Daily HolesPinewood · terrain · up to 3 per hole
Leaf Piles — How to Play Out of the Leaves in Daily Holes
Soft drifts of leaves and pine needles on Pinewood courses. They stop a rolling ball almost dead and smother the next strike.
By the numbers
- Where
- Pinewood courses, from 6 October 2026
- How many
- up to 3 per hole; none on the crossing
- Carry from the leaves
- 65% (rough 84%)
- Spread
- 2.3× the fairway
- Roll on the leaves
- about a seventh of the fairway
- Aim sweep
- about 30% wider
What it is
From 6 October 2026 every Pinewood course — about one day in three — has leaf piles: up to three per hole, placed between the fairway’s centre line and the direct line to the flag, where drives and lay-ups tend to land. The water-crossing hole has none. Each pile is a round patch of brown and gold leaves about 20–50 yards across, larger on longer holes, and it counts as leaves even where it spills over the fairway edge or the rough.
What it costs
There is no penalty stroke. A shot from the leaves keeps 65% of its normal carry — less than rough (84%), a little more than deep rough (62%) — and spreads 2.3 times as wide as from the fairway. The aim sweep also swings about 30% wider, so the line is harder to time.
Why the ball stops
Leaves are nearly dead ground: a ball rolls only about a seventh as far on them as on the fairway. A drive that would have run about 39 yards on the fairway stops within about 5 once it reaches a pile. That cuts both ways — a pile just short of a hazard can catch a ball that would otherwise have run into the water.
How to play it
From the leaves, club up: two or three clubs more than usual is a good start, and prefer a carry that finishes short of trouble to one that must clear it, because the wider spread makes long carries over water risky. The ball rolls normally again once it lands outside the leaves, so plan the carry to finish on the fairway or the front of the green. Off the tee, favour the side of the landing area away from the piles; a few yards of lost distance cost less than a shot from the leaves.
Worked example
You are in a leaf pile 150 yards from the flag with a flat approach. From the fairway that is an 8-iron, which carries about 167 yards with a pure strike. From the leaves the same 8-iron carries only about 108. A pure 4-iron carries about 138 and runs on about 19 yards on the fairway — roughly the distance you need. A pure 5-wood carries about 154 and runs well past the flag.
Common mistakes
Playing your normal club from the leaves leaves you about a third short. Trying a long carry over water from a pile ignores a spread more than twice as wide as usual. And ignoring the piles off the tee because they look small is costly: they sit exactly where good drives finish.