How much OB is too much OB?

[Aim For The Chains]

Having a defined fairway with everything outside of it as OB is great idea!

It is going to help save our woods/forests. Players(most) will walk over and get their discs rather than beat everyting down causing ruts so on and so forth.

Do you want to see a badly eroded, bare to down to dirt kind of hole. No big money sponser will want anything to do with something that looks that unprofessional.

its not like people just leave their disc behind b/c it went ob... 4 of us were walking around in it searching for 1 players disc. It doesn't seem to do much when you have tough fairway already kicking discs off into areas you want to protect.

 

[Aim For The Chains]

I think it all comes down to how wide and long that path is between the tee and where it opens into the field. <75 feet and I don't see the issue with the design, including the OB. >75 feet and that's asking a lot of most players.

hole is 250 slight right turning shot. Open area to basket is ~110' just measured on google maps to the ending of path... so the DZ just inside the wooded area probably plays 125' to the hole. It seems to be a even split distance wise.

The opening to get out of the path area is probably a 20'ish window.

 

[JC17393]

its not like people just leave their disc behind b/c it went ob... 4 of us were walking around in it searching for 1 players disc. It doesn't seem to do much when you have tough fairway already kicking discs off into areas you want to protect.

There is a big difference, and I speak from experience, between an area that people walk through to just retrieve a disc and an area they walk through to find a disc and throw from its location.

My course has OB areas along the perimeter of a couple fairways that are quite thick with vegetation...trees, bushes, etc. Discs go into them quite often, along with the player(s) in search of them. There isn't a great deal of damage or thinning going on in these areas as the course has seen ever increasing numbers of players over the years. In fact, those areas seem to be getting denser and taller...most of the trees were knee to hip high when the course went in (you could stand amongst them and throw over them easily), now many of them are over 10 feet tall, if not higher.

On the other hand, there are a couple other holes with similar thick growth areas off the sides of the fairways which are not marked as OB. Those areas are showing signs of being worn down (clear foot paths amongst the trees) with loads of broken limbs and trees. Clear evidence of players trying to force their own "fairways" out when they play out of their lies.

I think while not every player through the course observes OB rules properly, there are a lot of players who at the very least respect those OB lines and avoid throwing out of those hard to play out of spots. They might not take a proper drop or a penalty, but they don't throw from inside the OB. Makes a huge difference in keeping the area from getting abused and eroded.

 

[Aim For The Chains]

I thought ive seen Chuck mention he thinks it is bad design to line a fairway with logs etc for the opposite reason.

BRP is plenty developed in the wooded areas. Thinning of some crap is not a problem on this back side or particular area. The next hole throws RIGHT into the woods next to this holes tee with even a new green cleared out all of 200' adjacent in the wooded area.

 

[bhadella]

Are those two "trees" along the edge of the path natural or placed there for effect?

 

[1978]

There are all sorts of ways to reduce erosion. Mandos and OB for safety never work because most players dont care about rules...

 

[Aim For The Chains]

standing up not laying down right? pretty sure they have been there since I started playing and definitely have an effect lol. The picture also gives a little illusion of "space" off to the right and left sides which isn't as clean to get through as it might appear.

OB ruined the fun of this hole for me which was trying to get out to the open basket.

 

[Cgkdisc]

I thought ive seen Chuck mention he thinks it is bad design to line a fairway with logs etc for the opposite reason.

Not so much bad design as the unclear status of the logs unless they are partially buried, perhaps painted, or held in place by pegs along the way to confirm their status as "part of the course". If they are simply moved into place along the fairway, players feel they can move them (or are unclear) for casual relief since they qualify as "unattached dead branches".

 

[FriedInTheDesert]

Is there a rule regarding how close the OB is to the basket? Same question for a league playing doubles.

 

[JC17393]

Is there a rule regarding how close the OB is to the basket? Same question for a league playing doubles.

There are no rules that dictate course design.

 

[araytx]

Ask johnrhouck to chime in.