Rendering of Royal Oaks CC’s clubhouse renovation.

A determined, all-in approach to strategic planning and facilities improvement paid off for Royal Oaks CC, well before the final nails had been struck.

The difference between what most clubs’ long-range facilities improvement plans look like when they’re first drawn up, and what ends up actually getting built (if anything does at all), can usually be summed up by a phrase most often associated with police blotter reports: beyond recognition.

The process of how a great (and needed) plan gets damaged or destroyed after it’s been drawn up can be every bit as grisly, too. And the primary reason that strategic plans fall apart is misguided fears about resulting body counts, as reflected by the project’s impact on membership numbers, says William P. McMahon, Sr., AIA, OAA, Chairman of St. Louis-based McMahon Group, the private club planning and consulting firm.

“We see it all over—as soon as numbers are put down for the costs of improvements related to strategic plans, and how they’ll be paid for, many clubs back off or cut the plans drastically,” says McMahon. “The fear is that announcing plans to spend money will cause current members to quit and at the same time scare away potential new ones.”

Drawing on member survey results, Royal Oaks conceived, and fully executed, a strategic plan that renovated and expanded its main clubhouse, added a new fitness center, and upgraded pool and tennis facilities, all at half the cost of building a new clubhouse.

But there are examples of plans that have been carried through that prove just the opposite, McMahon adds—with one of the most prominent success stories coming from Royal Oaks Country Club in Dallas. It’s a story that took over four years to unfold, involved serious money ($16 million) and made sweeping changes to the 1,200-member club’s campus, including a two-floor clubhouse makeover, swim and tennis upgrades and a new fitness center, which was featured in C&RB’s January 2012 issue (“Fit for Life“).

Best of all, the story had a happy ending—well before it was over. “Fifty new members joined in the first three months after the project was approved, before construction even began,” McMahon reports. “They were sitting on the fence, but decided to join—bringing in significant initiation-fee revenues—when they saw how serious the club was about improving its facilities.”

The Royal Oaks example “proves that making these types of facility improvements does attract membership,” McMahon adds. And he gives special credit to the club for going all-in and “in effect, doing everything” that was initially included in the master plan, which was conceived based on a member survey that McMahon Group conducted for the club. “You usually don’t see the full magnitude of the plan end up getting done,” he notes. “But I think that also helped to show the kind of commitment that got new members excited to join.”

Successful Sponsorship
Another key to the success of the Royal Oaks project, according to McMahon, was how it was championed by Robert Douglas, a member who stayed closely involved from start to finish both as the Chairman of the club’s Long-Range Planning Committee and as its President.

The site plan for Royal Oaks CC’s main clubhouse renovation.

“[Douglas] stayed with it from approval through construction,” says McMahon. “Seeing that kind of dedication over such a long period of time is unusual, but it reflected his love for the club and how much he believed in the value of both the plan, and what it could produce. And having such effective leadership definitely helped sustain momentum and get others excited about what it could do, and also made them want to see it all get done.”

In late 2011 at Royal Oaks, as part of a Design & Renovations Insights Seminar on the project that was co-sponsored by C&RB and CCI Club Design, which McMahon Group recommended as project architect, Douglas outlined some other key aspects of fully implementing the plan.

“We had a planning committee with a good cross-section of interests represented, and we never stopped using the [initial member] survey to guide us,” he said. “It was very helpful to be able to point to the survey results and say, ‘I appreciate your opinion—but it’s not the club’s opinion.’ ”

VNCC’s golf staff (from left: David Evans, Golf Course Superintendent; Brian Gara, Head Golf Professional; and Zack Wyman, Director of Golf) use desktop, mobile and tablet-based technology to send steady digital communication on everything from tee-sheet changes to frost delays and course maintenance plans.

From the golf course to the pool to the back office, Vermont National Country Club uses technology to the fullest to enhance members’ experiences.

Club management has always been a balancing act, and making the most of technology is no different than offering the right mix of facilities, amenities and member services—it requires careful and constant assessment of what will work best for a particular club environment. Through that approach, Vermont National Country Club (VNCC), in South Burlington, Vt., has positioned itself as a leading-edge example for using technology effectively in today’s club world—and has ridden the technological wave to display impressive growth during one of the toughest periods clubs have ever faced.

VNCC, founded in 1997 and built on 400 acres of a former dairy farm nestled between the Green and Adirondack mountains, has never skimped on facilities or services for its membership. The club features a Jack Nicklaus Signature Design championship course that is the first of its kind in New England, along with a stately $4.1 million, 13,500-sq. ft. clubhouse (see photo below), Har-Tru tennis courts, a Junior Olympic swimming pool complex, and many other amenities.

Vermont National CC, South Burlington, Vt.

Christopher Barron, one of the first employees hired when the club opened in the late ‘90s, left in 2002 to embark on a career path that took him to properties throughout the country, including Rancho La Quinta CC in La Quinta, Calif. When Barron returned in 2009 to be VNCC’s General Manager, the club had begun to use available technology to create operating efficiencies and enhance members’ enjoyment of all that was offered. Starting with implementation of a point-of-sale system from Jonas Club Management in 2005, VNCC gradually implemented additional features and capabilities, including a website developed through Jonas’ ClubHouse Online module.

As the club’s new GM, Barron was all for continuing to explore how technology could help VNCC advance toward its goals and distinguish itself in the club market. “We’re always looking to stay ahead of the technology curve,” he states.

Under Barron’s direction, the next steps saw VNCC go to electronic billing statements and enhance the club’s website to provide an online calendar and other features—and these also paid quick dividends to improve the productivity and effectiveness of the VNCC staff. “It’s not about severing the personal touch,” Barron notes. “It’s about streamlining the things that are taxing. When any chit detail from the last 13 months can be found online, accounting isn’t getting called about every $29 charge, and my controller is freed up for true financial and human resource duties. Every minute saved gives us all more time to focus on member service.”

A new mobile version of VNCC’s website has greatly enhanced the club’s ability to communicate with members about all aspects of operations.

Tapping In to Tee Times   
Technology’s real potential for saving time while enhancing personal touches was shown at VNCC this past spring, after the club rolled out new automated enhancements for an active golf    program, which sees 26,000 rounds in a season that normally runs from mid-April through October. A new mobile version of the members-only side of the club’s website (www.vermontnational.com) was integrated with existing technology, to seamlessly combine an electronic tee sheet with other administrative and communications features. The integration now starts at the bag drop, where starters have iPads providing details on the day’s players, and continues through the golf shop and to members’ computers and smartphones.

“It’s been a huge success all around,” says Barron. “Members can now get automatic, online updates and notifications within a one-and-a-half-hour window, to know what tee times are available. In the golf shop, because the phone just doesn’t ring anymore, our pros are freed up to interact with members and promote lessons and other specials—and we’ve definitely seen golf sales improve. And when players show up for their rounds, the starters address them by name, know if they’re going to ride or walk, and can provide added service.”

The new system has also helped improve communication about course maintenance, Barron adds. “We can use the online tee sheet to block times for things like spraying, and in the case of something like a frost delay, we can send an e-mail just to the members whose tee times will be affected, instead of bombarding the entire membership,” he says.

Christopher Barron, General Manager, Vermont National Country Club

“There’s just so much more efficiency,” Barron adds about the new mobile component. “And I really do believe the day isn’t too far down the line when almost everything will be done by phone only, as the way that on-the-go, younger members want to hear from and interact with their club.”

For food and beverage, nightly dinner specials are tweeted (@VermontNational), and VNCC’s banquet manager uses Facebook to help make contact with potential customers (the club has for-profit status). “Social media is a great asset; there’s really no cost, and the exposure you get is priceless,” Barron says. “In a small community like ours, we think it definitely helps give us a niche. We’ve always had a nice facility and great staff, and we think we’re now using technology to strike the right balance and make our club known as a welcoming place.”

Enhancing how it uses technology in all forms has also helped VNCC make it easier for members to make full use of the benefits of The Private Club Network (PCN), which it participates in as a Jonas user. PCN is a structured network of private clubs that extends reciprocal privileges to other participating clubs (“The Perks of Reciprocity,” C&RB, September 2011). “In this day and age, all clubs need to do everything they can to lift their perceived value, not only to help gain new members but to retain existing ones as well,” says Barron. “Adding the Private Club  Network and offering it as a complimentary part of our golf membership package allows us to add value and only enhances the Vermont National experience.”

Vache Hagopian, Jonas’ Director of Business Development, sees VNCC as the Starbucks of the club world. “Like Starbucks with its plush chairs and free wi-fi, [VNCC] has used technology to make it clear what it’s all about and why someone would want to join and use it,” Hagopian says. “Technology can be intimidating at times, but [VNCC] has embraced it and let it work its magic.”

With member statements available online, Controller Brian Hotaling and Accounting Assistant Tammy Fisher now field far fewer billing inquiries.

Adds Trevor Coughlan, Jonas’ Director of Marketing: “[VNCC] doesn’t just use technology to attract the next generation, but to add levels of service for existing members, too. It truly is tech-friendly and has built that into the club’s profile.”

Establishing that profile has led many members, old and new, to keep beating a path to VNCC’s door. When he returned as GM in 2009, Barron reports, the club had 218 golf members, and it now has 305. “We’re now pushing up against having a waiting list and actually thinking of a membership cap,” he says. “A few years ago, that was a pipedream.

“The club is growing and it’s rewarding to see the fruits of our labors,” he adds. “The mobile site was a huge home run, and we’re eager to keep working with Jonas to add other new things on our wish list, to try to stay out in the lead.”

Mike Woods, PGA Director of Golf, Haggin Oaks

A reliable, versatile and efficient fleet of golf cars helps to keep the healthy operation at Haggin Oaks in the pink.

For Mike Woods, like many golf industry veterans, “busy” has become a relative term. Woods is the PGA Director of Golf at Haggin Oaks, the storied municipal complex in Sacramento, Calif., that boasts two championship courses, including an Alister MacKenzie masterpiece, and has a rich, 80-year history associated with countless celebrities and golfing greats (Ben Hogan won his first professional check at the course).

