{"id":13,"date":"2017-05-28T11:04:01","date_gmt":"2017-05-28T11:04:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/doggolf.info\/?p=13"},"modified":"2020-06-29T14:23:15","modified_gmt":"2020-06-29T14:23:15","slug":"dog-legging-it-dog-friendly-golf-courses-in-the-uk","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/doggolf.info\/index.php\/2017\/05\/28\/dog-legging-it-dog-friendly-golf-courses-in-the-uk\/","title":{"rendered":"Dog Legging It: Dog Friendly Golf Courses in the UK"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"http:\/\/doggolf.info\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/Rusty-and-Grace-on-the-fairway.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" style=\"background-image: none; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; display: inline; padding-right: 0px; border-width: 0px;\" title=\"Rusty and Grace on the fairway\" src=\"http:\/\/doggolf.info\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/Rusty-and-Grace-on-the-fairway_thumb.jpg\" alt=\"Rusty and Grace on the fairway\" width=\"432\" height=\"286\" border=\"0\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #008000;\">&#8220;<i>Golf is a good walk spoiled<\/i>&#8221; &#8211; H S Scrivener<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #008000;\">\u201c<em>If aliens saw us walking our dogs and picking up their poop, who would they think is in charge?<\/em> \u201d \u2013 Anonymous<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #008000;\">Why would one want to spoil a walk further by having to cater to a barking, fouling, rampaging mutt? along for the round? <\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"color: #008000;\"><b><u>TIME<\/u><\/b> \u2013 One of the biggest obstacles to golf is time commitment. Absconding from home for 4 hours often doesn\u2019t ingratiate you to the rest of the family. If it means that you can\u2019t help with the dog walking that day, then you are being even more delinquent. A decent dog walk takes an hour for most medium to large breeds. Instead of shirking this chore on golf days, you can actually give Fido a bonus walk. If the family pressures you about another morning on the greens, you have a family ally where you can plead \u201cBut Fido loves it so much!\u201d <\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #008000;\"><b><u>COMPANIONSHIP<\/u><\/b> \u2013 We love our dogs. Especially when we are away at work and other commitments, spending time with them outdoors and in the sunshine is one of the very reasons we have them in the first place. <\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #008000;\"><b><u>DOG CARE<\/u><\/b> \u2013 It\u2019s not nice leaving dogs alone in the house for extended periods of time. They have to cross their legs increasingly tighter, get hungrier past dinnertime and tempted into mischief. When we bring our dogs, we can travel further and stay longer (eg. for a drink, dinner, overnight) if we don\u2019t have to worry about the dogs cooped up all day. <\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #008000;\"><b><u>RETRIEVAL<\/u><\/b> \u2013 Many dogs can and have been trained to locate balls in the rough. This saves the golfer time and lost balls. It also speeds the play to everyone\u2019s benefit (searching for lost balls is one of the biggest causes of slow play). <\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"color: #008000;\">There are about 2,630 golf courses in the UK (<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/List_of_golf_courses_in_the_United_Kingdom\"><span style=\"color: #008000;\">according to Wikipedia<\/span><\/a><span style=\"color: #008000;\">), but so far I\u2019ve only uncovered just under a hundred that welcome dogs. I suspect there a quite a number that I haven\u2019t ferreted out, but judging on my initial investigation it looks like the total proportion is about a few percent of the total. It does vary by region. Scotland, Cornwall and the Home Counties seem to have a higher proportion (one golf pro friend reckoned as many as 70% of Scottish courses are dog-friendly), but there are virtually none in Ireland. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #008000;\">Not everyone will be thrilled by the inclusion of your pooch in your group. It\u2019s not just fussy conventionalists who don\u2019t like any innovation or change, but many people with very legitimate concerns\u2026 <\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"color: #008000;\"><b><u>FEAR<\/u><\/b> \u2013 More people than you would think have a downright phobia of dogs. Even the smaller \u201ccute\u201d ones. <\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #008000;\"><b><u>ALLERGY<\/u> <\/b>\u2013 Many people are allergic to dogs and a links encounter could stir a sneezing attack or rash that they would certainly not appreciate during their round. <\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #008000;\"><b><u>RELIGION<\/u><\/b> \u2013 For Muslims, dogs are \u201cunclean\u201d which means if they come into contact with them, they have to go through a rather tedious and inconvenient cleansing. <\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"color: #008000;\">Nonetheless, a wide range of golf clubs from public courses to the finest in the world embrace dogs with open arms. Sunningdale claims to be the \u201cmost dog friendly golf club in the UK\u201d (see video link below). One course, Goodwood, has gone so far as to create a special membership, the \u201c<\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.todaysgolfer.co.uk\/news-and-events\/course-news\/2010\/november\/its-a-dogs-life-at-goodwood\/\"><span style=\"color: #008000;\">Kennels Dog Membership<\/span><\/a><span style=\"color: #008000;\">\u201d just for dogs, with the proceeds going Battersea Dog Home. And the New Zealand Golf Club (in Surrey, not the South Pacific) tells me that \u201cdogs are \u2018mandatory\u2019\u201d with only a touch of kidding around (they go on to add \u201c<i>if you don\u2019t have a dog, there are members who will be happy to rent you theirs for the day<\/i>.