making friends and influencing golfers "making friends and influencing golfers"...

6
"MAKING FRIENDS AND INFLUENCING GOLFERS" Golfers' expectations are shaped by someone; why shouldn't it be you? BY CHRIS HARTWIGER S urveys conducted by the USGA Green Section staff over the years consistently show that communication is the number-one problem facing golf course superintendents. No- where is this "problem" more pr~valent than in the area of expectations for the playing condition and appearance of the golf course. A wide gap often exists between what the golfer expects and what the turf management staff is able to achieve, given the existing resources and site conditions. Expectations are not inherently a bad thing. Golfers do not dream expectations, but they are influenced by inputs such as television, friends, reviews of other courses, their own experiences, and so forth. Unfortunately, turf managers and course officials sometimes are put in a defensive or reactionary role when trying to meet or manage golfer expectations. The goal of this article is to help course officials become a stronger influence on golfer expectations and, in doing so, bridge the gap between what golfers expect and what is being produced. Before players can be influenced, course officials must understand both the pr?duct they have and the product they want. To accom- plish this goal, key areas of the golf course will be identified for staff and course officials to evaluate. A hypothetical example will show how to evaluate current course conditions and the resources that are available to help with this evaluation. Finally, several methods will be offered to share this information with the golfers and influence their expectations. STEP I: DETERMINING WHAT TO EVALUATE If course officials and staff are on a mission to influence golfers and make friends, a plan is needed. What areas or aspects of the golf course should be most closely scrutinized and what areas Proper course marking is essential to playing according to The Rules of Golf. Stakes are used to identify a hazard to the golfer while painted lines define the margin of a hazard. JULY-AUGUST 2004

Upload: others

Post on 24-Sep-2020

1 views

Category:

Documents


0 download

TRANSCRIPT

Page 1: MAKING FRIENDS AND INFLUENCING GOLFERS "MAKING FRIENDS AND INFLUENCING GOLFERS" Golfers' expectations are shaped by someone; why shouldn't it be you? BY CHRIS HARTWIGER Surveys conducted

"MAKING FRIENDS ANDINFLUENCING GOLFERS"Golfers' expectations areshaped by someone;why shouldn't it be you?BY CHRIS HARTWIGER

Surveys conducted by the USGA GreenSection staff over the years consistently showthat communication is the number-one

problem facing golf course superintendents. No-where is this "problem" more pr~valent than inthe area of expectations for the playing conditionand appearance of the golf course. A wide gapoften exists between what the golfer expects andwhat the turf management staff is able to achieve,given the existing resources and site conditions.

Expectations are not inherently a bad thing.Golfers do not dream expectations, but they areinfluenced by inputs such as television, friends,reviews of other courses, their own experiences,and so forth. Unfortunately, turf managers andcourse officials sometimes are put in a defensiveor reactionary role when trying to meet ormanage golfer expectations.

The goal of this article is to help courseofficials become a stronger influence on golferexpectations and, in doing so, bridge the gapbetween what golfers expect and what is beingproduced. Before players can be influenced,course officials must understand both the pr?ductthey have and the product they want. To accom-plish this goal, key areas of the golf course will beidentified for staff and course officials to evaluate.A hypothetical example will show how toevaluate current course conditions and theresources that are available to help with thisevaluation. Finally, several methods will be offeredto share this information with the golfers andinfluence their expectations.

STEP I:DETERMINING WHAT TO EVALUATEIf course officials and staff are on a mission toinfluence golfers and make friends, a plan isneeded. What areas or aspects of the golf courseshould be most closely scrutinized and what areas

Proper course marking is essential to playing according to The Rules of Golf. Stakes are usedto identify a hazard to the golfer while painted lines define the margin of a hazard.

