Golf courses........ Anyone ever try metal detecting them? :shrug:

[ZOFCHAK]

This might seem like a bit on an odd question, but has anyone ever tried metal detecting a golf course? I live in an area that is surrounded by golf courses, and many of them are quite old. I know getting permission would be an issue, and updates to the course may very well have buried the older items, but I imagine the areas around large shade trees would be undisturbed and fairly productive on some of these older courses. Anyone here who has tried it out? Successful hunt? Or was it a total waste of time?

 

[MarkCZ]

Unless your in bed with the owner its not likely you be hunting in a still in service golf course.
But, yes I have hunted in a recently closed golf course.
You don't find much on the greens, but the fringe (area around the greens is pretty good.
Also, the pull in areas for the golf carts at the greens is good.
If the golf course is old enough and you can find out where the caddies hung out waiting to be hired and if there is earth in that area its a good place.
If the place had a or was a country club then the travel paths in and off the golf course is really good.

The number one Tee-box we thought was going to be a DREAM spot, turned out to be the worse.
I would like to go back and hunt some more on that golf course, but when they closed it a few years back kids on four wheelers turned it into a race track, well tried to. The thing is that the course is in a pretty nice neighborhood and a quite one! well when the four wheelers invaded the people that lived in the area kept calling the police, then the place got REALLY POSTED!

Mark

 

[MNCoinhunter]

I would think that it would be one of the hardest places to get permission. But an old course would hold treasures ... I would be tempted to ask.

 

[cadman_us]

I've done one local to my area, it closed 7 or 8 years ago, probably built in the sixties, found some clad around the club house, lotta pull tabs. Mostly found eraser/pencil stubs on the course itself. Went to it one time, did not seem worth going back.

 

[MarkCZ]

The golf course I hunted was an upper class Country Club, it was one decked out place from the late 20's until around the mid 90's. It was still in use and was pretty nice after that, but it was starting to fall off. It was finely closed around 2005 or so.

Mark

 

[detecterx]

I have one close to my house that was closed down and zoned for a flood plain. Mucho halfs and dollars, rings. You would think a quarter would be suitable to mark a ball. What I enjoy is the paths are gravel so there is no rebar interference. The green on turns, and by the cups are winners. And of course the concession stands, and parking lots.

HH,

Tom

 

[hershey1]

Good question. You probably will not get permission to hunt a nice golf coarse. That being said, I know most of us detectorist have been to a park or someplace where golfers practice and seen the scars left behind. They (golfers) could care less about the scooped out holes and sod redistribution they leave where we are allowed to enjoy our hobby. So don't get your feelings hurt by asking one of those $#%$ . JMHO HH

 

[mudpuppy]

Yes, by all means stay as far away from Golf courses, Golfers, and Golfing in general! It just leads to a life of lying! Why do you think so many of them get hit by lightening?
Mud

 

[MarkCZ]

I have one close to my house that was closed down and zoned for a flood plain. Mucho halfs and dollars, rings. You would think a quarter would be suitable to mark a ball. What I enjoy is the paths are gravel so there is no rebar interference. The green on turns, and by the cups are winners. And of course the concession stands, and parking lots.

HH,

Tom

My middle brother has pretty much spent his life on a golf course around here somewhere, he was a caddy when he was a kid, now retired and a weekday season past to play golf as we hunted the country club course he talked about it as an old friend. He knew where the caddies hung out, he remembered where they played small change poker waiting to be hired, he knew where the tee-boxes where at, he knew what time they opened, what time they closed.
He knew where the cart barn was,
the pro-shop, the club house.
He knew where all 18 holes were, he knew the yardage for each drive,
The course was a hard course to play, he had walked it for a good number of years cadding and as an adult he had played the course a good number of times.

Now as we tested some of the greens he said that the problem with the greens on a course like this is the grass!. he said its like a thick carpet and was VERY well groomed. He said that people often times used coins for ball markers and still do, but he said they normally use dimes, yes, sometimes the coins would get left or dropped, but he said that losing them was a bit hard because it would be like losing them on a carpeted floor, he said the coins lay really well on the greens grass and are really easy to see, so the next person or people taking the green just pick up them up. But that's on a high end golf course, on a lowering end course the greens might be a lot different.

For the other poster, yes, its normal for the golfers to take some grass with there swings, but NOT on the greens! those are chip shots, the worse place for sod damage is the long drive, but each green has a tee-box (the place to tee off from to the next hole)
and then probably the fairways get next worse treatment, sand boxes and other hazards are bad ass well. But, HUGE money goes into the grass on the greens.
In any event, the greens at our local golf course didn't turn up much of anything, other than the under ground green watering system.
Also, they cup on the greens are moved regularly for a couple of different reasons, one being traffic paths, move the cup and it changes the path and that helps to keep the greens surface more level and even.

Now we didn't get to hunt all the green, but we did hit and sample a good number of them. We did our best around the fringe and the areas just off the greens.

Other courses in other places I guess could be different??

Mark