As members of the Niakwa Country Club we have the privilege of playing on one of the best conditioned golf courses in the province thanks to Shawn Major and his staff. That privilege comes with a responsibility. Members and their guests are expected to do their part to help care for our course.
Contributing to course care includes the following general items:
- Abiding by power cart rules and traffic restrictions
- Ball mark repair
- Bunker care and raking; and
Over the next few weeks, I will be sharing some best practices on these and other course etiquette items. This information is intended to provide members with the necessary knowledge to ensure that we are doing our part to protect and care for the golf course. By doing so we will help the maintenance team focus on their most important tasks while also providing every member and their guests a memorable experience day in and day out.
For this week we will be dealing with power cart rules and traffic restrictions. Below you will find some information provided by the course team:
Power Cart Rules and Traffic Restrictions:
- Power cart traffic control is an important item as it relates to course care. We have a historic property. With that comes a lack of space. We do not have cart paths tee through green. With the lack of space and cart paths, wear patterns and damage can happen quickly if we do not control where power carts travel. Weather variables can also add to the challenges of power cart traffic on course.
- We utilize stake and rope in many areas to protect turf. Without this in place we would have many soil voids on the property taking away from the playability and presentation. When you see stake and rope in an area or white and black traffic control posts the goal is to keep power carts from travelling in that general area (see Figure 2 below).
Figure 2 – These traffic control stakes and rope are preventing this damaged area from becoming worse due to power cart traffic. If you see these setups simply keep your power cart away from the area and travel around it. We would ask for no travel in the red “X” areas but follow the green arrow around the challenged location.
- As a club we have a rule that power carts are to remain in fairways. This is done for a couple reasons:
- We have great drainage in our fairways. If conditions are soggy our fairways will have the best chance at successfully handling the traffic as there is generally minimal standing water.
- There is a lack of irrigation and drainage in our rough areas. When we get into wet periods we hold water in the rough. Driving through saturated areas displaces the turf and with enough receptiveness we will see the turf die back creating unsightly conditions. On the flip side when we are in drought periods the rough can wilt with the inability to handle the traffic and recover. Please keep carts in fairways.
- Travelling near a green or tee is not permitted.
- Generally, we ask to keep power carts a minimum of 30 yards from greens and approaches.
- All tee box locations all have a cart path. Please keep power carts fully on these paths with all four tires on the cart path and off of the turf.
Thanks for your attention to this very important matter. A little extra effort on our parts will enhance everyone’s experience at the Club. If you have any questions or concerns, please don’t hesitate to reach out to me directly.
Respectfully
Paul Beatty, Chair
Course Committee