• hbdeveloper
• On April 11, 2014

This is the second in a series of a mini-articles about the Themes in The Golf Club following on from The Rural Theme post. Themes are the various environments that the Greg Norman Course Designer uses when creating a course and describe the terrain, the trees, the plants, the animals, the birds, the water, the tees, the fairways, the rough, the greens and the surrounding land.

The Autumn Theme, like the Rural Theme, is set in rolling countryside but is surrounded by much more gentle hills than the rugged peaks that can be seen in the distance in the Rural Theme. The trees that can be found around the course are predominantly deciduous, or hardwoods – Birch, Beech, Oak, Chestnut, Silver Birch, Maple – but there are are also some evergreens or softwoods – Pine and Spruce. Many of the hardwoods are in the throes of colour changes that are the prelude to the leaves falling from the trees. The wildlife in this theme includes rabbits, deer and squirrels plus farm animals such as sheep, cows and goats in the surrounding fields.

For the courses themselves, the greens will be very receptive (soft) and slow to medium in speed. The first cut of rough will not be too punishing but, as with the rough in all the Themes, it will vary from area to area around the course depending on the terrain situation. The deep rough, as expected, will be tough to escape from with much control. The fairways will be soft and, whilst the trees can be plentiful, they shouldn’t often inhibit your game unless you stray into the deep rough.

The autumn can be a little more windy than summer and that will be reflected in the game. Also, the grasses will have started to lose some of their lush green colours and the light will be more subdued than in the other themes reflecting the progress towards winter.