A group of environmentally conscious investors and developers did build a new golf course to be installed and managed "organically." The site was just upstream of the region's major reservoir and thus sensitive to runoff and other negatives sometimes associated with golf courses.

Well, the job was botched from day one owing to the lack of expertise, some major patches of poor soil, and poor management. I am still amazed at seeing wide swatches of yellowing and dead grass on irrigated fairways and near-barren greens. It all starts with compost, as Dr. Dirt once said. The krap brought in at first was toxic.

Considering the effort required to keep our own small lawn looking halfway decent, without any use of herbicides, I myself am wondering how a golf course can be maintained using organic methods. I don't doubt that the right kind of grass can be encouraged to grow, but how do you suppress dandelions and creeping charlie? We have both in our lawn. The dandelions are removed by hand with a weed-hound tool. They make great compost. Creeping charlie is another matter...

I work as a greenkeeper on a golf course maybe 6 months a year...have done so on and off for 20 years. And I am an organic gardener slowly building a Permaculture lifestyle around me. I abhor chemical use in any form of horticulture. Luckily, my boss respects my attitude and I am exempt from having to touch any 'cides.

But a golf course relies on the chemical "quick fix".
Golfers demand a perfect, pristine and green playing field.

As Marshall points out, poor soil in some areas is a fact of life on a 90 acre golf course. It would take a year or more to remediate these areas using organic methods, and golfers and the club directors wouldn't stand for that. Chemical fertilisers can turn a brown/yellow under-performing patch of fairway to a bright green in a matter of days, so guess which method is used...

I have managed to convince the boss to fertlise tees and greens with chicken manure, and occasionally we'll spend a day or 2 on hands and knees hand-weeding smaller patches of weeds on greens, but that's about it...

Not condoning the use of chems, just stating the facts...

Regards,

Shax