When Woods first started working part-time in the early ‘90s as a starter at Haggin Oaks, rounds were being played on each course at a 100,000-per-year pace. Today, reflecting the trends that have brought unprecedented business challenges to clubs and courses throughout the country, play has subsided from those lofty levels; Haggin Oaks’ two courses combined will see 110,000 rounds this year.

But that doesn’t mean “busy” no longer applies—especially for equipment like golf cars, which must now provide even greater value to help make the economics of the golf business still work out.

Customer satisfaction with golf cars is especially critical at Haggin Oaks because of the high rate of repeat play, with many of the same players returning week after week. Golfers responded positively from the start to the smooth ride and braking of the RXV.

At Haggin Oaks, Woods says, the fleet of 144 cars that the property leases every four years is expected to not only perform reliably for what are still very-healthy levels of play at the two courses, but carry out a variety of “off-duty” responsibilities as well.

“We have 250 employees, and golf cars here are used constantly, well beyond how they’re used for play,” he says. “We have 15 assistant golf pros and a huge junior program. We have weddings all the time where guests need to be taken around the property.

“You have to factor all that [additional use] in when looking at what car will work out the best for you over the length of your lease,” Woods notes. “You can’t just do the math based on the number of rounds times the percentage of players who use carts.”

Easy Choice?
Woods has been through several golf-car lease cycles since becoming the third Head Golf Professional in Haggin Oaks’ history in 1997. When renewal times have approached in the past, he says he’s made it a point to “be a smart shopper” and check out what all the major golf car manufacturers have to offer, to make sure he is making the right decision for such a critical purchase (in addition to the cars needed for Haggin Oaks’ 36 holes, the lease also covers another 140 needed for two other courses operated by Haggin Oaks’ management company, Morton Golf).

As Woods begins to prepare for the next lease renewal in May 2013, he will once again plan to review all options—but he acknowledges that his current golf car supplier, E-Z-GO®, may now have a big leg up as a result of Haggin Oaks’ overwhelmingly positive experience with the electric model of the RXV® that’s been used during the current lease cycle.

Haggin Oaks, Sacramento, Calif.

That experience, Woods says, has been “wonderful” in all aspects, from the moment the new fleet was delivered.

Customer satisfaction is especially critical at Haggin Oaks, Woods notes, because “as a municipal course, we get a lot of repeat play, with many of the same people coming week after week.” As soon as the RXVs arrived, he says, “we got a lot of really positive comments from our golfers right away. They liked how it looked and how smooth the ride was, with the AC drive and the automatic braking feature.”

Pleasing the “Other” Customer, Too
But in today’s golf business, owner/operator satisfaction is equally critical—and here, too, the RXV earned early and lasting approval.

“We’re really happy with [the RXV’s] performance,” says Woods. “Almost instantly, we found that our electric bill went down about 35%, because of how much more efficient the charging process is—once it’s fully charged, it stops charging, compared to the older vehicles, which would keep clicking on. And it holds its charge longer, too, which not only adds to the energy savings, but also helps us know we can keep the cars out on the course and property longer.

“While our electric rates have gone up [over the life of the lease], that 35% savings [versus previous cars] has held up each year,” Woods adds. “And that’s an apples-to-apples comparison, measuring yearly electric power use in the cart building over periods where course activity was the same. For a fleet of 144 golf cars, that’s a tremendous savings.”

Haggin Oaks, Sacramento, Calif.

The RXV has also generated savings for Haggin Oaks in the form of valuable freed-up time for the course mechanic. “He loves it because really, nothing goes wrong,” says Woods. “His ‘job’ in maintaining the fleet has just been checking water levels and other routine things.

“That’s been great because he has a lot of other equipment to take care of here, everything from forklifts to limo cars to tractors and F&B equipment,” Woods adds. “It’s nice not to have him tied down with cars.”

When one service issue did arise involving the gas pedals on some cars, E-Z-GO responded quickly and thoroughly, Woods reports, arranging for a team of service technicians to come on site, check the entire fleet, and replace parts as needed.
But that proved to be an extremely isolated instance—because for the most part, from day one, the RXVs have become known at Haggin Oaks for just running, running, and running some more.

“The [lease] warranty is for 21,500 amp hours, and we’re at between 23,000 and 25,000 for most of the cars, with still six months to go,” Woods noted in November. “I really think we could hit 30,000 with some of them before we turn them over.”

By any definition, that’s getting—and staying—busy.

Milwaukee Athletic Club

The thought of cooking sirloin steak for a 300-person banquet can make many chefs cringe. But not Zac Licau. In fact, the Executive Chef at the Milwaukee Athletic Club (MAC) has steak for 300 down to a science, thanks to a high-tech plate retherm system now being used at the private club in Wisconsin’s largest city.

When the MAC, which was founded in 1882 and has occupied its current, 12-story building in downtown Milwaukee since 1917, was renovating its kitchen seven years ago, Chef Licau started looking for new ways to work better and smarter. He wanted a leaner, more efficient kitchen to control costs while also improving food quality.

This goal was particularly geared toward banquets, which produce a significant portion of the club’s food-and-beverage revenue. “We looked at new trends and what equipment we could buy that would make things easier in the kitchen,” says Licau.

Enter plate retherm—a process where food is cooked, chilled and reheated to serving temperature. All of the preparation, seasoning and cooking can be done a day ahead of time. On the day of the event, the kitchen staff simply has to reheat the plated food.

Zac Licau, Executive Chef, Milwaukee Athletic Club

The technique can significantly cut down on time, stress and staff within the kitchen—and while the MAC had never used a retherm system in the past, Licau and the club’s other chefs and staff quickly became believers when they were introduced to a state-of-the-art plate retherm system provided by Alto-Shaam, the Menomenee Falls, Wis.-based manufacturer of foodservice equipment.

Proven At All Levels
To get familiar with the process and how a plate retherm system could help meet Chef Licau’s new objectives, the MAC’s culinary team first toured Alto-Shaam’s corporate kitchens and then also visited the kitchens of several Alto-Shaam customers, to see a plate retherm system in action and get honest feedback from other chefs about their experiences with it.

“When we started talking to Alto-Shaam, they invited us out there to see everything they had, gave us a walk-through and showed us demonstrations,” says Licau. “We weren’t walking into it blindfolded. We got an inside look at the system.”
After seeing the system at work, the Milwaukee Athletic Club staff was sold. The club purchased two 20-20es gas combitherm ovens, a blast chiller, five hot boxes and a smaller oven for a la carte dining.

The new equipment met the club’s need for mobile, yet sturdy and dependable equipment. MAC’s main kitchen is located on the fourth floor of the club, next to its Grand Ballroom. Banquets are also served on the second floor, third floor, eighth floor and rooftop, with each floor housing a small satellite kitchen.

“Everything in my kitchen is on wheels,” says Licau. “We move tables and equipment around on a daily basis. We needed to be able to take the hot boxes to all the different floors and set up and break down quickly, to move to another floor right away.”

The system has had a significant positive impact on MAC’s banquet business, Licau reports, by simplifying preparation and presentation, while also expanding menu possibilities and improving quality.

The Alto-Shaam hot boxes passed the test. “Hot boxes are big and not the lightest equipment in the world,” notes Licau. “But these hot boxes move with us and move well. We don’t need a gigantic person hauling them around. They do everything we need them to do.”

The Learning Curve
One challenge the MAC chefs faced with the new system was re-teaching themselves how to cook. “After so many years, you know how to do things one way,” says Licau. “But it is nice to learn a new way to cook and to start thinking outside the box. We were both nervous and excited to take on this new challenge.”

But the chefs at the club were not left alone to figure things out. Once the system was installed, a team from Alto-Shaam came to the club to work with the kitchen chefs to help them get acclimated. “They were here every day, working side-by-side with us for as long as we needed them,” says Licau.

This training and support, provided at no additional cost, was critical for a seamless transition, he adds. “We were nervous because we still had to operate as usual. You can’t stop serving just because you got new ovens,” says Licau. “Once the nervousness passed, we jumped in with the new system, and it was easy.”

It took the kitchen staff about a month to get fully acclimated to the new setup. Now, seven years later, Licau and his sous chef still experiment with what they can do with the system. “We still work closely with Alto-Shaam,” says Licau. “They come here and show us new stuff—and we teach them things, too.”

Less is More
The system has had a significant positive impact on MAC’s banquet business, Licau reports, by simplifying preparation and presentation, while also expanding menu possibilities and improving quality. With its previous system, he says, the kitchen staff would spend two to three days prepping for a large event. Then, during the event, an army of cooks hustled to get plates through the line.

Milwaukee Athletic Club

“Everything had to be cooked and then the food sat, waiting to be served,” says Licau. “If you left it too long, it tended to overcook. If you sauced it ahead of time, the sauce might dry out and the plates wouldn’t look appetizing.”

Today, the kitchen can do all the event prep in one day with less staff. “When I first started here 10 years ago, we had eight to nine people always working in banquets alone,” says Licau. “Now I have two people. That’s not due to cutbacks; I just don’t need any more people than that with this system.”

And with less staff—and less stress—the kitchen is calmer. “I’m not pacing around worrying that the food is getting overcooked,” says Licau. “As long as I know 10 minutes in advance, I can make the plates hot and they can sit in the hot box for up to an hour without me having to worry about them. As a chef, I can breathe more, instead of saying: ‘Make them eat, make them eat!’ ”

Additionally, Licau can now pay more attention to the food itself. “I have more time to focus on the flavors, garnishes, plate presentations and all of the very important things that make a chef a chef,” he says. “If you can’t take a picture of the plate, it doesn’t leave our kitchen! It has taken us to a whole new level.”

With the help of the Alto-Shaam system, the MAC now offers menu items that are not typically served in such large banquet quantities, such as perfectly cooked, flavorful sirloin steaks, scallops and even lobster.

