tips for improving a course that has been beat to a pulp

[craftsman]

I am looking for tips/guidence/advice for improving the course i learned to play but am now sad to call my home course.

The course, cass benton (northville, mi), was built to be a supporting course for worlds years ago. It is a free course with no realalistic chance of p2p. The course has been beat down by a mix of factors that are centered around its extreme traffic level. Its arguably the busiest in the state but many of its people have never played another course and severly lack ettiquite and basic respect.

There is a "club" but course maitaince and improvement are not on the agenda. No disrespect to the "club", they are good people.
Its zoned so that the improvements needed can not be done. While i respect the park, the erosion, fallen trees, beat down paths, and such have gone too far; the work i plan to do will have to be small scale without the use of chainsaws or large equipment.
While surrounds areas are packed with courses and plans for more, i feel the poor shape and general consensus of cass benton hurts the chances of course growth in the area. Id like to at least try to improve it.

Extreme vandalism and traffic are present so i currently have no ideas of what to do about overflowing trash and signage.

These are the main areas im looking to improve:

Erosion on fairways and around teepads.
Lack of underbrush and fairways opening up to the point of negativity.
Large fallen trees lying in fairways.
Beaten paths and fairways that are becoming mud pits.

Again, this has to be done on the low and im not expecting much help.
I can get a decent amount of woodchips from my city but im truckless, so again, small scale. Im thinking if i can line the fairways with the fallen trees it will slow people from walking through the "rough" and hopefully promote some.underbrush growth. Im also thinking of useing branches to help support the slopes and slow erosion. Im clueless as what to do to stop the teepads with the corner overhanging from breaking.

Any help is appreciated.

[Cgkdisc]

If the course has that level of traffic, I would approach the city about putting out bids for a business to set up a trailer pro shop with a net income percentage going toward the city/course improvements. Maybe Discraft could be approached to finance the trailer to get things rolling.

Second, consider developing an adopt-a-hole program trying to get the locals onboard. It might even be teams of 10 players per hole. Anything you can do to generate a sense of ownership could make a difference.

[craftsman]

Those are both really great ideas.
The park isnt a city park, its a small section of the multi city spanning hines drive. Hines once had county run ice cream shops and such so i could see a profit appealing to them.
My concerns are in the parks money exchange policies and the heat it could bring to leauges and the sponserd.pros that sling plastic.

Hole sponsorship would have to be silent as no one is supposed to be making any improvements. The park has it as a natural zoning so the trees are not to be moved and what not.
I could see this working out though. There are a lot of "crews" at cass. When people approach me with questions as to what im doing, im going to offer them the opportunity to sponsor a hole. Id love to get people involved, but everyone ive talked to doesnt seem interested, pointingout the county's natural laws or the the course is already too far gone. Maybe once i get the ball rolling.

[donnyv]

I played Cass Benton for the first time this past Fall. It seemed like it USED to be a real nice course. I seen a lot of trees down and the tee signs were full of graffeti. There has to be a way to get these fixed. What if someone were injured by those fallen trees?

The regulars need to step up for their course!

[craftsman]

Im going to try. The signs arent a focus but tge trees are.

[MrFixIt]

Good luck in your honorable intentions!

As far as eroded teepad corners, try using crush and run (granite stone and dust mixture). If you spread it around the affected corners, water and tamp it in (make sure that it is level w/ the pad and gently slope it towards the ground), it will help immensely.

[bwiese]

If water is pulling dirt from under the tbox and the cement is hanging over, you need to build up a little wall and back fill in with dirt. The wall could be made of logs you moved from the fairways. Another remedy would be getting the water to flow in a direction away from the teebox instead of right at it.

Wood chips could help the fairways, and if you could get the stuff donated planting trees can help with making fairways new and more safe.

[Sadjo]

In Seneca, SC we've taken fallen trees and with help of 10-12 people, pulled or dragged them to the low side of fairways to start catch silt when it rains. It has really helped that course. We've works on a half dozen fairways doing that.

[De Hermit]

Take care on lining paths and fairways with downed timber and such, this may actually hasten/worsen the erosion by funneling the water.

[dandaman]

My advice is to stay persistent with the parks dept. Be polite and respectful. Look for ways that the removal of dead trees are beneficial for the park and the space while still maintaining the "natural" label.

Don't be surprised with early failures but persist in a pursuit of what is beneficial for the course. Adopting a course can be difficult at times (especially when red tape is involved), but persistence with patience is key.

[datch]

dude it is gonna be hard i feel to rebuild cass to its glory... you can fix up the holes and stuff but the casuals ruin it... stoner parties in the back woods towards night... underage kids asking for beers or people to buy... and shady kills with graffiti and all around disrespect... i love playin the course and physically you can rebuild the holes but its a total shame what has happened to that course... ive heard many stories about it in its glory and lookin at it now makes me sad...

but on top of all of that (sorry just had to rant and put in my two cents...) if you want any help just let me know and ill def help out as much as i can... id love to make the course awesome and maybe if they get a pro shop like someone suggested the shady traffic will leave...

like i said sorry bout the rant let me know if ya want any help

[craftsman]

Thank you everyone for the input, and especially for the offer to help.

I will definitely contact the park first and will look into further reserch about anti erosion techniques.

Keep it coming:)

[mr.smOOOth]

Cass was the second course I played when I moved to MI (Westland) and I was bummed at the amount of trash and missing tee signs. I always carry a plastic grocery bag with me to put litter in and I filled it up pretty quickly. Not knowing what the course looked like in the past, I have no idea how bad it has gotten.

I'd be down to give a hand moving trees and helping clean it up.