JULY-AUGUST 2004

Page 2: MAKING FRIENDS AND INFLUENCING GOLFERS "MAKING FRIENDS AND INFLUENCING GOLFERS" Golfers' expectations are shaped by someone; why shouldn't it be you? BY CHRIS HARTWIGER Surveys conducted

are less important? This author proposes thatemphasis should be placed on evaluating how thecourse plays, not so much how it looks. Too muchfocus on course presentation can send coststhrough the roof, and it does not buy long-lastinggolfer satisfaction. If satisfaction increased withbeauty, the clubs with the largest budgets wouldhave the fewest complaints. This is not happeningin the real world today.

Below is a list of areas that can be evaluated.This is not an exhaustive list and every golfcourse should focus on what it considers to bemost important.• Ability to play by the Rules of Golf.• Architectural integrity of the golf course .• Course setup.• Tees.• Fairways and rough.• Putting greens .• Bunkers.

STEP 2:CONDUCTING THE EVALUATIONThe hypothetical example that follows showshow the course officials and staff of our imaginarycourse, Rolling Green Country Club in Birming-ham, Alabama, evaluated the golf course anddeveloped reasonable expectations for these areas.The resources they used to conduct their evalu-ation are included, too. At the end of eachexample are "payoffs" or benefits the club willreceive from doing this work.

PLAY BY THE RULESRolling Green Evaluation: The membership atRolling Green C. C. believes the Rules of Golf arepart of the spirit of the game and help form thebasis for years of enjoyment. We hope the golfersat our course expect the course to be prepared insuch a way that they can play according to theRules of Golf. We discovered that most of theyear, the lateral hazards and water hazards on ourcourse were not completely marked. A definedboundary or margin is necessary when takingrelief from a lateral or water hazard under theRules of Golf.

We contacted our state golf association to assistus in getting the course accurately marked. Wedecided to use a combination of stakes and paintwhen marking water hazards and lateral hazards.The stakes identify the presence of a hazard tothe golfer, while the painted line defines the

2 GREEN SECTION RECORD

margin of the hazard. Red paint and red stakes areused to mark lateral hazards, and yellow stakes andyellow paint to mark water hazards. Once thecourse was marked correctly and completely, thejob of keeping the course marked all the time wasassigned to one of our employees.

Resources Used: State golf association.Payoff: The golf facility that takes the effort to

keep the course marked at all times will reapseveral rewards. First, golfers will see that those incharge of marking the course have a thoroughunderstanding of the game and a respect forplaying the game according to the Rules of Golf.Additionally, preparation for outings and tourna-ment play will be much easier .

ARCHITECTURAL INTEGRITYRolling Green Evalrtation: Mr. I.M. Grate, thearchitect who designed Rolling Green C. C. in the1950s is no longer with us, unfortunately. None-theless, we acknowledge he had certain intentionsin mind when designing each of the holes. Ascourse officials and staff, we have an interest inmaintaining the integrity of our architect'sdesign. We are mindful of the fact that theintegrity of many holes has changed due to treeplantings, tree growth, and bunker additions overthe years. We believe Mr. Grate created achallenging, unique course and that our membershave every right to expect the opportunity toplay the course as the architect intended.

Although some of the officials on our GreenCommittee have an affinity for golf course design,no one at the club was qualified to make recom-mendations necessary to restore the originalintent of the architect. As a result, we hired Mr.James Green, an architect familiar with the designsof Mr. I.M. Grate, to guide us as we look to keepour course true to the intentions of the foundingarchitect and relevant to today's game. Mr. Greentoured our golf course and his expertise isbenefitting us already. We posted Mr. Green'sreport on our Web site and golfers are able tolearn more about the golf course. For example,we learned that the eighth hole was designed as acape hole. This type of golf hole was meant tooffer players the chance to try a risky shot overthe lake in the corner of the dogleg with thereward of being much closer to the puttinggreen. The two trees planted in the corner of thedogleg back in 1978 actually eliminate this optionand steer all players away from the water.

Resources Used: A qualified golf course architect.

Page 3: MAKING FRIENDS AND INFLUENCING GOLFERS "MAKING FRIENDS AND INFLUENCING GOLFERS" Golfers' expectations are shaped by someone; why shouldn't it be you? BY CHRIS HARTWIGER Surveys conducted

Paycff.' By reporting this information to thosewho play the course, the officials and staff atRolling Green are reinforcing how the golfcourse was intended to be played. Sharing thisknowledge will inspire confidence among golfersthat future changes or a lack of changes are basedupon knowledge of the designer and not basedupon personal agendas.

