Concrete Cartpath!

While this is not a new phenomenon to most of the golfing world, here at the Grand Forks Country Club we are pouring our very first (at least as far as I know) section of concrete cartpath on the course.  While asphalt may be more cost effective on a larger scale, for the small areas that we are paving here on the course, concrete was the way to go because it was a do-it-yourself project for my crew and we didn't have the expense of mobilizing in all the large equipment necessary to lay asphalt.  I may not be a professional concrete flatwork installer, but at the course I was at in Montana we hired a contractor to pour 4 miles of concrete carpath at a cost of $1.6 million, so I am at least very familiar with the process!

A very generous member of the club offered to foot the bill for this process, and has been very supportive of us doing this project the absolute right way from the beginning.  That included adding a turnaround at the end of the tee on 16, and the only way to do that was to build a retaining wall in order to get enough flat area to turn around on.  The concrete will extend all the way to the front of 16 tee, and will also go down to the parking area for 15 green.  A drain basin will be added at the low point in the path to get rid of the water puddle that used to be there all summer.  The bunker by 15 green is being moved about 15-20 feet closer to the green to make room for the new path to exit the fairway at a reasonable point also.  All in all it is turning out to be a rather large project, but when all the grass is grown back in next spring the finished product should be remarkable! 

Now....we just need to get the golfers to realize that the cartpath is there for you to use, NOT the grass all the way around the rest of the greens and tees.  Below is a perfect example of one very well educated and considerate golfer utilizing the cartpath in order to preserve the quality of the rough in the green surrounds.  The other golfer in the group however would rather destroy the golf course in order to save himself the 6 second walk up to the green.  Now the next person that plays the holes will have to hit a chip shot out of matted down rough if their approach shot misses the green by only a few feet....

Adding new cartpath is a wonderful way to improve the flow of traffic on the course and to preserve the quality of the turf for all the rest of the golfers, but only if everyone USES IT!!!