WATCH: Greenskeeper vs Fox: hero repairs animal damage on tee box

Greenskeepers have a thankless job keeping their courses in tip-top condition.

If it isn’t inconsiderate players hacking away at their course, it’s wildlife having their way with greens, fairways and tee boxes.

Golf courses can expect incursions from a wide range of wild animals.

This greenskeeper has a problem with a fox that just loves to have a go at his greens and a tee box.

Watch as he quickly repairs the damage.

Golf courses naturally attract animals. With lush grass inviting them to seek out insects, their abundant trees, flora, and bodies of water become just appealing to a variety of species.

The marauders include skunks, deer, raccoons, beavers, muskrats, armadillos, groundhogs and more.

Many animals, including deer and geese, have gotten used to residential environments. They no longer fear people and will often let golfers get up close.

Foxes and coyotes digging in bunkers, all kinds of birds adding their mess to greens, squirrels getting into the outside restrooms and chewing “everything they can get their face on”, and animals such as turkeys and skunks digging in the rough areas for food are not uncommon among greenskeepers.

Great Oak Inc. owner Sean McNamara is often contacted by golf courses about problems with geese.

“Excessive geese droppings on fairways and greens can be a disgusting problem for groundskeepers and golfers,” he says. “We are working on a repellent to be named ‘GoosePro’. The problem with most repellents is they don’t work well or last long, or they’re very expensive. We are hoping to develop something that is more effective, works longer and costs less.”

McNamara is also asked often about deer browse damage to ornamental plantings on courses. “Deer often eat arborvitae, rhododendrons, azaleas and other woody ornamental plants during the winter,” he says. “I have seen thousands of dollars in deer browse damage caused in one winter. Spraying winter animal repellent in the fall will protect expensive evergreen trees and shrubs from deer browse.”

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