There is a substantial cost to prepare and present the magnificent golf course that you see every day. The following tips and routines will help to ensure that the playing conditions for golfers following you are as good as what you experienced. We are all expected to do our bit to look after our course.
Fairway divots
Most good swings from well-struck iron shots produce a divot in the fairway - the top layer of turf that is sliced
off and sent flying as your iron enters the ground and the resulting scar, or patch of bare earth, that is left in the fairway. A repaired divot can speed up the healing process by a couple weeks.
Find the turf that was sliced off from the fairway. If you've taken a "clean divot," you'll find the turf still in one, neat piece. But sometimes, the turf will be in pieces - just retrieve it as best you can, and replace it in the ground. Do the best job you can to make it fit neatly back into place. Tread it down with your foot - a couple of taps with your club is not enough.
Carts and Trundlers
While most of the course is pretty tough there are parts of the course that get a fair bit of traffic or may be soft, particularly after rain. Even during dry periods the fringes of the greens get the run off from irrigation. To protect these sensitive areas the following rules apply:
- Keep carts and trundlers away from the fringes of greens. Avoid areas showing signs of damage to give it time to recover.
- Look out for wetter areas of the fairways, particularly after rain, and drive around them.
- Don't drive onto the tee blocks with your cart. If you have enough energy to swing a club you should be able to handle the few steps onto the tee.
- Don't drive your cart up the steeper parts of the course. It's not safe and wheel spin damages the ground.
Pitch marks on the green The dent in the green caused by your ball must be repaired immediately. Successfully repaired pitch marks can heal within 24 hours but if left it will take three to four weeks to heal.
- Always start at the back of the mark and push forward with the repairer.
- Use repairer around all sides and slowly ease turf toward the centre of the mark. Do not lift the soil upwards.
- Lightly tap down with putter. The finished result should look like you have never been there.
Bunkers
Before leaving a bunker, a player should carefully fill up and smooth over all holes and footprints made by him, and then leave the rake in he bunker with the handle pointing toward the tee of the hole being played.
1. Always enter the bunker at the lowest point.
2. Rake across the line as you exit the bunker.
3. If required rake other affected areas.
4. Do not pull sand towards the edge of the bunker. Push back excess sand.
Bottles, cans and garbage If you can carry it out with you can carry it back!
It is nice to take something to eat and drink while you are playing. Please use the rubbish bins on the course or put your rubbish in your bag for later disposal. This includes the pesky silver tops from the energy drink bottles. We all get sick of walking towards what looks like a ball only to find it is one of these bottle tops.
Alcohol Ban
Cambridge Golf Club has a policy that forbids the consumption of alcohol on the golf course.