MIND / ASK A GREENKEEPER M
Are You Committing This Common
Golf Cart Mistake?
Greenkeepers call it their ‘worst nightmare,’ and it’s easily avoidable BY DREW POWELL
Replace your divots, fix your ball marks, rake the sand. Golfers know the basics of course maintenance etiquette yet are still making a common error that one greenkeeper calls his “worst nightmare.” You’ll often see the grass around cart paths is often dead or nonexistent, the result of golfers leaving two wheels on the path and two off. Why is this such a common mistake, what damage does it cause and why should golfers care? Those are the ques- tions we put to two top superintendents: Jason Meersman of the Patterson Club in Connecticut, and Paul Dotti of Arcola Country Club in New Jersey.
Golf Digest: Jason, I’ve seen so much damage around cart paths recently, what’s going on? Meersman: Oh, my God, it drives me up a wall. You could have a hat that has a picture of a golf cart half on and half off a cart path. It’s a superintendent’s worst nightmare. The issue usually happens around turns. The cart path turns at the apex, and that’s where people will cheat. They’re always trying to get from point A to point B to as quickly as possible. We’re like cows, so we’re going to go from point A to point B unless some- thing interferes with us. Golf Digest: Paul, do you notice this issue as well? Dotti: Yeah, absolutely. You’ll often see curbing around the tees and greens to try and prevent that from happen- ing, but especially around those areas, that’s where golfers tend to want to just
If you don’t have those, then golfers will just cut the corner. Dotti: Exactly. You’ve got to put some kind of curbing or stakes. An issue with stakes, though, is that they quickly be- come labour intensive to move when you’re trying to mow. If you don’t move them, they’ll get run over by the mow- ers, so we have to get them out of the way. Some supers will put a layer of brick pavers over the area that’s been dam- aged by the carts. That expands the cart path a little further. But what you’ll notice is that golfers will just go a little further off the brick paver, so you get the same issue.
pull two wheels off the path for some reason. I don’t know why it happens, but it is definitely a concern. The issue with it is that over time on a course that has a lot of carts, you’re going to start to get a dirt strip along the edge. Essentially, the cart path creeps out a metre, and it’s usually just dirt be- cause the ground is so compacted from the carts. Then, that area doesn’t get irrigated properly and since it’s com- pacted, the grass won’t grow back. It’s a baffling thing, I don’t know why people do it. When people go to their houses, they don’t pull two wheels off their driveway, but when they’re in a golf cart, they do it. It’s really bizarre. Golf Digest: What can superinten- dents do to try and get golfers to stay completely on the path? Meersman: Some supers will put stakes at the apex of turns to try and prevent golfers from cutting the corner.
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24 GOLF DIGEST SOUTH AFRICA
JULY/AUGUST 2025
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