Outside of private facilities (and not all of them either) the "practice" facilities are a joke in this country at a large % of courses. People lower their handicaps in spite of the system here, not because of it. Everything tends to be a compromise unless you are lucky enough to be a member at Wentworth etc etc...how we produce any decent golfers is beyond me and they should be applauded.
Putting greens get crowded if there are more than 2 people, are often different speeds to the regular greens, never usually have a 30 foot flat putt, practice bunkers (if they exist) are never raked and the sand (if it exists) is questionable, the practice greens are often a bit of mowed grass that a disinterested greenkeeper has stuck an old flag in because the greens committee told him to.
Most golf clubs do not care about golfers that want to improve their game, but rest assured the captain's parking space will always be kept clear - as will the pro's, assistants, president's, outgoing captain, lady captain, and more besides.
There is an abject lack of respect in most golf clubs for those that want to improve and more often than not the attitude is "you are not very good at golf so why bother practicing?", just keep the handicap up and win XXXXX competition. However, when someone shows promise, my goodness do they come out of the woodwork to all try and claim some credit and pat backs.
So, to answer your question, absolutely no idea and I lived in that area for years and know most courses/facilities around there pretty well, none of them are worth a look imhgo.
