Ideas for Bringing new efficiencies and quality to golf course and facilities development/maintenance

by C&RB Staff (editor@clubandresortbusiness.com)
April 2007
 

Staying in the Game: Tired of seeing good employees stand on the sidelines when outside contractors take over during course renovations—or even worse, walk off to go find somewhere else to work—Brad Minnick, Superintendent of the Lawrence (Kan.) Country Club, has learned to find ways to have his staff do as much work as possible both before and during a project.

“There is no way I’m going to put one of our guys on a dozer … but there are many ways they can help,” Minnick says. The first critical step, he says, is to have management agree on a firm course-closing date, then have staff work on all of the early jobs that need to be done, from drawing up the bidding requirements to base-map data collection.

“Nobody knows the course better than the superintendent’s staff. This keeps them engaged,” Minnick notes. When construction begins, staff members can then help with erosion and sediment control features.

“Staff members should work side-by-side with contractors during seeding and fertilization, too,” he says. “This is one definite area where a superintendent’s staff has expertise, can be a big help, and will save costs.” Not to mention keeping good people occupied during what would otherwise be a layoff period.

Charged Up to Help: Looking for a more effective way to fight the constant battle against ball marks, divots and unraked bunkers, Hermitage Country Club in Manakin-Sabot, Va. (suburban Richmond), decided to take a cue from the well-known and highly successful MasterCard advertising campaign. Through a program that Golf Professional Rocky Fryar describes as “bullet-proofing the golf course,” a series of cleverly phrased signs were created and posted strategically around the property, to remind golfers just how much careless play could cost. One example:

•Course renovation: $3.7 million

•Cost to rebuild each green: $50,000

•Repairing ball marks: Priceless

Secure Feeling: Like fathers who run around the house behind their kids, turning off lights, TVs and computers, club managers often wonder why their employees can’t remember to do the simplest things, like locking the doors behind them. Randall Ruder, General Manager of the Beach Point Club in Mamaroneck, N.Y., finally realized that the problem was more one of unawareness than ignorance or intent. “With multiple personnel sharing the responsibility for locking and unlocking the building every day, consistency can be a challenge,” Ruder says.

So Ruder took the time to precisely document all procedures for opening the building, setting the dining room lights for lunch and dinner, and turning off point-of-sale stations and other equipment, such as fans and wheelchair lifts. The effort produced a “how-to” manual that any employee can now consult for step-by-step guidelines on even the most basic of operational tasks.

“The listings were developed to ensure everyone is consistent and that the building is opened, operated and closed in the exact same fashion,”?Ruder reports. While this may seem to be a no-brainer, other club managers certainly seem to relate to the problem: Ruder’s entry for this idea took a first-place blue-ribbon in the Facilities Management category of this year’s Club Managers Association of America Idea Fair.

Cleaning Up: With more and more clubs now part of communities where residents need help maintaining their own homes, but have the same difficulties finding good and reliable labor as the clubs themselves, an opportunity exists for clubs to branch out and offer their staff and services to members who have the means and inclination to pay for it. That’s what the Ritz-Carlton Golf Club and Spa in Jupiter, Fla., discovered when it expanded its housekeeping department to also provide home-cleaning services.

“A specific team was highly trained to Ritz-Carlton standards and literature was distributed to residential members,” reports Vice President/General Manager Craig Martin. “Specific schedules, services and rates were established, and a customized cart was created for the team, with the best available cleaning tools.”

Services offered include pre-arrival and general cleaning, pressure cleaning, barbecue grill cleaning and outdoor cleaning. “Members warmly welcomed the services, which were immediately fully booked,” says Martin, who reports newfound revenues of $60,000 for the first year the services were offered, and expects to raise that to $80,000 this year.