Tall prairie Grass on DG courses

[asjzn6]

What is your opinion on courses that the city or county cuts just a fairway through the grass not everything?

Not cutting all grass is cheaper for city. As disc golfers we dont pay anything for a course (most courses) except taxes.

Having a cut fairway increases aesthetics.

Tall grass creates a rough disadvantage. Stay with me. In ball golf the rough is longer grass. This slows down club speed taking distance off every club. In disc golf tall grass would interfere with run up taking distance off each shot.

Tall grass makes it easy to loose a disc in plain sight.

Hole 14 at Woodhenge is about 650 feet rolling hills down and falling right. The fairway undulates beautifully. The fairway is cut through the tall grass. I was discussing with a buddy the fact that this looks good, this looks like a ball golf course. If we brought out a ball golfer they would appreciate this hole.

 

[Cgkdisc]

It's a balancing act to get grass cutting done properly when all of it is not cut. Fairways should roughly be cone shaped starting from 4-6 feet wide in front of the tee for about 75 feet then gradually increasing to at least 65 feet wide (20m) by the landing zone or pin. If players spend more time looking for their discs than playing the course, then the mowing isn't sufficient and they won't come back to play. One technique that can work in the right situation is to stripe mow where the uncut stripes are 8 feet wide and the cut stripe is the width of one mower pass. This allows players to visually watch which stripe their disc landed. Walking down and back 2 feet in on an 8 ft stripe is about as wide as you want to go for players to find discs.

 

[Dave242]

Tall grass creates a rough disadvantage. Stay with me. In ball golf the rough is longer grass. This slows down club speed taking distance off every club. In disc golf tall grass would interfere with run up taking distance off each shot.

Tall grass makes it easy to loose a disc in plain sight.

Tall prairie grass is a minor obstacle to scoring but a major obstacle for an enjoyable round. Therefore, I have no use for it.

On a 650' hole, you need a pretty big landing area of short grass since the ideal drive will land 350-400'+ from the tee. Tall grass is a small impediment here since you need a pretty good huck still to get to the basket. The bigger impediment to scoring is the 3 minute lost disc rule.

On a hole less than say 475', tall grass does nothing for scoring since an offline drive will land in the long grass, but there is only a short upshot remaining (no big run-up needed).

 

[scarpfish]

Tall prairie grass is a minor obstacle to scoring but a major obstacle for an enjoyable round. Therefore, I have no use for it.

What about if the tall grass is considered OB?

 

[bjreagh]

It's a balancing act to get grass cutting done properly when all of it is not cut. Fairways should roughly be cone shaped starting from 4-6 feet wide in front of the tee for about 75 feet then gradually increasing to at least 65 feet wide (20m) by the landing zone or pin. If players spend more time looking for their discs than playing the course, then the mowing isn't sufficient and they won't come back to play.

This is a basic principle that I like.

Tall prairie grass is a minor obstacle to scoring but a major obstacle for an enjoyable round. Therefore, I have no use for it.

Totally agree.

 

[Cgkdisc]

You still have to find your disc and OB, especially high grass, doesn't always mean much to casual players unless it's a pond or street.

 

[DavidSauls]

I find tall grass a huge annoyance, anywhere a disc is likely to land, including O.B. It doesn't add much to the game and is a pain to search for discs in.

If you want the cool effect, mow the main fairway 3" high and the rest 6" high.

 

[scarpfish]

When our parks department decided a couple of years ago to turn our disc golf course from an all mowed course into a links style layout, I was initially against it, fearing the very thing about spending more time looking for lost discs, but what I noticed is that when the pattern started to grow in, it made me consider sharpening my drives to make sure I landed in the short stuff.

And while there have been some instances of rec players having to look for discs when they shank a throw, it hasn't been anything as bad as we had feared. Granted, we've had extended drought in the two years since the plan was proposed, so we haven't really seen the finished product yet.

If you want the cool effect, mow the main fairway 3" high and the rest 6" high.

The thing is, to the people who mow the grass, the benefit in having a tall grass rough for them is saving money by not mowing part of the course. This isn't accomplished by still mowing everything but raising the blades 3 inches. In fact, it just shortens the mowing cycle.

To me a more practical solution is to mow the entire course maybe 1-3 times a year, have a first cut rough that is maybe mowed every third or fourth mowing cycle, and then mow the fairways every cycle.

I might also note, tall grass doesn't have to be waist high. 12 inches high is plenty, and can be easy to maintain at that height provided the course gets a full buzz cut a few times a year.

 

[Dave242]

When our parks department decided a couple of years ago to turn our disc golf course from an all mowed course into a links style layout, I was initially against it, fearing the very thing about spending more time looking for lost discs, but what I noticed is that when the pattern started to grow in, it made me consider sharpening my drives to make sure I landed in the short stuff.

Oh - I totally agree that it can and will sharpen up your game to practice on it as you are very motivated not to waste time looking in the long grass. I suppose that it is a good thing to get better at landing throws accurately on otherwise wide open holes.

The issue I have is that in a competitive environment (where DG is a sport, not just a game), the tall grass does very little to separate scores based on the skill of accuracy.

