Touching carts

It was February 2023 and I had missed the GCSAA Conference and Trade Show in Orlando due to contracting COVID-19. Yes, that was rough.

I tried to use the downtime for some educational study on my own and dream up ways to improve our operation. I will also apologize here to our golf course superintendent Mitchell Eickhoff and assistant superintendent Tim Martin for those times when I consider new ideas, thus increasing their workload!

Two words continually popped into my brainstorming sessions: customer service. In the past, all those words really meant to me was the desk I returned a wrong-sized wrench to at The Home Depot (insert bad joke rimshot drums here).

Later in my career, customer service meant providing a quality playing surface for the players. Sounds simple in theory, but we know it’s far from simple. We are the production crew for the stage production. If we do our job correctly, everyone enjoys the performance. But nobody knows we are there.

We usually don’t learn customer service in college. Few of us train for it once we enter the workforce. Customer service is the restaurant, outside services and golf shop team, but it’s not us as golf maintenance employees. Our customer service is in the product we provide, not the interaction. We are at our best when nobody knows we are there — or so we were taught.

But is that true today?

Many things in our industry have changed in the last 10 years from mental health to “down with brown” and everything in between. I had this gut feeling that we could do more to provide customer service. At the time, though, it seemed like just a theory or a lingering thought. The concept resembled that person whose name is on the tip of your tongue. I knew there was more here, but I had no idea how to develop or quantify it. You reach a point where you put the thought away and decide to deal with it later.

Days later, I am on the phone with a world-renowned front-of-house restaurant manager named Andra Swarts. She is the absolute pinnacle of professionalism and one of the most sought-after restaurant professionals in the world. OK, maybe I am embellishing a bit here (but not much). I feel I’m allowed to.

Andra, after all, is also my niece.

I had caught her on her break, and I was just seeing how she was doing. She told me she was great, but she had to go soon. She was due up for her latest round of “touching tables.” That term is restaurant slang for checking in on guests. The lightbulb then hit. She promised to call me after her shift. I was now intrigued.

Me: Tell me more about this “touching tables.”

Her: Uh-oh. Something’s got that uncle brain turning … it must hurt.

Sadly, I have no one to blame but myself on that one. Sarcasm is my first language as well!

Me: Just get to the point, smart aleck.

Her: OK, every hour or two, depending on covers (the number of full tables), I head out to the dining room to touch tables. I stop by the table to see if they are enjoying themselves and their experience. I ask if there is anything we can do for them. I try and take a different path each time, and make sure at each point every table is “touched.”

Me: But isn’t that handled by the wait team?

Her: Of course. And they are very good. But it’s another layer of service. It’s expected from the wait team. But for some, coming from a manager, it just means more … more service, more knowledge, more responsibility.

It just means more …

Me: But is that something everybody wants? Don’t some folks just want to enjoy their meal in peace?

Andra: Of course. A little emotional intelligence goes a long way, Uncle Brent (oh, touché). Read the room. Their body language and responses dictate how long I am there. Some just want to enjoy their meal. They tell me it’s good, and I am on to the next table. Some want to discuss spices, cooking styles, wine pairings, etc. Those I spend more time with. But ultimately, my goal is to give each table the service and attention they need. Some a lot, some not as much. It’s not a perfect science, and we all misread sometimes. But the real key is they know I am there and that we care about their experience.

We care about their experience

How did I miss it? Consider it wisdom from a woman 10 years my junior.

After the conversation, it got me thinking about what we had been missing. We have access to the golfers throughout their round. The golf shop only has it on four holes: 1, 9, 10 and 18. As much as we are viewed as the product-oriented team and they are more service-oriented, golf course maintenance actually has far more contact points with the golfers. With that in mind, I started formulating a plan to attempt to access more golfers near the middle of the nines. This is an area where we can provide access that other departments don’t receive.

Like most ideas, it had rudimentary beginnings. One member of my management team made it a point to check in with one group a day. Initially, the who, what, where, when and why didn’t matter. We knew they would later, but early on this was a social experiment. It was tougher than we thought. It sounds so easy in theory until you get bogged down in the daily grind and putting out the unexpected fires. We stuck with it the best we could.

By the end of the season, we had not only refined the process, but we now have the best relationship with the playing public in our time here. We also developed three key points from the restaurant concept and applied it to golf courses.

Schedule it

We learned you can’t just have this be a job you do in the process of another task. It’s far too easy to be forgotten or dropped in the grind. If you are going to say you want to make customer service a priority, then make it a routine scheduled and executed task.

We have a job board task titled “Golfer Relations,” where the manager assigned takes an hour of their time to visit one or two groups. We have even developed a procedure of what sections of the course to visit (either 5-6 or 15-16) due to mid-round access.

Think about it. Most places have a task scheduled for greens mowing, right? If you value member service, make it a real value by having a schedule and procedure for it.

Supply it

This concept definitely evolved over time. What started as a check-in grew into a supply mission if needed.

I began to keep a couple of cold waters on hand if the day was warm and carried a coffee or two for my cold check-ins. It has even gotten to a place where I keep a few tees, divot tools and ball markers in my supply tray for these checks. I can’t tell you the number of times we have heard, “I can’t find my divot tool,” or something analogous.

When you are able to fill that missing piece, it sheds an amazing light on your team and service, even for the simplest of things. Be prepared. You never know when a cold bottle of water could completely change someone’s experience.

Read it

My niece couldn’t have been more correct when she said, “A little emotional intelligence goes a long way.” Read the room, or in this case, the cart.

A group coming off multiple triple bogeys might want nothing to do with you. In those instances, their body language and your gut feeling should be telling you to make a quick and polite exit. That is OK. I remembered what my niece said: different people require different kinds of service. That is as true for golfers as it is for restaurant patrons.

The more you make yourself do it, the more you will be able to read the temperature of a group and can provide better service with each visit. Sometimes you’re a barista delivering coffee. Sometimes you’re a teacher explaining your cultural practices. Sometimes you’re a motivator, telling them their next hole will be better than their last. And finally, yes, sometimes you will be an ear for them to vent their frustration.

It’s not perfect. It never will be. But even in that, some of our best reviews have come from frustrated people who vented mid-round, allowing it to clear their system for the rest of their experience. Your service may pave the way for your best review yet. But you won’t ever know that without “being there.”

We still have a long way to go. Our early growth indicates to me we are on the right track. And hopefully, in some small way, these core concepts may help you improve relations at your course.

Take the core concepts and make them your own. This is not a one-size-fits-all approach. Like every golf course, the process is unique. It’s about the idea of taking customer service and making it work for your golfers, in whatever direction that takes you. If you never plan it or improve it, it will continue to sit in the corner gathering dust next to Matthew Wharton’s mashie niblick. (Sorry, Matthew!)

It looks different for every club, but I can promise you this: It will make you a better service team and earn you more respect in golfers’ eyes. From touching tables to touching carts, it’s a service industry for both businesses. My niece opened my eyes to that. In some way, I hope this helps you develop your plan, too.

Brent Downs, CGCS, is the director of agronomy at Otter Creek Golf Course in Columbus, Indiana. This is his third Turfheads Take Over contribution.