I have recently gone on to our Club's Green's Committee. We are presently looking at ways to improve the playing experience for all our members. the course is a seaside clifftop course in the UK originally designed by Harry Colt. Our membership are predominantly older players with a quite high proprtion of ladies. There are a fairly limited number of low handicappers. Our course is very prone to wind (Average about 15mph) but often much more than this. There are no trees to speak of but the rough is gnarly and tough once you are in it. Several of our fairways slope and you can get a lot osf side hill lies.

With the above in mind does anyone have any thoughts an a baseline width for the fairways? I have had it suggested to me that 40-50 yards is appropriate.

All help appreciated.

thanks
Nick

Is the wind predominately a cross wind on the majority of the holes or against/dowwind? The course I usually play is very windy for my part of the world and there is water in play on every(yes Every) hole. That being said we have the usual "country club" rough so you can spin it from almost anywhere. I think a 40-50 yd fairway should be plenty unless your normal wind is across in the direction of the slope of the fariways. BTW, Harry Colt was a great designer who is very underrated. What is the name of your course?

Golf club is Thurlestone Golf Club near Plymouth in England. http://www.thurlestonegolfclub.co.uk/pages.php/course.html

Generally crosswind on half the holes.

That is a beautiful piece of land and I notice you're not far from Kingsbarn. It's hard to tell from the pictures but I still think 40-50 yards is sufficient as a general guideline. Of course, on some holes I'm sure the land may dictate a slight modification. Has the course changed much over time? You may want to go back to the original designs, if available, to get a little inspiration and see what the architect had in mind when he first laid it out. Have fun and let me know how it turns out.

Yes it a really great location. The course has changed quite a lot over time and not always for the better IMHO .You are spot on with your comment about the original plans, that is exactly what I am going to try and push for.

I've just been on google earth and measured the width of the fairways at your course with the handy ruler function. At the moment, most fairways measure 25 - 30 yards withe widest being about 35 yards.

40-50 yard wide fairways would be a HUGE change.

Yikes! 40-50 yards wide!? At my home club in the Netherlands where its quite windy most of the time as well (Its 5 km from the coast) our widest fairways are 25 yards but average below 20. No wonder guys on this forum swing out of their socks all the time and hit 300 yard drives. If I did that i´d loose 10 balls a round as we have impenetrable "lose your ball" 2nd cut rough..

So 40-50 yard fairways will surely improve your driving pleasure

Thanks for the input guys.

To give some idea just how difficult it can be one of our best players ( 1 hcap) shot a 98 the other week in a comp. The other thing we are noticing a huge drop off in competition entries which I personally think a lot of is down to the way the course is set up. At times it can make you look absolutely foolish..no fun at all.

Elmbo I feel for you, that is like US Open width fairways! A lot of the course the guys on here play on are beautifully manicured and the rough in the US i have generally found to be quite groomed compared to Europe. To me the fairways over there are very wide and you can bomb it out there quite happily.

More later but work calls!

20??!!!! Come on - are you serious? Below 20 yards wide? On Average?? What course is that? I want to look it up on Google myself - that's AWEFULLY narrow. Seriously, what course is that?

Less than 20 yards?! Seriously, I've seen mini-golf courses with wider fairways than that!

Well, It might be around 20 meters average which is 22 yards. The problem is that I live in one of the most populated countries in the world and we just don´t have the room for these huge courses. Have a look for yourself, my course is call Leeuwenbergh, google coordinates:

52° 3'15.13"N
4°21'31.08"E

I must also say that our course is going to disappear starting 2011. The city of The Hague (you know, where the War Tribunal is) has decided to build a tunnel which starts in the middle of our course. The advantage is that the city will build us a brand new 27 holes championships course in a much better and roomier location than we have now

Well, I think you're a little off in your averages (seems to be about 30-yard average width), but it IS a very narrow course. It's also (from the Google View anyway) a beautiful course. Looks awesome. Sorry it's gonna go bye-bye...

This Google Earth thing really helps me to re-evaluate things. Just checked my own home course at 48*17' N, 16*30' E. Widest part in any of the landing areas is 32yds, average is more like 29. Maybe my driving isn't all that bad, after all

For the OP: I think that fairways of 40-50 yds would change the character of the course considerably. Unless your historic research shows you that Mr. Colt meant it to be that way, I would vote against it. Maybe the club could build some new forward tee boxes instead to make it easier for the memberst
98 for a 1hcp is a tough score, but that's the way seaside golf is. My home course is very windy as well, so I know how tough that can be, but people should know that before they join a club, shouldn't they?

Well, it´s funny you measured at that exact spot as that is hole 10 and is our widest fairway at the landing zone by far and is actually the only hole were I usually take the driver because it´s pretty wide. I´m afraid it´s really way below 30 yards on average...

P.S. Just measure the width of all the fairways at the tee off landing area´s. The average fairway width throughout the course is 25.09 yards... I wasn´t to far off

P.S. 2. Yeah, its a shame the course is going bye bye indeed. Its in great condition currently and a fantastic test of golf as it plays really tough and I notice players from our club on average play way below their handicap on other courses. But hopefully we´ll get an even nicer course back as I´ve heard we have a 25m€ budget for a new 27 hole course...

Hah! No way! Heh - that's kinda funny. Well, it's dang narrow (that course) that's for sure!