COURSE SETUPRolling Green Evaluation: Our course was ratedfour years ago by our state golf association. Weunderstand that course setup determines the wayeach hole plays on a given day. The tee markerposition and the hole location influence thelength and relative difficulty of a hole. Our coursesetup crew understands the importance of main-taining the integrity of our course rating. In otherwords, we try to keep the course playing approxi-mately the same length every day and provide agood balance of easy, moderate, and difficult holelocations.

ResourcesAvailable: State golf association.Pay<ff: A good course setup policy demon-

strates that course officials and the superintendentare serious about the way the game is played onthe course. Further, criticism that the personsetting up the holes on a given day had a longnight or that certain hole locations are unfair canbe dismissed with a minimum of effort. Finally,the use of available tee and green space will bemaximized.

TEESRolling Green Evaluation: At Rolling Green, theteeing ground on each hole is used at least onceby every golfer in a round. The quality of the teesis impacted by many factors, including the grow-ing environment, soil type, turf grass type, unifor-mity of the base, sunlight levels, tree limb inter-ference, and size in relation to the number ofrounds played. This helped our officials understandhow the quality of tees can vary widely withinour course.

We evaluated all our tees on the golf course foradequate size, surface uniformity, and shade. Weused a formula introduced in a Green SectionRecord article called "Tailor Made" to determine ifour tees and practice tee were large enough basedupon our level of play (Vermeulen, 2002). Theformula took into account rounds played, divotrecovery time, and turfgrass type. Of the 62 teeson the golf course, we discovered serious shade

problems on two tees, inadequate size on threeothers, and an uneven surface on two more. Allthe other tees met our expectation of excellentsurface uniformity and healthy turf.

Resources Used: G~een Section Record article called"Tailor Made" and a USGA Green Section TurfAdvisory Service visit.

Paycff.' The evaluation of the tees confirmedthat the vast majority of tees are meeting expec-tations. The weakest tees are caused by lack of sizeand shade, which the superintendent has beenreporting for years. It wasn't until all the commit-tee members conducted the evaluation that theyunderstood the facts of the shade problems.

A constructive review of the tee conditionsand subsequent communication to the golferssent several messages. First, the overwhelmingmajority of tees meet the expectations of a levelsurface and strong turf every day. By acknowl-edging the weak areas and their causes pro-actively, complaints about the tees should decreaseand the club is in a much stronger position torespond to complaints that do occur. This will beenhanced if they outline a program to improvethe tees over some period of time.

FAIRWAYSRolling Green Evaluation: Fairway conditions havebeen a contentious issue at Rolling Green foryears. One of the biggest areas of controversy isthe fairway mowing height. Some players prefertaller fairways, but others favor shorter turf in thefairways. Still others seem concerned about colorand perceive a lush, green surface as an idealfairway condition.

We learned about the "Report Card for Fair-ways" developed by Patrick Gross of the USGA

Course officials andgolf course staff whomake the effort toevaluate their courseand developexpectations are wellon their way to solvinggolf maintenance'snumber-one problem,communication.

JULY-AUGUST 2004 3

Page 4: MAKING FRIENDS AND INFLUENCING GOLFERS "MAKING FRIENDS AND INFLUENCING GOLFERS" Golfers' expectations are shaped by someone; why shouldn't it be you? BY CHRIS HARTWIGER Surveys conducted

Putting greens receivethe most scrutiny fromgolfers. Determiningsustainable daily greenspeed involves takinginto account the healthof the turf, availableresources, environ-mental conditions, andgolf course design.

and described in an issue of the Green SectionRecord (Gross, 2000). The article explained thatfairway conditioning involves several factors, in-cluding density, firmness, resiliency, turf selection,mowing and grooming practices, drainage, watermanagement, and pest management. At the end ofour evaluation, we realized that the fairways atRolling Green did not have any serious deficien-cies and that we needed to reach a consensus onmowing height and watering practices.

