Explaining the Golf Course 'Collection Area'
As already stated, collection areas are most commonly found beside putting greens — swales, hollows, depressions that collect golf balls that roll their way. The collection area is always grassed and frequently mowed at fringe height or fairway height.
When next to a putting green, part of the green might slope toward the collection area to funnel off-target shots away from the hole on the green. The result is that some golfers will watch as their golf balls roll across the green, off a sloping edge, and down into the collection area.
So, yes, collections areas are somewhat punitive in nature. But they are not like thick rough next to a green. A collection area's challenge to a golfer is in playing the correct type of shot to get back up a slope from a tight lie, and safely onto the putting surface.
Collection areas have always been common on links-style golf courses. But, as Tom Watson pointed out in a 2016 Golf Digest article, "During the past 15 or 20 years, American golf courses have copied the old British links by implementing collection areas. Miss a green, and instead of ending up in deep rough, your ball is sitting on a super-tight lie below the putting surface."
Obviously, knowing where a collection area is on a hole, on what side of a green one sits, which parts of a green slope toward the collection area, is important local knowledge to have.
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