these Open Championship Clubs choose to relief grind - Pitchcare

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Technical “In order to tie the golf hole together, the fairway line should generally look to pass through the landing zone incorporating the bunkers within its skirts” luxury, but it is usually still possible to create a varied challenge with the correct placement of hazards. A fairway which is twisted on a diagonal can be a successful way to create interest or, more subtly, creating or utilising a pre-existing roll or plateau within the fairway line can set up an advantageous and disadvantageous position in relation to the green. The golf course architect looks to create a playing area wide enough for balls to find a good selection of landing points, which will help to spread wear whilst also creating a realistic challenge. Fairways that include steep slopes can sometimes struggle, with many balls landing in a relatively small area leading to wear points which, after a playing season, could be littered with divots and bad lies. The architect should look to avoid these issues at the design stage by making some subtle adjustments that can spread the wear of these problem areas. In order to tie the golf hole together, the fairway line should generally look to pass through the landing zone incorporating the bunkers within its skirts, tempting the golfer with the preferred landing zone between these points. This should be wide enough to conceivably land a ball struck at full length with a driver in most cases, equating to a landing zone of between 20-40 yards wide, although some courses can include much wider fairways. Fairways are time consuming elements of golf course maintenance, and the acreage of the eighteen fairways within a typical course directly reflects the amount of time taken to maintain them. This has meant that some courses have greatly reduced the width and, in some cases, the length of fairways in order to cut down on the man hours taken to maintain them, adding to the likelihood of the average width stated above. The overall course size also adds an upper limit to the likely width of a fairway as the hole should, at all costs, look to integrate with its surroundings. If it is hemmed in on both sides by other holes, then the fairway, visually, should look to fill approximately a third of the available space, to allow for clear separation between one hole and the next (see figure two below). Placement When designing a golf hole on paper, I look to add the fairway line last. This is the element of the hole which draws the other elements of the hole together. The playing area will typically expand around the landing zone, and contract in the areas where fewer balls are likely to come to rest. It will wind through bunker complexes and wrap around the green, incorporating some run off areas that may help to create greenside playing and aesthetic interest. The levels of the fairway have to be shaped to allow for shots to be played from it, to appeal enough for shots to be played at it, for it to be aesthetically pleasing and visible for the approaching golfer, and to tell a story, or sometimes sell a story about how the golf hole should be played. Without the fairway as the central focal point of the golf hole, there would be no hierarchy of targets to be aimed at, the hazards would simply be floating in an empty field, and the hole would struggle to make sense. The fairway’s relationship with the rough is also very close. The designer’s decision on where the fairway line is placed is as much about the importance of a good lie as a bad lie, because the fairway line will obviously always determine the rough line. In a lot of cases in the modern game, a semi rough line is cut for the first few metres into the rough to aid golfers whose balls trickle off the fairway. Past this point the challenge for the golfer increases. A shot played into the rough should lessen the available options to the golfer. The ball is less likely to spin from a lie in longer grass, and may be more impeded by obstacles such as trees or a bunker complex within the line of sight to the green, and the shot will have to be played Figure two: Illustration showing a well proportioned fairway to rough ratio. 118 PC FEBRUARY/MARCH 2012 stronger and truer to find a similar length and accuracy to those shots played out of the fairway. It is, therefore, an important element within the strategy of a golf hole. The conscious designer will look to create a naturally shaped rough line which generally follows the contours of the hole and interjects the playing line at points that will challenge the golfer. For instance, the fairway may be a diagonal form which tests the golfer from the tee to carry as much of the rough line in order to progress down the fairway, knowing that, if the first bounce finds the rough line, it is likely to affect the final length of the drive. Deep rough lines generally tend to correlate with the semi rough and rough lines, but shouldn’t interject with the playing line unless the hole is a relatively sharp dogleg, or there is a forced carry. Deep rough, if maintained and placed correctly, can also add to the aesthetic complexity of a golf course, adding depth of textures and colours. This feature should be used rarely as a hazard, as balls can be easily lost in thick rough lines resulting in slow play. Yet, if placed well away from a target line, but still at a point which is clearly visible, can add much to the aesthetic appeal of a golf course. Summary I look to create fairways that link with the other elements of a golf hole to provide a varied challenge throughout the course of a round. The fairway should balance and reflect all other elements of the course, either preexisting or designed, and should create a path for the golfer to aim towards and play successfully through, rewarding them as they find the right points within the wider hole. This article has considered the fairway as the lynch pin of the other elements of the golf hole, and has given an insight into the elements that I look to include when successfully designing the fairway line into a golf hole. In this series Andy Watson has picked the four major elements of a golf course and dissected them to provide an insight into the fundamentals of an architect’s approach to designing a golf course. We hope you have found all four articles interesting to read. If you are interested in Andy’s work, or are interested in working with him, you can follow him on twitter @AWGolfDesign, be a ‘fan’ of his facebook page (search for Andy Watson Golf Design), or visit the website www.andywatsongolfdesign.co.uk.
