Sturdy and solid cart paths were necessary throughout the golf course at Shinnecock Hills to prepare for and conduct the recent U.S. Open. To achieve this goal, a network of sand paths was covered with asphalt to minimize dust and give reliable passage for vehicles. To soften the visual impact of the black asphalt on a course that is famous for its naturalness, a light beige paint was applied to blend the paths into the sand-swept landscape. There were also a few paths painted dark green to blend them into primary rough areas. To be clear, this was a televised national championship where painting cart paths made sense. After the championship, many of these hard surface paths will be removed or restored to sand. Painting paths may not be suitable at other golf courses, but in this scenario it worked well, which caught my attention.
Golfers are often concerned about the visual impact of cart paths, and some courses replace paths entirely or go to great lengths to hide them as a result. While not commonly done, there are a few golf courses that apply paint to hard surface paths to soften their look, which can enhance the visual presentation of the golf course. This approach might be preferable to a more expensive and disruptive intervention if path aesthetics are a major concern. However, it is important to recognize that path painting is purely for looks and provides no benefit to turf health or the quality of the playing surfaces, which means it’s probably not something most courses should be considering. Resources are finite and should be directed first toward practices that measurably improve course conditions.
If painting paths is something a course is considering, a sport court paint similar to what is used for painting a tennis court is most common. The amount of traffic will dictate how long the paint lasts before requiring reapplication. Keep this in mind as paint and labor will become an ongoing expense.
Northeast Region Agronomists:
Darin Bevard, senior director, Championship Agronomy – dbevard@usga.org
Elliott L. Dowling, regional director, East Region – edowling@usga.org
Brian Gietka, agronomist – bgietka@usga.org