Damage to courses, carrying / trolleys / buggys.

Captain_Black

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I played in the a roll up last week on a very wet course.
It was very noticeable the different extent of damage being caused to the course by either carrying / trolleys or buggys.

We don't have many traditional 2x person golf buggys at our course, but we do have quite a number of people who use the one person mobility type buggy / scooter things, I followed one of these last week & the trail of destruction he was leaving behind him was heartbreaking.
The shear weight of the thing on the ground was leaving deep tracks everywhere he went, he got stuck in the mud at one point & his playing partners had to pull him out, leaving deep muddy ruts in the ground, at another hole I came across a 2x foot long rut in the fairways caused by the wheels spinning whilst he accelerated.

Also it was noticeable that damage was being caused by heavy electric trolleys fitted with standard wheels, as these tended to either dig in to the soft ground or spin & rip up the turf.

Carrying was ok provided people were sensible about where they walked (some didn't seem to give a monkeys & blindly walked though already damaged areas causing even more damage)

But, the least damage by far was from trolleys fitted with Hedgehog wheels, as these tended to distribute the weight better & not spin under power.
The best solution was 3x wheel push trolleys with Hedgehog wheels as these were lighter & caused no damage at all.

It seems daft that my club will occasionally bans buggys & trolleys if the course is very wet & impose a carry only policy & yet it seems to me they would be better off stipulating that only trolleys fitted with proper Hedgehog wheels should be allowed when it is that wet.
 

Birchy

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People who carry all walk different ways directly to where their ball is, push trolleys all use the same route and churn up the ground. It should be carrying only when the ground is soggy imo.

Electric buggys should be banned full stop forever imo :)
 

Captain_Black

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The point I was trying to make was that some people who were carrying (not all) were walking on already damaged / roped off ground causing even more damage.
Where as trolleys fitted with Hedgehogs (especially light trolleys) seemed to have very little impact on the ground.
 

Pippo_T

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We have a problem at our course at the course manager won't direct buggies away from near green areas, so many players drive up to 6 inches from the green. Some of the fringe areas are in terrible shape. Buggies on very wet days should only be allowed for health reasons.

Can't see for a second that carrying is worse than trolleys though, if players walk through GIR then it's their manners that are at fault, not their method of transporting clubs.
 

bogside84

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If golfers would use common sense IMO you do not need a course manager / greenkeeper to tell you to keep off tees or the aprons of greens with caddycars I was taught that at a very early age. I would like to carry my clubs but because of a back op I use an electric caddycar. I do think that our club should make new paths through some of the whin bushes out of play and this would spread the damage.
 

One Planer

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Its a field of grass - it will always recover

I'm with Chris here.

With the amount of rain we've had of late, and by that I mean this year, a little damge to the course was probably inevitable. The exception being a bone hard links course.


Grass is pretty hardy stuff. If the course is maintained properly, Winter tee's, greens and in our case fairway matts, it wil recover in no time.
 

North Mimms

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Our club bans buggies pretty much all of the winter. AFAIK, there is only one person who uses a one person ride on scooter, and I haven't seen him aound for a while.

Leccy trolleys and standard push / pull trolleys get banned when is it frosty or really muddy.

You can use a 2 wheel pull trolley with hedgehog wheels at any time
 

WideEyedFox

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It's been a terrible year for rain, so some additional damage is to be expected. Even without bags of clubs just the foot traffic alone would churn up the walkways.

Parts of the course I played last week were roped off to guide players to a less used route. Some parts were still a bog though.

I use a carry/stand bag myself (Ping Hoofer C1), which is better than what I'd usually use in a muddy field (see attached) ;)
 

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LanDog

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I carry. I try to stick to stone paths.
When walking on the grass. I stick to the green bits, not the muddy parts.

If you use a trolley.

Unlucky!!

:ears:
 

pokerjoke

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IMO it makes little diference.
When the groung gets really wet everything churns it up.
Imo again it doesnt matter how many trolleys go over the ground,a half ton grasscutter will do more
damage.
As for roped off areas,great idea near the greens.
Weve had a roped off area going down are 9th hole,trouble is its been there too long and now
the areas ruined.
If the greenkeepers had an ounce of common sense,they would keep moving the rope,imo thats not difficult.
 