“We get to work with more fresh fish and more delicate meats now,” says Licau. “We can use the meats that we would typically only serve in individual servings for large events. It is very rewarding when people say, ‘I’ve never had that at a banquet.’ ”

Superintendent Bill Davidson took charge of ensuring successful installation of the new clock, so it can stand tall “‘til the cows come home.”

The old saying is that time flies when you’re having fun. At The Country Club of Naples in Naples, Fla., time—in the form of a distinctive, prominently positioned, four-faced classic-style clock—now also serves as a constant reminder of the fun, and good experiences, that members and guests can have while on the property of what was founded in 1966 as Naples’ fourth golf course and first private, full-service club.

The clock was installed two years ago at the equity club, according to Superintendent Bill Davidson, CGCS, “as sort of the cherry on top, after a complete golf course renovation.”

A group spearheaded by then-Club President John Sampson and Chuck Feeny, one of two current Vice Presidents, led the effort to purchase a clock as a culmination of the project, which marked the first time the course had been shut down for a restoration (greens and tees had been rebuilt in 1997). Florida architect Gordon Lewis, ASGCA, was brought in to lead the complete rebuild of the original Bill Diddel design, which extended the course to 6,772 yards from the tips and created six sets of tees for all levels of golfers.

It was decided, Davidson says, that a clock could serve as a good central focal point for the club’s new-look grounds, as something that could be seen from all directions.

A Lasting Farewell
Sampson saw the project as the last contribution of his two terms as Board President, which concluded just before the clock was installed. “I went to four fellow Board members and to Chuck [Feeny], who was not yet on the Board, and asked each of them to contribute their equity in the club, as I would, toward the clock project,” he says. “They didn’t hesitate, and we started to work to make it happen.”

The project also afforded Davidson an opportunity to help correct some issues surrounding the golf course’s first hole that needed to be addressed as the course reopened.

The Country Club of Naples’ renovated course and new image helped it be selected for U.S. Open qualifying play this year.

“During the renovation, I came up with a plan to fix a major problem regarding flow towards the first tee,” Davidson says. The system in place prior to the renovation didn’t allow a smooth flow from the practice tee to the first tee, he explains, and golfers had to leave the practice facility to putt.

“Now that we could contain the golfers around the first tee and practice facility, it made perfect sense to put the clock there as well,” he adds.

“That’s why we went with a four-faced clock and [decided to] put it by the new range/practice putting green and first tee,” he explains. The clock’s location would allow it to be seen from the clubhouse, practice range, first tee and the 9th green.

Admiring from Afar
But not just any clock would be worthy of such a prominent position. To make sure that a truly signature timepiece would be commissioned to properly mark the start of this new era for The Country Club of Naples, Sampson led research into several possible suppliers. That led to the selection of The Verdin Company, a six-generation, Cincinnati-based family business that has been making cast bronze bells, carillons, tower and street clocks, and other streetscape furnishings since 1842.

“We felt their quality was unmatched,” Sampson says.

Jeannie Caldwell, Product Manager for Verdin, says The Country Club of Naples’ interest in a clock was typical of clubs that have made major improvements and then look for “different ideas to enhance the work they’ve done on their golf course and property.”
Sampson and others from the club held several conference calls with a Verdin team led by Caldwell to discuss different options for the type of clock they were looking for.

Clock by the Verdin Company at Country Club of Naples (Fla.)

“Once we got an idea of what they were considering [with a design for the clockface that would include the club’s logo of a signature tree in front of a lake], we took a photo of the area where the clock was going to be installed and prepared a rendering that showed the clock in place, to give a clear idea of how it would look once it was installed,” Caldwell says. “This really assisted them in making the final decision.”

Ready for the Worst
The renovation at The Country Club of Naples was completed, and the order for its new clock was placed, in May 2010. While actual installation of the clock only requires about four hours, it was not installed until the end of August 2010, because of advance preparations needed to give it proper and permanent stature. To prepare for the worst storms southwest Florida can bring, Davidson had an engineer design a steel-reinforced concrete base that, he says, will help keep the clock standing “ ‘til the cows come home, as my dad would say.”

And when a Verdin installer came on site for the installation, a lift was rented to help stand up and set the clock. “There’s no way to do it with ladders, and with this type of clock, you don’t want to take a chance,” Davidson says.

Another concern was being able to see the clock from the clubhouse at night, so a photo eye was installed to turn on internal lights.
General maintenance that’s required now that the clock is in place includes dusting and cleaning outside fixtures as needed. Davidson also did a slight modification of the irrigation system, so the high-salt, effluent water that the club uses hits the clock as little as possible.

Founded as the city’s first private club in 1966, The CC of Naples marked a new era with a full course renovation, and new clock, in 2010.

A Permanent Beacon

As the most prominent sign of how the course overhaul, and clock installation, have helped to raise the club’s profile, Sampson reports that the United States Golf Association selected The Country Club of Naples as a qualifying site for this year’s U.S. Open. “That was a real honor,” he says.

In addition to now being the landmark that Sampson says generates “more compliments” than any other feature on the course, the clock has proved to have practical benefits, too. “One big benefit is that during a shotgun start, everyone can see the time,” Davidson says. “When we opened back up and people saw the clock, they all said, ‘Now that’s a clock.’  I have to admit, it’s impressive. It is definitely a statement.”

Under the direction of Brodeur, TPC Boston course maintenance crews can perform a variety of needed tasks with just two types of John Deere mowers.

The most important golfers in the world play at the TPC Boston every week. And for a week beginning in late August every year, some of the best golfers in the world tee off at the Norton, Mass., course for the Deutsche Bank Championship, one of only four PGA TOUR Playoff events for the FedExCup.

Whether professional golfers, members or guests are standing on the first tee at TPC Boston, Golf Course Superintendent Tom Brodeur knows he has to have the golf course in top shape for each one of them.

“As one of the people [on the management team] who is ultimately responsible for ensuring the business is successful, every golf course superintendent is challenged to balance the needs and wants of players at every level, ” Brodeur says. “Here at TPC Boston, we have an especially wide range of player ability levels, which provides an extra challenge.”

To help meet the challenge of keeping the course in pristine playing condition year-round, Brodeur and his staff get a big assist from John Deere equipment, including two types of Deere mowers—2500 E-Cut Hybrid riding mowers, and 180-B walk-behinds with 18-inch cut widths—that are used to maintain all of TPC Boston’s short grass, including fairways, tees, greens and approaches.

“TPC courses use John Deere equipment exclusively, and the majority of them use the 18-inch-wide mowers,” notes John Deere product manager Tracy Lanier. “They mow at tournament levels. They’re small, light and do a great job.”

Golf Course Superintendent Tom Brodeur, TPC Boston

Brodeur, who has worked at TPC Boston since the 2001 construction and grow-in of the course, agrees. “The PGA TOUR has a valued relationship with John Deere that we embrace to the fullest,” he says. “Both [the 2500 E-Cut and 180-B] are reliable, operator-friendly, and simple to maintain by modern standards.”

The 2500 E-Cut has a light footprint that is good for bentgrass fairways, Brodeur notes. In addition, he likes the versatility of the machine, which the staff also uses for vertical mowing of tees, greens, approaches, target greens and step cuts, as well as for spiking and brushing greens. Because the mower has hydraulics only for the drive and reel-lift components, he notes, the potential for hydraulic fluid leaks is reduced.

“That’s because the reels are run electronically,” explains Lanier. “Operators can also lower the engine RPM to reduce the sound levels and fuel usage, which are huge benefits for golf courses in these times.”

Brodeur is just as pleased with the well-balanced, operator-friendly 180-B units.

“Because they are 18 inches wide, they conform to even the smallest undulations in the putting greens without scalping,” he reports. “They truly bring out all the nuances of the green surface—and because they have an ideal amount of down pressure in front, they provide a true cut each time.”

Long-term Arrangements
TPC Boston, which leases its front-line equipment from John Deere on a four-year basis and some of its larger, lower-hour pieces on a seven-year plan, leases 20 of the walk-behind mowers and six of the 2500 E-Cut models.

“We’ve used these mowers for four years in some form or fashion, and we’ve used them exclusively for the last two years,” notes Brodeur.

During the last lease cycle, he reveals, a PGA TOUR-managed property had to dispose of several 180-B units after it was sold. Brodeur was asked if he could take the walk-behinds in his lease, and he was happy to oblige, because TPC Boston has “used 180-Bs on the greens since day one.”

TPC Boston in Norton, Mass.

The quality of cut is not the only attraction of the mowers. By rotating out key pieces in the four-year lease cycle, Brodeur reports, the property has been able to contain the operating costs of the machinery. TPC Boston’s repair parts budget has increased by only about $4,000 since the property opened 10 years ago.

“That’s due in part to the quality of the equipment, fair pricing, and quality equipment managers,” he explains. “A big factor in managing operating costs is the excellent reliability of the machinery, which limits our downtime and minimizes member inconvenience.”

He also cites fuel efficiency, especially of the diesel-powered machines, as an added benefit of the equipment. This is particularly important on a large, spread-out property like the nearly 400-acre golf course at TPC Boston, he notes.

Common Knowledge
Brodeur also believes that relying on essentially two pieces of equipment simplifies staff training.

“In a normal season, basically all staff members are capable of using a walk mower, and probably 80 percent can operate the triplex mower,” he explains. “In the shoulder season, 100 percent of the staff can operate both machines. Scheduling and planning are more easily managed when most employees are trained on the basic mowing tasks.”

For the repair, parts purchasing and parts inventory aspects, Brodeur continues, having only two types of machines to maintain makes life easier for the equipment staff as well.

“We basically only have to set up two types of reels on our grinding equipment, and we have just two machine types to stock parts for,” he says. “Our equipment maintenance staff finds diagnosis and repair to be relatively easy, due to considerate engineering. The equipment feels open and uncluttered, so getting at things is reasonably easy.”

With their simplicity and accessibility, the standard controls on the 180-B walk mowers make them easy for even inexperienced crew members to operate as well.

