[Thomas Dai]

The Dec issue of the British Golf Collectors Society magazine mentions that to overcome the difficulty in playing the course when the 'haar', a somewhat obnoxious sea mist prevalent on the East coast of the UK, is present, lights have been installed on either side of the fairways at Kingsbarns.

I know some courses, eg in the Middle East, are fully floodlit, but are there any other courses that have what I shall term 'fairway direction' lights (for whatever reason)?

Atb

[Doug Siebert]

That's a rather brilliant (sorry, pun not intended) idea.  When I played there, there were a few holes on the front nine where I was forced to hit a mid iron off the tee simply because I couldn't see more than 100 yards out and could only see the very start of the fairway.  I figured I couldn't get too far off track, though I did still lose one when I pulled it off the fairway and had absolutely no idea where to look.

[Mark Chaplin]

Surely if you cannot see the fairway and therefore other players or greens staff, the course should be closed for everyone's safety.

[Sean_A]

Chappers, for sure!  If the haar is that bad, shouldn't there be a marker post in the 1st fairway to indicate safe visibility? 

Ciao

[Joe_Tucholski]

I've played a few rounds of night golf on courses that are illuminated at night by flood lights.  All were executive courses or par 3s in the US.  The first full round I played with my wife was at night on a par 3 course in Hawaii.

My first night in Korea I saw what appeared to be a fully illuminated course near the airport in Seoul.  Not sure if it was the range at Sky 72, a course at Sky 72 or the Jack Nicklaus Golf Club.

[Thomas Dai]

I imagine that they're low height pathway kinda lights, maybe part of 150 yd etc yardage poles. That would be my guess.

At a greenfee of circa £200 ea, or £800 for a fourball, plus add-ons, there must be quite an incentive to keep folks playing the course even when the haar rolls in, which is why I was wondering if any other courses adopt such an approach.

If it were TOC/Leuchars, Moray/Kinloss or Machrihanish though, it could be amusing what with the potential for some seriously large airborne friends to land!

atb

[Ally Mcintosh]

Sean, Mark C, what happened to blindness is great? You can't see half the fairways at Mach Dunes and Machrie on a non-haar day and they still keep their fairways open.

Merry Christmas to all

Ally

[Mark Chaplin]

Ally there is a massive difference between blind shots and fog, I for one wouldn't pay the money to play in fog.

[JMEvensky]

At Old Head,we were told if the fog rolled in,stop and they'd send people out to lead us back to the clubhouse.

[Tom_Doak]

My first night in Korea I saw what appeared to be a fully illuminated course near the airport in Seoul.  Not sure if it was the range at Sky 72, a course at Sky 72 or the Jack Nicklaus Golf Club.

Two of the four courses at Sky 72 are lit up for night play, and they do an unbelievable number of rounds on them.  They talked to me years ago about reworking one of the courses, but they were making so much money they balked at closing for long enough to change it. 

[James Bledge]

Hi Everyone,

I used to work at Kingsbarns and these have been introduced since I've left. Basically I'm led to believe that there is a light installed on the 150 yard marker on the first fairway and if not visible during fog then play is abandoned. Its nothing to do with marking out fairways. Kingsbarns pride themselves on the whole experience, so i know they wouldn't let anyone play in conditions so bad that fairway edges need to marked out like runways! Apart from this its very dangerous to fellow golfers and Greenkeepers, just like Mr Chaplin pointed out!

Hope I've cleared that up

[Tom_Doak]

When I lived in St. Andrews there was one day I went down to caddie and the fog was so thick that you couldn't see the buildings along the 18th from the starter's box ... visibility was maybe 50 yards, tops.  And golfers were going off every eight minutes anyway!, because if they were lucky enough to get a tee time in midsummer, they weren't going to give it up over a bit of visibility.

I did not go out that morning myself, because I couldn't imagine how I would find my player's ball.  I didn't think about getting whacked by another golfer's ball, but surely that would be an issue on The Old Course more than anywhere else.

[Mark Chaplin]

Tom I'm guessing your caddying days were before that great US invention.....the litigation lawyer.

Bledge got to keep our staff out working safely!

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