Horses and golf course maintenance

[Thomas Dai]

I'm sure many of us have seen faded black and white photos of horses pulling mowers etc on golf courses back in yee olde days.


Some questions.
How many horses would a typical 18-hole course have had?
Would the horses be owned and stabled onsite etc by the golf clubs?
[/size]Greenkeepers-come-stablelads or more specialised stable staff?
Golf being seasonal what would have happened to the horses during the off-season?
Begs a few questions and answers too - "Why weren't the fairways cut this week?" asked the Chairman of Greens. "Horse was sick Sir and here's the vets bill!" replied the Head Greenkeeper!
What would be the maximum slope horses could pull a mower up or lead one down or, for a side-slope, across and would this have effected the architecture?


Thoughts?


atb

[Jon Wiggett]

I'm sure many of us have seen faded black and white photos of horses pulling mowers etc on golf courses back in yee olde days.


Some questions.
How many horses would a typical 18-hole course have had?
Would the horses be owned and stabled onsite etc by the golf clubs?
Greenkeepers-come-stablelads or more specialised stable staff?
Golf being seasonal what would have happened to the horses during the off-season?
Begs a few questions and answers too - "Why weren't the fairways cut this week?" asked the Chairman of Greens. "Horse was sick Sir and here's the vets bill!" replied the Head Greenkeeper!
What would be the maximum slope horses could pull a mower up or lead one down or, for a side-slope, across and would this have effected the architecture?


Thoughts?


atb

Thomas,


do not forget in the UK that many courses would be grazed and so this would lessen the area that would need cutting. Secondly, the height of cut would have been higher so the frequency of cut would been less than now. I recall on my first visit to Brora in 1982 they still had their last horse grazing part of the course though no longer being used for work. On another note I recall talking with a past Head Greenkeeper at Alwoodley back in 1986(ish) and him telling me when he started at the club in the 50s they cut the fairways 10 to 12 times in the year as they grew so slowly. Can you imagine anywhere doing that now?




Horses might have been owned by the club or hired in from local farmers which is what I suspect as I have never seen any stabling at any course to date. If ownership of their work horse was usual for UK clubs then surely some stable buildings would have survived. Do not forget that a good work horse was very valuable back in the days before the combustion engine and most clubs would probably not have had the funds.


Jon

[Duncan Cheslett]

I am currently ploughing through old committee minute books in my new position of club historian.


There are several mentions prior to WW1 of "the horse".  From this I discern that at Reddish Vale we owned one horse - it seems to have been under the care of the greenkeeper.


How typical this would have been of its time I do not know. A tractor was purchased in the 1920s.

[Thomas Dai]

Thanks Jon and Duncan.


Of the two inland/parkland courses I play most often one is a former farm that when acquired for golf in the 1920's the farmhouse became the clubhouse and the farm outbuildings, including the stables, became the maintenance sheds etc for many decades. The other course, once a stately home, had, still does have, mews buildings, so the opportunity for stabling on-site was certainly there. I've seen a few other inland/parkland courses with this form of background as well.


Whether either course ever used or owned their own horse(s) I can't say but Duncan's comment about the RVGC horse seems consistent with stores I've heard and photos seen of horses wearing big leather over-shoes while pulling a trailer or a mower, although the frequency of mowing per Jon's comment is interesting. I wonder what the mowing frequency would have been in a climate where the grass grows quicker than in the UK or where no sheep/goat/cattle grazing took place.


atb

[Rick Lane]

Pretty sure our old club here in the US even has a few of those oversize horseshoes around.  I'll see if I can figure out how to get a picture posted

As for mowing, we have an 1899 article that says our rough was "knee deep", which tells me they just mowed fairways with the horses at that point, and let the rest of it just go to hay.   Maybe that makes some sense as the courses then were generally set up and run by keepers form GB&I?   Used to the links? 

[Jon Wiggett]

Thomas,


interesting to hear that you know that you have seen clubs with stabling. I have seen a lot of courses of different qualities and backgrounds but none with stabling as far as I can discern. However, it is clear that there are a myriad of club types and so there must be examples, possibly many who owned and stabled there own workhorse(s).


Rick,


it is a good point you make about from GB&I and what they were familiar with. One thing not to lose sight of is that links land was originally and mainly winter grazing land which later also accommodated golf. If you graze land then there really should be no need for mowing any rough.


Jon

[Tom_Doak]

I've always wondered how the horses managed not to do significant damage to the turf while they were being used to maintain it.

[Jay Mickle]

Here is a horse boot from the '20s. While I have great expertise in the matter of equine hoofware, I am unfamiliar with the use of horses mowing fairway. A bit before my time.

[Garland Bayley]

The Emperor showed us how maintenance with machines degraded the strategic options at Ojai during a KP, when compared to what could be accomplished with horses. Horses handle steeper slopes without falling over than machines do.

[Thomas Dai]

The Emperor showed us how maintenance with machines degraded the strategic options at Ojai during a KP, when compared to what could be accomplished with horses. Horses handle steeper slopes without falling over than machines do.

Although there comes a time when a horse can stay upright on a slope but the mower it's pulling can't and slips sideways........ taking the horse with it.


And, although probably more likely in construction, mules and oxen would have been used at times as well.


Thanks for the photo Jay. There are quite a few photos on the web of fairways being mowed by horse. Unfortunately with recent Photobucket matters I can't post some.


Here's a short indicative horse-mower video though - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mVBV4n37TOY

[/size]atb[size=78%]

[Jon Wiggett]

Thomas,


sheep and goats mow even steep slopes without slipping


Jon

[Thomas Dai]

Thomas,
sheep and goats mow even steep slopes without slipping
Jon

Yip, and I for one would like to see them used more around golf courses, in moderation of course and not somewhere where some other meat eating animal would be likely to come along and reduce their number! And goats even climb trees!
Might need to watch out for rustlers though!
atb