\u201d) <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #008000;\">Some of the big golf magazines and websites have done articles on the topic of dogs on the course. Here are a few of the better ones I came across which highlight the UK as being a bit more dog-friendly in the golfing world: <\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"color: #008000;\"><b><u>GOLF DIGEST<\/u><\/b>\u2013 \u201c<\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.golfdigest.com\/story\/dogs-on-the-golf-course\"><span style=\"color: #008000;\">We Double Dog Dare You &#8211; Bringing your best friend to the course is the most fun you&#8217;ll ever have<\/span><\/a><span style=\"color: #008000;\">\u201d: \u201c<i>In the United Kingdom, dogs are more likely to be allowed at old links courses with lots of common walking ground than at newer, inland operations. And not to delve into a subject as thorny as the British class system, but golf dogs tend to have a stronger tradition at clubs established by land-owning families for whom fox hunting was an important pastime. Golf was just something else to do in clever tweed when not busy training champions bred from royal bloodlines<\/i>.\u201d <\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #008000;\"><b><u>GOLF ADVISOR<\/u><\/b>\u2013 \u201c<\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.golfadvisor.com\/articles\/dog-friendly-golf-courses-15406.htm\"><span style=\"color: #008000;\">Let the dogs out, already!\u201d<\/span><\/a><span style=\"color: #008000;\">: \u201c<i>Very few public courses in the U.S. allow golfers to bring their dogs along, most likely a result of liability fears and the fact many courses aren&#8217;t all that walkable. Golf course superintendents, of course, have energetic sidekicks who chase geese and perform other duties. Courses in the U.K. are generally more welcoming to dogs, especially those historic links courses that double as public park space<\/i>.\u201d <\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #008000;\"><b>ESPN <\/b>\u2013 \u201c<\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.espn.co.uk\/video\/clip?id=13300950\"><span style=\"color: #008000;\">Dogs welcome at Sunningdale<\/span><\/a><span style=\"color: #008000;\"><span style=\"color: #008000;\">\u201d<\/span><\/span>\n<p><span style=\"color: #008000;\">\u201c<i>The dogs get so much pleasure from an 18 hole walk<\/i>\u2026<i>It\u2019s so much fun playing golf with the dogs<\/i>.\u201d (thanks Nick Saunders).<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"color: #008000;\">Here are a few tips for being a responsible and considerate dog companion player. <\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"color: #008000;\"><b><u>UNDER CONTROL<\/u><\/b> \u2013 Rule #1 is that the dog must be under control at all times. No yelling \u201c<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=3GRSbr0EYYU\"><span style=\"color: #008000;\">Fenton, Fenton<\/span><\/a><span style=\"color: #008000;\">\u2026&lt;jc&gt;, Fenton\u2026\u201d if a water fowl, rabbit or squirrel appears. If you are not completely sure about your dog\u2019s biddability in the most tempting situations, then definitely keep them on leads. That said, half the courses require them on leads at all time anyway. <\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #008000;\"><b><u>GREENS<\/u><\/b> \u2013 Dogs are like trolleys\u2026no dogs on the greens.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #008000;\"><b><u>BUNKERS<\/u><\/b> \u2013 No dogs in bunkers either. \u00a0If they do wander in, be sure to rake out their prints.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #008000;\"><b><u>CLEAN UP<\/u> <\/b>\u2013 Sort of goes without saying, though some might be tempted by the outdoors context to let some \u201cbusiness\u201d off to the side or out of bounds just remain there. But all it takes is someone seeing you not picking up after your dog from a distance to create the appearance of impropriety for the complaints to come in. Or worse, someone traipsing about looking for their ball to step in a mess to get the complaints to really flooding in. <\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"color: #008000;\">This post is only talking about the courses. There are also specific rules for dogs in the club houses as well as in the lodging which is sometimes affiliated with the course. The club house restrictions are more manageable (if dogs can\u2019t go in, you can eat at pub down the road), and frankly the lodging tends to be dog friendly anyway. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #008000;\">In the coming weeks, <\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.doggolf.info\/\"><span style=\"color: #008000;\">Dog Golf<\/span><\/a><span style=\"color: #008000;\"> will explore the world of canine clubbing with tips direct from our own two links lassies (Rusty and Grace \u2013 see photo at top) as well as helpful interactive information to assist your next outing. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/doggolf.info\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/Rory-McIlroy-with-dogs.jpg\"><span style=\"color: #008000;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" style=\"background-image: none; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; display: inline; padding-right: 0px; border-width: 0px;\" title=\"Rory McIlroy with dogs\" src=\"http:\/\/doggolf.info\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/Rory-McIlroy-with-dogs_thumb.jpg\" alt=\"Rory McIlroy with dogs\" width=\"246\" height=\"283\" border=\"0\" \/><\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<p><i><span style=\"color: #008000; font-size: xx-small;\">A few Rory McIlroy fans on the fairway.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;Golf is a good walk spoiled&#8221; &#8211; H S Scrivener \u201cIf aliens saw us walking our dogs and picking up their poop, who would they think is in charge? \u201d \u2013 Anonymous Why would one want to spoil a walk further by having to cater to a barking, fouling, rampaging mutt? along for the round? [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[3,2,4,6],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/doggolf.info\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/doggolf.info\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/doggolf.info\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/doggolf.info\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/doggolf.info\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"http:\/\/doggolf.info\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":647,"href":"http:\/\/doggolf.info\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13\/revisions\/647"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/doggolf.info\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/doggolf.info\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/doggolf.info\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}