The government contractor who scorched the greens at Hains Point also destroyed the grass at Rock Creek golf course, and District duffers are teeing off on the National Park Service for its stewardship of D.C.’s public courses.
Michael Williams, spokesman for Golf Course Specialist Inc., said Thursday that the same employee who confused herbicide with fertilizer at Hains Point last month also sprayed the lethal compound on the greens at Rock Creek Park around the same time. Williams attributed the gaffe to “human error.”
The courses remain open. Fees at Rock Creek have been cut in half, and the fees at Hains Point have been cut by one-third.
But that’s not much comfort to those who have played one of the scorched courses.
“It’s miserable,” said Dale Collins, the bartender at Childe Harold tavern, who typically spends his Tuesdays teeing off at Rock Creek. “It’s like golfing on cement.”
The National Park Service, which is in charge of the golf courses, downplayed the importance of the contractor’s error and bristled at suggestions that it has let the three public courses in the District fall into disrepair.
“At no time at either golf course were golfers affected,” Park Service spokesman Bill Line said.
Hundreds of thousands of rounds of golf are played on the courses each year, Line said.
“The only way you ensure to have an Emerald City on the course is to keep people from golfing,” he said.
Jesse Nichols, a retired art director from the Food and Drug Administration who is a daily visitor to Rock Creek’s links, said he wasn’t impressed with Line’s explanation.
“I blame the Park Service. Even before this, we were saying the courses were in bad shape,” he said. “It’s a real shame. I don’t see these kind of problems at government-run courses in Prince George’s or Montgomery counties.”
Got a news tip on this topic? Call Bill Myers at 202-459-4956 or e-mail [email protected].