Technical GIVEN much THOUGHT to your RED DIESEL lately? The fact that the specification for red diesel (BS2869:A2 gas oil) changed significantly in January last year passed many people by, including, it has to be said, many regular users. This is not to say that regular users of red diesel aren’t experiencing problems or aren’t questioning the operability of their machinery - in fact, the reverse is true. So, what is going on, and what has changed? Neil Ryding, Managing Director of FAST ) Fuel Additive Science Technologies), explains The manufacturers of modern diesel engines, whether they be for on-road or off-road use, are coming under increasing pressure to comply with stringent timescales on emissions reduction from their engines. As a result, a huge amount of time and effort has been, and is being, devoted to the mechanical design of an engine and its exhaust system in order to minimise noxious gaseous and particulate emissions. Consequently, ever tighter tolerances are being seen in the sophisticated fuel injection systems in an attempt to maximise combustion efficiency, and the inclusion of sensitive exhaust after treatment devices is now commonplace. So far, so good on the engine, but is the UK’s red diesel up to the job? This question is important, as the vast majority of modern engines are calibrated to run on DERV – EN590. Evidence over the past 12 months suggests that many vehicles running on red diesel require a little ’help’ if they are to operate at optimum performance. Fuel Since the start of 2011, in order to help with the performance of catalyst-based exhaust treatments, and via an EU Fuel Quality Directive, the maximum sulphur content of red diesel for mobile non-road engines (i.e. tractors, backhoes etc) was cut by a factor of 100 (to 20ppm at the point of delivery) whilst, simultaneously, the maximum biodiesel content can now rise to 7% by volume. The cetane number was unchanged at 45, but this is also critical. What Does This Mean for the End- User? Lowering the sulphur content of a fuel is nothing new: road diesel and petrol jumped this hurdle without much problem some time ago. Talking sulphur out, however, does reduce the ‘oilyness’ of fuel – its natural lubricating properties - as during the removal process some extremely useful lubricating hydrocarbons are also lost. This matters, as a lower fuel ‘lubricity’ results in excessive or premature wear in the very close-tolerance parts of common-rail injection pumps and injectors. The current specification does counter this by specifying a lubricity measure, and fuel supplied to this specification should, of course, cause no problems. Note that fuels substantially exceeding this minimum lubricity specification can benefit from improved fuel economy. The second change affecting the maximum biodiesel content is potentially the more questionable. At a maximum 7% by volume, it is now equivalent to the DERV specification. Whilst more biodiesel in the fuel does increase its lubricity, it does have a number of downsides, including: • a much-increased water pick-up potential, leading to a decrease in FEBRUARY/MARCH 2012 PC 119
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SERVING THE TURFCARE INDUSTRY KEYNO
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WELCOME TO pitchcare 2012 - and all
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Andy Gray, Southampton FC Artificia
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Reverting to farmland! The Norfolk
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Amenity-specific NSK revamped More
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Launching Spring 2012 www.ransomesj
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getting the MBE, without doubt. It
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THE REAL STARS OF WEST HAM, WIMBLED
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time. He also was the man who donat
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eason we run the electric triplex a
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times. Cycle times are then modifie
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easonable £12,000. And so Parkston
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Controlled burning of scrub Fairway
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However, in collaboration with the
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after Kerry defeated Cork in last y
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involved various management strateg
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convincing the greens committee to
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As editor of Pitchcare, I am fortun
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Golf In October last year, Ian Robs
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Golf As the course has 100% floodli
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Golf turn, pays for the course. Our
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thought, at the time, the greens we
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Augusta National levels of crickete
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You don’t often hear a golfer say
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THE NEW LT3340. HEAVY-DUTY MOWING F
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natural pitches artificial pitches
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one area? Clubs are then likely to
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also of the RFU and a number of ins
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“Artificial rugby pitches must be
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Rootzone top-up The concept for a N
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Winter Sports With Southampton flyi
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Winter Sports Professional lights s
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Winter Sports “Our most worrying
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Page 72 and 73: Winter Sports ViewPoint Our anonymo
Page 74 and 75: Summer Sports - Bowls Expectations
Page 76 and 77: Summer Sports - Bowls Rainbird irri
Page 78 and 79: Summer Sports - Bowls When it comes
Page 80 and 81: Summer Sports - Bowls “Consistenc
Page 82 and 83: Summer Sports - Cricket “No, I’
Page 84 and 85: Summer Sports - Cricket trimming of
Page 86 and 87: Summer Sports - Cricket SMITH famil
Page 88 and 89: Schools & Colleges After thirty yea
Page 90 and 91: Schools & Colleges One of Chris Edw
Page 92 and 93: Schools & Colleges Ransomes 305 a g
Page 94 and 95: Schools & Colleges Neville Johnson
Page 96 and 97: Schools & Colleges Head Groundsman
Page 98 and 99: Schools & Colleges Joe Cooper’s l
Page 100 and 101: Schools & Colleges Look through any
Page 102 and 103: Equestrian Craig Williamson “This
Page 104 and 105: Equestrian The home straight from t
Page 106 and 107: Technical Seed germination is one o
Page 108 and 109: Technical Trees represent an import
Page 110 and 111: Technical Giant Polypore heaviness
Page 112 and 113: Technical Normally carried out unde
Page 114 and 115: Technical Choosing the right sand c
Page 116 and 117: Technical which is determined by th
Page 118 and 119: Technical In this final article in
Page 122 and 123: Technical “The words ‘gas oil
Page 124 and 125: Technical MONTHLY Diaries I STILL s
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Page 129 and 130: 2. The “threat” scenario If the
Page 131 and 132: Alongside our General Sports Turf M
Page 133 and 134: one I had not predicted, but I stil
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Page 137 and 138: come of it. They’d look at it and
Page 139 and 140: since day one. Barry is, essentiall
Page 141 and 142: Gravel banding is a secondary drain
Page 143 and 144: Ideal for use around tree bases Jap
Page 145 and 146: present a key challenge. “Typical
Page 147 and 148: Quote me happy “... they are comi
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these Open Championship Clubs choose to relief grind - Pitchcare

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