More courses need to do something.
I played the former Trump Ferry Point yesterday (now Bally's). They finished their aeration about 2 weeks ago and said that CPO would end on the 15th. I come over the bridge and not a cart in sight on fairways... While it CAN be a walkable course, it isn't a very friendly CPO course, and I will explain in a minute. I check in and I'm told cart paths only, blah.. blah.... disappointing, but I have to deal with it. Tee off was at 1PM (traffic getting there is another story with a lane closed getting onto the bridge so it was carnage. Pulled a local move and did an end around probably saving 60-90 minutes to go 2 miles or less).
Supposedly, they do their aeration and keep carts off to "provide the finest and immaculate conditions NYC deserves" (or something like that). To be honest the fairways were chewed up and practically furrowed. Something is going on agronomically. There had been some rain on Monday- nothing unusual. Dried out later on Monday, then Tuesday and Wednesday were beautiful sunny days with breezes that picked up through the day. First couple of holes I noticed drives would nearly plug, or leave pitch marks and essentially stop in a yard or two. Even walking across the fairway (again, and again...) you could FEEL something was wrong- WAY too spongey under foot. It almost felt like the grass wasn't attached to the base. (I've come across this before on courses that sod, then open too soon before it really beds in)
As well as when walking past the field drains you could hear the water rushing like the Colorado River. Previous times, there was a lot more roll out and much firmer turf. Approach shots were taking divots the size of small cats and were heavy since they were so moist.
So maybe they KNOW something is going on and are keeping CPO in effect to try and save it.
Now- onto the main event. I was paired up with 3 gentlemen of 'older persuasion'. 70, 84 and 93. Met up on the range and they were nice guys. 2 had never played there and the other, twice (this is my 4th or 5th), so they were looking forward to playing. the older 2 played the forward tees, while the other an myself played the whites. Fair enough. Here's where courses need to think about their customers. In general the overall pace is going to suffer under CPO rules, but having to make a 93 yo, and an 84 yo constantly have to hit, go back to the cart, move up 100 yards (or less) find another access point, go back to the ball, hit, walk back, etc... is just wrong. Considering the type of 'experience' they are marketing and the, lets face it, "more affluent clientele" they are marketing to, they should provide a way to at LEAST allow 90* for some people. Even the Starter was a bit perplexed and apologized before we even tee'd off. "We had a guy with Parkinson's last week and they wouldn't let him do it". That, to me, is a CLEAR indication that something is seriously wrong with the turf. These 2 older gentlemen were having a tough time and you could see and hear it. Before everyone gets all riled up, we were NOT holding anyone up since we (Well, ME, anyway) had to wait on nearly every shot on the group in front. 2 foursomes that seemed to be trying to play together (but that's another story).
We only had to let one group through, and that was on the tenth tee, we stopped for a few minutes for a restroom break, while the group behind did not. So they were right behind us on the tee hitting from the longer tees, so we let them go on and have THEM wait on that group or 2 ahead. We kept up from there pretty much. it would accordion once in awhile, as normal.
CPO clearly kills pace- it was 5-1/2 hours for everyone. Even IF they had allowed the 90* for the handicapped or elderly, it would not have sped anybody up. These 2 guys were exhausted, they practically walked the whole course anyway. Fair deuce to the 93 year old guy- he stuck it out and was trying to enjoy himself and did say he would like to play there again but ONLY if he could use the cart. Can't say that I disagree.
I played the former Trump Ferry Point yesterday (now Bally's). They finished their aeration about 2 weeks ago and said that CPO would end on the 15th. I come over the bridge and not a cart in sight on fairways... While it CAN be a walkable course, it isn't a very friendly CPO course, and I will explain in a minute. I check in and I'm told cart paths only, blah.. blah.... disappointing, but I have to deal with it. Tee off was at 1PM (traffic getting there is another story with a lane closed getting onto the bridge so it was carnage. Pulled a local move and did an end around probably saving 60-90 minutes to go 2 miles or less).
Supposedly, they do their aeration and keep carts off to "provide the finest and immaculate conditions NYC deserves" (or something like that). To be honest the fairways were chewed up and practically furrowed. Something is going on agronomically. There had been some rain on Monday- nothing unusual. Dried out later on Monday, then Tuesday and Wednesday were beautiful sunny days with breezes that picked up through the day. First couple of holes I noticed drives would nearly plug, or leave pitch marks and essentially stop in a yard or two. Even walking across the fairway (again, and again...) you could FEEL something was wrong- WAY too spongey under foot. It almost felt like the grass wasn't attached to the base. (I've come across this before on courses that sod, then open too soon before it really beds in)
As well as when walking past the field drains you could hear the water rushing like the Colorado River. Previous times, there was a lot more roll out and much firmer turf. Approach shots were taking divots the size of small cats and were heavy since they were so moist.
So maybe they KNOW something is going on and are keeping CPO in effect to try and save it.
Now- onto the main event. I was paired up with 3 gentlemen of 'older persuasion'. 70, 84 and 93. Met up on the range and they were nice guys. 2 had never played there and the other, twice (this is my 4th or 5th), so they were looking forward to playing. the older 2 played the forward tees, while the other an myself played the whites. Fair enough. Here's where courses need to think about their customers. In general the overall pace is going to suffer under CPO rules, but having to make a 93 yo, and an 84 yo constantly have to hit, go back to the cart, move up 100 yards (or less) find another access point, go back to the ball, hit, walk back, etc... is just wrong. Considering the type of 'experience' they are marketing and the, lets face it, "more affluent clientele" they are marketing to, they should provide a way to at LEAST allow 90* for some people. Even the Starter was a bit perplexed and apologized before we even tee'd off. "We had a guy with Parkinson's last week and they wouldn't let him do it". That, to me, is a CLEAR indication that something is seriously wrong with the turf. These 2 older gentlemen were having a tough time and you could see and hear it. Before everyone gets all riled up, we were NOT holding anyone up since we (Well, ME, anyway) had to wait on nearly every shot on the group in front. 2 foursomes that seemed to be trying to play together (but that's another story).
We only had to let one group through, and that was on the tenth tee, we stopped for a few minutes for a restroom break, while the group behind did not. So they were right behind us on the tee hitting from the longer tees, so we let them go on and have THEM wait on that group or 2 ahead. We kept up from there pretty much. it would accordion once in awhile, as normal.
CPO clearly kills pace- it was 5-1/2 hours for everyone. Even IF they had allowed the 90* for the handicapped or elderly, it would not have sped anybody up. These 2 guys were exhausted, they practically walked the whole course anyway. Fair deuce to the 93 year old guy- he stuck it out and was trying to enjoy himself and did say he would like to play there again but ONLY if he could use the cart. Can't say that I disagree.
