Gailes Golf Club has a number of initiatives it employs in the Care and Maintenance of the Golf Course.
Guidelines on the use of Motorised Golf Carts, whether club owned or privately owned.
Bunker maintenance.
Pin placement policies.
Greens regeneration and renovation.
Fairway protection.
To learn more about these initiatives, please feel free to browse the sections below.
Guidelines on the use of Club Motorised Carts
All motorised cart drivers must possess a current driver’s licence or have attained the age of 18.
The vehicle must be operated from the driver’s side only.
Each driver must agree to indemnify the Gailes Golf Club Inc., it’s Staff, Management and Committee from any liability arising from the use of a motorised cart on the course.
All carts must give way to course staff and machinery.
To prevent injury, the driver and the passenger shall remain seated within the cart whilst in motion.
No more than 2 persons shall be in a moving vehicle at any time.
Drivers are to limit speed according to the conditions and terrain being traversed.
Carts are to be kept on pathways where provided and are not to approach greens beyond the blue line painted on the fairways and through the rough. Carts are not to be parked on mounds or driven into roped off areas.
In wet conditions, carts should only be driven on obviously dryer sections of the course.
Consider adjacent golfers when you start up your cart as they may be putting or preparing to hit.
No “hitting the skids” or wheelies.
Bunker Maintenance
Before leaving a bunker, players should carefully fill up and smooth over any holes and footprints made by them and any nearby made by others including kangaroo paw prints etc.
It is the Policy of the Gailes Golf Club that all bunker rakes be replaced onto the yellow tee lines marked on the ground outside each bunker. It is the player’s responsibility to replace each rake in the appropriate holder as found.
When raking a bunker, please rake towards direction of play initially so that a hole is not created eventually in that spot which makes it ever so much harder for successive players.
Common pieces of feedback from golfers is about bunkers having no sand in the middle and too much around the edges. In some cases this is correct, but in most cases it is a direct cause of not being raked correctly by golfers. This is not an issue limited to Gailes, it is a common thread amongst golfers worldwide. Here is a link to a very good video showing the correct method and why to do it from a golf course in the U.K. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8PECxk_Mjcg
Pin Placement Policies
To even out wear on the greens, it is the policy of the Club that pins will be placed in a front, middle and back of green, 3 hole rotation.
The next time pins are cut in, the front pin position will move to a middle of green position and so on.
Greens Regeneration and Renovation
The Club has a policy of continual maintenance associated with the green surfaces.
In summer months when growing is at an optimal stage, greens will be mown out to the maximum size as constructed and conversely, as growth recedes, the putting surfaces may be reduced depending on wear and other factors.
Greens generally will be cored and top dressed twice a year in October and March and Vertidrained as required.
Fairway Protection
Gailes Golf Club employs the use of fixed bollards, movable bollards, rope, fixed and mobile signage to advise members and guests as to the direction of travel on the course. This is done for a couple of reasons being to minimise wear and tear on the fairways and to not place players in potentially dangerous situations (i.e. oncoming balls). Players are required to comply therefore with signage as advised.
In addition, at Gailes we believe that all Members should care for the course by taking a bucket of sand with them as they play to patch divot holes around the course.