The first step in resolving these issues wasdeciding upon the defmition of a good fairway.We agreed that a good fairway is one where theball can be played down during the season, weedsare kept to a minimum, and the golfer is affordedthe chance to playas many types of shots aspossible (i.e., lowing running shots, high shots,ete.). Our golf professional and superintendentadvised that a mowing height of Y2 inch was a faircompromise for players of all abilities and that theirrigation schedule should be based on keepingthe turf healthy and not used as a means toproduce optimum color.

Resources Used: "How Fair Are Your Fairways?"Green Section Record article.

Paycff: The Green Committee's evaluation isgoing to influence the golfers. First, they reacheda consensus and articulated what they expect forfairway conditions. In doing so, they advised the

golfers that the major emphasis is placed on howthe fairways play, not how they look.

PUTTING GREENSThe putting greens are the most important partof our course since they involve, on average, twoout of every three shots in a round of golf andthey generate most of the comments made bygolfers. Although green speeds have increaseddramatically since the mid-1970s when oursuperintendent arrived, there is pressure to makethem faster each year. Could higher speeds beattained without sacrificing the health of theturf? Would our greens need to be rebuilt?Should our greens be rebuilt? All are excellentquestions, but the Committee had no answers.

Our superintendent and regional USGA GreenSection agronomist shared several resources withus to assist in our evaluation. The first was anarticle called "S.P.E.E.D. - Consider What'sRight for Your Course" that appeared in the GreenSection Record (Vermeulen, 1995). The articleshowed us how to determine a daily expectedgreen speed that took into account the health ofthe turf, resources available, environmental con-ditions, the expertise level of our golfers, andcourse design.

Once we had a handle on an attainable greenspeed for daily play, we turned to the article"Helping Your Greens Make the Grade" (Moore,1998). This article used a report card format tograde many of the factors that influence puttinggreen performance. The evaluation was simple todo with the help of our superintendent, andeveryone enjoyed participating. At the completionof our report-card analysis, we learned that ourrootzone and turfgrass were still performing well.Problem areas were due mainly to restrictedgrowing environments with poor air movementand shade. Improving the grades on those greensis possible without the expense and disruption ofreconstruction.

We concluded that it is reasonable for ourgolfers to expect putting greens that feature alevel of smoothness and speed that provide agood challenge, do not slow play unduly, are notdisrupted by weed or other pest problems, andcan be attained under our existing budget andstaff levels.

Resources Used: "S.P.E.E.D. - Consider What'sRight for Your Course" article, "Helping YourGreens Make the Grade" article, and a USGAGreen Section agronomist.

4 GREEN SECTION RECORD

Page 5: MAKING FRIENDS AND INFLUENCING GOLFERS "MAKING FRIENDS AND INFLUENCING GOLFERS" Golfers' expectations are shaped by someone; why shouldn't it be you? BY CHRIS HARTWIGER Surveys conducted

It is never too early tobegin communicatingabout expectations ofgolf course conditions.Beginning golfersshould be instructedabout bunkers beinghazards and thatputting green smooth-ness is more importantthan speed.Will theybelieve it? There is onlyone way to find out .

Payciff: The Green Committee at Rolling Hillshas taken the time to create a sustainable programwith green speeds that provide a good balancebetween the agronomic needs of the turf and theexpectations of the golfers. This places the GreenCommittee and staff in a position of strength toanswer questions about green speed. It now willbe possible to provide a thoughtful answer to thegolfer who has just putted miserably one Saturdaymorning and has cornered a Green Committeemember or staff member with some variation ofthe question/demand/comment, "Why are thegreens so slow?"

BRINGING IT ALL TOGETHERThe desire to become a greater influence ongolfers has required a considerable effort on thepart of the Green Committee and the staff atRolling Hills. However, to be a unified and stronginfluence on the golfers, those in leadershippositions at the club must understand the productthe club desires to produce and what is beingproduced. This does take some effort, but doing sowill contribute to the ultimate goal of influencinggolfers. There are no shortcuts when it comes toevaluating your own course and determiningreasonable expectations.

