The golf course is not free from the bad habits of many players who, most of the time due to laziness and without bad intentions, tend to break a series of rules that affect the good conservation of the golf course.
Rod Bastard, director of the Marbella Club Golf Resort, a professional with extensive experience in golf management, explains in this article what are the most common bad habits of golfers related to the use of the buggy during their rounds.
“Customers are generally very well behaved,” he says, “but every day there are basic defaults. If people were more aware and avoided doing certain things, it would help a lot with course maintenance.” Bastard estimates that 90 percent of damage on a golf course is caused by improper use of buggies.
“I read an article a few days ago,” Rod comments, “in which several of the top greenkeepers on courses in the United States were talking about the idea of eliminating buggy paths because they look so ugly and affect the game, and they all said very clearly that if you don’t have a buggy path you’re going to have a dirt path, because of the damage buggies cause to the turf. That’s why it’s so important to follow the rules to minimize the damage to the field.
In this example we see a sign that says “90 degree rule’, we have ropes, we have a curb, so obviously the people in charge of the golf course do not want customers to go through there with the buggy. However, despite seeing the three indications not to go through there, they continue to do so. You have to follow the rules of the club, follow the signs. Here we have buggies on the grass on the fairway whenever we can, which is the best way to play, which is a privilege, but that privilege comes with responsibility, so please, let’s use the buggies more responsibly and then the course will be better and everybody will be happier.
I don’t understand the need for customers to walk straight off the tee onto the grass. We normally have the 90 degree rule, which is to follow the buggy path as far as you can until you get to the height of your ball and then enter the fairway, but every day I see people coming off the tee and going straight onto the lawn with their buggy and in the same place that everyone who has entered before has entered before. If we want the course in good condition, let’s keep the buggies on the fairways as long as possible.
On this occasion, the player had to move the stake and the rope to be able to play his stroke, but he left without placing them properly again. This is not possible. The idea is to put the field better than we found it, and if not, at least the same as it was. It takes 30 seconds, but at least the customer who comes after you will find the course in good condition and well ordered.
In this case, we have seen that the golfer has passed with the buggy through a bald area, which has been created by the previous passage of other buggies. If we continually go through the same place as the others, we create these bald spots. If you are driving the buggy and you see a bald spot, avoid it, go through the undamaged areas and spread the weight of the buggy over the course.
It is logical that if we are walking through the field we always look for the straight line to advance to where we want to get, but in the buggy we must not do it that way, and if the buggy path has a curve we must follow it and not shorten it through the grass because we will damage the field. With buggies you don’t always have to go in a straight line.
Many times we have ropes in the field to control the movement of buggies and we have to walk across them. Please lift your foot up and step over the rope, don’t step on it, otherwise you will knock the stake down and untension the rope. This may cause a buggy to go through that area, and also, as I said before, the idea is to leave the field better than we found it.
It seems that this situation of the buggy at the foot of the green is very exaggerated, but the truth is that this is something I often see. I know we have paid for the buggy, but it’s OK if we walk ten or fifteen meters to get from the buggy to the green because golf is a sport and because we have to respect the course so that the rest of the golfers can find it in the best conditions.
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