ELK ON GOLF COURSE
When you do your morning tour of the golf course and you see this on one of the fairways you can expect there is going to be some damage on the golf course. And of course we get proven right during the August and September Elk rutting period. Just part of some of the challenges of growing turf in a mountain setting.
Here on Hole #4 fairway the herd trampled through on the way to bedding down on Hole #6, see above.
Aside from hoof damage from the elk running or walking, sometimes the bull elk will use their antlers to create a "wallow". This is either in preparation of laying down or simply to scratch their antlers. Sometimes it can be them using their hooves to "paw" away at the turf. In this case on Hole #10 it was hard to tell what the reason was.
And when they travel across a green, in this case #9 green, there is no mercy due to the softer rootzone and shorter cut turf. All repairs were done by hand using turf cover staples to knit the turf together. Topdressing sand and divot seed mix is used to smooth out the final fix. Many man hours are consumed each day searching for and repairing damage.
