Babson Outing Club (BOC) Cache No. 18 - Golf Cache!
Golfers enjoy a day on the course in Hawai'i as Mount Kilaeau erupts in the background, May 2018
This child-friendly cache is located on part of the Charles River Trail within Babson's campus. "Why is this cache golf themed?", you might be asking. Well that's because this cache is located in the liminal space between Babson and yet another New England golf course!
In fact, the only clear marking of the division between Babson and the golf course is the not so pedestrian-friendly Forest Street. A lot of my wealthy Babson friends have completely wrecked their cars on Forest and Wellesley Street because they can afford to do so, completely perplexing my middle-class scholarship-having mind. In fact, I remember one time in freshman year, I was driving with one of my friends who just so happened to be a multimillionaire from a far-off land, and he managed to drive on the wrong side of the road for a good mile without realizing as he wasn't used to US road laws (I was on my phone, blissfully unaware, and eventually realized and alerted him). This isn't even mentioning the Boston-area denizens who enjoy driving well over the speed limit, as is the nature of the metro area. Despite all of this, the golf course has been in the past very standoffish about allowing pedestrians (including but not limited to Babson and Olin students) to utilize their paved sidewalks to cross the busy Forest and Wellesley and thus we are often relegated to using the narrow shoulder of the street to jog, walk, and commute.
Luckily, you won't have to go anywhere near Forest Street or its terrifying shoulder as the trail starts within Babson campus and is clearly marked with a trailpost. No cars in sight: just a peaceful walk between the trees and leaves of the Babson Woods. I hope you enjoy both this cache and some fun--and properly cited--statistics about golf courtesy of the US Golf Association (USGA):
- Golf courses in the US use an estimated 1.2 billion gallons of water per day for irrigation and require about twice as much water per acre as the average for other irrigated crops (USGA).
- Golf courses in the US consume over 6 million lbs of nitrogen fertilizer, 4 million lbs of phosphorus, and nearly 4 million lbs of pesticides each year (USGA). It is also worth mentioning that the US currently has a deficit of 8 million tons of food and 5 million tons of fertilizer due to COVID related agricultural supply chain disruptions (USDA).
- Golf courses are responsible for the destruction of more than 1,000 acres of wetlands per year (USGA). It is also worth mentioning wetlands provide habitat for more than one-third of the United States’ threatened and endangered species (EPA) and are home to more than 35% of the world’s plant and animal species despite making up only 6% of the world’s land surface (Ramsar Convention).
- Golf courses use an estimated 1.2 billion gallons of gas per year for their mowing equipment and produce more than 2 million tons of carbon dioxide annually (USGA).
--------------------------------------------------------------
IMPORTANT: THIS CACHE HAS BEEN PLACED BY A BABSON COLLEGE CLUB WITH THE PERMISSION AND FUNDING OF THE COLLEGE. PLEASE MENTION THIS IF CAUGHT BY MUGGLES AND USE UTMOST STEALTH.