Your definition of "Goat track"?

[Wi-Golfer]

It's not always about the condition of the course, the greens & fairways can be perfect yet the layout can suck. Or perhaps there are houses to close, etc.

There is one 9 hole course I play every once in awhile & it really is shitty, but the conditions for the most part are pretty good. The 1st 2 holes are a nice layout & fun to play, everything after that sucks. Driver, 6-7 iron then putter. No thought went into the layout at all, & it winds around a bunch of townhomes that appear to all be occupied by residents 75+ yrs old.

Lake Windsor is another goat track, the back 9 isn't too bad but the front sucks. Back & forth you go & I-94 runs right along 3 holes. pain in the ass to play with semi's blasting 100' away from you at 70+ mph.

 

[FATC1TY]

I play a course that compared to my normal course rotation, is a goat track.

It's an older course, that 60% of the time, isn't in that good of shape. The carts are old, but they work, and the cart paths are concrete and have been maintained. The courses isn't always fresh mowed, each day. There are some hardpan spots on every fairway, and the fairway and the rough kinda blend into each other it some spots.

Maybe twice a year, are the fairways ever really lush and mowed nice and flat.

The bunkers are okay, some are thin, some are hard, some are fluffy as hell. The green are hit or miss. Some are great, some never had the pin moved and are beat to hell in one spot. Some have low spots that pool with water and are eaten up. But generally, it's good all around.

You can walk the front, but the back is so long! Houses are SUPER close to the course, like.. the OB markers are the back yards, and you could easily be punching out of someones back yard while they play in the pool.

The back nine is nicer.. It's a few years old, nice greens, fairways hard as a rock, and the tee boxes are almost dirt though. It's in a section of "new" subdivisions, that haven't had ANY houses built in 4 years. Just plain emptied lots around it. Real ugly.

On the flipside though, I can walk it in the evenings after work, for $10.. Normally thats just for 9, but if we walk and it's light enough, they have closed up and we'll play another 2-3 holes if time permits. It's cheap practice.

That is a goat track though..

 

[floggerrushmd]

Most of what defines a goat track/ cow pasture to me is the greens. I prefer the greens to be fast. Slow greens have more opportunity to be irregular, and infested with weeds and other types of grass that don't belong, but if you can keep a green rolling true that is all that is really important. After that comes the fairway. If you can not while standing in the fairway tell where it ends and the rough begins, then that is a problem. Lastly comes to the tees. I can handle un-level tees, they aren't the most fun thing in the world to play on but I can handle them. I can't stand tees that are bare of grass, or so hard that you can't stick a tee into them. If a course has these three features I will play there again.

Now the last thing that I will mention about what makes a course great (but not necessarily differentiates it from a potential cow pasture) are the people that play on it. If the people that play a course take the time to repair their divots and ball marks that makes all the difference in the world. I played the new course at NC State the other day (review to follow in another thread) and even though the course was only a few months old the greens were riddled with ball marks. It was really upsetting.

 

[zaphod]

I have to give an example for my definition of a goat track...Thal Acres in Westfield, WI. The layout of the BACK nine has potential..........but the front nine is just a mowed hayfield........holes go straight....back and forth..........no elevation changes.............barns and cornfields along the course. Goat track.

That's the course I learned on. Yes it is truly a goat tract. Hayfield, shaggy greens, tricked up holes, swampy fairways, etc. The back nine is the most recent but it has more deficits than assets. 10 miles from me but I WILL NOT PLAY IT.

 

[PMay]

Course in Evansville Indiana worst course I've ever seen. Fairways are nothing but crab grass and the same length as the rough. Golfballs bounce of the fairway almost like a ball off a cart path. Absolutely terrible!

 

[Manavs]

$$$$'s in the budget, and a knowledgeable staff led by a good greenskeeper have a lot to do with a track looking goaty or at least playable.

 

[agpierce]

The golf course at Ft. Meade, MD. My father-in-law is in the Navy, and we went there to play 9 holes the other day. It was pitiful. The Navy acquisitioned a large chunk of the land (chopping one of their 18 hole courses down to 9 and destroying their driving range) in order to build a Intellegence building there. The Construction and such has left the conditions on the course bad at best. The tees are hard, the fairway is like hitting off of a rock, and the cart paths are falling apart. And to top it off it was hard as heck to figure out where the next whole was.

For me, it's course condition more than anything. I don't mind easy holes. I'm still such a beginner that I LOVE easy holes, to be honest lol. But if the course isn't taken care of, I likely won't play. I'm fortunate to live in Pennsylvania where there's a LOT of really nice courses for not a lot of money. Best of both worlds.

 

[bingo22]

Bstone has a good point. Here's a list:

1.) Not enough differentiation between fairway and first cut.
2.) UNKEPT OR UNLEVEL TEE BOXES! YOU BASTARDS! Hitting it out of the rough ON THE TEE sucks.
3.) "Sand" bunkers; hold the sand.
4.) Excessive hardpan in the rough/fairway, especially the fway.
5.) Poor course markers/scorecards/maps
6.) GREENS. The speed is second to the ability of the ball to roll smoothly. Slow greens are okay if the ball rolls predictably. Overgrown clumpy greens are unacceptable.

If a course has GREAT greens, I'll play it regardless most of the time. The bunker thing is negligible to me (I live in the north... for the time being!). The fairway/rough thing is second to the greens. Tee boxes REALLY bother me. The heirarchy to me is:

Greens
Tee Boxes
Fairway/Rough

As long as the greens are good, hitting out of the rough in the "fairway" is just good practice

These goat ranches usually have golf carts that are in such bad condition they are impossible to steer you hold your breath if you have to cross a bridge or go down a steep hill!!