"If one experiences a flowery spring and a lush autumn, he must admit to himself that it is beautiful to be human." (Kumagai Naoyoshi, 1782-1862)

We golfers love autumn! And how! The last warm sunny days of late summer and a colorful nature. If only there wasn't that gray, dreary fog. It's far less beautiful and can be very dangerous on the golf course. For example, when visibility is so poor that you can only guess the trajectory of the ball, or can no longer see whether and where other flights are moving on the fairways. There are enough stories of people for whom it has already become really dangerous out there in the fog thicket.

Played off, nobody in front of you for miles. Nor is there anyone behind you. Suddenly, the ball hits right next to it. And the completely stunned player reproachfully asks why you simply started playing on lane 3 and not on one. But it wasn't like that at all. The game was started, quite properly, from the beginning, just like everyone else. Only quasi with the invisibility cloak of the fog. Although safety on the course may no longer be guaranteed as a result, there are no special paragraphs in the official Rules of Golf dealing with this issue.

Experts say: You can see fog analogous to thunderstorms. Because fog can also be very dangerous. After all, there are regions where dense fog often forms simply because of the special geographic location. In river valleys, for example, or at lakes. In the Salzkammergut or in the mountainous regions of the Tyrolean lowlands. Some golf clubs have already reacted to these external conditions and put up a sign on the way to the first tee: Playing, it is often said, is only permitted from a visibility of at least 250 meters. Logically, each player is still responsible for himself. Only at tournaments is it up to the course management to make this decision. On other courses, on the other hand, the principle of mutual consideration applies. Because the visibility can become cloudy all of a sudden. Depending on the visibility, no one knows whether his shot will endanger other golfers or greenkeepers, for example. A warning call is therefore also not possible. The possible loss of the ball is only the smallest risk.

Even on the professional tours there are always problems with the fog. Amateur and professional golf tournaments are interrupted when the ball flight and landing cannot be seen due to dense fog. The decision as to when the tournament will be interrupted is made by the tournament director on site. In tournaments lasting several days and with several rounds, play is usually completed on the following day. There is no other choice, for example a shortening to nine holes. Whether it is actually fun to play in the fog? Probably less so. The handbrake in your head is always on, you can never go all the way. That would be like speeding down the highway at 200 kilometers per hour in poor visibility. Pretty crazy and reckless.

In the golf alpine regions of Tyrol and Salzburg province, you can still go on the golf course longer without the evil of fog, even in autumn. Thanks to the power of the sun! On the Mieminger Plateau, for example, the declared recreation area of the people of Innsbruck. The plateau belongs to the most graceful landscapes of Tyrol - with vastness, ideal altitude, intense sunshine and a wonderful golf course, which is a Golf-Alpin partner facility. This exposed location is also confirmed by the annual statistics of meteorologists: The Innsbruck region, for example, was among the sunniest corners of Austria in 2017, with 2043 hours of sunshine. Really thick fog is found elsewhere: Probably the foggiest corner of the world is the Grand Banks in Newfoundland on the east coast of Canada, where visibility of less than one kilometer prevails on more than 120 days per year. And Scotland's Mount Ben Nevis is said to be shrouded in fog for as many as 300 days a year, according to the Guinness Book of Records.

Photos: (cover photo) Stefan von Stengel, (1) Fotalia, (3 - 6) Golfpark Mieminger Plateau

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