Mats

Weve just been informed (after paying our subs) that we will be required to play off mats for the winter (up till March) when on the fairway
Has anyone else had to do this ?
how did it affect your game ?
does it actually help the course in any way ?

they are proposing to use them for up to 5 months per year - which to me is ridiculous

We do it at St.Andrews and a lot of other courses do it too.

Could be worse though, they CLOSE a lot of courses up here over winter.

The best option is roped off fairway where you take it to the side and play from the semi.

No never had the misfortune to have to use mats off the fairway. Up to 5 months does sound rather over protective though to say the least.

My course like a lot of the Essex courses is on clay and does usually get very mucky in the winter. I play most of my golf in the winter in Suffolk where most of the courses are on sandy soil and drain extremely well. Whereabouts are you?

Matts off the fairway? I've never heard of this. Must be a nightmare. Presumably you have to carry a bit of astroturf or something around with you??
For almost half the year?! I'd be going somewhere else!

We have usually 3 holes where the tee is put on a matt for the winter but that's about it

Not as bad as you think. Perfect lie every time, major spin.
Agree they are being over-protective though.

St.Andrews used to rotate which course had them for a month, or previously roped off the areas most affected and permitted you to hit from the semi.

My other course course definitely takes on a winter feel. One tee only, many with mats, quite a few a bit further forward. You do reap the benefits during the growth season though.

Is the matt big enough to stand on?
If just ball sized surely you've constantly got an uphill lie? Ha

It's about a foot long and 6 inches wide

I've seen you guys discuss this before, but never come across it in real life. Is this a Scottish thing?

Is it just on the fairway? Or rough, fringe etc as well? If it's just fairways then it wouldn't affect me, I probably wouldn't even need to carry a mat!

I can understand why they would do this at the Old Course but am surprised the same policy is applied at the other St Andrews courses. I've always been told that one of the principal benefits of membership at a links course is year round playability.

How much damage is there to your course fairways over a normal winter? If people are playing off wrecked and hugely divoted fairways come the spring/summer, they'll moan even more.

raycastleunited wrote:I've seen you guys discuss this before, but never come across it in real life. Is this a Scottish thing?

Is it just on the fairway? Or rough, fringe etc as well? If it's just fairways then it wouldn't affect me, I probably wouldn't even need to carry a mat!

I can understand why they would do this at the Old Course but am surprised the same policy is applied at the other St Andrews courses. I've always been told that one of the principal benefits of membership at a links course is year round playability.

Presume it could happen anywhere where the course gets A), Lot's of play. B) Bad weather. C) Waterlogging issues. D) Less money to spend on greenkeeping. E) A desire to have course in best condition for tourist season

Interesting thing is that you end up using them far less frequently than you'd expect.

Thought this thread was about a former tennis great...

Im not convinced it will make any difference to the fairways - although they have been so abysmal this year I guess every little helps. Hoping its a one-off this year.
Not used them yet so don't know how different it will be - but theyre only small - you don't stand on them , just put your ball on them.

Don't really know what im moaning about really - im hardly ever on the fairway

Used them first time at weekend - theyre horrendous to play off. . Not sure ill bother playing much till were back on grass. Terrible quality , handle fell off within 5 holes (and I didn't hit many fairways, so that was only a couple of shots !)
Any slight slope , and the ball is moving as soon as you ground the club.

Hmm , may need to re-think my membership if this is more than a one off year.

You get used to them Busted, what I would probably suggest though, is you go online and buy a better quality one for yourself, or make your own out of a piece of old carpet or something, either that or kick your ball into the semi.

It's actually a surprise (but shouldn't be) just how infrequently you really need to use them.

I'm led to believe they are used to prevent divots being taken on the fairways which take longer to repair as there is much less growth (almost zero) during the colder months.
They're easy enough to play off I think but like someone said earlier, I use them less than I thought as I'm not always on the fairway!!

pedro wrote:Thought this thread was about a former tennis great...

No no no. Sadly you are displaying your ignorance of boy bands. I thought you would know all about Mats from Busted.

raycastleunited wrote:

pedro wrote:Thought this thread was about a former tennis great...

No no no. Sadly you are displaying your ignorance of boy bands. I thought you would know all about Mats from Busted.

But I DO know that busted just posted about mats...