Mandatory Cart Policy at State Run Golf Courses

Copy of letter to Governor Kasich, my State Representatives and "the chief" at Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR).

Dear Sir,

Two of my friends and I played Maumee Bay Golf Course at Maumee Bay State Park on August 27, 2011. When my threesome arrived at the golf course and was checking in, we were disappointed that the golf course imposed a mandatory cart policy upon us, as we were looking forward to getting some much-needed exercise during our round and find walking a much more enjoyable way to experience both the game of golf and a golf course, especially in beautiful surroundings like Maumee Bay State Park. When I asked the starter in the pro shop, the reason for the policy he replied that “it is the policy statewide at all State golf courses.”

Despite our disappointment, we decided to play a round since we had travelled so far to the golf course. We played our initial nine holes in three hours --- a typical nine holes takes approximately 2 hours! When we made the turn after the initial nine holes, I talked to the course’s Assistant Golf Professional to find out the reason for the mandatory cart policy. He told me that the policy is in place to purportedly increase the speed of play, which he had a hard time articulating given that he realized the extremely slow pace of the nine holes that we had just played. Obviously, the extremely, almost-unheard-of slow pace of play that we experienced on the front nine --- at times, four groups were on one hole --- demonstrates that the State’s mandatory cart policy does not achieve its objective.

I spent fifteen years of my life in the golf industry, working at various golf courses in Greater Cleveland, and I know that there is nothing farther from the truth than the idea that golf carts speed up the pace of play. When golfers walk, each golfer goes directly to his own golf ball, gathering the information that they need for their next shot as they approach their respective golf balls, and wait their turn to play. When, however, golfers ride golf carts, golfers do not go directly to their own golf ball and wait their turn to play; instead they use the following much slower routine:

1. Two golfers riding in a cart (I will call them “Golfer A” and “Golfer B”) tee off and proceed down the fairway in their golf cart to Golfer A’s golf ball;

2. Golfer A and Golfer B travel to and park the golf cart near Golfer A’s golf ball, Golfer A searches for a yardage marker, Golfer A goes back to the golf cart, selects his club, hits his shot, places his golf club in the golf cart; and then

3. Golfer A and Golfer B travel to and park the golf cart near Golfer B’s golf ball, Golfer B searches for a yardage marker, Golfer B goes back to the golf cart, selects his club, hits his shot, places his golf club in the golf cart.

Of course, the justified restrictions on the placement of the golf carts on the golf courts also decrease the speed of the play, because instead of being able to exit the green, pick one’s clubs and then proceed to the next hole, there is often a waiting period that requires golfers to retrieve the golf carts from where they left them (usually in the fairway) before proceeding to the next hole.

Besides the obvious speed advantages of allowing golfers to choose to walk, walking also has other advantages that I would hope that our State would be interested in promoting: (1) the increased physical activity that comes from walking, and (2) a decrease in the consumption of fossil fuels. With respect to the first point, the need is unfortunately great in our country, as 34% of adults in our country are obese and 34% of adults in our country are overweight (and not obese), according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. With startling statistics like that, why would we have policies in place that prevent people from being active if they so choose? And with respect to the second point, the constant smell of gasoline and exhaust emanating from the golf cart detracted from the otherwise appealing surroundings of Maumee Bay Golf Course.

I understand that the State wants to make golf carts available to those who need them and those who prefer using them, but I resent the fact that the use of a golf cart is imposed upon me when I am trying to live an active, healthy lifestyle and enjoy the game of golf in a manner that I find most enjoyable, especially when that policy fails to achieve its objective. I respectfully request that ODNR reconsider its mandatory cart policy and reverse it, giving golfers the choice to use a golf cart or carry their own clubs or use a pull cart, at all times.

