Cincinnati Area Courses Succumbing to the Heat and Economy

[tonyt3524]

Sad to say that the heat has drastically effected courses around here. Played a few CRC courses over the last few weekends and what used to be some of the best kept courses around, are now struggling to keep the courses in playable condition. Between brown spots lining the rough and fairways to crab grass growing on the tees and fairways from lack of chemical usage(I guess because of $$$). Really tough times around here for these courses without the rain. Far cry from last summer.

[cake1979]

We played Reeves this weekend and, while it was never a tournament-level course, it did look a little rough. The tee boxes were especially bad. The greens weren't too bad though. My old haunt, the Par 3 course, was looking pretty bad.

That said, it was clear that they were trying their best to keep everything watered in this heat. Several holes had the sprinklers running as we played them and it was noticeably soggy in several fairways.

Of course, the City of Cincy is facing a pretty substantial deficit right now. It's always easier to cut park maintenance than it is to lay off cops and firefighters.

[tonyt3524]

Yea I was at Neuman on Sunday and there were little spots of crab grass growing on the greens! You NEVER see that out there. Same with Glenview, their fairways were getting pretty bad last weekend.

[Tarantula18t]

I played Shaker Run today, and you can really see it out there also. Many of the greens had fringe that was totally burnt, and like a rock. It was more so on the back 9, particularly on holes 12,14,15 which sit low, and don't get much air down there.

Stonelick Hills appears to be holding up the best of any of the courses I have played recently.

[rob_roy28]

YOu can see the economy portion due to lack of proactice chemical laying and then in this heat you cant lay chemicals after the fact to kill diease and crab grass because of the heat. If you do that you will kill the grass ala california this year.

[Cwing]

California in terrible shape. You cannot tell the tee boxes from the rough or the rough from the fariway.

Twin Oaks not so good and that was a month ago.

Legendary Run some brown on greens but rough/fairway were in decent shape.

Kenton County Willows. Greens good, fairways gone.

Kenton County Fox Run. No so good.

Boone Links still very good at least 2 weeks ago.

Lassing Pointe good by comparsion to most but spoty.

Stonelick app 1 month ago. Excellant condition by most any standard.

Traditions better than most.

[Bogeyman82]

I have noticed the same thing. I wonder if other Midwestern courses are in similar shape. The Vineyard in Anderson is in pretty good shape as far as Cincinnati courses right now go. California is absolutely brutal. I don't think I have ever seen a course look that bad. They definitely have something very wrong there. I don't know if it can even be saved. Truly a sad state of affairs for Cincinnati Golf right now.

[birdieboy52]

[quote name='Bogeyman82' timestamp='1282095652' post='2646101']
I have noticed the same thing. I wonder if other Midwestern courses are in similar shape. The Vineyard in Anderson is in pretty good shape as far as Cincinnati courses right now go. California is absolutely brutal. I don't think I have ever seen a course look that bad. They definitely have something very wrong there. I don't know if it can even be saved. Truly a sad state of affairs for Cincinnati Golf right now.
[/quote]


How are the private club conditions?

[Bogeyman82]

Better, but still not good. I have heard that Kenwood is in tough shape and that course is usually immaculate.

Stonelick Hills is almost like a private course in that it gets very little play and is very well maintained. I haven't been there in a while but I have heard that even they are starting to have troubles.

[jones137]

I've noticed the same thing here in Columbus. I haven't played a public course in the last two months that was in good shape.....Clover Valley a couple days ago was horrible, greens were ok, but the rest of the course was bad.

The private clubs I've played (Wedgewood, Tartan Fields, Medallion) all have been in very good shape. That tells me it's more a money issue (or knowledge issue) than it is the weather.

[remlapr]

I'm down around Louisville and it sounds like the courses here have faired better even with the heat. Definitely not like last year, but not as bad as some years I've seen. Despite the heat, we've actually had a good amount of rain mixed in.

