The Night Shift

In the last few years, superintendents have been working harder to operate in the most efficient manner possible. Some, however, have been doing that for decades. I will share a few examples of people utilizing manpower and equipment at hours that are not just in the 6 a.m. until 2:30 p.m. range.

If you have ever been to Disneyland or DisneyWorld you might be aware that you will never see anyone watering, fertilizing, mowing, trimming or sweeping these magnificent landscapes. I guess we just take that for granted. However, scheduling help is very strategic and done in a manner so that it has the least amount of interface with park visitors and allows employees to operate at peak efficiency.

I have been on a few tours of theme parks to see their horticultural operations and I am aware that many of them do their maintenance between midnight and 9 a.m. Most parks stay open until close to midnight and then the work begins with the lights on. Typically, there are no issues with noise ordinances in a contained park.

Some of these same principles can surely be employed on golf courses so some or all of the maintenance can be done at a time with the least amount of interference to the players.

The number of days and hours in which one can golf are limited and can vary depending on the climate in which the golf course is located. People pay a lot of money to either play public golf or belong to private clubs. They have an expectation that they can go out and play without being interrupted by mowers, hand watering or bunker renovations. Being able to fit a four-hour round in can be difficult when maintenance and golf conflict.

When it comes down to it, time and money are huge concerns for players and businesses alike.
 

Projects
When you live in a major city like Los Angeles you see highway construction all the time being done throughout the night. Equipment has lighting and lots of light banks are also used. The work begins at 8 p.m. and continues until 5 a.m. If this work was not scheduled at this time there would be logjams and gridlock. Lots of money is saved with this scheduling.

Now imagine if you could complete golf course projects – that might interfere with play – during non-play hours.

Bill Davidson, golf course superintendent at the Country Club of Naples, recently told me that he had completed a $500,000 bunker renovation project  at night. The work was done in the summer, right after Hurricane Wilma, at Naples Grande Golf Club. The contractor used three light banks and also had lights on their tractors and shaping equipment.

During that project, work began at 3 p.m. each day and continued until about 11 p.m. Cooler temperatures were a plus, as well, but the project moved quickly with no player interference. In the end, all of the bunkers were rebuilt in a month.

The cost to purchase or rent light banks can be a small investment and the efficiency that this creates often outweighs that cost. Most heavy equipment has lighting capabilities, or they can be added. Depending on the schedule of the facility, work can be done five to seven days per week to accomplish the necessary timeline.

Many contractors would have scoffed at working in the dark, but that was before the golf industry, and construction along with it, took a hit. Shapers, contractors and landscape construction companies are becoming very flexible in this economy.

In public golf – or most any golf operation – it is difficult to impede play and slow the course. It is almost impossible to close a hole or two at a time. Golfer and worker interface can create safety issues and reduce productivity.
 

Construction
As I mentioned, we would all like to work when the sun is up, but sometimes that is just not the best way to get the job done.

I have worked with clients who had limited windows to accomplish the installation of an irrigation system. One solution is to hire two crews and accomplish things in half the time.

Another solution is to close several holes on the golf course to allow maximum efficiency in the installation. An even better solution is to allow golf during the day and do the installation at night. Several projects have opted to do this so that they do not lose any tee times.
 

Maintenance
Years ago I chatted with Ted Horton when he was vice president for resource management for the Pebble Beach Companies.

Ted was challeged with the task of trying to maintain several golf courses with little or no player interference. With tee times beginning at around 7:30 a.m. there was not much daylight ahead of that time at certain times of the year. Ted scheduled people to start much earlier than sunrise and also had them stay ahead of the play that would catch up with the maintenance by about 10 a.m.

Wisely, people who worked for the corporation were cross trained and several different departments had different scheduling needs. This allowed people in housekeeping to work early in the day before they started their housekeeping shifts.

Similarly, Ted utilized the time after the last tee times to mow behind play and do other tasks being cognizant of staying a hole or so behind the play. He also did this when he joined the ValleyCrest Golf Course Maintenance team as a consulting superintendent and it is still used at many of the ValleyCrest maintained courses.

