One Week

That is how much time it took to completely destroy a turf area.  This is the cart parking area at the ninth green and is a perfect example of how people park their carts with two wheels on the path and the other two on the grass. The was a result of us removing the green and white traffic stakes so they could be used to protect another area on the golf course.

This type of cart parking  serves no purpose other than to wear out the turf unnecessarily in the high traffic areas. I would strongly encourage all people that are driving carts to keep all four wheels on the path while parking at green and tee locations.  The golf course receives more than its share of wear and tear, so anything you can do to minimize unnecessary damage will go a long way to making the golf course a better place for all to enjoy.

Don't Be A Follower

As play increases on the golf course the negative effect of golf carts becomes readily visible. Due to the design and construction of the course we suffer from limited exit and entry points from the cart paths. Most of the obstacles come in the way of severely shaped landforms as well bunkers and native plant materials.

These areas are managed daily with the use of ropes and stakes. In efforts to minimize the use of the materials I encourage golfers as you are playing to to the path less driven. By this I mean don't follow the same tracks that were formed by the previous carts, go a different way. This should be done in a smart manor as to not endanger yourself or someone else by taking the cart in an areas it should not be. This would include areas such as; within 25 feet of greens or tees, native grasses and steep hillsides.

All other areas that are safe and not controlled with ropes are fair game and I would encourage you to take the path less traveled. By doing so will help spread out the wear and tear in our heaviest cart traffic areas.

New Concrete

Today we were finally able to pour the new concrete finger on the ninth hole after scheduling delay’s caused by the weather early last week. The new path will allow for an additional exit point from the fairway, which will help spread out the traffic flows.

This path will not be used until next season due to the fact that some additional sod work will have to take place to properly tie in with the existing terrain.

New Exit Point

We have begun construction of a new cart path finger that will extend down towards the end of the fairway on the ninth hole. As you all know cart traffic is limited to the path half of the time, due to the fact the exit point is too small to handle the excessive wear and tear from the carts.

The area is currently being graded for a concrete finger that will allow the carts to climb the very steep incline from the fairway up to the existing path. Additionally great care is being taken to adequately screen the path from the teeing area. We are constructing mounding that is similar to others found on the hole, so that the path is not visible as well as keeping golf balls from hitting the path.

This concept was hatched at the Green Committee level last month as a way to get the carts on the grass more often. I believe this new path will help spread the traffic patterns a little more evenly than the current situation allows. It is my hope that the carts will be on the grass at least one if not two more days a week. This decision will be based weekly on how well these areas handle the traffic flows.

This is a win win situation because it gives me a better chance to keep the grass alive, as well as letting carts on the grass which will help with the pace of play.

Worn Down

As the summer progresses so does that amount of wear and tear that the golf course receives. We are now into our busiest months as far as play goes with round totals nearing 4000 players per month. That is a lot of golf going through a golf course that was not designed with that amount of play in mind.

The above picture shows the exit point from #9 fairway to the cart path. This area is the single most trafficked area on the golf course. This type of wear is the reason that the carts are limited on this hole to three days a week. Great efforts are made to give this area a chance at survival, such as additional fertility and aerification to the rough leading to the cart path.

The green committee at our last meeting looked at this area and how traffic and pace of play could be improved. After much discussion the concept of re-installing the old cart path finger that was at the northeastern end of the fairway was given consideration. This path was removed fifteen years ago, because the exit point was not properly managed and created a large dead area extending into the fairway. We as a committee will be pursuing this idea at the next several meetings.

Stay tuned.

Traffic and Erosion Repair

There are many areas found on the golf course that cart traffic (member play, beverage cart and maintenance) all contribute to worn areas adjacent to the paths. Some of the wear and tear is avoidable, by parking all four wheels of the golf cart on the path at green and tee locations. Other worn areas area created at bottlenecks where heavy traffic going in both directions forces either one or both vehicles off the path so that one can pass. These areas are most commonly found in native areas at the tee locations. These native areas are not equipped with irrigation nor can these grasses handle any recurring traffic.

We have begun to repair several of these areas throughout the golf course, but keep in mind that many of these repairs are more than likely temporary. The reason being that once these areas have reestablished themselves and are once again exposed to repeated cart traffic they will fail again. The correct way to deal with these problem areas is to widen the cart paths, so that two carts can pass each other without leaving the path. This has been done over the years with success at several of the green and tee locations that have been problematic.

The repairs of the worn areas begin with loosening the compacted area with a tiller or pick depending on the size. Next amendments such as compost are added to the soil and re-tilled to properly mix the two together. The final step is to re-seed and cover with a fabric or hydraulic much product.
Worn Area With Some Erosion Taking Place
Soil Prep Done With Compost Added
Final Seeding With Hydraulic Mulch

Cart Traffic Repair

Numerous areas on the golf course receive an overwhelmingly high amount of cart traffic due to limited exit and entry points. These areas are managed differently that the rest of the course to handle the abuse they take on a daily basis. Even with these efforts to manage these areas well still will end up re-sodding several of them each year.

Some of the additional maintenance practices that take place to these areas are higher fertility, additional aerification and daily cart traffic flow management.

A Newly Sodded Cart Path Exit Point

Many of the high flow traffic areas receive nearly twice the amount of fertilizer and aerification than the other rough areas on the golf course. The reason we do this is to give the grass an advantage in repairing itself by providing it additional food and relief from compaction caused by cart traffic. A large portion of our daily course setup is dedicated to managing cart flow with the use of ropes and directional signs. In the peak of summer when play is exceeding 200 rounds per day we move some of the ropes and signs twice in one day. Needles to say it is an uphill battle we are fighting, but I believe we are staying ahead of the curve.

Hazzard Crossing on #11

One of the biggest challenges we face on a daily basis is the management of golf cart traffic. The main problem stems from the fact that the golf course was designed with limited exit and entry points coming of the fairways to the cart paths. These heavy concentrations of traffic cause excessive wear and tear to these areas. We try to offset the damage by daily roping and the use of directional signs to manage the flow of cart traffic. Additionally these areas receive extra aerification and fertilizer applications to help give it a change to out grow the damage caused by the golf carts.

The hazard crossing on hole #11 is an example of traffic that is funneled into a small area and the grass has no chance of survival. As a result of this we will now be limiting the use of carts through the hazard in a similar manor to what is done on hole #9. We will be setting up a rotation of traffic flow to be the mirror image of what is going on with #9, so that both areas are not closed on the same day. This was discussed at the Green Committee and was agreed upon to be a good short term solution to the traffic problem. Currently we are researching the possibility of a “signature bridge” being constructed as a potential long term solution.