Every course that has carts has this problem. For some unknown reason golfers drive off the edge of the path at the tee and green. Ask them why and often they have no idea. No reason makes any sense to the guy or gal who has to repair the damage. Mike told me a story of a conversation with some players while asking them why they had two tires off the path and it stuck with me. He asked them "when you pull into your driveway do you drive off into the grass?" The analogy is perfect. You don't right? Because if you did it would eventually wear out the grass. So why do so many do it? "In case someone needs to pass". Really? I hear that one often. Stop that thinking right now. No one is passing you. In the rare time it is necessary they will happily wait the 5 minutes for you to tee off. Even if you do have the most outrageous pre-shot routine with endless waggles and step offs.
How wide would the path have to be for people to stay on it? 6 feet? 12? Everything has been tried to deal with this phenomenon. Curbs of every sort are placed as barriers. They only cause problems. They break carts, make it hard to maintain the area, wear out. We have an interesting path with curbs on 13 green. I feel like I am on an amusement park ride because the path is so narrow with curbs on both sides. Reminds me of the Flume. Anyone remember those wooden log rides similar to a roller coaster? They still have them? It certainly is not a path we use for maintenance. None of our equipment would fit.
We have begun to repair a few of these cart path edges. It will take awhile to get them all but they will not last if we do not improve the Culture. How do you want the course to look and play? Take the step to join us and try and make it better. Stay on the path!!
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| Ubiquitous path edge wear |
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| 11 Tee before |
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| 11 Tee after |
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