Dogs on the Golf Course

The course I go to to do range practice. Has a large Retriever looking dog named Bogey that freely roams the course and practice areas. This isn't the problem in and of it's self (though I still think it's odd), but the things the dog does just drive me batty.

He likes to hang out at the putting green and chase your expensive golf balls around while you're trying to practice. He'll even pick them up in his mouth and run off with them. If you get it back, it's marred and covered in dog slobber.
He also likes to nip at your bag and anything hanging off of it while you're walking. He's even nipped the back of my wife's legs.

Now they have ANOTHER dog out there. A large Boxer. This dog seems to mostly mind it's own beeswax and is often sleeping somewhere, but I was on the practice green trying to concentrate on what I was doing, and the boxer goes over and takes a large poo on the fringe.

I'm not anti-dog or anything, but this just seems totally out of place for a golf course!

"The green's pretty flat, but aim 4' left to miss the attention of the Retriever, and 2' short to miss the poo trap".

At my home course one of the greens crew has his Jack Russell terrier with him all day. She just sits on the seat of his cart and minds her own business. It's pretty cool actually. Not sure if I'd care for the "loose" impediment on the fringe issue.

I actually think it'd be kinda cool to have a dog randomly running around the course, I'm not sure I'd play there regularly though.

I've been at a couple of courses that have cats that live in the pro shop but I guess that's a bit different because they're far less likely to get in your way and tend to not leave their mess all over the ground.

I would love to be able to take my dog to the course, but here in the US it is not an accepted practice. My understanding in the UK, dogs on the course is very common.

David Feherty told a story about a German Shepard that his family owned that would go "golfing" with them. She would sit on the tee box until everyone teed off, then take off, and show back up when they were on the green, wait for them to putt, and join them on the next tee. She was even smart enought to know when someone had to retee to wait before taking off.

That I would enjoy.

I played at a course once where a lakeside green was absolutely covered in goose poop...boy was that fun. I can only imagine having a boxer bomb in my line.

I used to play with the superintendent of my home course and he always had his dog in the back of his little Jacobson maintenance cart. Rosco would be with him all day and never was a problem.

Of course, he was well trained to stay near unless Jim said the word, then he happily chased the squirrels and other wildlife. He always came back and jumped in the cart when called back. If the dog is trained it isn't an issue at all.

Yeah I agree. As long as the pet is well trained. who cares?

Dogs are cool and that wouldnt bother me.

Bring on the dogs, hopefully, they will run off all the geese and all their droppings. Geese love to defecate on the greens and get real irate if you need them to move out of your line of putt.

I hit into a green with deer on it one morning, and when my partner and I arrived at the green we could see the dew mark from my ball that rolled 12 feet to a stop, then was rolled another 4 feet by the deer. We could see prints where one walked up to my ball and shoved it around. Pretty crazy!

I have a small dog and wish I could bring her with me when I walk... I could just tie her to my Bagboy cart and she could walk with me. Maybe someday on a real slow day I'll just do it if I know I'm going off alone. My (actually my wife's) dog is a little Yorkiepoo (Yorkie-Poodle mix), so her little 10 pound self wouldn't hurt anything. I think she would be quiet and just hang out on the leash after a hole or so. I have taken her to the driving range, and she was good there after a couple quick barks when we first got out of the car.

I have seen this once, and it was last year on a local 9 hole muni right around the corner form my house ... IIRC it was the middle of the week, later in the day, the course was empty and it was a Jack Russel Terrier sized dog ... I remember thinking to myself, "eh, that's neat, and what's the harm in it, the guys was playing by himself and the dog's leashed."

I don't really see an issue with it if it doesn't interfer with pace or game play ... but then again, if it weren't for the mosquitos and my fear of West Nile Virus or EEE I would throw the harnes on my macaw and take her with me to the course.

I think it would be awesome to have a dog come visit during your round. But pooping on the fringe and taking balls wouldn't be good.

I'd take my dog and tie him to a bag cart, he's big enough to pull it. Just like having a caddy.

Definitely like the dog thing on the course as long as they are quiet and respectful. I know what you are talking about though with the Baby Ruth droppings, barking and whatnot.......... I work at a large software company in the Silicon Valley and we are a dog friendly campus. Needless to say, can be interesting trying to sell product over the phone and have a passing dog bark in the background. All good though........

thats so cool! at a course near me the greenskeeper has a beagle ("Cricket") that he found on the course years ago and that dog rides with him all around the course in the seat next to him too. its so cute. sometimes he'll get out and explore while the greenskeeper is doing things, and if the greenskeeper leaves to go somewhere else, you'll see Cricket running down the cartpath to go catch up to him.

Here on long Island we use dogs to chase the geese away so the "Goose Pickels" do not get to deep.

I'd love to bring my dog out on the course with me.

The only times i have seen dogs on a course are ones that are meant to scare away the birds that **** all over the place.

I don't mind well trained dogs, but the packs of coyotes are getting pretty annoying...

A friend of a friend is apparently an expert at this. He gets paid by the big private courses and by nicer subdivisions to run geese off. He has dogs, but he says he prefers to use remote control boats

He gets free golf from it, so all in all a pretty sweet gig.