Fairways watered with weedkiller

A well-manicured lawn can often induce a healthy hubris in a man this time of year, especially when he is gathered with the guys for a Saturday afternoon cookout in the backyard. It's a point of contention right up there with success in one's chosen profession, who has the most attractive wife and who has the most athletically gifted children. So it goes without saying that losing that beautiful green grass surrounding your property will certainly cost you a bit of bragging rights.

Let's think of a golf course as a gigantic lawn for everyone in the neighborhood (or club) to enjoy. This summer, and for the foreseeable future, there will be no lush green grass to brag about at Haywards Heath Golf Club in West Sussex located in South East England.

Eleven of the golf course’s 18 holes have been severely damaged and scorched after a weedkiller was used to water the fairways instead of well, water. Click here to read the Telegraph’s version of the story .

The substance used, Barclay Gallup 360, is a foliar acting herbicide that controls annual and perennial grasses and most broad-leaved weeds when used as directed. The label warns not to spray in windy conditions as drift onto other crops or vegetation can cause severe injury or destruction. The substance was being used at the club to kill grass growing through concentrate.

Without getting into the sheer stupidity or carelessness that led to this, I can only feel sorry for the club’s members and the poor gentlemen who committed such a tragic error. The club, which apologized to its membership for the incident, said the course may not be back at ideal condition until the spring of 2009.

Another sad element to this story is evident on the club’s Web site. They reported purchasing new John Deere fairway mowers last summer at half price and how they would contribute to the increasingly splendid course conditions. Now there is no grass to mow and fears that significant rainfall could turn the fairways into mud are real.

The club’s greens supervisor delivered this message on the club’s Web site as well: “Our course is the core of our club. The last two years have seen a real upgrading in the capability of our equipment and we believe the quality of our greens and the course in general, reflect this. We will continue to improve the quality and appeal of our course in line with the Five Year Course Plan and consistent with our Club’s finances.

Insurance money will help get the course back up and running but one can only assume that there will be some financial losses because of the situation not to mention the damage to the club’s reputation.

Sure this story could easily be portrayed as one of great stupidity, which it undoubtedly is, but it’s also rather unfortunate. So if you lose your lawn to bad management or a lack of rain this summer don’t feel so bad. Things could be a lot worse.

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