Goose Control In Winter

It never fails, every year at Minor Park Golf Course geese begin their yearly destruction of green edges. This year it seems to be a bit more evident due to the winter we are having. With the course being thawed for so long it allows the geese to dig and tear holes into the greens while leaving their unwanted mess behind. We go out every morning and on no golfer days we make multiple rounds scouting for geese and scaring them off with our Bird Screamers. This is a type of firework that we shoot out of a .22 pistol that sends a screamer firecracker into the air. This firecracker produces a loud bang sending the birds into flight and off our property. As this next wave of cold and hopefully some snow cover funnels in we can start to reduce the holes that the geese are digging due to the ground getting frozen.

On warm days we are able to get out and put sand into the holes to temporally allowing for a smooth roll on the green. Then as the bentgrass begins to grow we will begin the yearly process of taking plugs from the nursery green and repairing any large size holes that we feel will not naturally fill in on their own. We also blow off all greens that become covered in goose droppings.

 I have always though that geese were a very dumb bird, but I've monitored them enough to know that they begin to know our work schedule as well as my staff does. They like to come in after 3:30 or so and by the time we get here the next morning they are general out of here and all you have left is unwanted goose dung and holes throughout your greens.

Here a few photos that show the type of destruction that geese can cause on putting surfaces: