped to allow more light into the tee to encourage growth of the grass on the tee.
- The large pine alongside the 14th tee has been removed. The roots of this tree were surfacing through the tee restricting the area available for use.
- The three casuarina trees dividing the practice fairway have been taken out to open up this area for member use. Improvements will be made to the area including the addition of distance markers.
The piped crossing on the 16th fairway is now in use and work will commence on the crossing to the 7th tee.
A number of mounds have also been turfed, along with the area between the 17th green and 18th tee, and artificial grass fitted to the steps of a number of tees.
How come they missed the gum in front of the 17th green?
Just keep hitting it with your shots Phil and they won’t need to remove it.
At least trim the tree on the 17th green, so that you can have a shot at the green from the fairway without hitting a 40m slice! Or do you want people to play down the 16th? I’ve already been hit once and I can forsee many others suffering the same fate
I had the fortune to play with a couple of gentlemen from Dapto the other day who found more rotten (rotting) trees on the course than I, and wished them removed as well. Those mentioned include a coiuple in front of the 6th green as well as the aforementioned 17th beauty. We wondered what sort of a gum it was and concluded that it was a a political gum. New to me . I thought it was a scruffy butt.
I agree with DR. In order to discourage people from playing down the 16th, and to encourage them to play the hole correctly, why not have the grass mown down the left hand side of the 17th in front of the palms. At the moment, you are punished more for being a little astray than what you are if you deliberatley play the completely wrong fairway. The rough could be grown in between the two drains on the 16 th, the ladies’ tee moved forward so it doesn’t impact on them, and the 17 th fairway wider to encourage people to use it. By trimming the branch that hangs over the 17th green, would also not punish people for being a little bit out with their distance. At the moment, it is easier and you get a better line in to the green by using the 16th, but this is extremely dangerous for people walking up that fairway. We need to ensure that the course is played the correct way, and that people who choose not to play it that way risk being punished (in their scores) more than those who play it as designed.
From now on the tree on the 17 th is known as Phil Bowden’s scruffy butt
Golly! a tree named after me. However, of all the trees on all the courses I have played the Scruffy Butt on the 17th would be a prize winner in any irritation stakes.
It looks to me that the 17th could do with a rethink as you just cannot trust the trees not to grow. Going down the 16th fairway will only be good for a few years till the intervening trees grow another 10 ft. So maybe we can utilize the 17th fairway more by ensuring that the whole green can be seen and played to from anywhere on that fairway at about the 150 m marker, by removing all the 3 dimension hazards( trees) that obscure the green.
I would be prepared to sacrifice my scruffy butt for this honourable, needy, overdue,worthy, well considered cause.
Of ocurse, not even the professionals can go for every pin on every hole. Maybe those who complain about this tree need to learn to go for the middle of the green, take their two putts for a par and not try to be so greedy.
PG apparently doesn’t understand the reasoning behind the complaints. IT IS DANGEROUS to hit up the 16th when playing the 17th. The positioning of the tree encourages people to play the hole in this way. As for the trees guarding the left front of the green, they are well back from the green as opposed to the other tree, which overhangs the green. Don’t chop it down, just trim the overhanging branches.
Loretta Green’s suggestion about mowing the grass in front of the palm on the 17th is a very good idea. It would encourage big hitters to aim in this area rather than down the 16th thus making it safer. PG (Phil Green I assume) makes a valid comment about aiming to the front of the 17th green (not the centre as this is also obscured) when hitting from the right side of the 17th fairway. I can see the beauty of forcing a left to right shot into a green and have no issues with this concept. The longer hitters shouldn’t have any problems anyway with the tree in question as they are usually only hitting a wedge and can easily clear the overhanging branches when the pin is at the back of the green. It is the people like myself who often need to hit a 5(or more) iron into this green that have a problem. It is very hard to hit these clubs high enough to clear the overhanging branches. You cannot go down the left side of the fairway off the tee because of the trees there. Your only option is to play to the right bringing the left to right shot into play if you want to get it on the green. There is not much of a lay up area either, and I doubt the 150 metre marker is accurate anyway, causing many people to miss-judge the distance. Of course you can just hit it down 16, but this is very dangerous. I don’t believe in rewarding mediocre play. Hitting down the 16th is just that. I encourage you to just trim the tree, thus making it fairer for the average golfer, but not taking away the characteristic forced shot and beauty of the hole.
I understand the reasoning behind the complaints, as you would see from my earlier posts where I have said how dangerous it is playing down the 16th instead of the 17th. Hence my suggestions to try to force people to play the course as designed. The other alternative would possibly be to make the 16th out of bounds from the 17th. This is quite a drastic solution, but should stop those who deliberately play over to the 16th. I have seen similar solutions at other clubs where wayward shots pose a danger to people playing on the correct fairway. However, the higher markers who inadvertently hit over there are then punished for steps that have been taken to stop the lower markers who deliberately hit over there. I agree that trimming the branches slightly may be of some assistance, but I think there are other steps that need to be taken in conjunction with this, as detailed in the earlier posts above.
Clearly PG you have the best interests of the members at heart and show concern about their safety. Your suggestions are very worthwhile and I am sure would promote the playing of the 17th as the planner intended. My comments on this forum are intended to promote positive discussion about making our very good course even better. Again thank you for your valued contributions. Good work Phil.