“Anyone just has to move a switch forward to perform a function and release a bail to stop a unit,” Lanier says. “Anyone who has ever mowed a green can pick it up quickly.”

By using only two mowers on the short grass, tournament volunteers who come from other courses and through internships are also able to quickly jump in and contribute to mowing operations. “Our tournament success depends on incorporating volunteers into many of the basic mowing tasks,” Brodeur explains. “We basically need double the staff during the days of the competition for what we feel is required to make a solid presentation for a high-level competition. Anyone with experience with course maintenance equipment seems to be able to acclimate [to the Deere mowers] in just a few minutes.”

All Hands on Deck
The TPC Boston property, which sees about 20,000 annual rounds, closes on the Friday before the Deutsche Bank Championship week starts, to intensify tournament preparations. During the FedExCup event, Brodeur adds, the crew double-mows the greens in the morning, and rolls and mows the putting surfaces in the evening.

All hands—and equipment—are on deck at TPC Boston during the Deutsche Bank Championship, when 20 to 25 people are needed per nine holes for both morning and afternoon shifts.

The maintenance crew lowers the height of cut on the greens by 10/1000 or 15/1000 of an inch the weekend before the event. Depending on the weather, the final cutting height on the greens is .120 or .115. However, fairways, tees, collars, aprons, and step cuts are maintained at the same cutting height year-round.

“Rough height is raised half-an-inch to an inch a couple of weeks before the event from our normal membership height, again depending on the weather,” Brodeur adds.

Tournament staffing changes include the addition of two to four staff members from other TPC properties the week before and the week of the event. Local superintendents, assistant superintendents, spray technicians, and interns are always willing to lend a hand.

“We face the same challenges everyone in the northern half of the country does with summer help—so as hard as we try, we are likely to lose one or two staff members before Labor Day weekend,” reveals Brodeur. “For us to prepare for a PGA TOUR event, we need 20 to 25 people per nine holes for a morning and afternoon shift each day during the event.”

John Deere and its local dealer, La Corte Equipment, also provide extra support during the Deutsche Bank Championship.

“We get a daily call in the weeks leading up to the event, to make sure we have whatever we need to ensure the job gets done,” Brodeur explains. “The additional equipment they provide for the event is always in good condition and delivered in a timely fashion. On top of that, there is virtually always a service staff member on site to assist in preparing equipment and making sure problems get resolved quickly.”

“I researched a lot of riding mowers, and the only one that was 100 percent hydraulic-free was the ECLIPSE 322,” Golf Course Superintendent Jeff Clemmons says.

Golf Course Superintendent Jeff Clemmons doesn’t mind helping his crew with maintenance tasks. He just prefers to do it by choice, instead of necessity.

Too often, however, Clemmons was finding that he was having to pitch in to help his course maintenance staff try to finish mowing the 27-hole Catawba Springs course at Lake Hickory Country Club, in Hickory, N.C., ahead of play each morning. Sending out six men to walk-mow the greens every day simply wasn’t cutting it. Crew members would start running into golfers by the time they started mowing the tees and fairways.

In addition to the limits this put on Clemmons himself, the time required for all of the walk-mowing also meant that other maintenance projects for which Lake Hickory’s eight-man staff was needed were being neglected.

Turning to Plan B
Like many clubs throughout the country, Lake Hickory has seen membership numbers and activity levels ebb and flow during the tough economic times of recent years. As a result, it’s had to tighten the bottom line for its operations across the board, and not just the golf course.

Jeff Clemmons, Golf Course Superintendent for Catawba Springs course, Lake Hickory Country Club, Hickory, N.C.

Or, as Ken Church, Lake Hickory’s General Manager and Chief Operating Officer, puts it: “How can we do more with less?” And since hiring more employees for the course maintenance staff was out of the question, Church wanted to know, “What can we do in the golf area with the same labor force, and still get more done?”

Clemmons addressed that challenge by deciding the most effective way to increase productivity would be to switch from using walk mowers to riding mowers on the greens. He had a local Jacobsen dealer, Tri-State Pump, bring an ECLIPSE 322 mower to Lake Hickory as a demo. With the aggressive cut of the Jacobsen units, the crew raised the height of cut from .140 to .150 and mowed the practice green. Grounds crew members also realized they could use the frequency-of-clip settings on the riding mower to get more consistent results day-to-day.

The Lake Hickory staff also liked what the hybrid ECLIPSE 322 model could offer in fuel efficiency. “It has a 14-horsepower gas engine that turns a generator, and then it’s 100 percent electric,” Clemmons explains.

The hybrid model burns half the fuel other mowers consume, notes Chris Fox, a Jacobsen Product Manager. “Superintendents can customize the units to their course and their terrain,” he adds. “They can set the speed, the mowers are easy to operate, and the visual lines are good.”

Quality Assurance
Convinced after the test that the Jacobsen mowers could help him reach his productivity goals, Clemmons next had to assure Lake Hickory’s management and Greens Committee that the equipment change could be made without jeopardizing the greens’ quality. A key feature that was unique to the ECLIPSE 322 gave him confidence that he’d get the OK to make the switch.

All greens can now be rolled three times a week, compared to just once a week previously, because of new efficiencies gained from the switch to greens mowers.

“I researched a lot of riding mowers, and the only one that was 100 percent hydraulic-free was the ECLIPSE 322,” Clemmons says. Being hydraulic-free eliminates the chance of hydraulic oil leaking onto the putting surfaces and killing the grass—an important consideration for giving superintendents peace of mind. “Once you’ve had one or two hydraulic leaks, you always worry about it,” Fox says. “They always seem to happen at the worst possible time.”

Lake Hickory’s Director of Golf, Duke McLauchlin, confirms this was a critical concern.  “Leaks don’t show up for a couple of days. They show up when the grass is dead,” notes McLauchlin, who typically is the first to hear complaints from the members.

Getting the Good Words
But since Lake Hickory went ahead and made the decision to lease two Jacobsen ECLIPSE 322 mowers about a year ago, McLauchlin has now been hearing lots of compliments.

“Our members have been so pleased with the greens and their consistency,” he notes. “The maintenance staff rolls the greens more frequently now [three times a week, compared to once a week previously], which increases the speed and gives the greens a much truer, smoother roll.”

The new equipment is also helping Clemmons’ department do its part to make Lake Hickory  a more productive operation. Clemmons now sends out two crew members, instead of six, to mow the greens each day. Because the riding mowers save time, two workers can start the day by cutting the fairways, and two more can start mowing the tees and approaches.

“Jeff did comparative research with other courses that have made this move, and they did it seamlessly,” Church reveals. “We’ve decreased the budget for golf course maintenance, but they’re still getting more done.”

With Clemmons’ initiative and ingenuity, the golf course maintenance staff has also set an example for other property operations.

Lake Hickory CC has a 9-hole executive course as well as the 27-hole Catawba Springs course.

“We’ve used them as a poster child with our other departments,” notes Church. “They have improved the quality of the golf course, and we’ve saved the money we thought we could.”

Saving time and money—as well as increasing the consistency of greens—has not been the only advantage of using the Jacobsen riding mowers, however. “Now, 35 to 40 percent of the maintenance crew’s time is allocated to areas of the course other than the greens,” notes Church.

The staff has been able to tackle other projects, such as cleaning large natural areas and sodding parts of the rough, which had been put off year after year. “We’ve been able to do more detail work,” reports Clemmons. Clemmons also knows that his assistant superintendent and the crew can handle mowing duties without his help. “It has freed me up to take care of the unexpected things that come up each day,” he adds.

The ECLIPSE 322 mowers, which feature on-board diagnostics, also spend less time in the shop for routine maintenance. While the bedknives on the six walk mowers had to be changed every six weeks, Clemmons says, the knives for the new riding mowers have lasted a full mowing season. The Jacobsen mowers have three cutting units, and the reels can be sharpened on board.

Most importantly, the Jacobsen riding mowers have helped to enhance the value and quality for Lake Hickory’s golfers, and increased their satisfaction. “Any time you can make your course more consistent and pleasing to the members, it’s always a good investment,” McLaughlin says.

General Manager Ernie Keckonen and his team at The Villages’ Yamaha dealership help the community’s 85,000 residents ride in comfort and style, both on and off the course—and maximize the performance of cars that can be used for as many as 5,000 miles a year.

At The Villages, it takes a special vehicle to provide the right rides for thousands of different personalities and needs.

If you want to see how a golf car can stand up to the most demanding conditions, you don’t have to enter it in a NASCAR race, or even build your own test track. Just head down to central Florida, about an hour north of Orlando, and make your way to a community called The Villages.

If you’re interested in learning how a golf car can perform on a variety of different golf courses, The Villages certainly provides ample opportunity for that. The property has 10 championship golf courses and 29 executive tracks, for a total of 504 holes that extend for 84 miles, tee to green.

That makes The Villages the largest golf facility in the world, easily lapping number two (Mission Hills in China, with 216 holes). And it doesn’t plan to relinquish the crown anytime soon: Two more championship and six more executive courses are being planned, to take the total number of holes up to 621.

Clearly, there’s no room for non-starting or poor-performing golf cars at The Villages, where 10,000 tee times are available each day, and over 2.5 million rounds were played last year. (Perhaps the most eye-opening statistic of all, though—and one that might make you contemplate buying stock in every golf-ball manufacturing company—is this one: Players at The Villages lost nearly six million balls in 2011.)

The research you can do on golf-car performance at The Villages shouldn’t be confined to the golf courses, however. The Villages was founded as a retirement community 40 years ago, and like many such places, has always billed itself as “active.” But in this case, that claim is an understatement.

At the end of the last decade, Forbes magazine named The Villages, which now has 85,000 people, as America’s fastest-growing small town. Forty thousand homes have now been built in the community—and there’s an average of one golf car for every home. That’s because golf cars are needed not only to access the courses at The Villages (one-third of the residents are regular players, and two-thirds play at least one round a year), they’re also the preferred mode of transportation for getting around a property that’s one-and-a-half times the size of Manhattan Island.

