Tough Rougher: The endurance test for golfers
High rough is often a mood killer when one ball after another disappears into it. Not so at Achim Golf Club in northern Germany, where once a year the battle with the rough becomes the highlight of the season. The tournament is called Tough Rougher and is held every year when the rough is at its highest. A special award was designed for the participants of “Germany’s toughest test”, as club manager Thomas Schmidt smilingly calls the event. The Tough Rougher badge for all participants is extremely popular and is now collected by the golfers. 88 players competed in 2024 on June 16 in really high rough.
A perfect example of how you can make a virtue out of necessity with a little ingenuity. The official requirement that the rough may only be cut once a year on June 21 is actually more of a disadvantage for the golf club. “Some clubs in the neighborhood don’t have to leave their rough as much as we do, which naturally means that some players have an easier time there,” says Schmidt, explaining the origins of the event.
Schmidt came up with the idea for the Tough Rougher tournament in 2022. The agile club manager, who achieves a considerable level of member involvement in events at his club through such activities, enticed members and guests to take part in the real test of endurance: The highest rough of the year, plus extremely difficult flag positions and really fast greens to boot. “It went down really well,” Schmidt says in retrospect. Since then, the Tough Rougher event has established itself. With the right approach, high rough can also be very promising.
