Golf cart etiquette

[Dr. Strangeclub]

Originally Posted by iacas

I've seen these "waves" on courses before - I know what you're talking about. In my experience, these waves are not only rare, they're not caused by carts. I've seen them at the end of a cart path where it lets out into grass and I've seen them in the rough where virtually nobody drives anything. Carts aren't the cause.

Try this on for size: you're most likely wrong about the cause of the "waves."

Isn't "at the end of a cart path where it lets out into grass" a data point in support of my hypothesis?

The courses around here have a lot of sand in the soil, so it might get pushed around a bit easier than soil with more clay in it.  In any case, if you've seen the "waves", you know what I'm talking about.  I'm just saying they were not always there, and they are definitely getting deeper.  Certain other spots that were once slight dips across the fairway have become at least 5 times wider and much deeper, with a crest on the far edge and nothing explains that except the carts.  These are troughs do not carry drainage.

I'm a little curious to know how you can be so certain that the waves you have seen weren't caused by the carts.  Perhaps the rough areas stay a bit softer than the fairways, so what traffic that does go there has a more noticeable effect?

Similar ripples appear in macadam at approaches to stoplights, caused by trucks.  Dirt roads develop them from traffic -- "rugboard road" is a term from the distant past.  I'm not sure what makes you so certain that fairways are immune to such a ubiquitous natural process, but you seem to be.  Since this discussion is at least peripherally about cart damage to the fairways, I'll spare you the hundred things I hate about carts that rank higher on my list.

Hope you're hitting it better than I am!  My game is in shambles right now. It's making me cranky.

[Kieran123]

Originally Posted by Dr. Strangeclub

Isn't "at the end of a cart path where it lets out into grass" a data point in support of my hypothesis?

The courses around here have a lot of sand in the soil, so it might get pushed around a bit easier than soil with more clay in it.  In any case, if you've seen the "waves", you know what I'm talking about.  I'm just saying they were not always there, and they are definitely getting deeper.  Certain other spots that were once slight dips across the fairway have become at least 5 times wider and much deeper, with a crest on the far edge and nothing explains that except the carts.  These are troughs do not carry drainage.

I'm a little curious to know how you can be so certain that the waves you have seen weren't caused by the carts.  Perhaps the rough areas stay a bit softer than the fairways, so what traffic that does go there has a more noticeable effect?

Similar ripples appear in macadam at approaches to stoplights, caused by trucks.  Dirt roads develop them from traffic -- "rugboard road" is a term from the distant past.  I'm not sure what makes you so certain that fairways are immune to such a ubiquitous natural process, but you seem to be.  Since this discussion is at least peripherally about cart damage to the fairways, I'll spare you the hundred things I hate about carts that rank higher on my list.

Hope you're hitting it better than I am!  My game is in shambles right now. It's making me cranky.

They go too fast?