Course Maintenance Effects On Play

[mcanadiens]

On 2/2/2019 at 10:18 PM, Buckeyebowman said:

One of the things that gripes me are courses that stay open when the leaves are falling

Definitely this.

It's really funny the way courses that are similarly conditioned most of the year, either do well on leaves or miss it all together.  There are definitely places I've learned to avoid after the leaves start dropping.

 

 

[phillyk]

One thing I've learned whilst being an assistant pro, regarding maintenance, is that simple aesthetic adjustments can make a world of difference.  How a golf course plays is getting pretty similar almost wherever you go.  But how it looks, while it may not mean much on score, makes a huge difference for the perceived value. Cutting blackberries back (big thing around where I live), if you have bark or grass around tree trunks, bark or grass around the tee signs, flowers or bushes near clubhouse and the drive in, the clean cut of grass lines between tee box height and rough height or green height to fringe height, which direction the fairway grass is mowed (if the grass is a leaner), clean golf carts, etc.  The first moment when we get to a course is all aesthetics, and it really does set you up for how the day goes, in terms of the value.  I want every golfer who comes to my course, to walk in to the shop already knowing that this place is the real deal, because of the drive in (you pass a few holes as you come in).

[sjduffers]

Ok, this is probably slightly outside of the intended subject of this discussion, but it has to do with maintenance and how it affects play.

One of the regular courses in my rotation has trouble communicating with the ground crew the proper way to mow the fairways (when the course is open for play at the same time). They tend to mow the holes in increasing order, so that if you are unlucky to find the mower on hole #1, you may also find it on hole #2, #3, #5 (because he skipped #4 as a par 3), etc... as it takes about the same amount of time to mow a fairway as to play the hole. 

I know, it makes no sense to do it that way and if the crew (made of non-golfers typically) went in the opposite order, just like the cart girl does, they'd annoy a given group only once and would find many more groups to annoy, just like the cart girl finds more customers going backwards!

I have "complained" or rather explained this to the management several times, and been told yes you are right and here is a $5 token to spend at the bar for your troubles, etc... Only to find myself in the same situation a few weeks down the road, and with another bar token, lol.  

How stupid is that, and how easy would it be to fix?

[WonIron]

Always easier and more enjoyable to play on a well maintained course. Kudos to the Super and his Crew!!