Residents of The Villages rely on their golf cars to also get them to stores, restaurants, theaters and other regular stops in their still-busy lives, and these aren’t Florida drivers who are content to putter along—golf cars are frequently seen cruising the streets of The Villages (which all have special golf-car lanes) at speeds of up to 20 mph, and residents also like to use them to enjoy the property’s miles of recreational trails.

If you’re also interested in studying how golf cars can be customized and tailored to specific needs and individual personalities, The Villages has you more than covered there, too. This is a place full of people who already led full and distinctive lives before they came here, and who now want to express their individuality through their vehicles—and not just so it’s easier to find them among a sea of other golf cars in the parking lots.

As a result, any visitor to The Villages will be treated to a non-stop parade of tricked-out golf cars that reflect the former professions, hobbies, pro- and college-team rooting interests and other personal preferences of their owners. Cars are also frequently customized to provide rain-or-shine protection from the elements and accommodate special needs for improved accessiblity when getting in or out of them, extra mirrors and lights for expanded fields of vision and safety, or other options that can help their owners get the most use, and enjoyment, from their rides.

On a Steady Roll

One golf car manufacturer that has found The Villages to be an especially valuable proving ground—not to mention a steady source of business—is the Yamaha Golf-Car Company. The company has an active dealership on the property, with a team headed by General Manager Ernie Keckonen.

Any visitor to The Villages will be treated to a non-stop parade of tricked-out golf cars that reflect the former professions, pro- and college-team rooting interests and other personal preferences and needs of their owners.

Yamaha currently has three showrooms within The Villages, with a fourth one being planned. Keckonen estimates that probably one-fourth of all of the golf cars at The Villages now carry the Yamaha brand. But, he adds, you might have to look a little closer to recognize that brand, around all of the customization that he and his staff do for their customers.

“These aren’t just golf cars, they’re rides,” Keckonen says. “Depending on what people want and need, we build enclosures for them—both soft and hard—add nice 8- or 10-inch steel wheels, add mirrors and running lights, upgrade the seats, put in radios and coolers, and of course do a lot with graphics so [the cars] can be personalized according to [the owner’s] favorite teams or colors.” By the time they’re through with some of the special orders, Keckonen says, the more-deluxe new cars can carry price tags that approach $20,000.

For those for whom price, and operating costs, might be more of an object, the Yamaha team at The Villages also offers comprehensive parts and maintenance service, to help maximize the life and performance of the cars that it sells to residents. Golf cars on the property typically get from 3,000 to 5,000 miles put on them a year, Keckonen says, and what he and his staff have learned about optimizing maintenance under The Villages’ unique operating conditions has helped the company build better cars for all applications.

“We have some customers who first bought their cars here 20 years ago and are still getting good use out of them,” Keckonen reports. “With regular maintenance and attention to things like battery cleaning, we can help them get extended and maximum life from their vehicles.”

Yamaha also does a brisk business in trade-ins and sales of reconditioned cars at The Villages. All told, there’s nothing “inactive” about its operation in this unique property—nor does Keckonen expect “retirement” for his business anytime soon.

“By the time the final buildout is done here in 2015, they expect to have 55,000 homes and 110,000 people,” he notes. “There’s nothing small-scale about this place, and golf cars are clearly the preferred mode of transportation, as the easiest and best way for people to get around.”

A long-term partnership with its insurance team helps the PGA TOUR focus on holding well-run events at efficiently managed properties.

Playing a round of golf is meant to be peaceful and relaxing, and attending a professional golf tournament is meant to be exciting and a great experience. But for those objectives to be met, an accident-free environment must be provided for participants. And that’s not easy—because playing golf recreationally, or watching it as a spectator, can actually take people into some of the most hazardous realms of the sports world.

In a recent article in Occupational Health & Safety magazine, ominously titled “Can Sports Kill You?”, Gil Fried, a Professor of Sports Management at the University of New Haven, presented findings from a study of workplace-related deaths and injuries in sports-related businesses. Measured against the incident rate (113.3) for all private businesses in 2008, golf courses, and spectator sports, actually showed higher risk factors than the norm (see table).

Professor Fried added these observations about the particular dangers that can lurk within golf course operations: “Golf courses had 95 percent more ‘cut’ injuries and 195.5 percent more machine-related injuries, possibly from working on golf carts, retooling clubs, and working with vegetation-cutting machines,” he wrote. “Other major concerns at golf courses included a 58.3 percent increase in injuries associated with chemical and hazardous material exposure, and an 84.3 percent increase in transportation-related injuries.”

What does this all mean for those who manage golf courses and country clubs, especially at properties where open-to-the-public events occur? The message is clear: Ensuring that golfers can safely enjoy their rounds, and that golf fans can safely watch events, isn’t something that happens by accident. Rather, it requires a comprehensive and consistent plan, to address the many facets of risk management that come with running diverse operations that are spread out over large properties, and include both indoor and outdoor exposures.

Ever-Watchful Eyes

Having, and sticking to, such a plan is especially critical for a high-profile organization—and in the golf world, no group has higher or more sustained visibility than the PGA TOUR, which stages professional tournaments that attract tens of thousands of spectators per week, and also operates or licenses over 30 daily-fee, resort and private properties across the U.S. through its Tournament Players Club (TPC) Network.

It’s not surprising, then, that the TOUR has long placed a premium on diligent risk management, aggressive identification and control of potential exposures and liabilities, and development of flexible and customized insurance coverage for its tournaments and properties. This approach has allowed the TOUR’s club and event managers to focus on providing memorable service and experiences, with the confidence that everything has been done to create and secure as safe an environment as possible for all who may be involved—guests, members,  players, volunteers, vendors, staff, etc.—and that proper coverage and provisions are in place to properly and thoroughly respond to any incidents that might occur.

The groundwork for this approach was laid 25 years ago, when the PGA TOUR first partnered with The Travelers Companies for property and casualty insurance coverage. A bond was forged among Travelers, the PGA TOUR and Integro Insurance Brokers, and a fourth leg was added from the start to make the stool even sturdier, through Travelers’ Eagle 3SM property and casualty insurance program.

The PGA TOUR was instrumental in helping Travelers create Eagle 3, which customizes coverage for individual facilities through a tailored and flexible approach. “Eagle 3 is a product  that’s been endorsed by the TOUR since its inception,” says Andrea King, Senior Vice President, Treasury & Administration, for the TOUR. “We were pleased to have the opportunity to work with Travelers to help with the development of appropriate insurance coverage that could grow with our facilities and meet their dynamic and evolving needs.”

The PGA TOUR has partnered with Travelers for 25 years for property and casualty insurance coverage on its events and facilities through the Eagle 3SM product.

In the early days, says Bob Goldthorp of Integro Insurance Brokers, those “evolving needs” led to quite a weighty product, as Eagle 3 was shaped to embrace the full scope of the many risk-management challenges that face club and golf facilities. “Virtually all areas of risk control at a country club, including liquor liability, swimming pool liability, golf car safety and more, went into massive three-ring binders,” recalls Goldthorp, who has been part of the Travelers/PGA TOUR team for the entire 25 years. “It wasn’t too long before we had stacks of books four feet tall.”

As technology also evolved, Eagle 3’s physical profile was greatly streamlined, first through electronic storage on computer disks, and now through extensive web-based support. But the product, and its reach, has never stopped growing. Last year, Travelers issued its latest enhancements of Eagle 3, to once again respond to the never-ending need for “more flexibility and broader coverage to manage key exposures in today’s economy,” according to Ric Sirmans, Underwriting Manager for Travelers National Programs.

Travelers continues to structure the protections that Eagle 3 provides around what it calls the “Front 9” of common exposures at golf and club facilities. The product’s  latest enhancement addressed how many of those facilities have grown to now have several active “businesses” operating within their location—such as restaurants, additional recreational activities such as swimming and tennis, and retail stores—each of which has its own unique set of exposures. To add to customers’ ability to use Eagle 3 to cost-effectively tailor their coverage according to a particular property’s profile, the product now offers new increased liability limits, along with features such as expanded errant-ball coverage to cover damage beyond automobiles, and an endorsement for food contamination cost reimbursement at restaurants and snack bars within the facility.

The latest release of Eagle 3 also includes these broadened features:

• Members & Guests Miscellaneous Property coverage, covered up to $5,000 per member or guest for a covered cause of loss including theft.  No deductible, no policy aggregate and valued at replacement cost.
• Golf Specific Property and Equipment coverage, including permanently installed betterments.  Items covered include range nets, fences, signs, scoreboards, bridges, cart paths, fountains, pumps, sprinkler systems, lightning detection systems, alarm systems, light fixtures, poles, bells, misting systems, tennis courts, swimming pools, monuments, GPS systems, flags, cups, benches, ball washers, course markers, water coolers, grills, outdoor furniture, etc., all valued at replacement cost.
• Golf Course Greens, Tees, Fairways and Roughs coverage for named perils. including the weight of ice or snow.
• Trees, Plants and Shrubs coverage, including debris removal for named perils including the weight of ice or snow.
• Business Income and Extra Expense coverage for golf course trees, shrubs, plants and lawns due to actual loss of business income sustained due to the necessary suspension of the golf operation.
• Errant Golf Ball coverage of up to $1,500 per loss and $5,000 for any one location per policy period, with no deductible.
• Hole-in-One Reimbursement coverage that pays up to $250 per hole-in-one for credits at the pro shop.  Coverage is limited to $2,000 per policy period.
• Golf Course Vehicles and Equipment coverage, including golf cars that are owned, leased, rented or borrowed, with replacement cost coverage.

Constant Comfort

From the PGA TOUR’s perspective, the latest round of improvements in the Eagle 3 product is just par for the course they first began to walk pleasantly with Travelers 25 years ago. The degree of customization for the TOUR’s needs is especially acute, to also involve the many additional coverage aspects that arise when spectators, volunteers, media and other factors come into play as tournaments are staged.

