By Jeff Mingay

When in fact the only necessary golf course accessories are tee markers and flagsticks, courses everywhere are cluttered with ball washers, water coolers, divot mix containers, trash receptacles, spike cleaners, bunker rakes, and even benches. Imagine that, benches on a golf course. If pace of play is a concern, why are golfers encouraged to sit?

Then there are the stakes and rope and signage to provide players with direction, rules, and occasionally a complete diagram of the hole they’re about to confront, which is particularly ridiculous at private member clubs where regular golfers are surely familiar with the task at hand. Still, such signs appear to be a popular waste of money.

Moreover, golf courses are thoroughly marked and measured these days. There are metal yardage plates on irrigation heads; red, white and blue disks in the fairways to denote 100, 150 and 200 yards to the green; and sometimes, trees and bushes serving the same purpose. A club I visited recently has planted red maple saplings on either side of fairways averaging 15-20 yards across. Maples become large trees. Within 5-10 years, those fairways will be canopied.

Bushes on the margins of fairways cause problems as well. Mowing is complicated and worse for golfers, marginal tee shots will occasionally finish beneath low-lying branches, resulting in an unplayable lie. Golf is intended for open spaces and is a far less enjoyable game when a course induces claustrophobia. Therefore, it’s advisable to remove such impediments as trees and bushes on the margins of fairways.

At the new Blackhawk Golf Club in suburban Edmonton, metre high, black-and-white striped stakes have been placed in the centre of each fairway, 150 yards from the green. Golfers can see the stake from almost anywhere on each hole, and thus are provided with an approximate gauge on their distance to the green. More importantly, the stake is removable. Unlike a tree or a bush, you can conveniently pull the stake out of the ground, play your shot and replace it.

The goal at Blackhawk was to keep things simple and uncluttered. After all, a majority of the world’s very best courses are understated. Places like Pine Valley, Cypress Point, Merion, Sand Hills, and Muirfield in Scotland possess a simple, antiquated sensibility that reflects golf’s history and traditions. So often, less is more.

As golf architects, we recommended Blackhawk be fit with tee markers made from branches of poplar trees that dominate the property and old-fashion wooden flagsticks. Unlike synthetic tee markers, those made from indigenous trees blend beautifully with the natural environment (see Pine Valley and Sand Hills for example). And, wooden flagsticks reflect the game’s past. Like Merion’s famed wicker baskets, Blackhawk’s wooden flagsticks provide the course with an element of originality.

Unfortunately, few clubs these days seem to dedicate time and imagination toward selecting golf course accessories. I guess it’s simpler to “catalogue order” the readily available synthetic stuff.

There are, however, a few examples of ingenuity. At Roaring Gap, a classic Donald Ross-designed course in North Carolina, metal hardware pails, painted green and filled with water, are placed on the tee to provide golfers with opportunity to wash their balls and clubs. The pails are a unique touch, different from the ball washers most golfers are accustom to, and add to the “Roaring Gap experience”. And a number of golf course superintendents throughout the United States have replaced their run-of-the-mill plastic bunker rakes with wooden flex frame rakes, adding a sense of style and originality to their courses.

So, next time your course is in need of new tee markers, flagsticks, yardage markers, ball washers, bunker rakes, or other accessories, dedicate some time to research and use your imagination.

Appears in the October 2003 issue of GreenMaster magazine