Regards,

The Walking Golfer

Ohio University Golf Course

Located on the southern edge of the Ohio University campus in Athens, Ohio, the course has an interesting layout that takes into account the local terrain and the Hocking river where four holes are located on the south bank. The third hole from the green tees, the drive challenges the player to "cut-off" as much of the hole as possible as the tee shot is across the river. The course has only 9 holes with one par 5 and the 9th hole ending with a par 3. Having gone to OU back in the late 90's and early 2000's, when there barely was a course, this design is a tremendous improvement.

Unfortunately this recent visit to the OU course has been disappointing from previous trips as the condition of the tees and fairways have diminished significantly. According to the course manager, maintenance has been an issue as the grounds crew is made up of mostly students and all costs to run the course come solely from greens fees. This coupled with a hot summer has been a recipe for the tees and fairways getting burnt out. Fortunately the greens are still rolling well, but care must be taken such that their condition is not ruined permanently.

The course is very walkable, if there is such a word. Green fees are also very affordable as I paid $10 on Thursday as an alum. Overall I rate this course 2.5 stars.

Maumee Bay Golf Course

Located on the shores of Lake Erie in a state park near Toledo, Ohio, Maumee Bay Golf Course is branded as a links style golf course. The layout does have that feel, but it is hard to believe that a true links golf course would have cart paths on every hole or carts would be allowed on a course to begin with. Although many holes had tall fescue grass, the bunkers were also poorly maintained such that they had no "definition" that many would associate with a links style course.

As with many courses nowadays, there is a mandatory cart policy on weekends before 3:00. This is quite sad as the course is operated by the Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR), whose chief duty is to promote recreation. I presume that the idea behind the cart policy is to "speed up" play. On this day, however, we waited on every shot. After an hour to play three holes, a call to the pro shop indicated that there was nothing that could be done to speed up play. (I do believe a ranger is allowed on golf courses still.) I later learned that there was an outing of some sort ahead of us. Why courses allow outings on a weekend during peak hours is beyond me. In total the 18 took 5 1/2 hours to play.

Overall I was disappointed with the course. I had heard good things about the course and its layout is neat. But the conditions of the course warrant some TLC. As a courtesy, for the long round and our disagreement with the cart policy, the pro shop granted us a free round of golf. In the end, however, I give this course 2 stars.

Delaware Golf Club

Located off of route 23 just south of Delaware, OH, this course has the unusual feature of having the front nine designed by Donald Ross (or one of his proteges) and the back nine designed by Fuzzy Zoeller. Unfortunately, as with most course additions, the original style was not preserved or blended in with the new back 9. In fact, it would appear to me that only 6 of the original 9 are indeed "original". The 3rd and 9th hole are completely different from the Donald Ross design where their greens are big and undulating and the other holes have small flat greens. Somewhere between the 2nd and 4th, it would appear that the original 3rd hole exists, but was plowed under to make room for a subdivision. The gimmicky par 5 4th hole re-enforces this belief as there is a 150 ft tree right in the middle of the landing spot off the tee. Once you get passed the tree, the remaining hole has a feel of a Donald Ross design. Although different in style, the back nine and other non-original holes are well designed and quite tight in some spots.

We played on a Monday afternoon and the course had a flat $29 rate including cart. There was no break for walking. The gentleman in the pro shop said that "because the course is a difficult one to walk we don't have a walking rate. But if one chooses to walk, we usually take $10 off the rate." Okay, $29 was a decent rate nonetheless. It had rained the night before so we got hit with the "carts on paths only". Of course that slows down play. Interesting enough the carts do no follow up the entire side of the fairway. They stop well before the landing area off the tee. Unfortunately, this feature was not included on the additional nine holes.

The day that we played, the mercury was well above 90º with high humidity. Needless to say we quickly sweated out any water consumed. At the turn, after we found no water coolers on the first nine we asked the pro shop if any water was out on the course. The reply, "no water is out on the course." The reason, "that's corporate." Although this was not part of the answer, apparently the reason why no water coolers are on some courses is because it's a health issue and courses are worried about pending litigation due to one falling ill due to unsanitary water jugs. Evidently, it's better to fall ill to heat exhaustion and lack of water than to getting diarrhea from "bad water". At the very least, a drink cart should be brought around the course. This is a financial incentive for the course.