“Travelers has been a remarkable and very strong partner, from the aspect of always helping us look at our properties and activities and anticipate the next steps that are needed to try to stay ahead of risk-control issues,” says King. “From the beginning of the relationship, we’ve established an ongoing process for a dialogue between our properties’ managers and those of us at the corporate level and those on the Travelers team, for regular reviews of operational plans and appropriate adjustments, on a facility-by-facility basis, of coverage and risk-control measures.” Through this approach, King says, the TOUR, and its individual properties, have drawn comfort from the “sense that we are able to manage risk to the best degree possible, and focus on the quality of our operations.”

Much of that comfort, she adds, comes from trust established during the earliest days of the relationship. “Even when we’ve encountered claims or difficult circumstances, Travelers has always felt like a partner, not an opponent, and it’s been clear that everyone on their team wants to assist us in a fair, equitable and appropriate fashion,” she says. “In the moments of truth, the focus stays on properly securing our assets with coverage that meets out needs.”

For over 40 years, Greenbrier Golf & Country Club, in Lexington, Ky., has stood as a solid example of how business and pleasure can mix successfully in the club world.  It was founded in 1971 by William Morris Hart Sr., a highway contractor who combined his love of golf with his construction know-how to start a for-profit enterprise that could provide Lexington-area families with a serene, uncrowded place for socializing and pursuing a variety of recreational activities.

Hart was a hands-on owner from the start, doing much of the work himself as the club took shape with a full complement of amenities, including a championship golf course and even a private, 19-acre lake where Greenbrier members enjoy exclusive fishing privileges. He then stayed actively involved, not only to ensure that Greenbrier was a successful business venture, but also to join the fun as an active participant in club activities himself, until his death at age 87 in October 2009.

By then he had brought two sons, William “Morrie” Jr. and Larry, into equally active roles in the family business. They, along with the club’s long-tenured management staff, have maintained the same consistent approach for balancing decisions made in the best interests of Greenbrier’s 450 member families with sound business principles and practices.

Perhaps the most impressive example of this is the recent replacement of the club’s original pool, which was first installed in 1972. “Recent,” in this case, is a relative term. Greenbrier’s management first saw nearly a decade ago that the original pool was nearing the end of its useful life. At the same time, plans were visualized for improving and expanding the pool area, not only to meet members’ requests for things like better heating on early-season days, toddler splash areas, and more seating and shade on the deck, but also to give the club more attractive outdoor options for luring larger catered events.

The pool-area improvements are expected to help nearly double the size (and reach the cap) of Greenbrier G&CC’s social membership category, says Club Manager Kelly Williams, PGA.

Greenbrier, however, has never assessed its membership for capital improvements—so doing things right, and completely, would mean finding a way to fund the project through operating proceeds. To help shape the right long-range plan and timetable, the club turned to RenoSys, an Indianapolis-based company that specializes in pool facility solutions. RenoSys suggested a way to immediately stabilize the old pool by employing a PVC pool membrane. That gave the club nearly a decade of time to plan, and budget for, a full $800,000 upgrade and expansion that was unveiled (after weather-related delays) to the membership on the Fourth of July weekend last year.

For the full pool construction project, RenoSys served as lead contractor for not only a complete design/build reconstruction of the original pool, but also work that added 50% more deck space, doubled the size of the toddler pool and added “spray and play” features, and built a new permanent shade structure.

RenoSys designed the pool reconstruction around a durable, stainless-steel pool wall system covered with a textured PVC membrane. It also assisted with behind-the-scenes infrastructure improvements for systems to heat the pools, regulate chemical inputs and power-wash the new deck, and supervised subcontractors who re-landscaped surrounding areas and improved the parking lot, as additional parts of the project.

A new spray-and-play structure, shade provided by a new permanent awning and space for three times more lounge chairs (right) have proved to be the most popular features that were added at the same time Greenbrier G&CC’s main pool was fully refurbished.

By having the time to plan, and fund, all of this properly, Greenbrier’s ownership and management is already “ecstatic” with the results, reports Club Manager Kelly Williams, PGA—even though the major payoffs aren’t expected to come until next season, when a full year of benefits can be realized.

Largely because of the pool’s previous limitations, Greenbrier had kept a self-imposed cap on its social membership category, holding that group to 80. In 2012, Williams says the club “fully expects” to reach capacity of 150 for that segment, and has already opened 40 new memberships to the community, in response to buzz created by the pool-area improvements.

Greenbrier also expects a major boost in its catering business, now that the expanded pool deck has been outfitted to take full advantage, day and night, of its surroundings. (The club had completed a snack bar expansion prior to the 2009 pool season opening, in anticipation of being able to serve more people on the larger pool deck.)

“We opened up views to the west, so you can see the sun setting,” Williams says. “And after dark, we don’t have any of the lighting, sound or setup limitations we had before. We’ve already seen interest from parties as large as 200 people—and we also saw, in just a half-season, that the bigger pool deck was a huge hit that became ‘comfortably busy’ when we had 100 members who started to come here regularly on weekends.

“We can’t wait for the new [full] season,” Williams adds. “We think this will be a major revenue source that will also add to the total value package for members and customers, by providing the finest pool complex of any club in the Lexington area.”

View data on Greenbrier G&CC’s pool renovation here.

Managers, a machine and a specially focused program are in perfect sync at The Princess Anne CC, to provide golf and fitness benefits for members of

The quest to avoid departmental disconnects and continually improve his management team’s effectiveness is something that runs deep in the blood of William S. Shonk, CCM, CCE, General Manager of The Princess Anne Country Club in Virginia Beach, Va. Shonk is not only the son of an Ohio high school football coach, his uncle, James H. Shonk, is a recognized authority, and author of several acclaimed books, on team-based organizations and management.

So when Bill Shonk heard about a new Golf Performance Program (GPP) being offered by CYBEX International, he immediately saw possibilities for how the program could be used to bring golf, fitness and other departments at his club together in a truly meaningful way.

Additional motivation came from the fact that The Princess Anne had recently made a significant upgrade of the equipment in its fitness center, including purchase of the CYBEX Bravo Functional Training System, which is used for all of the exercises in the GPP.

“It sounded like it would fit well as another value-added program we could offer to differentiate ourselves,” says Shonk. “And I especially liked how it promised to have appeal to all ages and could cross-pollinate use of our departments among our membership, by helping golfers make fitness a bigger part of their game, and at the same time perhaps getting some avid fitness enthusiasts to take up golf.”

Stephen Alvezi, Director of Sales for CYBEX Golf, says that’s exactly the intent of the GPP, which was developed through the CYBEX Research Institute, with input from Greg Norman and other top pros who have raised the profile and standards for golf-related fitness in recent years.

“There are other good ‘golf fitness’ programs, but they are usually kept within the golf side, and don’t always extend to other parts of the club,” notes Alvezi. “[The GPP] is designed to get a club’s GM and Fitness Director on the same page with the golf pros, not only to improve overall club utilization, but also to help attract new members.

The Golf Performance Program begins with driving-range evaluations to identify game-related fitness needs, such as those being conducted here for Donald Clark and Faye Clark.

“We don’t want to just drop off equipment that you’ve ordered and say ‘see you later’—we want to help maximize its value to the club,” Alvezi adds. “Eventually, we hope to have programs for our equipment built around other club activities, such as tennis, aquatics, or youth or senior fitness.”

Natural Progression

When The Princess Anne CC began to offer the GPP this fall, the club promoted that it was one of the first private clubs to make it available, and directed interested members to its golf department (the promotion shown on the opposite page was sent out as an e-blast and also displayed as a poster throughout the club). The golf department, under the direction of Head Professional Paul Michaelian, PGA, was the natural place to start, because the first step in the program (for which members pay a total charge of $75) is a half-hour evaluation with one of the club’s PGA professionals, during which physical issues such as “needs more strength and balance” or “lack of mobility” are noted.

With his team-based focus, though, Bill Shonk knew that the success of the GPP would hinge on having a permanent liaison between the golf and fitness departments. The natural choice for this coordinating role was Andrea Pettay, an Executive Administrative Assistant for Shonk who also works as an instructor on Fitness Director Allen Bostian’s staff. After members have signed on and had their initial evaluations, Pettay helps them get familiar with the exercises in the GPP manual and sets up appointments with fitness trainers, who then help them translate what’s in the book into self-directed workout regimens that can address their specific needs.

Already, everyone on the Princess Anne team reports that the program has generated across-the-board interest, not only from golfers of all ages, genders and abilities who are now finding their way to the fitness center, but also from workout enthusiasts who, after seeing how the Bravo machine is being used, have developed new (or renewed) interest in golf.

Most importantly, some of the first members to sign up for the GPP are providing positive reviews. Here is a conversation with two members, Anne Groth and Charlie Griener, about their experiences to date.

Q: What got you interested in the Golf Performance Program?

Griener: I was actually looking for a personal trainer who specialized in golf conditioning. This was offered by the club, so it seemed worth giving it a try.

Encouraging signs have already been seen that the program is helping to increase fuller utilization of the club.

Q: What are you hoping to achieve through it?

Groth: Most importantly, I want to improve my strength. I also want to work on my flexibility and balance.

Griener: Obviously, I want to play better golf. That means improved swing mechanics, better endurance, better flexibility, and, importantly, fewer injuries.

Q: Are the workouts substituting for other exercise routines, or being added as enhancements?

Greiner: These workouts have become my primary exercise. With each CYBEX workout, I add about 30 to 45 minutes of strength-building and cardio exercises.

Q: What are you finding to be the biggest benefits of the program and its exercises, both for you physically and for your golf game?

Groth: I have just completed week 3 and have noticed an improvement in my core strength.

Greiner: I’m already seeing better distance. My first emphasis is on improved rotation. The exercises have given me a better “feel” for the proper rotation movement—what should be stretching, and what should be resisting.