[rob_roy28]

Jones, i dont know what it has been like in columbus but three weeks of high heat, humidity and no rain equals rough condtions around here even for high end country clubs (by their standards)

[jgood]

[quote name='Cwing' timestamp='1282073617' post='2645310']
California in terrible shape. You cannot tell the tee boxes from the rough or the rough from the fariway.

Twin Oaks not so good and that was a month ago.

Legendary Run some brown on greens but rough/fairway were in decent shape.

Kenton County Willows. Greens good, fairways gone.

Kenton County Fox Run. No so good.

Boone Links still very good at least 2 weeks ago.

Lassing Pointe good by comparsion to most but spoty.

Stonelick app 1 month ago. Excellant condition by most any standard.

Traditions better than most.
[/quote]


I played Boone Links yesterday, and I must say it is in the best shape out of any other course in the NKY/Cincy area. Fairways are in great shape and so are the greens. The rough was a somewhat burnt up, but I don't try to play from there too much..

[hyperion]

i played boone on the 19th and it was pretty well maintained for the season we've had. some slight patches here and there but for the most part it was smooth sailing.

i thought about playing california for the first time this season but my friends were saying how it looks like you're playing on a beat up football field. im looking for a track to play on thursday..gonna keep this thread in mind when i make my choice.

[Cwing]

[quote name='jgood' timestamp='1282214842' post='2648654']
[quote name='Cwing' timestamp='1282073617' post='2645310']
California in terrible shape. You cannot tell the tee boxes from the rough or the rough from the fariway.

Twin Oaks not so good and that was a month ago.

Legendary Run some brown on greens but rough/fairway were in decent shape.

Kenton County Willows. Greens good, fairways gone.

Kenton County Fox Run. No so good.

Boone Links still very good at least 2 weeks ago.

Lassing Pointe good by comparsion to most but spoty.

Stonelick app 1 month ago. Excellant condition by most any standard.

Traditions better than most.
[/quote]


I played Boone Links yesterday, and I must say it is in the best shape out of any other course in the NKY/Cincy area. Fairways are in great shape and so are the greens. The rough was a somewhat burnt up, but I don't try to play from there too much..
[/quote]

Boone -- Lakeview/Brookview are typically as good as it gets as far as public courses in the area. Ridgeview -- not so much. More of an overflow course. Kids/outtings etc... Short, tight. I live on Ridgeview.

[Sabaka]

The Midwest courses with Zoysia fairways are holding up pretty good. The greens are stressed though and I don't know of any course that has managed to keep their greens in top shape. Course superintendent's are working all their magic but this heat has been very, very tough on them this year.

[tonyt3524]

played Beckett Ridge yesterday for $27 off golf now Course was in better shape then some of the courses but you can tell they are feeling the effects of the heat.

[rob_roy28]

Played Kings Island about a week ago and it was in decent shape all things considered. Also played Jamaica Run in Franklin and the greens were great, shame the fairways reseambled my lawn

[schrand07]

Columbus courses seemed alot better off last summer...aston oaks was a trainwreck

[rob_roy28]

Last summer was the perfect storm. Budget cuts due to declining revenue and the worse combination of heat, humidty and lack of rain. Hopefully this year is better.

[Tarantula18t]

I don't think it could possibly get any worse. Like you said, last season was a perfect recipe for disaster.

I am curious to see how Shaker is going to look. They shut down Woodside early last year to get working on a few of those greens, etc. They said those few greens that were destroyed should be good to go by April. We'll see I guess.

[tonyt3524]

looks like Blue Ash GC didn't suffer to bad, [url="http://www.blueash.com/content/81/91/1108/1112/default.aspx"]http://www.blueash.com/content/81/91/1108/1112/default.aspx[/url]. There goes their rates...

[bppry]

Are any good courses open right now? A couple of us are thinking of driving down from detroit to play next weekend. Not to thread jack but if you could recommend a few that would be great.

[rob_roy28]

Shaker, glenview and stonelick should be open.