Ken Mangum, director of golf courses and grounds at the Atlanta Athletic Club, developed a plan for gap maintenance at AAC. He promoted a program to allow for a gap in the tee-time sheet at mid day. About 45 minutes were set aside and this allowed the gap in play that all superintendents look and hope for. In this case it was instituted to be a part of the schedule – it made planning for mowing fairways, rough and other tasks much more efficient without working under full play. Most would agree that dry grass is preferred to mow rather than moist grass due to quality of cut and clippings so blowing or dragging of clippings was minimized as well.

TJ Collins, golf course superintendent at The Club at Olde Stone, has a challenge with growing bentgrass fairways in Bowling Green, Ky.

With high temperatures and humidity, there are instances when cultural practices are done at times with less environmental stress and  no player interference. TJ indicated they aerify fairways with Toro ProCore 648 units and work until about 9 or 10 p.m. Ideally, scheduling is done during a time when the moon is full to accomplish this work.
Michael Lee, director of golf course maintenance for Destination Kohler, has four courses under his direction at Whistling Straits and Blackwolf Run. While Mike evaluated night maintenance he worked with the owner and decided  his priorities were quality work, safety and maximizing productivity. He didn’t want poor quality or compromised safety, so he started early and worked late during daylight hours. Once the main tasks are done ahead of play then his staff moves to the out of play areas during peak play time. The exception to that would be for hand-watering greens. Mike gets a lot of work done between 5 a.m. and 7 a.m. and then works around the tee sheets on each golf course to see if there are any gaps. Work then begins at 4 p.m. or later to prevent player interference.

Aaron Ohloff, golf course superintendent at The Club at Mediterra, is using shared staff with the homeowners association. The HOA gave Aaron 10 workers in the morning and then the golf course did the same by providing the HOA 10 people in the afternoon when the golf course was full with players.
 

Potential Problems
There are a number of reasons that most golf courses operate in the conventional time frame. I won’t try to kid anyone in that there are issues created with conducting maintenance at time periods outside of the 6 a.m. until 2:30 p.m. time period.

My sources shared that noise ordinances can be a problem. Night maintenance might not work well when cities prohibit operation of equipment after 8 p.m. and until 6 a.m. in the morning. However, some superintendents have overcome this with working early from the interior of the golf course and not maintaining perimeter holes until noise ordinance restrictions no longer apply. Utilization of battery-operated equipment also creates some opportunities to work around noise ordinances.

Safety is an issue and should not be overlooked. It can be pretty darn dark out on the golf course when there is no moonlight. Adequate lighting and training need to be considered to operate in a safe manner.

Most golf courses do have their irrigation systems running at night, so coordination and timing of irrigation needs to be compatible with any work scheduled.

Several superintendents mentioned that their ability to provide excellence cannot be done with pure night maintenance. That is a decision that each facility has to make. There needs to be an evaluation of which has a higher priority – excellent conditions or an efficient operation.

Every operation can hybridize what works best for them to accomplish a happy medium. Staffing needs to be adequate to provide supervision for all of the times the course is being maintained. This includes not just a golf course superintendent that works long hours, but either foremen or assistant superintendents who can supervise and/or operate equipment when necessary.
 

Punch the Clock
Superintendents have always been a creative group and problem solving is one of their greatest skill sets.
Challenged with the issue of creating maximum efficiency, there is no doubt that scheduling is a major component. There is no one system that will work for every golf course. Each facility has its own set of standards and goals they want to accomplish.

By working with the golf course superintendent, some of these efficiencies can be put in place to optimize your maintenance operation. With the current state of the game and the business, it might just be a matter of creating a more efficient product while keeping expenses in line.

Bruce Williams, CGCS, is the principal in Bruce Williams Golf Consulting and Executive Golf Search. He is an author and speaker in the golf industry, a GCSAA past president and a regular contributor to GCI. Reach him at brucewms1@hotmail.com.