As we start pulling the ropes and stakes down to allow carts to drive on the fairways again, I thought this would be a good time to discuss the gate system we have tried the last couple of years. This system was first suggested because several members didn’t like the look of the yellow ropes that were in place to direct traffic and wanted to do something to eliminate them. These members organized a committee and at their request we tried using the gate system. The first year we used two posts as gates at each end of the hole to drive through, and last year we used one post at each end as a starting and ending gate to each hole, while using the 90-degree rule anywhere in between. Neither of these systems was very effective. In fact, it was very time consuming for my staff to move them on a daily basis and they were creating wear patterns. The gate system was originally developed at golf courses that only had partial cart paths around tee and green areas. Golf carts would drive off the beginnings and endings of the cart paths and cause severe wear areas, sometimes down to bare dirt. So superintendents came up with the great idea of a gate system. This would allow them to direct traffic to one side or the other to help eliminate these wear areas at the beginnings and endings of cart paths by frequently moving the gates. Therefore eliminating the wear areas. But for golf courses lucky enough to have wall to wall cart paths, you don’t want to use this system. It makes no sense to direct all the cart traffic into one location and down the center of fairways. You are just creating wear areas, which is what everyone is trying to avoid. This is why we have decided to go back to using the good old tried and true 90-degree rule this year. And we promise that if we do need to direct traffic, we will use something other then the ugly yellow ropes.