One of our projects this winter will be to hide the maintenance path behind the 16th green from view, particularly from the tee. This particular path is a necessity because it allows the greenkeeping team to traverse the hole without getting in the way of golf carts parked at #16 green or #17 tee. The light color gravel makes the path much more noticeable from the tee. Therefore, we are going to do 2 things to make it far less noticeable. One, the path will become a "2-track" road, with a strip of grass down the center. We'll also narrow the path quite a bit. This reduces the total square footage of gravel, by converting it to grass. Second, we are experimenting with concrete acid stains to see if we cant darken the stone substantially. You can see our little experiment below. This small area was treated this afternoon. Believe it or not, there are several rocks on the golf course that have been treated with acid stain to darken their appearance. Once acid stain is applied, the color turns more orange. After a week or so, it should change to a deeper brown color.
