PGLS

Hey :)

I don't watch golf on tv much, since I don't have those channels lol

How wide from the fairway on par 4 and 5s you say would get? Just a few feet from the fairway or are there like scenarios where it's alot more?

/Led

There is no general rule regarding the width of light rough adjacent to the fairway. The width of the first cut will generally vary from course to course and it may not even be consistent on the same course (although in some tournaments, the club, the tournament director or the USGA might instruct that the first cut be mowed a certain width). For golf course superintendents who want to have a uniform first cut, it is often the width of one or two mower passes. A rough reel mower is generally used to cut the transition area from fairway to deep rough and generally cuts a swath 72 to 80 inches wide.

To reduce the time spent by golfers searching for lost balls in deep rough, the R&A Pace of Play Manual (Section 3.3 - Fairway Width and Rough Height) recommends extending the width of the first cut of rough so that balls that initially land on the fairway are less likely to run through the first cut into deeper rough (which may be more cost efficient than widening fairways because of the frequency and speed of mowing)s.

Bottom line - you can use whatever width you want or, for that matter, none at all. If, however, you are replicating a real course (especially a famous tournament course), you may want to find out if they have a prescribed width for their first cut.

As for special situations in the design program, if you are ringing your green with a first cut (usually placed outside the collar), you may want the width of the first cut around your fairway to match the width of the first cut around the green to make the transition more seamless from fairway to green.

Ty charlie :)

You're so good my knees hurt :D

ty for all :)

Happy to help ledsvik. I remember having lots of questions when I began my first design. You may be interested in some U.S. Open Course Maintenance standards (2011 at Congressional) that I stumbled across here -

https://www.golfclubatlas.com/forum/ind ... 520.0;wap2

These are eleven years old, so they may have changed.

Congressional Country Club (2011)
Course Fact Sheet
Fairways:
Width: Ranges from 18 to 35 yards, averaging 25 yards wide in the primary landing zones.
Grass Type: Predominantly Penncross creeping bentgrass along with other varieties interseeded over the years.
Mowing Height: 0.345 inch
Tees:
Grass Type: Penncross creeping bentgrass
Mowing Height: 0.345 inch
Greens:
Grass Type: Greens were rebuilt in 2009 to USGA Guidelines for Putting Green Construction and established with a blend of Penn A-1 and A-4 creeping bentgrass.
Mowing Height: 0.10 inch
Mowing Height for collars and approaches: 0.310 inch
Target Stimpmeter Reading: 14-14.5 feet
Irrigation Practices: Only hand-watering on the greens. The goal is to achieve firmness without compromising the health of the grass. Soil moisture levels are constantly monitored with hand-held testers and in-ground sensors. Fairways and tees are irrigated on an as-needed basis. Wetting agents have been applied due to sand topdressing of both fairways and tees. The goal is to achieve even wetting when irrigation is applied.
Roughs:
• Grass Type:
o intermediate rough – primarily perennial ryegrass
o primary rough – predominantly turf-type tall fescue.
• On each side of the fairway, a 6-foot wide swath of intermediate rough running the length of each hole will be mowed at 0.875 inch. The same mowing height is used for the bunker tie-ins.
• On greens with a primary rough, the mowing height is 3 inches.
For the sixth consecutive year, the USGA will use graduated primary rough. This setup creates a tougher and more challenging recovery shot for those who hit their drives farther off-line.
• The first cut of primary rough is 6 yards wide and mowed between 2.75-3.25 inches, depending on the length of the hole.
• The second cut of rough is mowed to 4 inches, depending on the turf growth rate. This height extends to and beyond the gallery rope lines.
Bunkers:
Maintenance: New sand has been added to all bunkers. All bunkers are hand-raked.
Maintenance Crew:
Congressional C.C. crew size: 55
Number of mechanics on staff during the Open: 3
Number of volunteers: 120. Most are experienced golf course superintendents and assistant superintendents who volunteer their time for the week.
Where the volunteers are housed: Nearby in housing at American University.
How the maintenance crew and volunteers are fed: Breakfast, lunch and dinner are prepared by the Congressional C.C. chef for the entire maintenance staff and volunteers.
Typical hours worked during the championship: Morning shift 4 a.m. to 8 a.m. Afternoon shift 4:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. Staff is on property throughout the day in case of rain.
Miscellaneous Maintenance Points:
Amount of extra equipment on hand: Six walking greens mowers, four walking collar mowers, eight turf rollers, four walking tee mowers, 19 five-plex fairway mowers, three rotary rough units with 9-foot cutting width, two rotary rough units with 6-foot cutting width, one reel rough unit with 6-foot cutting width, two mechanical bunker rakes, 22 maintenance carts and 36 squeegees.
Typical mowing schedule during the championship: All principal in-play areas will be mowed every day. Greens, tees and fairways are mowed twice a day.
Soil moisture: Monitored by in-ground soil sensors and hand-held soil moisture meters. The greens are also equipped with an underground water evacuation system.
Soil Firmness: The firmness of the greens will be measured each day (morning and evening) using the USGA TruFirm system to monitor soil firmness. A relative range has been determined for each green to gauge the receptiveness of the green in holding an approach shot.

ty :)

Not sure how that will help me but it seems quite consummately :)

ledsvik wrote: Sat Apr 23, 2022 8:38 pm ty :)

Not sure how that will help me but it seems quite consummately :)

It may not help you directly unless you are designing a U.S. Open course, but it does contain information relating to the configuration of the rough for the 2011 U.S. Open. The USGA prescribed a "graduated rough" for this tournament. There was a 6 foot intermediate rough mowed at 0.875 inch, then an 18 foot primary rough 2.75 to 3.25 inches high, then a secondary rough of unspecified width cut to 4 inches, then the deep rough. This is just an example of there being no fixed rule on the configuration of the rough for all golf courses and, therefore, what the USGA required for the 2011 U.S. Open tournament. The fairways were cut to 0.345 inch surrounded by three (3) rings of gradually longer grass before reaching the deep rough.

The width of the fairways is also good information. US Open courses traditionally have narrow fairways (averaging 25 yards in the landing areas). On the other hand, a typical golf course will generally have wide fairways (35-60 yards). If you design all your courses to US Open standards, you will get complaints that your fairways are too narrow.

I typically design fairways in the 30-35 yard width range...and I have received some complaints about them being too narrow. I also typically place an intermediate rough around the fairways about 4-6 yards wide.

But, like I say, you are free to do what you want.