Got geese?

Berkshire Valley, NJ has a huge problem with geese ... one hole near a pond must have had a hundred geese sitting down roosting on it one morning - shit was everywhere & it was unplayable.     Don't know how other courses control them, but it is a big problem...

Less concerned about putting around it than getting on my hands after touching my ball or getting a face full of it after hitting an iron out of the fairway. Really only a problem at one course I play and it's so busy I usually avoid it.

The answer to too many geese is . . . . . . . Christmas.
 

Dogs work. They run them off and never catch them and love it. Took two weeks to go from overrun to none on a course I played a few years ago.

My home course is next to an airport and they have these shotgun like cannons that randomly explode and make a loud noise to keep geese away.

We have lots of geese at my home course but they are actually never a problem.  They seem to avoid the greens like the plague and will actually walk around the perimeter of one instead of crossing it.  There is occasional goose poop in the fairway here and there but nothing you can't avoid.  I think Hurzdan did well designing my course by providing a big dead space of grass next to a pond that keeps the geese mostly out of play.

Quote:

Originally Posted by rustyredcab 

Dogs work. They run them off and never catch them and love it. Took two weeks to go from overrun to none on a course I played a few years ago.

 

My home course is next to an airport and they have these shotgun like cannons that randomly explode and make a loud noise to keep geese away.

Course I play on has a dog that just roams the course... we never have geese now.  I forget what kind of dog it is.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Paradox 

We have lots of geese at my home course but they are actually never a problem.  They seem to avoid the greens like the plague and will actually walk around the perimeter of one instead of crossing it.  There is occasional goose poop in the fairway here and there but nothing you can't avoid.  I think Hurzdan did well designing my course by providing a big dead space of grass next to a pond that keeps the geese mostly out of play.

Same in Alberta ... lot's of geese on most courses that have significant water, not a problem. Other than occasionally worrying about hitting into them, I don't really notice them anymore.

Lots of geese in the KC area............

Screw'em..................... I'd love to bring a gun to the course.  They can dig holes in the greens........my vote is to shoot them. 

They shoot them [in the season] on one course I play but a couple of shots and they've gone . They don't seem to have much of a memory either since they are back next day ! ; also shooting can't be done whilst people are playing, unreasonably they resent a backside full of pellets on the downswing. I shall pass on the dog idea though , sounds cheap and effective. Thanks.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Typhoon92 

 

Course I play on has a dog that just roams the course... we never have geese now.  I forget what kind of dog it is.

Most likely a border collie.  Courses can buy them trained specifically to keep the geese off the course.  

Archery is the answer.

Quote:

Originally Posted by joekelly 

What a nuisance.  Goose sh*t everywhere, birds flapping, yakking, waddling, crapping on the greens...you name it the birds do it.  This in Atlanta but i have played with these guys in Knoxville and seen them elsewhere.  What about your course and location?  Do you have these 'protected critters' mucking up your putting lines too?  I am not against birds in their place but is the golf course their constitutional right of abode?  If we could change our habits slightly and substitute goose for  turkey dinner, on Thanksgiving and Christmas only, then the 'harmony of the green' could develop,IMHO!! 

What course did you play in Knoxville that had a lot of Geese? I've yet to see any geese, much less large populations.  Maybe I'm just lucky!

Quote:

Originally Posted by rustyredcab 

Dogs work. They run them off and never catch them and love it. Took two weeks to go from overrun to none on a course I played a few years ago.

 

My home course is next to an airport and they have these shotgun like cannons that randomly explode and make a loud noise to keep geese away.

My brother was a member of a country club in Wichita, KS a few years back, were they had a lot of issues with geese.  He convinced the powers to be that his hunting dog could take care of the situation and they agreed.  He would take his pointer to the course and the pointer would chase them off, he got a place to run his pointer and the course got rid of the geese.

One of the courses in the Kansas City are sits on a lake, the geese quickly learned that the particular cove that the course was on was safe from hunters.  There would be hundreds of geese on the two holes and make it virtually unplayable.  The course made arrangements with the hunters to allow hunting on the property at certain times of the day and eliminated the problem.

IMO.... the perfect golf cart setup for any golf course with geese.........