The driving range has a big lake for its landing area and range balls "float" to the top. This is quite stupid as you have no idea how far you hit the ball or if the balls respond the same as traditional golf balls.

Although the greens were in excellent shape for this time of year, the ambiguous walking rate and the "it's corporate attitude" earns this course a 2 star rating.

NPR: Caddies Role in Golf

http://www.npr.org/2011/08/11/139558715/a-look-at-the-role-of-caddies-in-golf

University of Montana Golf Course

Last week on a visit to see some friends in Montana I was able to play at the University of Montana in Missoula. The course is short with minor challenges and is easy to walk. Although quite affordable at $13 for 9-holes, the pace of play was incredibly slow. The greens had a slow pace as well. The main attraction to the course is the beauty of the surrounding terrain - see pics below. If I were to visit Missoula again I may play the course again, but other more enticing links may gain my play. I rate this course a solid two stars.

Third Tee

First Tee

Pine Hill - Solid Course in Central Ohio

Located in Carroll, Ohio about half way between Lancaster and Columbus sits Pine Hill golf club. This course, designed by Jack Kidwell, has a nice undulating layout. I played on a Saturday afternoon and was able to walk 18 in about three and a half hours. The price at $20 was quite the bargain as the greens and fairways were in good shape. The front nine was the better of the two as the back nine had the unusual 3-3-3 - three par 3s, three par 4s and three par 5s. The only real criticism was that the greens were slow and the round ended with two long and boring par 5s. This course was a solid 3 stars and will definitely earn a return trip.

http://pinehillgolfclub.com/home/index.php

Berkshire Country Club - No Carts Before Noon

Today (6/19/11) I played at Berkshire Country Club in northeastern Ohio. To a former caddie, the round started off with the most dreaded phrase in golf, "you must take a cart before noon." What? What does that mean? And why before noon? I said, "no, I want to walk." The response, again, but with a more authoritative tone, "you must take a cart; that's the boss's rules." O-kay, the boss's rules, but why? Apparently there is this perception that golfers on carts play faster than those walking. Perhaps, but it is my experience that people take more time. Why? Because golfers are not trained on how to play cart golf. Often times golfers forget clubs in the cart and have to return to get the right clubs. This inevitably adds time to the round. One may say that the cart does speed up play between holes, but on a course like Berkshire, where the holes are all within reasonable distance of each other the cart does not speed up play. This is especially true on father's day when the course is packed from 7:00 am on.

Since I was not by myself, I begrudgingly paid for the cart and green fees, for a total of $46, which is quite steep for a course of this caliber. Having paid for this, and the course website stating that it is an "18 hole Championship Golf Course", I expected a much better groomed course than what I encountered. Although soggy in some spots, the greens were in good shape. The fairways were decent, but many of the tees needed work. Apparently this was to be done shortly as the carts had signs stating that they would be "moving dirt around" in the near future. The sand traps had very little sand if any at all and appeared as if they came through 30 years ago with a bulldozer and in one pass created a small indentation in the ground and then dumped sand from a nearby Lake Erie beach. As to the cart paths, which for this given day gained my attention, were in terrible shape. They had many undulations with tree roots growing through them. And where there was supposed to be asphalt, much of it was missing. The one good thing about the cart paths, which courses that have them should follow, is they are only near the tees and greens. They are not up the entire side of the hole, which many courses usually have. The one entertaining part of the day was the down hill par 4 no. 12, the second most difficult hole on the course. Perhaps, in its effort to be a "championship golf course" the green slopes severely back to front and if you leave your ball above the hole there is little chance to stop it unless you hit the hole. None of the players in my group could stop their ball before it rolled completely off the green. In fact, some people would consider this unfair. The USGA has suffered from similar criticism in previous US Opens. Overall, I rate this course 2 stars out of 5.