 

[DavidSauls]

The thing is, to the people who mow the grass, the benefit in having a tall grass rough for them is saving money by not mowing part of the course. This isn't accomplished by still mowing everything but raising the blades 3 inches. In fact, it just shortens the mowing cycle.

To me a more practical solution is to mow the entire course maybe 1-3 times a year, have a first cut rough that is maybe mowed every third or fourth mowing cycle, and then mow the fairways every cycle.

I might also note, tall grass doesn't have to be waist high. 12 inches high is plenty, and can be easy to maintain at that height provided the course gets a full buzz cut a few times a year.

Agreed.

That's a good practical solution. I've seen courses where it seemed they mowed everything in the fall (that mowing lasts for half a year). During the growing season they keep the main fairway well mown, and only mow the "tallgrass" areas when absolutely necessary.

I've also seen mown fairways the the off-fairway areas being shoulder-high grass. Awful.

It does depend on to what degree it's based on aesthetics, and/or economics.

And how tight the mown area is, and how likely bad throws will enter the tallgrass area.

 

[gvan]

Just engage the services of a model rocketeer. This happened Saturday in the field right next to the DG course in Lawrenceville, GA,

WSB News story

 

[1978]

I personally dont care, if landing zones are fair and mowed then what ever... the down sides that I dont like are increased habitat for ticks and snakes, moisture retention of dew and after rains that drentch shoes of players, and difficulty finding discs.

Benefits: maintenance labor, INCREASED habitat for insects, snakes, birds, mammals and other rodents... Personally when I look at a park, I imagine all the animals that lived there before it was bulldozed and now mowed. I think tall grass allows some of the animals to come back a little and provides a good habitat. The disadvantage is that animals create nests and homes thinking they are safe and some clumsy disc golfer steps all through their residence tracking down and errant throw...maybe if the fields were mowed, the animal would have chosen a more out of the way place to nest.

In the end, I think there is a place for all styles of course in our sport. Some links style courses can't be bad, it adds variety.


^^^^ Yea or a smoker...one way or another someone will take out that field.

 

[SethH]

Idlewild's hole 15 is mowed in this style, with short fairway grass about 50 feet wide, (that's really just a guess, can anyone confirm it's actual width?) and tall native grasses covering the rest of the area. I really hate having to look for my discs for half an hour every time one sneaks into the tall grass, but I think that the tall grass does a great job of turning a mostly open hole into one that you actually have to place your shot carefully.

It really is amazing how hard it is to keep it on a 50 foot wide fairway, especially with how windy it gets on that hole.

 

[mashnut]

I'm in the camp of not enjoying long grass. If it's tall enough to actually affect the next shot, then it's tall enough that finding discs is going to be nearly impossible. If it's lower than that, it adds time and frustration without really adding any difficulty to a shot after missing a fairway. Dewy mornings in long grass are especially frustrating, when a missed shot leads to being soaked up to your knees. If you really like that visual effect, you could mow the rough slightly less often than the fairways, but anything longer than 6" just gets irritating.

 

[Steve West]

Idlewild's hole 15 is mowed in this style, with short fairway grass about 50 feet wide, (that's really just a guess, can anyone confirm it's actual width?)...

Looks like it varies from 60-80 feet wide (on Google Earth).

 

[Dave242]

Idlewild's hole 15 is mowed in this style, with short fairway grass about 50 feet wide, (that's really just a guess, can anyone confirm it's actual width?)

Looks like 80' wide on this map using the Google Maps measuring tool.

 

[DiscChainBasket18]

How rough is the rough?

I've played a couple disc golf courses with tall prairie grass & it's very frustrating. Seeing where your disc goes in & then finding it in that same area is never a certainty! Spending time searching through tall grass gets you ticks, snakes, scratched legs, etc. Hate it! :wall:
But I have seen courses with tightly mown fairways with the 'rough' only slightly higher (not foot tall) & this looks really good! #3 at Sertoma in Wallhalla comes to mind. Tall prairie grass is not the same as the 'rough' seen at a ball golf course because you can usually see the top of the ball. Even if it's plugged.

 

[Dave242]

The rough is this rough at this course (imagine it in the late summer):

 

[jtreadwell]

I'm in the long rough = bad camp as well. I love BAP Disc Golf in Gorham ME, but when the rough hasn't been cut for a while it becomes miserable. The fairways are usually wide enough for any decent shot to land fair, but lord help you if you end up in the 18 - 24", super thick grass that populates the rough. I have never played the course without someone losing a disc in a situation where EVERYONE watches the drive and NOBODY can find the damn disc. Thing is, once you find the disc, it's not THAT hard to get a good drive done even in the rough, so all it adds is frustration. On the flip side of the coin is pleasant hill DGC in Scarborough, ME. The fairway grass is about 1" t0 1.5" high at most with the rough usually about 3". It's neigh impossible to lose a disc but if you skip off of rough you'll slow down a lot faster than hitting the fairway so it still effects your distance by 10 - 20ft. or so. I like that more. Now if only I liked the course itself more!

 

[bazillion]

The way I look at it, tall grass is a feature of some courses that's not present everywhere, just like water is a feature of some courses that's not present everywhere.

If it's there, it what the course has you deal with. So deal with it! We've all had our experiences with unfavorable conditions but really, it's not the end of the world, is it?