“What we use the goats for is to … eat all the foliage down so that we’re not in there with weed eaters and gas powered motors, to basically reduce our carbon footprint on the environment,” said Sean Novotny, course superintendent.
Beyond “saving the environment” one mouthful of grass at a time, the goats are also saving Kensington a ton of money. With less money for fuel, labor, and equipment maintenance, the savings are easily in the $1,000’s. The course is also considering adding more goats next year.
This is all well and good, but I can’t imagine this idea taking off across the country. Can you imagine waiting on the tee at Pebble Beach, while a herd of goats crosses the fairway? I don’t think so. But maybe it will increase business at Kensington Golf Course; I live in Ohio, and I might venture a trip next year to say I played “that course with the goats!”