Life lessons applied to course renovations

It’s hard to give specific renovation advice for distant, unfamiliar projects, but I am always willing to offer general advice, and I find myself sounding a bit more like my father’s long ago “Life Lessons.” However, many of the classics apply to golf course renovation as much as life itself:
 

Trust your mother, but cut the cards

This was the focus of last month’s column. In renovations, cutting the cards means following a thorough process both in hiring your superintendent and consultants, and in developing a plan. If you have done that, it’s silly to distrust everything and everybody, ignore their advice, and doubt your conclusions.

Opponents often believe projects are created unnecessarily, but I am of the opinion that the unnecessary ones are discovered and tossed out soon enough in a process driven plan.

It also means keeping good records and cost controls as the project goes along, treating the money spent like, well… your money.
 

If it is worth doing, it is worth doing right the first time

It’s more cost and time efficient to fix something right the first time. It’s also unpleasant to revisit a supposedly closed issue, as your critics will still be there, but louder, when you spend more of “their” money to fix the same problem again.
 

The bitterness of low quality always exceeds the satisfaction of low cost

Use good architects, contractors and materials. In a competitive market, using inexperienced architects and contractors should be less tempting than ever.

Using new products (irrigation, bunker liners) for a lower price, may work, but more often than not, you regret not using tried and true products.

Also, the savings of “do it yourself projects” are usually insignificant. Architects and contractors both have many clients who tried “do it yourself” projects first, and they are gladly paying experts after failure.
 

If it seems too good a price to be true, it usually is

The corollary to the point above is still “buyer beware.” You might find some super bargains, with so many unemployed architects and builders competing on fee. Why is the cost so low? Do the architects have proper insurance? Can the new contractor provide bonding and have the financial resources to carry the cost of the project?

Usually, large discounts in construction proposals come from omissions you will find out about later.
 

It’s not cost, it’s value!

Yes, some of these old sayings overlap a bit, but mom used to say $100 shoes lasting three years were better than three $30 shoes that lasted a year. Always think in terms of value more than cost to determine what kind of project to do.
 

Don’t put off until tomorrow what you could do today

As the real estate agents always say, “Now is the best time to buy!” While self-serving, in both real estate and renovations, as expensive as they are now, they will be even more so later. Problems don’t go away, but they do get more expensive.
 

Measure twice, cut once

While I encourage moving ahead with necessary renovations, you can actually move too fast. Sometimes it’s because you need to beat winter, and feel you “know what you need.” But, don’t underestimate the value of planning. It’s more cost effective to make changes with a drafting pen and eraser than it is with bulldozers and hand labor.
 

Treat the illness, not the symptom

Fix the root cause of your problems, not some related symptom. It’s like putting chewing gum on a radiator leak – sooner or later, you need a new radiator.

If that is poor greens soil, put in new soil, not some new amendment because it’s cheaper.

If it is shade, cut down the trees rather than re-sod, etc.

If it is poor surface drainage, grade and add catch basins and pipe as required, not French drains because they are easier.

I see courses avoid necessary work to avoid closing or spending money, but cause severe problems in deferred infrastructure repair. Sometimes, you just have to bite the bullet. Sometimes, you need to take your medicine. Sometimes you… well, you get the idea.

Jeffrey D. Brauer is a veteran golf course architect responsible for more than 50 new courses and more than 100 renovations.  A member and past president of the American Society of Golf Course Architects, he is president of Jeffrey D. Brauer/GolfScapes in Arlington, Texas. Reach him at jeff@jeffreydbrauer.com.