Fish

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All the ropes are now out at KGC. They were very effective last winter, and at times in the summer directing people away from area's that were excessively heavy and water logged.

Unfortunately I still saw then and have already seen since mainly seniors totally ignore the ropes lifting them up and going through into those area's with their electric trolleys because they don't want to go down paths which would mean a little bit further to walk!

These are usually members that moan about all sorts at the club and yet have been members for decades and so feel they have some kind of right to do as they feel fit!

Hedgehog wheels or the equivalent became compulsory on electric trolleys when used at certain times and we even adopted a "carry only" period when conditions warranted it but again there was uproar mainly from the seniors as they couldn't play without a trolley, do they not care about their course?

We have even received emails asking us to check what we were possibly carrying unnecessarily in a bid to make our bags lighter when used on trolleys and carrying as it all has an impact. When I see some of the bulging cart bags on the course I think that's a good shout.

But whilst all these requests from our club are in the interest of the course, the individual member has to play their part also.
 

Fish

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I dont think its because they dont care about about there course.
Carrying for some seniors is not an option.

I appreciate that, so they should just accept the ruling when conditions dictate that carrying can be the only method to go onto the course and not complain.

When carrying only is the only way to play the course, the course must be pretty borderline to be open at all.
 

SwingsitlikeHogan

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I played in the a roll up last week on a very wet course.
It was very noticeable the different extent of damage being caused to the course by either carrying / trolleys or buggys.

We don't have many traditional 2x person golf buggys at our course, but we do have quite a number of people who use the one person mobility type buggy / scooter things, I followed one of these last week & the trail of destruction he was leaving behind him was heartbreaking.
The shear weight of the thing on the ground was leaving deep tracks everywhere he went, he got stuck in the mud at one point & his playing partners had to pull him out, leaving deep muddy ruts in the ground, at another hole I came across a 2x foot long rut in the fairways caused by the wheels spinning whilst he accelerated.

Also it was noticeable that damage was being caused by heavy electric trolleys fitted with standard wheels, as these tended to either dig in to the soft ground or spin & rip up the turf.

Carrying was ok provided people were sensible about where they walked (some didn't seem to give a monkeys & blindly walked though already damaged areas causing even more damage)

But, the least damage by far was from trolleys fitted with Hedgehog wheels, as these tended to distribute the weight better & not spin under power.
The best solution was 3x wheel push trolleys with Hedgehog wheels as these were lighter & caused no damage at all.

It seems daft that my club will occasionally bans buggys & trolleys if the course is very wet & impose a carry only policy & yet it seems to me they would be better off stipulating that only trolleys fitted with proper Hedgehog wheels should be allowed when it is that wet.

Well CaptainB I completely understand as I was a member of Filton for 12yrs (1984-1996). I used to despair at the mess the course would get in during the winter months (you have alreasdy described precisely as it was back then). Five day members would play regardless and us poor weekend only players had to play our onlyt golf over the winter up to our ankles in mud. And 'grass grows' - well yes it does but it would be June time before the course actually seemed to have recovered.

I got so fed up that I submitted a motion at one years AGM to ban trolleys and buggies over the winter months (can't recall how I defined that - probably Oct-March). I still believe the Seniors Captain put out a 3-line whip on Seniors as they call seemed to turn up - I think there was 220 club members at the AGM (double normal turn out).

I made my case - and got 4 votes. However cunningly I had discussed my proposal with the Chair of Greens and the Head Greenkeeper (Kevin Green at the time) and they actually agreed. Due to the uproar my proposal caused at the AGM the Chair of Greens proposed the the Head Greenkeeper could decide when trolleys and buggiers should be banned on a day-by-day basis - previously it was down to the Chairman of Greens Committee. Curiously Kevin seemed to deem it necessary to ban trolleys etc quite a lot :lol:

So you might even have me to thank for getting the Greenkeeper the 'banning' authority that he has :thup:

BTW - looking on the website the course looks to be maturing well - keep on meaning to come over and have a knock sometime - July/August time.
 

HomerJSimpson

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I read somewhere that the thinking about hedgehogs has changed and they don't actually make a significant difference in terms of protection. I think if the course is that wet then a trolly ban seems the sensible approach. We have a number of older members with their own single seat buggies and they do rip it up in the conditions we had today. Do you stop them playing if they can't walk or carry? Tricky call
 
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