Q: How are the fitness and golf professionals helping you with the program, and to apply its benefits to your game?
Groth: The fitness professional has been very helpful explaining how a certain exercise relates to the golf swing.

Q: Are you talking about the program with others at the club (or outside it), and what are you telling them?

Groth: I have spoken to other lady golfers about the program, and highly recommend it.

Greiner: I’ve had a few conversations with others and been positive about it. And I suspect interest will significantly increase when I’m outdriving them regularly.

Q: What got you interested in the Golf Performance Program?

Groth:The golf shop sent out an e-mail about it. During a lesson I asked about the program and became very interested.

The Princess Anne CC’s promotion of the Golf Performance Program (left) has led interested members of all ages to start new fitness regimens, using the CYBEX Bravo, under the direction of Fitness Director Allen Bostian and other instructors.

Griener: I was actually looking for a personal trainer who specialized in golf conditioning. This was offered by the club, so it seemed worth giving a try.

Q: What are you hoping to achieve through it?

Groth: Most importantly, I want to improve my strength. I also want to work on my flexibility and balance.

Griener: Obviously, I want to play better golf. That means improved swing mechanics, better endurance, better flexibility and, importantly, fewer injuries.

Q: How are you fitting it into your golf/club routines?

Groth: I am incorporating it into my workouts at the fitness center.

Greiner: I try to do the workout three times a week and hope to complete the program, i.e. my first run through it, in 12 or 14 weeks.

Q: When do you do the workouts? Are they substituting for other workout routines, or being added as enhancements?

Groth: The program is being added as an enhancement. I have not used the exercises as a warmup before playing golf. Perhaps this will be something I could do as I progress with the program.

Greiner: These workouts have become my primary exercise. With each CYBEX workout, I add about 30 to 45 minutes of strength-building and cardio exercises.

Q: What are you finding to be the biggest benefits of the program and its exercises, both for you physically and for your golf game?

Groth: I have just completed week 3 and have noticed an improvement in my core strength. I think it will be beneficial to use the program over the winter, when I can’t get on the course so often.

Greiner: I’m already seeing better distance. My first emphasis is on improved rotation. The exercises have given me a better “feel” for the proper rotation movement, i.e. what should be stretching and what should be resisting.

Q: How are the fitness and golf professionals helping you with the program, and to apply its benefits to your game?

Groth: The fitness professional has been very helpful explaining how a certain exercise relates to the golf swing. His instructions on how to use the machine and set it to my individual needs was very beneficial to me.

Greiner: I had time at the beginning with the golf pro, to identify the areas most in need of attention, and have had conversations since then with him, to assure that the new swing mechanics are being properly applied.

Q: What are proving to be the most challenging aspects of the program and its exercises?

Groth: The instruction book takes a while to understand. There is new terminology and abbreviations to get used to, and a lot of flipping back and forth through the pages to get all the information before beginning the exercise.  I feel this difficulty will improve as I memorize the exercises and proper alignment on the CYBEX machine.

Greiner: Aside from just making time to do the program, some of the exercises are pretty demanding physically.

Q: Are you talking about the program with others at the club (or even outside it), and what are you telling them?

Groth: I have spoken to other lady golfers about the program, and highly recommend it.

Greiner: I’ve had a few conversations with others and been positive about it. I suspect interest will significantly increase when I’m outdriving them regularly.

Online Extras:

View Frequently Asked Questions about the CYBEX Golf Performance Program at The Princess Anne Country Club.

Skyline CC members and guests have access to an 18-hole, par-71 golf course that winds its way over elevation changes through the Sonoran Desert.

If you could give your members access to over 175 golf courses across the country without it costing your club much in the way of time, money, or staff management, would you?

And if you could, would you allow members from other private clubs to play your course and eat in your dining rooms, resulting in some modest ancillary profits for your club, so long as it didn’t interfere with your members’ experience?

Through its enrollment in The Private Club Network (PCN), a structured network of private clubs that extends reciprocal privileges to other participating clubs, Skyline Country Club, Tucson, Ariz., does just that.

And the feedback couldn’t be more positive.

According to Jesse Thorpe, CCM, Skyline’s General Manager, the reciprocity that members gain through the PCN is an added benefit for two primary reasons:

“For our members who travel, it gives them the opportunity to access golf courses in other parts of the country for a pre-determined fee,” says Thorpe. “From a management standpoint, we don’t have to do anything to set up their reservations.

“If we weren’t part of the network, if one of my members called me and wanted to play a specific club, I may know someone there, but I could be spending hours setting up a round for them,” Thorpe notes. “PCN is far more convenient for us and for them, plus members can access it from anywhere.”

All member tee-time requests are made to PCN’s member service center or through its online tee-time request tool. Tee-time requests are made in advance and are based on space availability, as determined by the host club.

PCN offers fully integrated, online technology, allowing members of Jonas and clubsystems group the opportunity to book tee times through their ClubHouse Online web solution.

“The network allows us to be the gatekeepers to our course,” says Thorpe. “We’ll get a call from someone representing the network who asks for our availability on a certain day. We’ll give them a tee time, and they’ll take it from there.”

What’s more, PCN has set up a simple set of predetermined fees so that members always know what to expect to pay, no matter where they play, cart included.

“Members get a standardized preferential rate through the Network; it’s either $25 or $50, depending on the season,” says Vache Hagopian, Managing Director for the PCN.

Visiting members pay all other normal customary charges, including food-and-beverage and pro-shop purchases.

“We’ve found that the guests who come in to play from other clubs are great neighbors who tend to spend, on average, about $120 on ancillary merchandise such as dinner or sportswear from the pro shop,” says Thorpe.

Giving its 650 members access to private golf courses across the country has proved to be a valuable member benefit at Skyline CC.

There are some rules that apply. No individual may play the golf course of another club in the network that is within a 100-mile radius of the individual’s home club; an individual will only be permitted privileges at the same club a maximum of three times per calendar year; and individuals must observe all guest policies when they visit other clubs.

“For members who travel and play golf, the ability to access so many different courses is really a great benefit,” says Thorpe. “It’s a simple plug-and-play solution for reciprocity at some of the country’s best private courses.”

Even a club as safe and secure as Congressional CC can always find value and benefit from extra sets of expert ears, eyes and legs.

It’s a safe bet—literally—that no club is more serious about safety than Congressional Country Club in Bethesda, Md. It’s a mission that stems first from the history and nature of the club, which has included several U.S. Presidents and many other high-profile politicians and business leaders among its membership since its founding in 1924.

The need to be ever-diligent about safety also relates to the massive size and scope of Congressional’s operation, which now encompasses two 18-hole championship golf courses, a 100,000-sq. ft.-plus, recently expanded clubhouse, three new outdoor swimming pools, 3,000 members, 350 employees and over $20 million in annual activity.  Then there are the added safety issues and concerns that come whenever Congressional’s grounds are opened to thousands of visitors for major events like the 2011 U.S. Open, which was held there this past June.

Perhaps most of all, though, Congressional’s approach to safety is an outgrowth of the firmly buttoned-down attention to detail that characterizes all aspects of its operation, as directed by Chief Executive Officer/General Manager Michael Leemhuis, M. A. Ed., CCM, PGA Professional, and carried out by what’s recognized as one of industry’s most experienced and accomplished management teams (see “Cornerstones of Leadership at Congressional CC,” C&RB, October 2006).

Taking the same comprehensive approach to safety that marks Congressional’s excellence in all other departments and areas has yielded real and significant benefits, Leemhuis reports. “In an industry environment where the average property has experienced percentage increases in the high teens for employee insurance and other coverage,” he says, “our overall strategy for employee health, wellness and safety in our operations has produced a 7% decrease in premiums. That’s a 78% swing [from the norm].”

Well Worth the Time

With this type of track record and hyper-consciousness for safety issues, you might think the last thing anyone on the Congressional staff would need, or want, to do would be to devote a few hours to a special safety review—especially if it were scheduled to occur just six weeks from when the 2011 U.S. Open was about to begin.

But on an afternoon in late April of this year, members of the Congressional safety team blocked out time to do just that, as part of a loss-control review and “walk-through” arranged by Venture Insurance Programs, the West Chester, Pa. company that provides Congressional’s property and casualty coverage through its Preferred Club Program.

The review began with a meeting in Congressional’s boardroom that included Chief Financial Officer Dean Davidson, who heads Congressional’s management Safety Committee, Project Coordinator Vernon Stricklin, and A.J. Marshall, Director of Safety, Security and Loss Prevention (“to my knowledge, the only such title that exists in the club business,” says Leemhuis).

Patrick Duke and Mary Love, insurance-industry professionals who are Congressional members and serve on the club’s Board-level Insurance Committee, were also in attendance, along with members of the Preferred Club team and other companies, including Chubb and Zurich, that also help to provide Congressional’s coverage.

The review process began with a meeting of roughly one hour, during which participants went over the details of how the Congressional team was covering all of its safety bases, both for ongoing operations and in preparation for the special needs presented by the U.S. Open. The group then took another hour for a thorough walk-through of the Congressional property, during which other team members such as Executive Chef Forest Bell and Director of Green and Grounds Maintenance Mike Giuffre participated, to conduct tours of their particular areas of responsibility and answer questions about training programs and specific safety measures and initiatives within their departments.

Not surprisingly, the two hours largely served to confirm that Congressional had things well under control and that very few, if any, adjustments in their safety approach and program were needed. But that didn’t make it any less important of an exercise for any who were involved.

Michael DeMarco, Executive Vice President of the Preferred Club Program, commends the Congressional team for taking advantage of the opportunity to get on-site risk-management counsel from expert eyes and ears—a service that is always offered as a standard part of any coverage his company provides, but that he says some properties fail to use.

“We can only help if the clients let us,” DeMarco says. “Even for a club like Congressional which follows safety best practices, it is extremely valuable for our carrier partners to understand just how well a client’s operations are managed. These visits are invaluable to our long-term relationships and afford us the opportunity to provide the necessary services to better meet our clients’ needs.”

