anti-golf

[cimorene]

There are large flocks of ducks and geese in our town and they are my heroes because they are a recurrent "problem" for the golf course users who cut down a bunch of trees in what was wild animal habitat and then added additional ponds which ducks and geese are known for liking, and then have the nerve to act surprised about ducks and geese using the ponds while the rest of their stupid hobby is a giant bald patch eyesore right along a huge chunk of what used to be a scenic bike and car path. (Also horse path that the bridle schools use for exercise, but I guess they probably don't tend to take their horses to poop on the golf course because they'd have to leave the path and go over a ditch. Bummer.)

So far, mostly I just cheer the ducks and geese when I see them and read about their activities, specifically their golf-course activities, but I wonder if there's some expert on wild duck and goose behavior who could be consulted for the best ways to lure additional ducks and geese to a golf course and reinforce the behavior. Apparently not bread, because that's bad for them, but that's the only thing I ever learned to give them when growing up...

... I probably don't really have the revolutionary spirit to sneak into the golf course to feed (or whatever) ducks and geese, but it's a nice thought. It seems like they're doing such a service that applause just isn't enough.

Comments

[syderia]

Corn is good. The kernels that come in tins.

[cimorene]

That could be useful for feeding the ducks in the park, though I'd hate to get nabbed secretly spreading canned corn around the golf course...

[harpers_child]

The park closest to me recommends frozen peas for waterfowl.

[spark]

My town has a golf course which always has sheep grazing on it. As we are not golfers we're unsure of the rules but are curious about whether one is allowed to negotiate with the sheep if they are in the way or must play around them.

[cimorene]

That's amazing!!! You could probably have your sidekick give the sheep scritches and lure them out of the path. Or treats.

[lilysea]

Oh hurray! ^_^

I hate golf courses - they're a massive waste of land and water

(and in Australia, where I am, water is usually in very short supply)

also sometimes flying golf balls hit and severely injure pedestrians walking along the footpath next to (but not inside) the golf course - this is a big issue with a golf course in my city that is right next to a popular beach and restaurant/cafe district, so people going to the beach or a restaurant/cafe sometimes get a concussion from a flying golf ball.

also in Canada in 1990 a soldier stabbed 14-year-old Indigenous woman Waneek Horn-Miller in the chest with a bayonet while she was peacefully protesting against sacred Indigenous burial grounds being turned into a golf course[1]. At the time that she was bayoneted, she had her four-year-old sister, Ganyetahawi, in her arms, and it was very lucky that both of them survived.

The one good thing you can say about golf courses is that if they have tall trees, they provide some bird habitat - but its a problem for small birds, because small birds need dense bushes/shrubs to hide from predators, and golf courses don't usually have dense bushes/shrubs.

[1] https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/oka-crisis

[cimorene]

Uh, wow. That definitely is WAY worse than the worst things I previously knew about and associated with golf courses! (Although arguably the scale of habitat destruction puts it up there in the next lower category of awful.) I'm gonna go out on a limb and guess that this had more to do with the incredibly common violence against indigenous women than with the golf course itself though. Although obviously it created an opportunity.

Our area is extremely Forest and forest (with some fields/farms) is what would've been there before it was a golf course, so there was plenty of habitat. But on the plus side, I think the path along it isn't heavily trafficked by pedestrians (maybe a bit more bicycles and horses though). You can see in this satellite picture that the golf course (green outline) is actually larger than the center of downtown (pink outline), but that's because our county is actually pretty rural and spread out - low population density (and the next bigger town is only about 15 minutes inland). There is, however, still ample forest on the island (and all the other islands of the archipelago). An extremely desireable summer vacation destination, with a harbor for boats and a population about four times larger in summer when all the summer cottages are full. Water is pretty expensive here, actually, but it's not in short supply or anything. The climate isn't drought-prone: it's Koppen Dfb, no dry season.

[lilysea]

Yeah, this is the golf course I'm talking about

one of the main carparks for the beach/cafes (Forrest Street Carpark 2) is right next to the golf course

and also cars going down the busy beach road (Marine Parade) sometimes get broken windshields from golf balls

[cimorene]

Oof yeah, yikes, this seems way too cramped. There should be plenty of empty space around the actual course but there's just no way to do that at this scale.