The information generated by our RollingGreen example is powerful. There are at least sixconclusions that will influence golfers.• The Rules of Golf govern play and the courseis maintained and marked accordingly at all times.

• The membership cherishes the work of theoriginal architect, and the club is committed tomaintaining the integrity of his work.• The course is set up daily to provide a challengethat is consistent with the course/slope rating.• A level surface and strong turf are expected onthe tees.• The expectation for the fairways is to provide afirm, dry surface when weather permits and tokeep the mowing height at a level satisfactory forthe skills of most of the golfers.• The expectation for the putting greens is tomaintain a level of smoothness and speed thatprovides a good challenge, does not slow playunduly, is not compromised by weed or otherpest problems, and can be attained under ourexisting budget and staff levels.

The true rewards at Rolling Green will comeover time when this information is disseminated,relayed, promoted, discussed, and reviewed overand over with the golfers. This is a job that willnever end because there will always be otherfactors shaping golfer expectations.

Although there are countless ways to shareinformation with golfers, several of the morepopular methods will be mentioned here. Thefirst is a monthly e-mail update from the golfcourse superintendent. Although many willobject that e-mail newsletters take too much timein an already overburdened schedule, the factremains that once a superintendent spends acouple of hours creating a newsletter, it can be

JULY-AUGUST 2004 5

Page 6: MAKING FRIENDS AND INFLUENCING GOLFERS "MAKING FRIENDS AND INFLUENCING GOLFERS" Golfers' expectations are shaped by someone; why shouldn't it be you? BY CHRIS HARTWIGER Surveys conducted

Shade is one factorthat should beconsidered whenevaluating tees, as ithas a major effect onturf quality.

e-mailed to one or 100 people with one click ofthe mouse and at the same cost. The e-mailupdate can be as simple or as elaborate as timeallows. The superintendent at Rolling Hills coulduse one of the conclusions mentioned above for alead story for each of the next six months.

The Web site for the golf course is anothergreat way to ineXpensively share informationwith the golfers. A page for course expectationscould be created. In our Rolling Hills example,the details of the course evaluation could bewritten up and the expectations stated. This canbe done for minimal cost, but the golfer will beexposed to this information over and over on theWeb site. Ask yourself these questions: Wouldprospective members rather know what theexpectations for course conditions are, or wouldthey rather not know? Would existing membersrather know that the Green Committee hasdeveloped course expectations and evaluatedcourse conditions, or not?

Another simple, inexpensive, and effective wayto influence golfers is to make sure the staff andGreen Committee are armed with the sameevaluation and expectation information so thatquestions will be answered consistently. It is sucha simple concept, but it cannot be implementeduntil the club knows what it wants to produce.

CONCLUSIONPerhaps this article has sparked a few ideasand will serve as a starting point for golf coursesinterested in bridging the gap between golfexpectations and current conditions. Despiteeconomic challenges over the past few years, turf-grass conditions across the board are at an all-timehigh. For courses that take the time to understandwhat they have and agree upon what they want,they can make friends and influence golfers. Forthose who do not make the effort, communicationwill continue to be the number-one problem.

REFERENCESGross, Patrick J. 2000. How fair are your fairways?: A reportcard for evaluating fairway quality. USGA Green SectionRecord. 38(2):1-5.

Moore,James Frances. 1998. Helping your greens make thegrade: Here's a guide to help you evaluate the many factorsthat determine how your greens perform. USGA GreenSection Record. 36(2):1-7.Vermeulen, Paul. 2002. Tailor made: New equations todetermine proper tee size. USGA Green Section Record.40(2):1-6.

Vermeulen, Paul. 1995. S.P.E.E.D. - Consider what's rightfor your course. USGA Green Section Record. 33(6):1-5.

CHRIS HARTWIGER is a Green Section agronomistwho has been makingfriends in the Southeast Regionsince 1995.

6 GREEN SECTION RECORD