From Congressional’s standpoint, an important part of being a leader in safety management is recognizing that no mattter how much you may already know about a specific area, you can always learn more. A. J. Marshall says the time spent in April with the insurance experts was valuable and yielded some specific ideas to consider, such as how safety equipment like eye-wash stations might be repositioned in certain parts of the property, or how infrared scanning could be used to confirm the efficiency of electrical systems. “It makes sense to have a new set of eyes look at the things we live with every day,” Marshall says. “It was a very beneficial exercise.”

A highly visible in-cart mobile communications system has helped a bold new venture for a legendary brand make a strong and immediate impact.

Ensure a great golf experience” has become the mantra of every course operation that’s serious about earning repeat business and holding market share in an era of flat growth for overall industry rounds.

For any new property that’s come onto the golf scene in the past few years and hopes to attract players away from established destinations, those have become especially critical words to live by. And when that property represents a bold new venture for a legendary brand, and is located in an area known for extremely high service expectations and performance, failure to provide a unique and memorable time, in every facet of the golf experience, is just flat-out not an option.

That was the mission embraced by the staff of The Waldorf Astoria Golf Club in Orlando, when the brand-new property opened in October 2009 on 482 acres of previously undeveloped land in the heart of Disney-dominated territory. The team led by Director of Golf Rob Turner knew that being entrusted with the inaugural extension into golf of Hilton Worldwide’s luxury brand—not to mention the first new property of any kind to fly the famous name since the Waldorf Astoria on New York’s Park Avenue opened in 1931—meant that creating special touches for guests, and paying attention to every detail that could enhance their enjoyment of their rounds, would be a standard part of every staff member’s job description.

“The goal of our owners and senior Hilton management was to translate the responsibility that comes with the Waldorf Astoria name into the golf experience,” Turner says.

That translation was made a bit more challenging, however, by the nature of the Rees Jones-designed layout at the new club. “It’s not your typical resort course,” Turner says. “It’s longer [more than 7,000 yards] and more narrow, with smaller green sizes.” In addition, water runs along eight of the holes. All of this stood to pose pace-of-play problems if golfers had to spend too much time figuring out how to get around the course or play an individual hole.

So in preparing to open the course for play, the golf staff equipped the club’s fleet of 80 Club Car vehicles with a mobile communications system from GPS Industries (GPSI). From the outset, that helped to keep pace of play at an acceptable 4 hours and 30 minutes, for overall annual volume that has tracked at between 27,000 and 28,000 rounds, Turner reports.

An even bigger assist came in September 2010 with an upgrade to Visage RT+, a system developed through a partnership between Club Car and GPSI. The enhanced capabilities of Visage, Turner reports, have made clear contributions to the golf experience at both ends, both for players and his staff.

“It’s great for us at the back end, because it gives an instant overview of all 80 carts,” he says. “That not only helps us get in front of pace of play, it also provides valuable reports on things like audits of cart locations and individual cart diagnostics [for battery charge levels, etc.].”

The club’s staff can now access the intelligence gathered and organized by Visage from terminals at the golf shop counter, the golf pro’s office, and Turner’s office in the main hotel. “Soon we’ll set one up at the starter station, too,” he says. “Anywhere we have it, it gives us great, real-time information.”

Golfers on the course enjoy similar benefits as they use Visage to learn all about the course and its individual holes. “Without a doubt, what it gives players—flyover graphics, real-time yardage and not having to search for where the sprinkler heads are—all help with familiarity and pace of play,” Turner says.

The most evident benefit of the upgrade to Visage, Turner adds, is how its improved touchscreen and superior graphics have helped “make people even more comfortable [with the system].” Tangible proof of this added comfort level soon became evident after the upgrade, through a surge in orders for deliveries of on-course meals. “[The new screen] makes it easier for golfers to peruse our different menu options,” says Turner. “We quickly saw a real lift in food-and-beverage revenues that we didn’t expect—almost 100 percent over budget.”

Most guests seem to prefer on-course deliveries while they play, Turner adds, so his staff is now proactively using Visage’s messaging capabilities to send out prompts to all players when they arrive at the 8th and 17th tees, suggesting that they order meals that can be delivered to them when they finish 9 or 18.

“After we finish our first year [with Visage], we’ll have some benchmarks for setting new goals,” Turner says. “But I don’t have any reason to believe we won’t keep finding new ways to have it help us keep growing and ensuring a great experience here that is worthy of the Waldorf Astoria name.”

John Ogden continues to enjoy and enhance the benefits gained from the introduction of online reservations at Cherry Hills by Clayton Cole.

From day one, members of Cherry Hills CC became passionate viewers, and users, of the club’s new online tee-time reservation system—and they’ve stayed glued to it ever since.

Control is at the core of  pretty much everything golf professionals seek to achieve—control, when trying to teach the game, of the many moving parts of a golf swing; control, through working with their clubs’ superintendents, of course maintenance and improvement projects that ensure optimal playing conditions; and control of pace of play, once everyone’s out on the course, to make sure all golfers have the same enjoyment of their rounds.

It’s not surprising, then, that losing control of these and other things that can contribute to a positive golfing experience is always one of a golf pro’s biggest fears. And perhaps nothing says “control” to pros more than a club’s tee sheet, which they rely on to be able to serve as the gatekeeper to their course and which, when managed properly, is a vital tool for helping them avoid a lot of problems upfront.

So to many pros, the notion of giving their golfers direct and unimpeded electronic access to the tee sheet can at first sound like not only a sure way to lose control, but invite utter chaos.

As the son of a PGA professional, former player on the PGA Tour and then a long-time head pro himself, Clayton Cole, PGA, could certainly understand, relate to and admit to having trepidations over the thought of scrapping the time-honored tradition of taking reservations in person or by phone in the pro shop and keeping a manual tee sheet, to instead go to electronic scheduling.

But Cole wouldn’t have had such a successful career— which included serving as the Head PGA Professional for Dallas (Texas) Country Club and as the Vice President of Operations and PGA Director of Golf for the Lakeway Company in Austin, Texas,  before becoming the Head PGA Professional in 1991 at Cherry Hills Country Club in Cherry Hills Village, Colo., outside Denver—without showing a willingness to be receptive to new concepts, while at the same time often questioning the “accepted” way of doing things.

And by the mid-2000s, Cole says, the drumbeat for a better way to record and manage tee times, along with many other functions related to player and event scheduling, had just become too loud and persistent to ignore.

“The conversation [about electronic scheduling] kept coming up [at Cherry Hills] in Golf Committee meetings and also at the Board level, as something we should look at as an added member convenience,” Cole recalls. “At the same time, within our golf operations we were becoming more aware of how much of our own time was being tied up by taking phone calls and dealing with people in the pro shop to schedule [tee time] reservations, and how this was keeping us from providing full and prompt service in other important areas. So I felt I had to look into the kinds of online scheduling systems that were available.”

When to play is just one level of valuable information provided to members and staff by the online tee-time center of Cherry Hills CC.

Obvious Choice

As Cole began his research, one system,, quickly stood out. “It was clear from its design that [ForeTees] understood the unique requirements an online system needs to have for private clubs like Cherry Hills, to accommodate the different categories of memberships and other special designations of our players,” he explains.

While Cole saw that the custom-designed and user-friendly features of the ForeTees system would greatly reduce any concerns about “losing control of the tee sheet,” he still carefully mapped out a rollout plan to further ensure smooth, problem-free implementation. “We made the decision to get the system in the fall, but not introduce it until the spring,”  he says. The months in between were dedicated to an intensive communications and member-training effort that Larry Aspenson, ForeTees’ Western Regional Director, credits for a “very fast start,” with 70% of Cherry Hills’ tee times booked online from the first day the system went live in 2006—one of the highest figures ever seen for such an introduction, Aspenson notes.

“The big reason [Cherry Hills] has done so well is how they prepared their members,” says Aspenson. “They made sure to provide plenty of educational opportunities, with meetings for the entire membership and also through separate, smaller sessions for groups like ladies and seniors, as well as always providing one-on-one tutorials as needed or requested.”

In all communications about the system, either in-person or through the club’s newsletter and on its website, it has been stressed how it is fair and objective (a lottery feature is used to allocate over-requested times, with a memory aspect ensuring all members have equal opportunity to “win” over time). By introducing members to the system’s convenience and benefits in such open and encouraging fashion, its use at Cherry Hills, where some 27,000 rounds are played annually, has kept growing steadily, while “problems”  have continued to decline from a level that was virtually non-existent to begin with. “There were so few complaints [in the first years of use], I was amazed,” says Cole, who retired as Cherry Hills’ Head Pro Emeritus in 2008 (he is now a partner in an Aurora, Colo. club consulting firm, Cole and Scott).

Cole was succeeded by John Ogden, PGA, who now serves as just the fourth head pro in Cherry Hills’  distinguished 72-year history (the club has hosted three U.S. Opens, two PGA Championships and several other major amateur, senior and women’s tournaments; it will host the 2012 U.S. Amateur and was recently awarded the 2014 BMW Championship.)

Ogden first worked at Cherry Hills as an assistant for Cole, before becoming head pro at the Country Club at Castle Pines in Castle Rock, Colo. After Cole told Ogden of the system he was putting in at Cherry Hills, Ogden soon implemented it at Castle Pines as well. “The [ForeTees] online demo sells itself,” he says.

“It’s the best decision I’ve ever made as a golf professional,” Ogden adds about going to online reservations in general, and ForeTees in particular. “From an operational standpoint, it easily saves you and your staff 100 calls a day [ForeTees’ Aspenson puts the average number of calls a club will save at between 10,000-20,000 per season].

“It also captures all kinds of valuable data that helps us be more efficient in every part of our operation—communicating about frost delays and weather, cart management, caddy operations, even food and beverage, through new features that [ForeTees] keeps adding like dining reservations,” Ogden adds. “We can even break down member use by age group—and I can tell you, there are a lot more of our older members using it than anyone thought. If we took it away now, in fact, that might be the group that would be the most upset.”