Successful # 18 Tee Cart Path

Addressing the stairs on #18 leading to the Granite & Tournament tees was a close second behind bunker renovation in the 2007 year end member survey issued shortly before my arrival at Granite Bay. Bunker renovation started in 2008 negating their impact to that year’s survey and the stairs on #18 became the top golf course capitol priority, at least according to the members who participated in the survey.
We are very happy that the project went off exactly as planned and the finished product has been embraced for the most part by the membership. Once we got into the project my biggest concern was the canopy’s of the carts visually obstructing the view of the fairway. Creating an area large enough for carts to turn around and not be in the line of sight was hard to envision until we removed existing landscaping to see what we had up there. We worked along time at excavation the upper area creating as flat of a turnaround as possible. I am sure members who have been using the path currently have already figured that the lead cart needs to pull forward allowing the trailing cart to pull parallel to the newly created rock wall. This gets the carts all the way to the left and out of the fairway line of sight.

Upper turnaround #18 tee

The grade coming down the path was a concern as well. After using the path with club owned electric carts we found that instinctively drivers do not accelerate fully but slightly use the brake and the club owned carts govern their speed automatically.
Even if used improperly and a player drove the cart with full throttle, the club owned carts govern down like they do on other steep paths on the course.

Slope of the completed cartpath #18

The last concern was access for walkers. I don’t use the course as much as our members but I personally found the new path easier to walk up then navigating the old stairs or the foot worn path around them that most walkers used. The coarse texture that we planned to use on the slope is stable under foot and it just seems an easier trek. Once the weather becomes wet we will evaluate access for walkers and create a walking path up the right side of the cart path if necessary.
In addition to the path we addressed irrigation issues and some cleanup and grading around the #17 green complex trying to put some finishing touches on the entire area. We still have plant material to install in the barked areas at the base and top of the path, which we are targeting to finish next week. Additionally we have to re-install the water station, which we hope to take care of this winter.

Fresh concrete

#12 cart path extension